Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Internet-Connected
Applications and Widgets
The always-on nature of mobile devices makes
them an ideal choice for brief activities where long
start-up and shutdown time is an overhead. Such
activities can be checking to-do list items (i.e.
grocery lists), looking up addresses and reading
news and sports results. In the business world,
the mobile Internet can provide fieldworkers with
direct form input functionality. This facilitates
reporting in-place with customers and the problem
at hand, thus improving quality and productivity
of work.
Access to the Internet can be embedded in mo-
bile applications. Mobile applications can offer
graphically rich, branded, and highly interactive
experiences (Zuverink, 2008). As a browser is not
needed, the usability of the application can be de-
veloped without browser constraints. As the main
application is stored locally on the phone, the user
gets access to the application immediately, even
if (s)he needs to wait for the actual content from
the Internet (Zuverink, 2008). Mobile applications
with embedded Internet connections can utilize
phone features, e.g. a finder service can give the
user information about the caller of a missed call
and a navigation service can utilize GPS data and
search maps and other topical information from
the Internet. Figure 3 illustrates how the same
service (YouTube) looks when accessing the
main site, the site designed for mobile use and as
an experimental Internet-connected application.
Access to the mobile Internet may also take
place via specialized widgets. These small mobile
applications with embedded Internet access can
provide quick access to timely information chunks,
e.g. weather or traffic information, whereas the
browser allows access to in-depth information.
Glanceability of the interface facilitates utilizing
the widget even when the usage session is very
short. If the user needs further information, the
widget can allow seamless transition to the browser
(Mihalic, 2008).
Context Awareness
Context awareness in mobile services has been
studied a lot but actual implementations are still
rare. Time and location data are relatively easily
available for context-aware services, but the other
relevant elements of context are more difficult to
detect. Location-based services are promising in
providing the user with situationally relevant and
topical data (Kaasinen, 2009). Applications based
on the mobility and location of the user can provide
new functionalities such as pedestrian navigation
systems, transport coordination or local service
guides. Context recognition does not to need to
be fully automatic. For example, in tag-based
context recognition the user him/herself updates
context information by touching contextually
relevant objects in the environment (Kaasinen et
al., 2006). The user may also update context data
based on his/her current mode (Kaasinen, 2009).
The location of the mobile device can be utilized
in sampling of real-time data for better traffic re-
ports, travel plans and other self-learning systems.
Such systems would lead towards Kindbergh and
Barton's (2000) Real-World Wide Web vision.
Add-on services connected to a certain mobile TV
programme also represent an approach to context-
aware services. These services can provide the user
with situationally relevant service that enhances
the viewing experience (Kaasinen et al., 2008).
From General to Personal
People would like to have and would benefit
from personalized content but many studies have
revealed that personalization is a major effort
even in a desktop environment. In mobile con-
texts and with mobile devices that include many
limitations regarding usability, the obstacles to
personalization are even greater. Also, as typically
mobile services are used only occasionally, the
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