Smartphone Features Research Articles

Principles for the Design of Business Dictionaries on Mobile Applications

The rapid growth of mobile applications for smartphones in the past few years has encouraged dictionary publishers to offer mobile dictionaries. One of the most prominent target markets of mobile dictionary applications is business people, especially those who are non-native speakers of English. These business people often need a dictionary to help them understand the international news they are reading. However, as shown in the review of the current mobile business dictionaries, the dictionary applications have not taken into account the needs of the users and the technological features of smartphones. The current mobile dictionaries still resemble either their electronic versions or even worse their printed versions. This can be due to the lack of research and emphasis on the theoretical aspects of mobile lexicography. Therefore, this paper tries to formulate principles for the design of business dictionaries for mobile applications. The discussion considers the implementation of the modern theory of lexicographical functions in order to create mobile dictionaries which can better satisfy the needs of the users. The principles created are organized into two parts, they are, business news with a built-in dictionary and a dictionary with updated business news.

Hybrid motion sensing and experimental modal analysis using collocated smartphone camera and accelerometers

State-of-the-art multisensory technologies and heterogeneous sensor networks propose a wide range of response measurement opportunities for structural health monitoring (SHM). Measuring and fusing different physical quantities in terms of structural vibrations can provide alternative acquisition methods and improve the quality of the modal testing results. In this study, a recently introduced SHM concept, SHM with smartphones, is focused to utilize multisensory smartphone features for a hybridized structural vibration response measurement framework. Based on vibration testing of a small-scale multistory laboratory model, displacement and acceleration responses are monitored using two different smartphone sensors, an embedded camera and accelerometer, respectively. Double-integration or differentiation among different measurement types is performed to combine multisensory measurements on a comparative basis. In addition, distributed sensor signals from collocated devices are processed for modal identification, and performance of smartphone-based sensing platforms are tested under different configuration scenarios and heterogeneity levels. The results of these tests show a novel and successful implementation of a hybrid motion sensing platform through multiple sensor type and device integration. Despite the heterogeneity of motion data obtained from different smartphone devices and technologies, it is shown that multisensory response measurements can be blended for experimental modal analysis. Getting benefit from the accessibility of smartphone technology, similar smartphone-based dynamic testing methodologies can provide innovative SHM solutions with mobile, programmable, and cost-free interfaces.

Reliability of heart rate mobile apps in young healthy adults: exploratory study and research directions

Recently, a number of smartphone apps appeared that allow for heart rate measurements basing on the photoplethysmography principle. In fact, almost every smartphone now has a camera with flash that...

Closing the Science-Health Gap With Technology: Evidence-Based Living.

Closing the Science-Health Gap With Technology: Evidence-Based Living.

Smartphone for mental health patients: A double-edged weapon?

IntroductionThe current development of new technologies dedicated to healthcare, such as smartphones, provides an interesting opportunity to improve both assessment and follow-up of different illnesses, particularly mental diseases.AimTo investigate, the contributions and risks of smartphone use among mental health patients.MethodsWe conducted a literature research of PubMed and Sciencedirect using the key words “smartphone”; “bipolar disorder”; “schizophrenia”; “anxiety disorders”; “addiction”; “dementia”.ResultsLiterature data provide several examples of the use of the smartphone's features for patient monitoring. One such example involved patients with Alzheimer disease. An attempt to deal with the risk of wandering was proposed with the use of the Android app iWander, which works by using the smartphone's GPS to track the patient at all times. As for bipolar disorder, several applications have been proposed both for diagnostic ic instruments…) and interventional purposes (applications that offer subjects psycho-education in the form of emotional self-awareness…). Several other applications can be used in the management of schizophrenia, social anxiety disorder and addictions. Along with its obvious benefits, however, the smartphone use has a dark side. Problematic smartphone use is one form of behavioral addiction recently identified. In addition, the access to Internet through the smartphone opens the door to Internet addiction and its sub-types (cybersexual addiction, cyber-relationship addiction…).ConclusionThe use of smartphone for medical purposes must be cautious among mental health patients, because of a field of vulnerability that promotes the appearance of other mental diseases, especially addictions, which may darken their prognosis.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

CloudBot: Advanced mobile botnets using ubiquitous cloud technologies

The mobile botnet is a collection of compromised mobile devices that can remotely receive commands from the botmaster. Exploiting unique features of mobile networks and smartphones, mobile botnets pose a severe threat to mobile users, because smartphones have become an indispensable part of our daily lives and carried a lot of private information. With the development of cloud computing technologies, botmaster can utilize ubiquitous cloud technologies to construct robust and scalable C&C (command and control) channel for mobile botnet. In this paper, we propose Cloudbot, a novel mobile botnet, which outperforms existing mobile botnets in terms of robustness, controllability, scalability, and stealthiness. Although the basic idea of using cloud technologies seems straightforward, we explore the design space of exploiting such services and tackle several challenging issues to overcome the limitations of existing mobile botnets. We have implemented CloudBot by exploiting popular push services and cloud storage services, and evaluated it through extensive experiments. The results demonstrate not only the feasibility of CloudBot but also its advantages, such as stealthiness, robustness, and performance.

Bring Your Own Device: A Digital Notebook for Undergraduate Biochemistry Laboratory Using a Free, Cross-Platform Application

The majority of undergraduates own a smartphone, yet fewer than half view it as a valuable learning technology. Consequently, a digital laboratory notebook (DLN) was developed for an upper-division undergraduate biochemistry laboratory course using the free mobile application Evernote. The cloud-based DLN capitalized on the unique features of smartphones (i.e., photo uploading, audio capture, dictation) and could also be accessed from any Internet-connected device (i.e., tablet, laptop, desktop). This cross-platform flexibility enabled a “Bring Your Own Device” philosophy in the course, leveraging the educational power of students’ personal devices. The DLN served as a secure data management system, where any file could be attached, edited, and analyzed. The DLN also accommodated freehand drawing. A postsemester survey indicated that the cloud connectivity of the DLN facilitated greater collaboration between students and enhanced the quality of their communication with the instructor compared with traditi...

Performance Evaluation of Pedestrian Locations Based on Contemporary Smartphones

Nowadays, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) unit is embedded in nearly every smartphone. This unit allows a smartphone to detect the user’s location and motion, and it makes functions, such as navigation, tracking, and compass applications, available to the user. Therefore, the GNSS unit has become one of the most important features in modern smartphones. However, because most smartphones incorporate relatively low-cost GNSS chips, their localization accuracy varies depending on the number of accessible GNSS satellites, and it is highly dependent on environmental factors that cause interference such as forests and buildings. This research evaluated the performance of the GNSS units inside two different models of smartphones in determining pedestrian locations in different environments. The results indicate that the overall performances of the two devices were related directly to the environment, type of smartphone/GNSS chipset, and the application used to collect the information.

Push Notifications in Diet Apps: Influencing Engagement Times and Tasks

ABSTRACTBackground: Smartphones have reached levels of popularity and penetration where they are now suitable for use in population health interventions. A key feature of smartphones is push notification or in app messaging service, which can be used to alert users to messages or instructions pertaining to an installed app. Little evidence exists as to the persuasive power of these messages.Method: We conducted a 24-week live user evaluation of push notifications used in a behavior-based mobile app for a meal replacement program to understand the role of push notifications in persuading users to engage with self-monitoring tasks.Results: User perception of the prompts were verified through questionnaires, which in conjunction with the interaction logs show that users were tolerant of multiple daily prompts. The decline in compliance to the tasks set, however, shows that while the participants did not object to receiving prompts, they were less likely to respond to them as the study progressed.Conclusions: Push notifications and user tasks are appropriate mechanisms to engage users with mobile technology in the short term.

Push Notifications in Diet Apps: Influencing Engagement Times and Tasks

Background: Smartphones have reached levels of popularity and penetration where they are now suitable for use in population health interventions. A key feature of smartphones is push notification or in app messaging service, which can be used to alert users to messages or instructions pertaining to an installed app. Little evidence exists as to the persuasive power of these messages.Method: We conducted a 24 week live user evaluation of a behaviour based mobile app for a meal replacement program, using smartphone push notifications, to understand the role of push notifications in persuading users to engage with self-monitoring tasks.Results: Tasks and Push notifications appear to have affected the times at which users TBCConclusions: Push Notifications and user tasks are appropriate mechanisms to engage users with mobile technology in the short term.

Usability evaluation of adaptive features in smartphones

This paper presents a usability study that aims to analyze effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction based on the existing adaptive features in smartphones. The adaptive features include screen rotation, voice commands, LED notifications and kid mode for android and iOS platforms. The effectiveness and efficiency are measured by considering task completion within a specific time while satisfaction is measured through After Scenario Questionnaire (ASQ) technique. The experiment is carried out with the involvement of 128 participants. The study shows interesting patterns in usability where screen rotation and voice commands resulted in lower usability. Whereas, LED notifications is a dominant feature having almost 88% effectiveness comparing to a non-adaptive environment. Finally, the study suggests that the adaptive features must be applied after careful analysis of user tasks and context.

Control yourself: on user control of privacy settings using personalization and privacy panel on smartphones

Abstract: The paper assesses the gap between actual and perceived privacy features of smartphones, exploring privacy as one decision-making factor in information protection, and the balance between privacy control and the required user interaction with the settings. We conducted a fine-grained evaluation partly based on the Privacy Panel, a protection solution on Firefox OS including features of Find my Device, Backup, Location Blurring, and Guest Mode. Results showed that safety as one decision-making factor impacted information protection in different use cases at different levels. Although people sacrifice more privacy as the price of a handset grows, they still see privacy as a factor of various significance with respect to context of finding back smartphone and selecting storage places. People were satisfied to use improved privacy settings but still did not well adapt to complex personalized interfaces. Sorting methods, recommendations and establishing profiles have shown to be feasible ways to assist users to balance between full control and the additional interaction burden when adjusting privacy settings in a complex app ecosystem.

Non-social features of smartphone use are most related to depression, anxiety and problematic smartphone use

Little is known about the mechanisms of smartphone features that are used in sealing relationships between psychopathology and problematic smartphone use. Our purpose was to investigate two specific smartphone usage types – process use and social use – for associations with depression and anxiety; and in accounting for relationships between anxiety/depression and problematic smartphone use. Social smartphone usage involves social feature engagement (e.g., social networking, messaging), while process usage involves non-social feature engagement (e.g., news consumption, entertainment, relaxation). 308 participants from Amazon's Mechanical Turk internet labor market answered questionnaires about their depression and anxiety symptoms, and problematic smartphone use along with process and social smartphone use dimensions. Statistically adjusting for age and sex, we discovered the association between anxiety symptoms was stronger with process versus social smartphone use. Depression symptom severity was negatively associated with greater social smartphone use. Process smartphone use was more strongly associated with problematic smartphone use. Finally, process smartphone use accounted for relationships between anxiety severity and problematic smartphone use.

Roadmapping for prioritisation of smartphone feature requirements based on user experiences

ABSTRACTSince the life cycle of smartphones is becoming shorter, users are demanding new and improved smartphone features for updated smartphones, but it is difficult to know which features are the most important to users. In Internet user communities, users increasingly review smartphone functions and share information about their experiences such as complaints, problems, and satisfaction, and these user experiences have been fruitful sources for manufacturers that lead to smartphone improvements. Focusing on these user experiences, this paper proposes a systematic roadmapping process including prioritisation of smartphone feature requirements. By prioritising smartphone feature requirements, new and improved versions of smartphones that reflect user needs can be planned based on a product–market roadmap. The systematic approach consists of three parts: user-driven quality function deployment (QFD), a frequent pattern (FP)-tree algorithm, and a product–market roadmap. First, we collected data extracted from text mining in Internet user communities to construct a user-driven QFD. Second, using user experiences related to smartphone features, we applied the FP-tree algorithm to algorithmically derive a priority list of smartphone feature requirements. Finally, based on the result of the FP-tree of smartphones, we proposed guidelines to construct a product–market roadmap. It is expected that a versioning strategy can be formulated through this prioritised product–market roadmap. Furthermore, covering each step from data collection to roadmapping, this study suggests a systematic process for prioritisation of smartphone feature requirements based on user experiences.

Prevalence and correlates of problematic smartphone use in a large random sample of Chinese undergraduates.

BackgroundSmartphones are becoming a daily necessity for most undergraduates in Mainland China. Because the present scenario of problematic smartphone use (PSU) is largely unexplored, in the current study we aimed to estimate the prevalence of PSU and to screen suitable predictors for PSU among Chinese undergraduates in the framework of the stress-coping theory.MethodsA sample of 1062 undergraduate smartphone users was recruited by means of the stratified cluster random sampling strategy between April and May 2015. The Problematic Cellular Phone Use Questionnaire was used to identify PSU. We evaluated five candidate risk factors for PSU by using logistic regression analysis while controlling for demographic characteristics and specific features of smartphone use.ResultsThe prevalence of PSU among Chinese undergraduates was estimated to be 21.3%. The risk factors for PSU were majoring in the humanities, high monthly income from the family (≥1500 RMB), serious emotional symptoms, high perceived stress, and perfectionism-related factors (high doubts about actions, high parental expectations).ConclusionsPSU among undergraduates appears to be ubiquitous and thus constitutes a public health issue in Mainland China. Although further longitudinal studies are required to test whether PSU is a transient phenomenon or a chronic and progressive condition, our study successfully identified socio-demographic and psychological risk factors for PSU. These results, obtained from a random and thus representative sample of undergraduates, opens up new avenues in terms of prevention and regulation policies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-016-1083-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Psychological Traits, Addiction Symptoms, and Feature Usage as Predictors of Problematic Smartphone Use among University Students in China

This study investigates the effects of psychological traits (i.e., procrastination, leisure boredom, and impulsivity) and addiction symptoms on problematic smartphone use. Data were collected from a multistage random sample of 649 university students. The results showed that procrastination, impulsivity [including sensation seeking and (lack of) perseverance], symptoms of addiction (e.g., inability to control craving, withdrawal, and complaints), and frequent usage of smartphone features for instrumental, relational, expressive, and informational purposes were significant predictors of problematic smartphone use.

Active and reactive behaviour in human mobility: the influence of attraction points on pedestrians

Human mobility is becoming an accessible field of study, thanks to the progress and availability of tracking technologies as a common feature of smart phones. We describe an example of a scalable experiment exploiting these circumstances at a public, outdoor fair in Barcelona (Spain). Participants were tracked while wandering through an open space with activity stands attracting their attention. We develop a general modelling framework based on Langevin dynamics, which allows us to test the influence of two distinct types of ingredients on mobility: reactive or context-dependent factors, modelled by means of a force field generated by attraction points in a given spatial configuration and active or inherent factors, modelled from intrinsic movement patterns of the subjects. The additive and constructive framework model accounts for some observed features. Starting with the simplest model (purely random walkers) as a reference, we progressively introduce different ingredients such as persistence, memory and perceptual landscape, aiming to untangle active and reactive contributions and quantify their respective relevance. The proposed approach may help in anticipating the spatial distribution of citizens in alternative scenarios and in improving the design of public events based on a facts-based approach.

Automatic Mathematical and Chronological Prediction in Smartphone Keyboard

Artificial intelligence is the mechanism which makes human work very easy by making the devices to process from the perspective of a human being. Predictive text is a feature in smart phones, which runs on Operating Systems such as iOS, Android, Windows etc. This feature plays a major role in helping the individual to select the word that succeeds the current word of their text message or statement. In the proposed system, the concept of predictive mechanism is taken to the next level by predicting mathematical solutions and chronological data. Thus, the system automatically does the mathematical calculations in the middle of a chat, without making the user switch to the calculator application; and also finds chronological data such as date and day, without having to switch to the calendar application. KeywordsMathematical prediction; date and day prediction; predictive text; chronological prediction; smartphone keyboard; predictive keyboard;

Optional Frame Selection Algorithm for Adaptive Symmetric Service of Augmented Reality Big Data on Smart Devices

Following recent technological advances in diverse mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets and smartwatches, in-depth studies aimed at improving the quality of augmented reality (AR) are currently ongoing. Smartphones feature the essential elements of AR implementation, such as a camera, a processor and a display in a single device. As a result, additional hardware expansion for AR implementation has become unnecessary, popularizing AR technology at the user level. In the early stages, low-level AR technology was used mainly in limited fields, including simple road guides and marker-based recognition. Due to advances in AR technology, the range of usage has expanded as diverse technologies and purposes are combined. Users’ expectations of AR technology have also increased with this trend, and a high quality of service (QoS), with high-resolution, high-quality images, is now available. However, there are limitations in terms of processing speed and graphic treatment with smart devices, which, due to their small size, have inferior performance compared to the desktop environment when processing data for the implementation of high-resolution, high-quality images. This paper proposes an optional frame-selection algorithm (OFSA), which eliminates the unnecessary work involved with redundant frames during rendering for adaptive symmetric service of augmented reality big data on smart devices. Moreover, the memory read-write delay of the internally-operating OFSA, is minimized by adding an adaptive operation function. It is possible to provide adaptive common AR images at an improved frame rate in heterogeneous smart devices with different levels of performance.

An energy‐efficient framework for ubiquitous phone access

SummaryEnergy‐constrained smartphones and operation‐facilitated tablets are popular and necessary in our daily life, and people may prefer to use tablet to access smartphone's features for energy efficiency and easy operation. In this paper, we present uPhone, an energy‐efficient framework for ubiquitous phone access that allows ubiquitous and symmetric access to a smartphone's core features via a third device such as a tablet. More specifically, we design uPhone in two main components of devices and uPhone server, then implement it on a smartphone as a primary device and a tablet as a secondary device, and finally evaluate it in terms of energy savings, latency, and reliability. The evaluation results demonstrate that uPhone achieves up to 44% energy savings compared with simply typing and sending messages, and notifies on a smartphone, incurs little latency overhead that is acceptable by users, and performs roughly equivalent to standard messages with a high‐quality user experience. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.