Flexible Hardware Configurations for Studying Mobile Usability
Antti Oulasvirta and Tuomo Nyyssönen
Journal of Usability Studies, Volume 4, Issue 2, February 2009, pp. 93-105
Article Contents
Recommendations
At the moment, we are focusing on improving and augmenting the system in several respects. We attempt to improve the system using the following approach:
- Increase the operational duration by exploring different battery and receiver combinations
- Implement synchronization of logging with recording events
- Improve technical reliability of the minicameras by trying alternative models
- Improve the ergonomics of the belt
We also plan to implement functionality for remotely triggering recording events via Bluetooth. This solution, enabling us to either start recording remotely or as a function of some context information, could save critical battery life.
Sensor extensions are also possible. Our collaborators at Helsinki School of Economics have developed a version based on ARMIv1 that integrated psychophysiological sensors.
As we have solved the most pertinent technical problems, the most significant problem at the moment is posed by the complexity of the system. Even though the system is able to support flexibility, training researchers to use it, constructing a new setup for a study, as well as maintenance and repair, pose such an overhead that the system's adoption even within the group has been slower than hoped.