experience in some contexts of use, such as the forthcoming clip-on fall sensor
for the Lively safety watch for older adults. Specialist equipment may also
te nd to offer better performance through better quality parts, such as more
powerful GPS chips or better battery life.
What interaction capabilities do the various devices have (or could you
cost-effectively include on a custom device?)
You may be able to consider adding or removing interaction capabilities (like
screens, buttons, audio beeps or LEDs) to embedded devices. However, these
typically add to production costs, so you will probably need to keep these to a
minimum and offload more complex functionality onto a mobile or web UI. If
you’re not able to influence the design of the embedded devices, you’ll have to
work with the interaction capabilities you have.
You may also decide that just because a device could support a particular
function, it does not have to. Keeping things simple may make the device
interface easier to understand. For example, a heating controller with a low-
resolution screen and limited buttons might be best used for status information
and in-the-moment controls (turn the heating up now!). You could offload
more complex tasks such as schedule setting onto a web or mobile interface.
The bigger screen size and richer interaction capabilities will enable a better
design. You can also provide a ‘good’ way to do the task on a fuller featured
device and a limited or compromised version on a less capable device which
must occasionally work alone. For example, an intruder alarm system may
provide an easy way to view which sensors triggered the alarm on a mobile
interface. The task may also need to be possible on the alarm panel via a basic
LCD screen, even though this is likely to involve many more button presses,
perhaps navigating menus and modal states.
Does the system need to work if some devices are unavailable?
What happens if a device is unavailable, e.g. a smartphone is lost or the battery
is dead? Does it need to be used by 3rd parties who may not have access to a
web or mobile app, such as visitors to the home? Can the device work offline?
How accurate does sensing need to be?
If a service needs to know the rough location of its user, a smartphone can
estimate this from for GPS/celltower signals. If it needs to know which room