The future of devices

If you've ever been confused by the vast array of functions on the latest mobile phone then you will probably want to get to know FRED.

FRED - Fantastically Really Easy to use Device - is BT's vision of a future generation of devices that will be far simpler to use and more intuitive.

Not only should it be easier to use, but the company is also investigating ways to ensure it co-operates with other devices - those you already have and those you buy in the future.

Making devices easier to use

BT Group principal research scientist, devices, Jonathan Mitchener said: "Spending time setting up new devices is a huge barrier to getting people to use new services.

"It should do something useful straight out of the box and not require you to get involved in complex set-up procedures."

He added: "When you get a new device, you want it to work out intelligently what is relevant on your old device and automatically transfer it over.

"The behaviour of the new device should inherit all the best features and set-up of the previous device. It should also recognise and co-operate with other devices you have."

But for devices to work together effectively, they need to have something in common.

Common capabilities

This is where Jonathan's devices capability models come in. By building the models, he can see clearly what capabilities are common to different devices. He can also use them to predict where technology is going and what capabilities are going to be favoured in devices in the future.

He said: "We're looking at every capability of a huge range of devices and then developing models to see what capabilities are common. We can then look at the best way for them to co-operate. The devices can only co-operate if they've got some of the same capabilities.

"As new devices with more features and technologies come out, we're trying to understand them better and understand what they can do. We use the information to build a mechanism that, in the future, will allow more of these devices to work together.

"In most cases, devices don't work together at all at the moment. If you're very lucky you can get the contacts that are on your mobile phone onto your personal digital assistant.

"We want a mechanism that's more common that we can use as a service provider across different devices to make them work together better.

"Customers see BT's services through devices so we want the devices to work together as well as possible so the service is as easy to use as possible."

As part of BT's open innovation strategy, BT is also looking at what devices it should develop and how it can get its services and applications to users via devices developed by other companies. Open innovation is the organisational capability to harness and exploit innovation globally.

Devices working together

Matt Walker, BT Group head of devices research group, explained the Swap to TV concept that has been developed by Rory Turnbull and Nick Sim, within the research and venturing team.

"People like to 'snack' on video content on their mobiles, but because the screen is so small, they don't like to watch it for any length of time," he said.

"We've developed a service that means they can start watching on their mobile and then swap to a bigger screen as soon as possible.

"Bluetooth-enabled devices send signals to other Bluetooth-enabled devices in their piconet (vicinity) advertising their capabilities, for example, broadband connected with a wide screen.

"As soon as your phone picks up a signal from another device, the user is presented with an option to swap the content to that device."

He added: "BT has developed Fastnets technology for fast streamed video. When you switch from the mobile to the big screen, it will decrease any delay in waiting for the content to start - which is particularly important for interactive video applications such as this."

He said BT has the capability to make this service available within a year.

New services with existing devices

Matt is also looking at integrating video telephony into TV sets using the broadband network. He said: "Broadband is everywhere, so it would be cost effective and video quality is now better than it has ever been.

"By siting the camera close to the TV, we believe it is a much more natural environment for people to sit and use video telephony rather than sitting at a computer desk.

"We're also looking at the impact of emerging techniques, such as head-tracking and stereo cameras - one on each side of the TV for video telephony."

Matt's team - in conjunction with the BT Group chief technology office customer experience group - plans to run users trials of set top cameras for video telephony. They want to answer questions such as how usable the service is, whether people will want to be seen and what scenarios the service will be used in, for example, business or social.

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