Project platform possibilities

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June 6, 2006

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EMMA Master of Arts

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The last couple of days I’ve been looking into the platform possibilities of my project. I have several options, although not all of them are just as good. I’m really looking for a mobile device because that would emphasize the freedom of the user.

In a perfect world that would be a user’s cellphone with embedded RFID/NFC reader and a nice and big screen that would be able to show a goodlooking and user friendly user interface. Add on top of that a camera and microphone. At the moment there are no cellphones with such specifications. What are the options?

Custom Java MIDlet for Nokia 3220 NFC with

The mobile phone is thanks to an NFC cover able to read/write RFID tags. With the Nokia NFC & RFID SDK and the central server called Nokia Local Interactions (LI) Server I might be able to create an applet that suits my needs. An interface would be created where the user will be able to view other people’s narratives or create it’s own.

  • + Mobile freedom
  • + No extra hardware for reader capability
  • + Camera + microphone built-in
  • + User interface suits application for great integration
  • – Low-end phone, low-end display capabilities
  • – Advanced java programming
  • – Expensive (SDK & LI Server license about € 2000,- for 5 users)

“Demo’ Service Discovery Application for Nokia 3220 NFC

In this case I would be using the same phone but with the default SDA that allows you to associate default phone commands (call, sms, goto url) to RFID tags. The actual user interface would shift from the phone to the webserver (WAP) the user would be sent to. The tag’s id number would be passed. I would have to create the ‘web service’.

  • + Mobile freedom
  • + No extra hardware for reader capability
  • + Camera + microphone built-in
  • + Relative cheap (phone + NFC shell about € 265,-)
  • + My experience in web development
  • + Uploading through WAP is possible with the Nokia 3220.
  • + Phones incapable of RFID reading will be able to view the WAP site
  • – Low-end phone, low-end display capabilities

PDA with WiFi and SD/CF based RFID reader

An existing PDA extended with a SecureDigital (SD) based or CompactFlash (CF) based RFID reader. A rich user interface could be created with Macromedia Flash for PocketPC. A bridge between the reader hardware and Flash would have to be created. Most readers come with keyboard wedge software turning hardware output into keystrokes that in my case can be sent to Flash.

  • + Mobile freedom
  • + Attractive graphical user interface possibilities with Flash
  • + Big screen, high-res pictures
  • + High bandwidth network connection (WiFi)
  • – Relative expensive RFID reader (€ 220,-)
  • – No Flash camera support, so no new pictures.
  • – No experience SDK/API so I might need keystrokes to communicate with Flash

PDA with RFID reader and browser

In this case camera pictures could be used.

  • + Easier upload support
  • – Less ‘integrated’ solution, a lot of separate applications

Bluetooth RFID reader together with desktop computer

To give the desktop computer mobile freedom I could use a bluetooth RFID reader like IDBlue or SAT’s RFID reader. It would be a nice demo of the possibilities but is not as charming as an all-in-one mobile device.

  • + Big monitor or beamer
  • + Video support
  • + Attractive graphical user interface possibilities with Flash
  • + High bandwidth network connection
  • – Separate display and mobile device
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