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Polite Cell Phones

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:49 AM
from the don't-be-THAT-guy-at-the-movie-theater dept.
Communications Technology
yEvb0 writes "Researchers at Motorola and Carnegie Mellon University are developing more polite cell phones. Strategies include programming the ringer to turn on and off according to the time of day, monitoring sound light levels to determine if the owner is a movie theater or talking to his boss, and even letting callers decide whether they'd like to interrupt based on this information."
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  • good sales strategy (Score:3, Funny)

    by rd4tech (711615) * <emilijan&cpuedge,com> on Monday February 13 2006, @10:51AM (#14706522) Homepage
    monitoring sound light levels to determine if the owner is a movie theater

    Ok, I'm confused enough, now, where can I buy this cellphone from?

    • monitoring sound light levels to determine if the owner is a movie theater

      Phones ringing are bad. Yes. But you know what? That's because people are inconsiderate jerks.

      I remember going to a couple of movies in a row. Each time, not only did a phone ring, but at least once a guy would answer the phone and start talking in his "cell phone voice." In other words, twice as loud as a person would normally talk. One movie, a guy's phone went off like 5 times. Each time he'd have a loud conversation. Unf

      • Imho, none of these are solutions - they all require behaviour on the part of the user to be polite. The opposite approach should've been default. A venue should be able to mark themselves as "quiet" or "silent" by having a "venue flag broadcasting device".

        The phone would then enter either a "vibrate only" or "pager/SMS only" mode. Doctors and other emergency service personnel could, in turn, get this feature overridden by their provider if they can show need.

        Parents, on the other hand, could still recie

  • It's Called 'Vibrate' (Score:5, Insightful)

    by eldavojohn (898314) * <my/.username@@@gmail.com> on Monday February 13 2006, @10:51AM (#14706528) Homepage Journal
    Set your phone to vibrate. It's been working for me for years. Non-invasive when doing anything in my daily routine.

    Is there really a reason I should have to enter my schedule into my phone? Because it's not going to happen.

    • Re:It's Called 'Vibrate' (Score:5, Interesting)

      by LinuxHam (52232) on Monday February 13 2006, @10:56AM (#14706611) Homepage Journal
      Not to mention something Nextel has had for years. If I put my regularly scheduled meetings in my datebook, I can program the phone to switch to vibrate on its own, shut off the two-way radio feature, and even decide who in my phonebook is allowed to ring through, just for the length of the meeting. Its really an excellent feature, and I love it.
    • Vibrate is not always the best option:
      A couple examples:
      At church, during a quiet time, a hip-worn cell vibrating against a Wooden Pew makes a lot of noise...
      During one of my MBA classes, one guys phone was always vibrating, and it was distracting. Especially during exams.
      There are many more examples, but I have to get back to work...

      • Re:It's Called 'Vibrate' (Score:5, Funny)

        by voice_of_all_reason (926702) on Monday February 13 2006, @11:00AM (#14706674)
        At church, during a quiet time, a hip-worn cell vibrating against a Wooden Pew makes a lot of noise...

        Well, I mean... they already have the crosses and nails there, right? Seems like a no-brainer to me.
      • Perhaps it would be easy to simply move the cell phone away from the hip? Stick it in a shirt pocket, move it to be on your lap. Some problems are so easily solved without technology. As for the MBA guy, well, I suppose you were lucky it was on vibrate. The prof or you could have mentioned something, especially in the exam. Otherwise, there will always be inconsiderate people, and technology can't fix that.

      • Re:It's Called 'Vibrate' (Score:5, Insightful)

        by paeanblack (191171) on Monday February 13 2006, @01:08PM (#14708444)
        Vibrate is not always the best option:

        When a cell phone on vibrate is going to be too distracting to others, THEN TURN IT OFF!

        You have two options:

        1) Accept that cell-phone use in certain situations is inappropriate and don't use them.
        2) Don't put yourself in those situations.

        You used church as your example. Why are you there? To talk to God? (sorry, God, I need to take this call...wtf?) Or are you there just to be seen? (yeah, I'm here to look good, but I'm going to be an ass and disrupt the service dealing with my phone...wtf??)

        Seriously, if your cellphone going ringy-dingy is more important than the service you are attending, why are you there?
  • since people obviously don't anymore...

  • They should research (Score:5, Insightful)

    by endrue (927487) on Monday February 13 2006, @10:52AM (#14706540)
    a polite human being.
    Seriously folks! How hard is it to turn off the ringer? Are we so daft these days that our phones have to be polite for us?

  • But... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gEvil (beta) (945888) on Monday February 13 2006, @10:53AM (#14706560)
    But can it tell the difference between a movie theater and my pocket?
    • Some people never put their phone in their pockets. They have it surgically attacked to their ear.

    • Re:But... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by jrumney (197329)
      More to the point, can it tell the difference between my pocket in a cinema, and my pocket in my boss's office?
    • That's where the artificial butter detector comes in... which should work, unless you keep a lot of that in your pocket, in which case you're probably not the kind of person who minds what other people think of you.

  • Silent (Score:3)

    by YrWrstNtmr (564987) on Monday February 13 2006, @10:53AM (#14706563)
    even letting callers decide whether they'd like to interrupt based on this information.

    How about no? Letting callers decide whether to override YOUR preferences? That'll work well.

    How about just put the damn thing on silent/vibrate, and leave the rest of us out of your phone call world. I don't need to hear your l33t ringtone.

    • Re:Silent (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Overzeetop (214511) on Monday February 13 2006, @11:43AM (#14707265) Journal
      There's some merit to this, actually, though it has certain limits. I'd love to know when I call someone's cell (especially those who have no landline) whether I'm going to interrupt them in a meeting or during a meal. A lot of folks will not put their phones on vibe or silent - some are inconsiderate, some are just forgetful - when they don't really want to be disturbed. When I call, I have a reason - I rarely call "just to chat". I want someone's full attention, and if they are busy, I'd rather get voicemail than interrupt. The flip side is the occasional time I might call just to talk. I don't want to interrupt something important with a useless call. I'll just hang up.

      Then, there's the reason to want forced ring-through. If something happens to a family member, I want someone to interrupt me, whatever I happen to be doing. Even if that just happens to be a vibe when I've got the cell set for silent. If it's serious, I'd rather be rude. I'd probably not give out the "ring anywhere" access to most folks, or put a block in the phone (say, a per-number access level). Likewise, if I have an urgent message, I'd like to make sure the person gets notified of my call.

      This won't fix the problem of rude users who - rather than leaving the room - will take a call anywhere, anytime, and talk at full volume. That's not something technology can't fix (though I would recommend a location-specific bark-collar device for repeat-offenders while they're in otherwise quiet spaces)
  • The problem with this is that you cannot take priority of the call. If I am talking to a Boss and say my Wife calls me to tell me she is having a Baby. I much rather have the phone stop being polite and call me. Also there is an issue of guessing correctly, If you are watching a movie in a theator vs. a home theator, with a good sound system. If you want to make the phone polite keep the vibrator on and make glasses (that are fasionable) that have a screen that can tell you who is calling. Don't bother w
    • If I am talking to a Boss and say my Wife calls me to tell me she is having a Baby. I much rather have the phone stop being polite and call me

      And how often does that happen? A span of a week or so, once or twice a lifetime. I'm pretty sure your boss can handle the possible interruption.

  • It's dark and there is the sound of rattling change.

    Good luck with this one.

  • Pocket Watch (Score:4, Interesting)

    by clickety6 (141178) on Monday February 13 2006, @10:56AM (#14706620)

    A lot of people use their phone as a watch these days, so it would be nice to have the possibiltiy to turn off the phone functionality but keep the clock functionality. Ditto with phones that have cameras, PDA capabilities, etc. That way you could still use them in aircraft, hospitals etc. without having the problems an active phone are supposed to cause.

    All the phones I've had are either fuly ON or fully OFF with maybe juts an alarm fucntion being available.

  • Every time some newfangled crap tries to anticipate and adapt to my needs, it fails miserably. See also: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel.

    No thanks. Like a wise man once said -- If you're hungry, eat. If you're tired, sleep. If you have to go... you know... go. Don't expect Hal to catch these sort of things with any degree of accuracy.

  • How about human politeness (Score:5, Interesting)

    by binaryDigit (557647) on Monday February 13 2006, @10:58AM (#14706638)
    It seems to me that most of the "rudeness" of phones stems from peoples strange addictions to ringtones. I just leave my phone on silent/vibrate all the time, and just never worry about disturbing anyone. It's sad that so much energy has to be expended to deal with such an issue. Plus, many of those strategies sound iffy at best since, for instance, many women keep their cell phones in their purse/bag, rendering any attempt to guage light or sound pretty much useless. Plus, as far as sound is concerned, how many people are going to feel a bit disturbed by the fact that their phone is now ALWAYS "listening".

    That being said I see two useful features (which may have been mentioned in the article that I admit I haven't read). One, simply have the phone check your calendar to see if you have a meeting scheduled. Two, provide some type of "snooze" button. Right now, if you decline a call because you're in a meeting, you still get an annoying beep when they leave a message, or the same damn "ringing" 10 min later when they call again. Why not have a single button basically put the phone in silent mode for the next half/hour/n minutes?

  • monitoring WHAT? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by YrWrstNtmr (564987) on Monday February 13 2006, @10:58AM (#14706647)
    monitoring sound light levels to determine

    So your phone is constantly 'listening' and evaluating the sound level.

    Listening to what, exactly? I can see the headline in a couple of years:
    "Your cellphone is listening in to all your conversations"
    And thanks to a new virus, is transmitting them!"

  • I've had several phones and pagers that allow you to set "quiet time", where the phone/pager will automatically put itself in vibrate mode at the times you choose.

    More recently, a Hitachi cellphone I used on the Sprint network had a light sensor that muted the ringer the moment it was removed from a pocket. If left on a desk, the ringer volume would be set lower than if it were in a dark place (i.e. your pocket)

    So, while this is certainly interesting, there have already been practical applications of such
  • This could be the start of bloated cell phones I regret to note. Once these phones are manufactured, cell phone companies will "force" us to upgrade. I won't forget the experience I had last week when I visited a cell phone supply shop to replace a battery for my phone. The man there looked at it and immediately asked, "Where did you get this?" I had no answer for him. Then he told me that my olny solution was to buy a "new" phone yet my phone was bought three years ago and had served me well since.
  • Having the device switch modes on its own depending on rules that may or may not be obvious to users will be a problem. Technophobes already complain their phones are too complicated: this is step further away from a simple desk phone people have mastered.
  • Just have the phone light up and vibrate as the default, with the ringer as an option?

    Maybe this way it will cut down on the annoying cell music I hear every day?
  • Want the ringer to change based on the time of day? Callfilter. [mytreo.net]

    Change the brightness of the screen depending on the surrounding light? BrightCam. [palmgear.com]

    Not to mention the nice hardware switch right at the top that lets you choose between silent and ringer modes.

    You can do a lot more with a Treo than your standard phone, but it is nice to see manufacturers building these features right into off-the-shelf products.

  • Why can't the movie theatre _tell_ the phone (Score:5, Insightful)

    by wfmcwalter (124904) on Monday February 13 2006, @11:05AM (#14706743) Homepage
    Rather than guessing we're in a movie theatre (which is what this amounts to) or places using cell-phone blockers, why can't someone implement a simple scheme to _tell_ the phone not to ring?

    Of those phones which do ring in an inappropriate place, the owners of the great majority have simply forgotten to turn their phone off (they're forgetful, not sociopathic). Movie theatres, concert halls, libraries and other please-keep-quiet places could have short-range radio equipment inside which sent a "this is a quiet zone" signal. You'd program your phone (and it would come programmed by default) that when it was receiving that signal it would go onto the vibrate-only ring preference. When the signal was lost, it would revert to your default. So when you entered, and when you left, there would be no need to remember to set the phone correctly (the nagging ads always remind me to turn my phone off, but very often I forget at the end and leave my phone off for the remainder of the day). Similarly noisy places like train stations and airport concourses could broadcast a "this is a noisy environment", which your phone would typically interpret to mean that it should use a loud, shrill ringtone.

    There >are Phones should, incidentally, have an "answer with hold" button. So a doctor in the movies whose phone rang (silently) could take it out, notice that it's the hospital's number, and push "answer with hold". The caller would get a short recorded message saying "this person is aware of your call, and will be with you shortly - please hold" - that way the doctor can take the call, but doesn't have to talk into the phone until they've walked into the theatre lobby, where they can take the phone off hold and talk.

  • How about you start charging people who disturb the peace in a movie theatre or another place where silence from the public is the norm? If you get a cell phone call in the middle of a theatre, you have no good excuse to not answer it outside. Sorry, not even having a group of kids under your watch is a good excuse to have a full blown conversation.
  • I hate noisy cellphones, I think people are rude for thinking they are so important that they can disturb others' peace. Having said that, there is one thing I wish I had when I keep my cell phone on vibrate: a distinctive vibrate "ring." The only thing I think is cool about ringtones is the ability to customize them so you know who is calling without looking at the phone. If I had distinctive vibrate I could definitely say there is no longer any excuse for a noisy phone.

  • Always thought that this would be a good BT profil (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Scyber (539694) on Monday February 13 2006, @11:22AM (#14706976)
    Silent or something like that. A device could be installed in locations that would try and pair with any bluetooth devices. You could allow the device the first time, and then everytime you visit that location again, it would automatically shift your phone into silent mode. Would be great for meeting rooms & movie theaters.
  • the greatest thing about email is it is asynchronous. i can communicate with someone else on my schedule, without my thoughts being interrupted by random claptrap. that's why my first cell phone ever was a blackberry, and before that the idea of a cellphone in my life horrified me. it didn't represent freedom to me, it represented being chained whereever i went. even now, my blackberry is silent, no ring or vibrate whatsoever, i just look at the screen every 5 minutes or so. i can't imagine a life interrupted and ruled by the random claptrap of a cellphone ringing
    • i just look at the screen every 5 minutes or so. i can't imagine a life interrupted and ruled by the random claptrap of a cellphone ringing

      You can't imagine your life interrupted and ruled by a cellphone ringing, yet you look at your phone every 5 minutes?

      I can easily say that the only time I ever even remember I have my cellphone on me is when it vibrates when I'm at work. At home, I switch it to ringer and it's all normal. I'm not latched to anything. If I don't want to talk, or I can't talk, I si

  • My cell phone goes to a lot of movies, I guess (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ScentCone (795499) on Monday February 13 2006, @11:26AM (#14707029)
    If (as TFA suggests), monitoring the ambient light is an indication of cinema-ness, then my phone, which spends many hours in my coat pocket or in a flap-covered holster, must think I'm the most entertained guy in the world.

    BTW, if they're going to allow scheduled ring times, I think that's great. But (especially relative to the movie scenario) a very short keystroke sequence that says "don't ring for the next 1/2/4 hours" would be used 100 times more often than TOD programmability, IMHO.

  • Polite phones don't help when people are rude. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jonnythan (79727) on Monday February 13 2006, @11:27AM (#14707064) Homepage
    http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,2028 1,18104683-5001022,00.html [news.com.au]

    Seriously, the problem isn't the gadgetry, it's the people who use the gadgetry. In the link above, a woman's cell phone rings in a movie theater, then she whips it out and starts talking on it during the movie. Polite ringers won't do a damn thing when it's people that are the problem.

  • Who is the target market? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by phpWebber (693379) on Monday February 13 2006, @11:44AM (#14707280)
    Polite people don't need it. Rude people won't buy it or learn how to use it. Seems a wasted effort.

  • Technical solution to an a***hole problem (Score:3, Insightful)

    by BenjyD (316700) on Monday February 13 2006, @12:01PM (#14707521)
    The problem isn't the phones, it's the morons who use them. I can't get on a bus round here without some group of braindead teenagers watching music videos or oh-so-amusing 'comedy' video clips using the phone's external speaker turned up full. The kind of person who thinks that is acceptable behaviour is not going to bother with a polite phone.

  • maybe... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by penguin-collective (932038) on Monday February 13 2006, @12:02PM (#14707535)
    Researchers at Motorola and Carnegie Mellon University are developing more polite cell phones. Strategies include programming the ringer to turn on and off according to the time of day,

    Maybe "researchers at Motorola and Carnegie Mellon University" should make the effort and head down to their local electronics store to see which of the features they are so busily researching are already available in shipping phones.

    As for the rest of the scenarios, leaving your phone on "buzz" works just fine. In particular, if it's in your pocket, it's silent, when it's on a hard surface, it makes a lot of noise--just what you want.
  • The idea of a smart phone doesn't sound too appealing, there are just too many exceptions to rules, and I am generally better at choosing for myself.

    I think before we even get into changing phones so they're smart, why not change them so they're not retarded first? The biggest problem I have with phones is that many of them (the two motorolas I have) beep when you change yourself from "loud" mode to silent. At least when you don't have the phone open. Now what idiot thought up this idea? You're sitting in class, or a theater, and suddenly realize you left your phone on. Now you have to make a decision, do you annoy those around you by having your phone beep at you as you turn the ringer off, or do you run the risk that it might ring.

    Also as other people have said, once it rings and you hit the ignore button, don't beep for a voice mail message, or ring again from the same person etc.

    While people who use their phones all the time are generally better about remembering to turn off their phones, those of us who get a couple calls a week, and almost never during the day often don't think about the fact that they have their phone with them wherever they are.

    Basically, just fix the idiotic notions programmed into cell phones, and then think about smart phones.

    Phil

  • Typical American technological solution... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mccrew (62494) on Monday February 13 2006, @01:02PM (#14708368) Homepage
    This same story was on NPR this morning, and I listened with increasing incredulity to the ridiculous technological lengths that the American tech crowd goes to find a technical solution to non-technical problems.

    There were discussions about having people wear various light and sound sensors so the phone could make an "intelligent" choice whether to ring or not, or going through an extensive training period where the user tells the phone whether to ring or not, and the phone "learns." Like with anything online these days, the topic went to how much private data was the user willing to give up in order to allow the callers to decide whether to make the phone ring or not.

    Hello??? The problem here is that people are thoughtless. No amount of tech is really going to change that.

    This reminds me of that old joke of the difference between the American space program and the old Soviet space program. The Americans spent lots of money to research and develop a pen that would work without gravity, while the Soviets used pencils. Nothing new under the sun.

    • How is that like the american phones. When the vibrate goes off people go and pick up the phone and start talking loudly to it. Many times it is far more interupting then the phone itself.
      • How is that like the american phones. When the vibrate goes off people go and pick up the phone and start talking loudly to it. Many times it is far more interupting then the phone itself.

        A lot of people put their phones on vibrate when they go into the movies.

        Only to sit there and have a conversation the moment it rings.

        Needless to say, movie theaters need to have flamthrowers available to the audience.

    • Re:I heard something about this long ago (Score:4, Insightful)

      by mwvdlee (775178) on Monday February 13 2006, @11:05AM (#14706742) Homepage
      "Taking away my rights" is what happens when I throw their phone in the nearest trashcan, "Invasion of privacy" happens after that, when they feel the sudden impact of my foot in their groin.
      Thankfully, restaurants and theaters are allowed to block cellphone transmissions here in the Netherlands.
      • Thankfully, restaurants and theaters are allowed to block cellphone transmissions here in the Netherlands.

        We went to a nice restaurant yesterday morning for breakfast. The building was entirely copper clad. We got no signal inside, and we were just fine with that.

        They call themselves "Copper Bleu", but I think a better name for them would be "Faraday's."

    • I think it'd be great if the phone had an option I could turn on to say "Respect requests for silence via Bluetooth." Then places where silence is desired (nice restaurants, movie theaters, libraries, churches, funeral homes) could have a Bluetooth transmitter at the entryway saying "Go silent until X:00", or "Go silent for three hours."

      Of course I'd like to have a bit more control than that. There are some places where I'd like the phone to go "dead" and others where I'd prefer it to go to vibrate mode

    • Re:vibrate? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by dave420 (699308) on Monday February 13 2006, @11:16AM (#14706898)
      It will work regardless of whether the phone owner is rude or not. Like someone on the bus who gets a call they don't want to answer, and their phone is not on silent. They just stare at the phone as it rings and rings. I hate 'em. There is absolutely no reason for phones to have ring tones at all. The amount of intrinsic rudeness in mobile phones is ridiculous.

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