ContextPhone: A Prototyping Platform for Context-Aware Mobile Applications

TLDR

Smart phones are attractive for context‑aware apps because of their programmability and common operating systems, yet the OS functionality does not fully meet developers’ needs. The authors designed ContextPhone, a software platform of four interconnected modules, to bridge this gap between OS capabilities and developers’ requirements. ContextPhone runs on off‑the‑shelf mobile phones using Symbian OS and the Nokia Series 60 platform and was built through an iterative, human‑centered design process. The platform enables developers to more easily create applications that integrate with existing technologies and users’ everyday lives.

Abstract

Smart phones are a particularly tempting platform for building context-aware applications because they're programmable and often use well-known operating systems. There's a gap, however, between the operating systems' functionality and the features that application developers need. To fill this gap, we've designed and developed ContextPhone, a software platform consisting of four interconnected modules provided as a set of open source C++ libraries and source code components. ContextPhone runs on off-the-shelf mobile phones using Symbian OS and the Nokia Series 60 Smartphone platform. ContextPhone was developed using an iterative, human-centered design strategy. It thus helps developers more easily create applications that integrate into both existing technologies and users' everyday lives.