MOBILE DEVELOPMENT VIDEO (2007)

Late in 2007 we produced a short video segment about our mobile development process. To view this video, click here.

SURVEY OF MOBILE DEVICES (2007)

To ground our research into the capabilities of mobile devices and the feasibility of transferring Army training applications to a mobile platform, we conducted a broad survey of the mobile device market. We examined a wide variety of consumer-available devices and noted the characteristics of their hardware, software, and form factor. The results were compiled in the form of a spreadsheet which allowed the various devices to be compared.

This spreadsheet has been ported to our chart viewer, and is available in that form here.

IPAQ USABILITY INVESTIGATION (2007)

The HP iPaq hx2495 is a personal digital assistant aimed primarily at the enterprise market. It runs the popular Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system and is bundled with mobile versions of Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player. Because it is an established platform, developer support is excellent. However, the device is not well suited to media-rich applications. The internal memory is extremely restrictive and expanded memory is not always reliable. The included Media Player software is only capable of playing specific video encodings, and it is difficult to integrate video tightly within an application. Third party alternatives exist, but they are difficult to install and not always superior. Likewise, the web-browsing capabilities of the device include very limited support for JavaScript and streaming video.

NOKIA N800 USABILITY INVESTIGATION (2007)

The Nokia N800 is a personal media player aimed at the casual consumer market. However, it does not support any proprietary file formats, such as WMV, MOV, AAC, or WMA, which are common. It includes an admirable web browser which has some limited video-streaming capability. However, many websites include elements specifically designed and tested for Internet Explorer, Mozilla/Netscape and Safari browsers, and these elements are not always rendered correctly. The device's operating system is open, and so supports third party applications and development based on free-software. However, in practice, the development environment is extremely difficult to set up and the developer community is immature. Existing third-party applications are occasionally useful, but frequently too memory intensive to run well on the device.

IPOD USABILITY INVESTIGATION (2007 - 2008)

The Apple iPod is a relatively simple portable media player. While it is much more limited than other devices we explored in terms of user interaction and versatility, it boasts an expansive internal storage space and tightly integrated media playback functionality. It also runs an application called Notes, with which we were able to author a simple branching organization that presented media in a guided manner.

Following our investigation of the iPod, we developed a prototype of a training module based on ICT's Army Excellence in Learning application. Click here to learn more about our AXL iPod program.

IPHONE USABILITY INVESTIGATION (2007 - 2008)

Among the mobile platforms tested in the FORCE research, the iPhone has proven the most versatile as a platform for training applications. In addition to its media player capabilities, the iPhone has a fairly robust implementation of the Safari web browser. Drawbacks to the iPhone include its limited JavaScript support and prohibitive load times for streaming media. While the lack of the iPod's Notes program makes the scripting of lightweight HTML-based local applications difficult, Apple's open development tools allow for rich local applications to be developed at a slightly higher barrier of entry.

FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS: Nintendo DS, iPhone, Archos 605 (2007 - 2008)

We experimented with a variety of other devices with limited success. The Nintendo DS is a game platform with a large install base and compact design. Full access to the device's functionality requires a developer's license with Nintendo, and without it media playback and networking are severely crippled. The Archos 605 is a media player with some wireless capabilities. Unfortunately the operating system is buggy, the hardware is unreliable, and it has no support for streaming or embedded media. The Apple iPhone is a cell phone with tightly integrated media player and web browser. However, the operating system is entirely closed, and there is not third-party application development. The bundled browser is Safari, which AXLnet does not support.