KEYnetik Says Hi-N-Bye
As you know, I’m a pretty big skeptic when it comes to accelerometer-based applications. Not that I don’t think they’re cool, innovative, and fun. I do, I just don’t think they’re particularly practical, due to inconsistencies. I was so excited when ShakeLock came out, as I thought it was truly handy. However, when my mobile would lock and unlock itself continuously as I went up and down stairs, I realized that the current crop is going to need to be MUCH more intelligent before I’ll be sold on it.
At the Evening with S60 event in Boston a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Gene from KEYnetik, the company behind Rock-N-Scroll and Hi-N-Bye. Gene confronted me about accelerometer applications, and I honestly told him why I’m skeptical. After Gene demonstrated Hi-N-Bye on his N95 (by calling it from his iPhone, no less), I caved and told him I would honestly give it a run, and I’ve been using Hi-N-Bye on my N95-3 for the past couple of weeks.
First off, a little explanation of what it is that Hi-N-Bye does. As you might have guessed, it uses the built-in accelerometer on the N95-3, N82, and other S60-powered smartphones to answer your phone, hang up, and activate the loudspeaker or put callers on hold. When your phone rings, you raise it up as if you were (naturally) looking at the screen to see who it is. To answer the phone, you then move it directly up to your ear - without pressing any buttons. Hi-N-Bye detects the movement combination, and answers the call.
Similarly, if you look to see who it is, and then flip the phone over, it silences the ringer, and sends the caller on to voicemail - again, no buttons needed. Assuming you’ve answered the call, you can then move the phone back to being face-up, and either shake it forward/backwards or side-to-side to activate the loudspeaker or place the caller on hold (the movement can be assigned in the settings).
Gene shared with me that KEYnetik has spent quite a bit of time analyzing the various movements and had developed algorithms to detect and prevent false positives and negatives. This way, for example, if I answer a call and then slip the phone into a pocket and head to the stairs, the phone won’t activate and deactivate the speakerphone all the way up the stairs.
In practice, I was actually surprised to find Hi-N-Bye was indeed very accurate, and very responsive. There was not a single time when Hi-N-Bye neglected to answer a call, which was good to see. The biggest issue that I faced, when using Hi-N-Bye, was overcoming my own natural habits of answering the phone, and forgetting that my movements were now being translated into actions. I’m slowly but surely catching myself and remembering to just move the phone according to what I want done.
After a few weeks, I can confidently say that Hi-N-Bye is remaining installed on my N95-3 for the long haul. It’s very convenient to just pick the phone up and not worry about buttons, and the loudspeaker activation is just as handy.
Hi-N-Bye is available directly from the Symbian-Guru Store, which we recently launched. Remember, the grand opening discount code ‘SGuruOpen‘ is still valid up until June 30th, and will net you a hefty 20% discount off any title in the store! Click here to download Hi-N-Bye for your N95 or N82.
Also, as is the custom here on Symbian-Guru.com, we’ve reserved 5 free licenses to give away to you guys! All you need to do is leave a comment below and tell us something that you’d like to see the accelerometer used for, that there’s currently not an application for. That’s it! Get your creative juices flowing!
Update: Sorry, I forgot to put the end time/date for the giveaway. Please leave your comment/entry by midnight GMT-500 on Friday, June 27th.
So. I would like to see an aplication wich gaves me posibility to switch between opened aplications by simply shaking (adjustable) device.
I’m addicted to Rotate me and ShutUP by Samir,Especially the ShutUP application,cos I’m using a coupled call package which allows me to get unlimited free outgoing calls to my Fiance’s number,but its not the same for her,it’ll cost if she calls from her number.So whenever she needs to call what she does is ring me and I’ll cut the line and redial.Without shutUP(While I was having the N80)it was annoying to press the END call button all the time ,but now all I got to do is just turn the face down.THanks Samir!!!!!!!!accelerometer rocks
Ahh forgot to mention the suggestion!!It would be better if there is an simple application that would light up and show the Clock(Screensaver) and date and then go back to sleep mode with a little shake while the phone is still locked.But not like Shake Lock Unlock.
I agree, ShutUp is very useful. I’ve seen lots of applications based on the accelerometer, and almost all of them are very good. I think it could be great to have an application to sense the brightness of the screen, depending of the angle the phone is. And as a wired application, it could be used as an earthquake detector.
I would like to see an application where the accelerometer is used to estimate the grade you are on while cycling.
It would mean holding the phone parralel to the bike, and the accelerometer should be able to give you the angle you are on.
This is very useful while training when you want to know how difficult is a section of the track.
Ok, that’s a nice app, so I’ll give you my idea for free lol. Is not a fantastic idea, but I’ll like an application to draw. Simple draws, like a simple map or a text. The idea is this: launch the application, start a new draw and then, when I press, let’s say, the “5″ key, the acelerometer starts reading my movements and drawing like MS Paint would. And then, when I release the button, it stops. Then I can save the image and send it to another device.
Ok, that’s it. Have a nice day ^_^
I would like to see two separate applications:
One of them would be simply a measure of the force being exerted on the accelerometer output in terms of “G’s”. I own an accelerometer (in my phone) and I would like to know how much sticking power my car has. This would help me greatly in tuning the suspension and would provide quantitative data on the effect of each adjustment. Now I have to climb in, push it to the limits and try to make a qualitative estimate of the effects. Numbers would be a MUCH better solution and allows comparrsion of different weather conditions better (hard to remember the “feel” on a rainy day a month ago).
The second, well I guess that there is no reason for this being a second application, would be a dynometer. Simple physics would allow the peak horse power to be computed from the force exerted during acceleration and the mass of the car (as loaded w/ the driver). Again this would provide quantitative data where I currently have none. The peak horse power measurement would likely be off a bit but it certainly seems reasonable that it could be within 10% of the actual force.
Both of these programs could display the info in realtime alongside a peak reached during that session/run. Also saving the output to a text file would be helpful for future use and exporting to a PC.
Furthering that idea…
It sure would be nice if the accelerometer was accessible over bluetooth (as the GPS is, at least with a nice java app). Then this sort of application could run on my N800 and it could be built into CarMan which provide a HUGE wealth of real time data. This would rival multi-thousand dollar stand alone tuning systems.
Not sure if S60 was the target or not, but if not, then Maemo would greatly benefit from this (in my eyes).
This is for baseball freaks. I was wondering if we could have an application in which you’d windup and pitch, with the phone in your throwing hand (of course, you wouldn’t actually throw the phone, but keep it tight in your hand) and then it would show the speed of the pitch,
Lautaro, actauly there is an app like that
NokoShop, read more - http://www.symbian-freak.com/news/008/04/the_joy_of_motion_based__painting.htm
Oh, that’s cool and sad. Cool because I really liked the idea, and if the app exists, even better! Sad because it puts me out of the 5 new ideas.
Ok, is there an app to scroll web pages with the acelerometer? If not, well, that’s my idea =P
another free license giveaway!!
how badly does it affect battery life?
I would like to see a security application that uses the accelerometer for gestures in addition to a userdefined password.
The gestures can be used to to encrypt and decryption.
With a security application I mean for instance an application protecting files on the phone that being media files, documents etc., where the user can choose the files themselves.
(Such as Best Crypto)
This because I see that as most useful.
(I for instance use the Symbian version of RoboForm on my phone for most of my passwords)
As security starts to be of important issue as your device is with you all the time, adding accelerometer for use in such an application with a password would without a doubt strenghten the encryption / decryption several times.
How about a ProfileChanger, i mean if the phone is on da move it switches to OUTDOOR mode if in a stand-stil position in switches to INDOOR, and if face-down on a table or something it goes SILENT mode..
..and donno if its already in use, the accelerometer can be use for power-management of the phone.
@Shazly, there is an app like that
FlipSilent - http://flipsilent.com/
I like 1 0r 2 of these kind of apps but not this one,
It’s easier using one of your two thumbs
Rick, how well does the Hi-N-Bye work if you have your phone in your pocket when it rings? I.e. if I scramble for my phone, does it already answer by the time I have it out of the pocket and in front of me to to chekc who is calling? Also, I often don’t check who is calling and simply pull it out and bring it to my ear while pressing the anwer key with muscle memory in on sweeping beatiful motiong..
Does Hi-N-Bye work in that scenario (and elimate the need for me to use my well toned finger muscles)?
As for an accelerometer app.. how about a masturbation simulator game? Ok.. that was disgusting.. sorry, its Friday and I have a hard week of working hard behind me…
@Viipottaja - yes, it works. You still need to perform the ‘looking at your phone’ function first, as I understand that’s what initiates Hi-N-Bye. I keep my phone in my pocket, and as mentioned in the review, only had one or two false positives/negatives.
ok this might sound stupid. but i’d like to see an app that would let me tilt my phone and have it slowly scroll down a webpage. would be nice to have some sort of auto scroll when reading symbian guru’s often long in the tooth articles. no i just kid but it’d be nice.
I already purchased this app and seems to work really good when trying to get to the phone from my pocket. Its a different story though when my phone is set on a flat surface already (table). If I try to lift the phone to view the screen and flip the phone over to reject the call, the app hangs up on the call. I’m assuming its picking up the call and ends it immediately.
Jun 30th, 2008 at 9:35 am
[...] of accessories such as Bluetooth headsets and chargers in stock, as well. Notable mention goes to Keynetik Hi-N-Bye, which we recently reviewed, so you’ll want to grab hold of that one while it’s [...]