GLOBAL – The research team at NRC Tampere today announce the forthcoming availability of Nokia Hello. Using the NFC (Near-Field Communications) chips embedded in recent and upcoming devices such as the Nokia C7, users can touch phones briefly in order to exchange a range of greetings such as ‘Good morning’, ‘Good afternoon’ and even to pass on tea and coffee preferences. The team working on the project estimate that the need for speech interactions with work colleagues could be eliminated entirely by 2015. Excellent news for those working in multilingual environments or who despise their workmates.
Near Field Communication works through magnetic induction. The two devices can sense each other at distances up to 20cm.
Dr Marcus Redströmm PhD, who led the team, said: “The average technician currently spends more than two hours daily in verbal exchanges. By allowing our handheld devices to take the weight, teams can become more productive, purposeful and reduce noise pollution by up to 85 per cent.
“Unlike computers, human beings tend not to optimise efficient use of time. The fruits of this research will help to correct that. It’s all part of Nokia’s mission of ‘Connecting People’, except in this case the connection is entirely electronic and contains no vestiges of human feeling.”
Redströmm continued: “Many of our recent projects have aimed at neutralising unwanted feelings or contact. Last year’s release of Nokia MonVoice, which reduces the frequency range of the human voice during phone calls has proven an enormous success. [editor's note: only released in Finland - sorry, folks]“
Nokia Hello will be available – free of charge – through Nokia Store once final testing is complete.
Are you looking forward to saying “Hello” without actually speaking? Let us know in the comments.
