Home Is Where Your Phone Is: Usability Evaluation of Mobile Phone UI for a Smart Home

摘要

Many home activities are mobile within the home. Now, in the beginning of the era of smart homes, the mobility of home activities can be taken even further. Networking technologies enable inhabitants of a smart home to access home functions from a distance. A mobile device, in specific the mobile phone, can act as a "remote control" UI for the smart home functions. This paper presents the results of research in which the usability and acceptability of a mobile phone as an UI to smart home functions were evaluated. Evaluation was done through focus groups, usability tests of a mobile UI prototype and a three-month usage experience of a young couple living in a smart apartment. The results indicate that the mobile phone is especially an attractive UI when instant control of both within-home and over-the-distance functions is needed. Furthermore, users liked the increased convenience and feeling of safety as the mobile phone enabled them to "feel home" from the distance.