Ed, Like what you are trying to build with Android. Keeping track of kids in any environment with a low cost device will be of great use to all the parents out there. Good luck.
Hope Android really makes these dreams come true. On Fri, Jun 13, 2008 at 6:11 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Along the lines of what Muthu said, > > I can only speak for our team. We are trying to make a kid proof phone > exist that is light enough and tough enough for an elementary age kid > to carry in their sock like a soccer shin pad. The features of the > software will allow teachers to keep track of the kids on field trips > to public places like the zoo, and allow the kids to arrive at AM bus > stops just in time. Yes, the bus driver would need one, too. > > Parents are motivated to make purchasing decisions that take care of > their children. And they will push their communities to do the same. > > Android in it's current directional implementation lets you > demonstrate this software on full featured phones (that are too > expensive for our application), but it is open source. Once we > demonstrate how it works to protect children and families by using > $400 handsets, we will make a pitch to develop purpose specific > hardware that meets the cost requirements for this market, about $25 a > kid. > > We don't want it to be a disposable phone for environmental reasons. > But we want it to be priced like one. Just much tougher so it can be > reused as if rental equipment. You need to be able to pull it out of > the lake, knowing it will still work - even after you sterilize it, so > that you would be comfortable giving it to your child again. It should > survive, and benefit from, a warm water/detergent wash cycle in a > household washing machine. > > Most apparent rants are aimed at making broad market demand/acceptance > for the ingredients needed for this phone: location based ring tone > utility (this is for kids, after all), inexpensive simulated or real > compass that works in any orientation and cost less than $1, edge > active accelerometer based touch screen for 26 cents, cell tower > location triangulation based algorithms that still work with bad > information because the two phones that are trying to find each other > can process the raw signals on a differential basis,... oh, and it > helps if dad is around, so cell tower ID to help with his commute. > > Android makes that within reach for demonstration and prototyping. > > I think customers will want and demand phones like this once they > realize it is within reach to make their lives more secure. I am > concerned the Linux overhead will push the chip/processor cost too > high. Each/most of the things are algorithmically simple. Once a > software set is demonstrated that does all these things, and the > market is recognized, second generation... that decision is not yet > well posed. > > Anyway, I hope this answers your 'why' question and builds on Muthu's > directional answer. > > > > > On Jun 12, 11:48 pm, "Muthu Ramadoss" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > Carriers will carry them if users want them to. > > > > On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 8:43 PM, Jim <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > Why do people think carriers, T-Mobile for example, would carry the > > > Android phone? Is Google just paying them to? Will Google and T- > > > Mobile share in service revenue like Apple and AT&T share? > > > > -- > > take care, > > Muthu Ramadoss. > > > > http://cookingcapsules.com- nourish your droid.http://mobeegal.in- find > stuff closer. > > > -- take care, Muthu Ramadoss. http://cookingcapsules.com - nourish your droid. http://mobeegal.in - find stuff closer. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
