Paper Info
Title
Interrupted by a phone call: exploring designs for lowering the impact of call notifications for smartphone users
Abstract
Mobile phones have evolved significantly in recent years from single-purpose communication devices to multi-purpose computing devices. Despite this evolution, the interaction model for how incoming calls are handled has barely changed. Current-generation smartphones still use abrupt full-screen notifications to alert users to incoming calls, demanding a decision to either accept or decline the call. These full-screen notifications forcibly interrupt whatever activity the user was already engaged in. This might be undesirable when the user's primary task was more important than the incoming call. This paper explores the design space for how smartphones can alert users to incoming calls. We consider designs that allow users to postpone calls and also to multiplex by way of a smaller partial-screen notification. These design alternatives were evaluated in both a small-scale controlled lab study as well as a large-scale naturalistic in-the-wild study. Results show that a multiplex design solution works best because it allows people to continue working on their primary task while being made aware that there is a caller on the line. The contribution of this work is an enhanced interaction design for handling phone calls, and an understanding of how people use it for handling incoming calls.
Year
DOI
Venue
2014
10.1145/2556288.2557066
human factors in computing systems
Keywords
DocType
Citations 
full-screen notification,incoming call,design space,call notification,primary task,abrupt full-screen notification,enhanced interaction design,design alternative,multiplex design solution,interaction model,large-scale naturalistic in-the-wild study,smartphone user,phone call
Conference
19
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.72
20
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Matthias Böhmer153328.10
Christian Lander2666.72
Sven Gehring329926.04
Duncan P. Brumby429533.41
Antonio Krüger51537127.04