The BlackBerry Empathy concept phone is a sponsored project held by RIM Blackberry at the Art Center College of Design. But the concept behind the phone is really odd. The idea is that it is supposed to “detect emotional data” through some magic ring and show both your emotions and your contacts and social graph.

According to Engadget – “It’s not exactly clear how it’d do that, but one crucial element is the biometric feedback ring that communicates your frustration at the phone’s inability to properly sync IMAP accounts in real-time. All of this anger and joy is displayed on a social map — colored rings indicate your contacts’ previous and current emotional states — which is presented on a full touchscreen that can become transparent when the phone’s not in use.”

Here is how the designers Kiki Tang and Daniel Yoon describe the interface:

It is of course touch based and all the user’s connections are shown graphically so you can see who is connected to whom. Each contact has an avatar that is encompassed by two colored rings. The inner colored ring shows the contact’s previous emotional state, and the outer ring represents the contact’s current emotional state. It is important to show the shift in emotions in order to see how an event has affected that contact.

Another important feature that we felt was important was the “Emotional Health Chart”. This chart would monitor the user’s emotional health through an indefinite period of time. One would be able to see how a certain event, or phone call/ message has affected the user. Obviously, if the chart shows someone is always upset, there would be a problem… If permitted, a user would be able to view other user’s charts as well.

The BlackBerry Empathy concept phone is a sponsored project held by RIM Blackberry at the Art Center College of Design. But the concept behind the phone is really odd. The idea is that it is supposed to “detect emotional data” through some magic ring and show both your emotions and your contacts and social graph.
BlackBerry Empathy Concept Phone

According to Engadget – “It’s not exactly clear how it’d do that, but one crucial element is the biometric feedback ring that communicates your frustration at the phone’s inability to properly sync IMAP accounts in real-time. All of this anger and joy is displayed on a social map — colored rings indicate your contacts’ previous and current emotional states — which is presented on a full touchscreen that can become transparent when the phone’s not in use.”

Here is how the designers Kiki Tang and Daniel Yoon describe the interface:

It is of course touch based and all the user’s connections are shown graphically so you can see who is connected to whom. Each contact has an avatar that is encompassed by two colored rings. The inner colored ring shows the contact’s previous emotional state, and the outer ring represents the contact’s current emotional state. It is important to show the shift in emotions in order to see how an event has affected that contact.

Another important feature that we felt was important was the “Emotional Health Chart”. This chart would monitor the user’s emotional health through an indefinite period of time. One would be able to see how a certain event, or phone call/ message has affected the user. Obviously, if the chart shows someone is always upset, there would be a problem… If permitted, a user would be able to view other user’s charts as well.

The issue I have with the concept is that, have you ever heard of any smartphone user anywhere saying “I wish my smartphone knew how I felt!” It just seems like a solution looking for a problem. Some more pics below.