Going up to people and actually introducing yourself has become, like, so uncool with the introduction of the Nokia Sensor Bluetooth widget.
No longer will you have to fumble for those awkward opening lines – instead you can let your phone do the introducing for you, as prospective partners wandering into range are automatically forwarded your profile.
Described as a “social Bluetooth smartphone application”, the free-to-download Nokia Sensor program runs on Series 2.0+ phones.
Here’s how it works: after downloading the software, you must set up a personal homepage (dubbed a folio) which can be shared with other Sensor users.
This folio includes your profile (pictures, snappy bon mot etc.), a file sharing page (where you can put mugshots, amusing photos, video and audio) and a Guestbook.
As lustful lotharios enter a nightclub, their phones can be set to automatically start scanning for other Sensor users over Bluetooth.
Once connected, the user can look through other people’s folios, and if they like the look of what they find, they can message them and possibly consider doing something really radical – like putting down the bloody phone and talking, like normal people.
The Sensor app comes with the usual yoof-tastic features, like Buddy Alerts, which tells you if someone you know is nearby (isn’t that what eyes are for?) and ‘Group Codes’ which bleep when someone with similar interests is lurking in the area.
We can see mischievous users running wild with the Guestbook feature – which lets people leave messages and comments on other people’s phones – and can only imagine the fragile teenage egos that will be crushed by an empty ‘popularity measure’ (which tells users how many times their Folio has been viewed).
The Nokia program is very similar to the existing Mobiluck application and reflects how the increasing sophistication of smartphone technology is creating new ways for mobile interaction.
With the Series 60 phones growing in the mass market it looks like this kind of social networking is going to have a significant impact amongst its target demographic (i.e. young).
Be kinda handy for people plying nefarious trades, when you think about it.