In most cities with a 'young' metro (underground) system it is possible to use your mobile whilst travelling in the tunnels. For example here in Shanghai it is common to see people chatting away on their mobiles while on the train. I found this lack of communication frustrating last year when I was in London as I was so used to it after 5 years in Shanghai.
How about time of day? It is more difficult to use a mobile in the middle of rush-hour when you're packed like sardines into the train (we've all seen pictures of Tokyo underground? Shanghai is similar at 8:30am!) Also, there is a problem of network capacity; the nodes in the stations and tunnels have limited capacity compared to the base-stations dotted around cities and it is common for your call to be dropped or SMS's arriving late if on the train. Usually people in shanghai will either be reading e-books, internet news, playing games or sending SMS messages, and I guess that they are doing it mainly so that they have something to do, as a way to avoid eye-contact with strangers (who are in your personal space) on a packed train. Also, it a mobile is more convenient that a newspaper as it is smaller, more interactive and, to a point, more private... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39219 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
