Editor’s Note: Our line-up of all-star writers is falling into place. Today we are joined by writer, editor – and long-time friend of Forum Nokia – Martin Marshall, who puts KEYnetik’s Hi-N-Bye through its paces.

For many of us, mobile life is often about optimizing time and motion in order to optimize productivity. Something that saves a few seconds here and there may not appear to mean much in itself, but if the time is saved in an action that is repeated over and over again, then the cumulative time savings can quickly add up to something worthwhile.
KEYnetik’s Hi-N-Bye application is an interesting case in point. It may only save a second or two on each of its operations, but when those seconds are added up over all of the calls you make it can become a very useful utility. The application, designed for Nokia S60 3.1 and 3.2 devices that contain motion sensors, ventures into new technical territory. It uses the motion sensors on the device to interpret the physical motions of answering an incoming call, ending a call, swapping between calls, and turning on the phone’s loudspeaker. It can certainly beat hunting for a small button on the phone, particularly in a low-light environment or when your attention must be riveted on the road or sidewalk ahead of you.

I have been playing with the app recently, and it performed exactly as advertised. After downloading the app from Nokia’s Ovi Store, I installed it to my Nokia N95, and then activated it from the icon on the home screen of my device. It also works with the Nokia N82, N85, N79, and 6210 devices; and Fairfax, Virginia-based KEYnetik is working on a version for Nokia’s S60 5th edition devices, too. (We’ll let you know when we learn about its availability.)

Once the application was activated, I could answer calls without pressing any buttons. Instead I just looked at the device to see who was calling, and then held it up to my ear. To end the call, I set the handset face down on a surface in front of me as if hanging up a conventional phone. When I was on one call and another call was incoming, I shook the handset once from side to side, and it switched over to the other call. I was also able to switch audio to the device’s loudspeaker and back by using a push motion with the device.

Take a closer look at how Hi-N-Bye works in this video from the Forum Nokia Innovation Series:

This is one of those applications that grows in value over time, as the application saves a couple of seconds of button searching here and there with each call. At $6.99 (USD), it can pay for itself very quickly, and costs substantially less than the Bluetooth technology headsets that represent its main competition. That is the rub, though. If you already have a Bluetooth headset and use it every day, then the motion-based operations of Hi-N-Bye may not present that much of an additional benefit. If you use only the handset, however, then Hi-N-Bye should be well worth the price.