Phones IN cube timers?

[Cubetastic5]

Hey everyone.

A few months ago, I completed making an improvised cubing timer based on Arduino (link to speedsolving.com thread is https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/hardware-cube-timer-that-can-generate-scrambles.67563/), with a whole array of useful features, such as:
Inbuilt inspection
Scramble-generator

I've shown this to people in cubing conventions, and they seem to really like it. I've been trying to process feedback, and I can see how several other features could be added. I'm mostly planning to add WiFi capabilities to allow for communication with computers.

Then, considering the amount of tech that's going into this, my (non-cuber, but coder) friend came up with another idea - using smartphones for processing. So this is his idea:

"There are two capacitive touch buttons that are connected to a phone - connecting to the phone with either lightning, microUSB, or USB-C. All the processing will be done with the phone. The timer will have a form factor and size very similar to that of most currently available timers.
The benefits of the smartphone version of the timer are obvious:
1) All features, such as a built-in scrambler and inspection will be existent for this version.
2) Rapid updates, due to the software being an app, can exist. You won't have to upgrade your timer hardware or firmware ever again.
3) It's far cheaper, considering that everyone already has a phone with them.
4) All capabilities of phones, like WiFi, Bluetooth, etc can be implemented in the app.

So, as cubers, I'd like to know what you think. Would you think that a smartphone timer simply isn't optimal, or do you think that it's going to work out?
Thanks!"
So, I told him that I would make a poll on speedsolving.com, as I wasn't able to give him a convincing answer.
Please vote in the poll!

 

[Mike Hughey]

The only disadvantage I see with this for official competitions is that no one would want to walk away and leave their smartphone hooked to a timer all day in an actual competition. But for home use, this could be pretty awesome.

If we ever get to the point where everyone has an older smartphone that they don't mind not having around or losing, it might become practical for competitions. But I doubt that will happen soon.

 

[JustSomeRandomDude]

The only disadvantage I see with this for official competitions is that no one would want to walk away and leave their smartphone hooked to a timer all day in an actual competition. But for home use, this could be pretty awesome.

If we ever get to the point where everyone has an older smartphone that they don't mind not having around or losing, it might become practical for competitions. But I doubt that will happen soon.

The amount of time spent on actual comps is minimal, compared with the time spent practicing at home, so we can agree the idea as presented seems awesome.