S Power Planning - Samsung Smartphones (J7 Prime & later A Series) that allow battery management tailored to user’s personal needs
How can we enable mobile users with greater phone battery control based on their needs?
Summary
The S Power Planning is a smart battery management system that empowers users to stay connected at all times. S Power Planning could definitely come in handy for everyday use, as there will always be times when we forget or are unable to charge our phones ahead of a very busy day.
Problem
By 2015, mobile internet prices came drastically down that allowed leading telecom companies to penetrate deep into the urban and rural population - building a huge consumer base of mobile internet users. As a result, a greater section of mobile users started to spend longer time on social media - draining the battery. However, the mobile phone hardware (battery) didn’t change that fast to support the sudden change in consumer behaviour. Mobile phone users were facing battery issues like never before.
Increasing battery capacity ( more than 2400 & 3300 mAh) was the easiest and obvious solution; however, for a price sensitive market like India - it would have adversely affected the mobile sale. Challenge to Samsung was to come up with cost effective solution to the problem.
Solution
S Power Planning basically offers consumers three ways to get more out of the remaining battery life. The three options include Reserve Battery For Calls, which allocates a certain percentage of the battery for calls and messages; Extend Battery Time, which offers three power-saving levels to users to choose from; and Forward Calls, which as the name suggests, forwards calls to another number when the phone runs out of power.
ROLE
Research, Insights, ideation, UI & UX Design, prototyping, external Design & Research agency hiring & management, HQ Business Coordination
Organization & TEAMS
Samsung Electronics India | Product Innovation, Corporate Marketing, R&D, Design
DURATION
4 Months
PRODUCT
Samsung J7 Prime (entry level) & A5/A7 (mid segment) | Year 2017
Tv/Web Commercial
Key Features
S Power Planning is a different take by Samsung to extend battery life on the J7 Prime, compared to the usual Ultra Power Saving mode we’ve seen before. To compare, the Ultra Power Saving mode restricts use of apps on the handset and turns off mobile data when the screen is off. It also shuts off battery-hungry functions such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS. The key features are as follows:
Feature #1: Reserve battery for calls
Reserve your remaining battery power for calls and messages when it falls below a set threshold. At this threshold, Reserve battery mode will be enabled automatically, allowing only the Phone and Messages apps to be used. It enables the consumer to allocate a certain percentage of the battery for calls & messages. All other apps and functions will be disabled to save battery power. The default reserve threshold is 15% battery power.
FEATURE #2: Extend BAttery time
Extend your battery life up to double the time. The feature comes with three different levels of battery extensions to choose from. This feature is different from Power Saving mode that has higher restrictions (brightness, background network usage, dark colour theme, usable apps etc.) to enhance battery life. Manually enabling Maximum power saving mode will automatically disable Extend battery time. The battery life remaining after Extended Battery Time mode is enabled may vary based on your continued device usage.
FEATURE #3: forward calls when no battery
Forward incoming calls to a selected contact or number while your device is powered off because its battery power is critically low. When your device is charged and powered on again, calls will no longer be forwarded. You can also send a text message to inform your contact that your device will power off and your calls will be forwarded to them. Make sure that your service provider supports call forwarding. Forwarding calls and sending text messages may result in additional charges, depending on your payment plan.
Process
Desk Research and Sacrificial Concepts
Created 5 sacrificial concepts to be shared with the respondents after completing the in-home interviews. Different value propositions ranged from battery management to speaker accessory to emoticons and color management.
In-Depth Interviews
Recruited 10 respondents across 3 metros (Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai) that belonged to the young Millennials generation attending colleges/universities in India. The discussion guide was crafted to have a deeper dive into the lives of the college students (behaviours, aspirations, work arounds, pain points etc.) and what role does mobile play in their lives. Broadly, it became evident that this target segment’s excessive usage of the device pushed it to the limit in terms of battery management- which emerged as a big sore point.
Synthesis & ideation Workshops
Organised the post-research field synthesis with HQ project lead, in-house innovation team and the hired external design and research agencies. The day long exercise involved going through the response boards made for each interviewee and their key verbatim. Affinity maps (done separately beforehand) showcased the different emerging themes and was used in the workshop to kick start the ideation process.
User Testing (Focus Group discussions)
Co-created concepts with the hired external design and research agencies. The shortlisted refined 12 concepts were printed and presented to a focus group that comprised of the same demographics. This exercise was conducted with 3 focus groups of 6 participants each. Besides their qualitative responses, the feedback was collected in terms of how they ranked the concepts based on the relevance in their lives.
User Interaction Flow
WireFRames
Apart from designing the happy path, we took into consideration all the other possibilities and designed the rules for each scenario. Complete flows of each scenario was provided as the final deliverable.
Wireframes for feature #1: Reserve Battery For Calls
Wireframes for feature #2: Extend Battery Time
Wireframes for feature #3: Forward Calls When No Battery
Mid- Fidelity Screens
Achievements
Co-owner of a Design Patent filed for the battery management feature (under the name of ‘Yoga Battery’)
Business IMPACT
After success in India, this feature was implemented beyond the country of origin to other price sensitive markets like Philippines, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
My Learnings
Project management, co-working and managing client expectations.
Power of sprint project - how quickly can problem be unearthed and addressed.
The value of Focus Group Discussion for concept testing.