METHOD, SYSTEM AND APPARATUS USING A SENSORY CUE TO INDICATE SUBSEQUENT ACTION CHARACTERISTICS FOR DATA COMMUNICATIONS

A communications device provides a user with a sensory cue that informs the user of cer-tain characteristics of a subsequent action that in-cludes data communications. By informing the user of the data communication characteristics before the user initiates the data communication action, the in-vention appropriately sets user expectations regard-ing the data communication characteristics. For ex-ample, one embodiment of the invention is imple-mented in a portable communications device (100) with a screen (1700). For subsequent actions that in-cludes wireless communications, the portable com-munications device simultaneously displays a wire-less link sensory icon (1610) next to a user interface element. The user interface (1710) icon is used to initiate the subsequent action. The user interface el-ement (1710) can be an operating system object hav-ing an embedded link type icon. The wireless link icon (1610) informs the user that the subsequent ac-tion corresponding to the user interface element re-quires wireless communication and the expense and time associated therewith. A method, a system and an apparatus for indicating characteristics of a sub-sequent action to a user before the user begins the subsequent action are provided.