Sunday, April 13, 2008

Utopian Smartphone

(Image courtesy of PDA247)

What would a perfect mobile device look like? Who knows? It's a very subjective issue and there are countless discussion forums and blogs out there that spend all their time looking for Utopia. So I thought I'd bung my three penn'orth in as well. This wish list doesn't in the main cover software, but rather the hardware although there are a couple of nods towards software here - but in the main that's for another day.

  • It would have a touch screen - but not a recessed one like Palms do - that makes it look dated
  • It would have qwerty keyboard - but here's the catch - it should by default have the functionality that the stupendous KeyCaps program brings to Palm devices almost negating the need for the shift and option keys.
  • It should have the Palm on/off slider switch
  • You should be able to turn the phone off with one key press whilst keeping the PDA functions on - like the Palm's red button
  • It should have a standard mini-usb for syncing and charging
  • When connected to a host PC it should be visible as a removabe drive - including it's storage card
  • It should have access to both storage card and sim without the need to remove either or both of the back cover or battery to enable quick hot swapping of sims and memory cards
  • It goes without saying that it should have the biggest possible screen size the form factor allows
  • The screen should flip to landscape mode easily like the iphone
  • It must have a decent browser like the iphone
  • In apps requiring contact input (email, messaging, phone) like on Palm devices you should just be able to start typing in a name and it brings up a list of matches
  • It must have wifi and bluetooth
  • It should have a 3.5mm headphone jack - that's what most people already have
  • It should have a half decent camera (min 2MP) with a quick access button and as we're on a utopian vision, a flash
  • It must have a battery that will do at least 2 days of moderate - heavy use
  • It should be no bigger than a Palm Treo 680 (my guide point) and preferably smaller
  • It should look "nice" whatever that brings to mind
  • Oh and it doesn't need to make the tea. I'll do that.

No comments: