My iPod decided to die this weekend, committing hari-kiri by leaping out of my belt pouch onto the floor of a bookshop, without so much as a knock from myself. Despite having survived a couple of knocks in the past, this time the sad-face icon of doom, coupled with the hard-drive click of death, has conveyed my fourth iPod to silicon heaven. (Before my comments are flooded with people telling me how to fix this issue - been there, done that.) Usually this would prompt days of me trying to fix the thing myself, under great frustration as I search online forum after unhelpful support page trying every solution suggested, until I would resignedly buy a new one. But this time, I’m saving myself the trouble and using it as an excuse to upgrade.
Before making the decision, and because I’m such a geek when it comes to gadgets, I did my research checking out the features to decide whether the iPod Touch was right for me. In doing so, I highlighted the truth of my gadget addiction. No one has designed the technology I want, yet. Every purchase is a compromise, containing a sampling of the features I want.
I carry around a number of tech gadgets, filling my pockets or shoulder bag whenever I leave the house. There’s the phone, of course. The current model is the LG Viewty U990 – a touch screen phone seemingly designed to target the deficiencies of the iPhone. Shelley recently plumped for the Nokia N95, a phone I had also considered. Thankfully, it turns out I probably made the right choice. Despite some wonderful features, the N95 freezes up and seems quite unreliable in comparison.
But the phone doesn’t do everything I want, so I also carry a Tungsten T5 PDA with a Belkin foldout keyboard. With the ability to create Word and Excel documents wherever I go, and small enough to fit in my pockets, I can easily record ideas when I think of them or produce complete blog posts, accessing the net via Bluetooth connection with the mobile.
But there are times I need more – and for that I have the Asus Eee laptop. I’ve extolled the virtues of the Eee before, but I’m already thinking about upgrading as two new editions have since been released. The slightly larger screens and slightly wider keyboards of the new editions, coupled with a cut down version of the XP operating system makes the latest Eee very tempting. The difference between the Eee and the PDA and keyboard solution is portability. If I’m carrying a bag around, I can slip the Eee in and not notice it, being so light. But without a bag, the PDA and keyboard fit in my jacket pocket. Both do things the other doesn’t, whether it is wi-fi or infrared, Linux or Palm OS, so my decision on which to use can often depend on my mood and where I am.
And then there’s the iPod. The 30gb iPod video has lasted me a couple of years, but the chance to upgrade can’t be overlooked. Should it be the 80gb classic or the 32gb Touch? 80gb could be useful to store more of the music and video on my hard drive (I have a CD collection well over one thousand strong and the DVDs cover one wall of the living room). But the Touch has wi-fi and can allow me to surf the internet in a hotspot without resorting to the expensive rates of accessing the web through my phone. Plus it has calendars and other useful organizational tools. Could the iPod Touch do away with my need to carry around some of the other items?
Sadly, no. And this is my beef. None of my tech gadgets can completely trump any of the others. For each of my gadgets, there’s a particular feature or design function that makes it indispensable.
So, to the manufacturers and boffins out there, here is the device I want. Build me this, and you’ll have my undying devotion.
1. The phone.
It has to be 3G, naturally. What an incredible misstep it was to release the first version of the iPhone without 3G. Immediately, consumers knew, Apple was holding back technology for future releases. Doesn’t endear you to the marketplace.
2. The aerial
Interior, of course. No bulky knob sticking out the top like those early Treos. But the aerial also has to do the job. The Nokia N95 is being touted by many as the killer-phone of the moment. 8gb memory, GPS maps, media player, etc, etc. But the aerial isn’t a match for my Viewty. Around our house, Shelley’s N95 drops out if she so much as takes two paces to the left. I can hold conversations happily strolling from room to room.
3. Memory
As just mentioned, the N95 has a whopping 8gb of memory – just awesome for a phone. But this is becoming more necessary as phones adopt more media applications. What is the point of building mp3 players into a phone if it only had 526mb of memory? Barely worth bothering with. With iPhones offering up to 32gb of memory, this should soon become a no-brainer. If someone can build 80gb – or even better, 160gb - into one of these things without turning it into a brick, that’ll get my vote.
4. Battery life
Come on guys – if you’re going to build a pile of applications and cool features into a phone, give it a battery that won’t fold under the pressure. I am currently forced to charge the Viewty almost daily as the battery is woefully inadequate for the job. When watching video, the battery is virtually sucked dry. I’ve made it through an hour show before, but I have to make sure I’m on full bars before I start. Memory and power are now two major battle-grounds in handheld devices. The company that cracks these two while keeping portability and weight, could well take huge leaps forward in offering features.
5. Media player
Note, I didn’t say mp3 player. One complaint that has always been leveled at the iPod is that it only supports a very few formats. What if I want to store my music as Flac files, especially if I want to preserve quality? What if I don’t want to convert all those DivX files into mpegs? The Viewty wins over the iPhone in this respect, offering a beautiful DivX player that produces the best video playback I’ve ever seen on a handheld device. So let’s have a handheld media player that supports all the most commonly used formats and simplifies things for those of us who use handheld media a lot. Other than the formats, iPod should be seen as the benchmark for every other aspect.
6. Camera
Virtually indispensable in phones, these days, but the quality varies considerably. The iPhone has a very poor camera, by all accounts, reducing its attractiveness as a feature. Both the N95 and the Viewty have fantastic 5 mega pixel cameras more than capable of replacing our old cameras. Sure, they don’t have optical zoom and all those things professional photographers care about, but for the every day snapping most of us do, it is more than up to the job. These days, being able to record video is also a must. This also requires decent memory. Some phone video is poor because it works at a pretty abysmal frame rate. But as most users wouldn’t record long stretches of video on their phones, offering a higher quality video feature that records for short bursts (say 60 seconds) would be just fine.
7. Infrared AND bluetooth
The lack of infra red was a black mark against the Viewty, limiting its connectivity. There are scenarios where one or the other just won’t do.
8. Wi-Fi
If it ain’t got wi-fi these days, what are you thinking? Wi-fi is fast becoming the way we communicate and connect. With most major cities now teeming with hotspots, both free and commercial, connectivity is a major plus for ultimate portability. Until phone companies also work out better data download rates for mobile internet, wi-fi removes the need for dialing in and blowing huge amounts of cash on excessive download charges.
9. Palm OS
Or an OS that offers software compatible with Word, Excel and the usual office suite. Palm has worked exceptionally hard at producing probably the best handheld OS out there, and they made it even stronger by introducing compatibility with the Microsoft suite of programs. I see no point in adopting a software suite on my new device that won’t convert when I transfer it onto another system. The point of the device is to provide the ability to complete documents on the go with ease. If the OS system doesn’t provide the expected common programs, it’s a fail.
10. Applications
Definitely, we need a decent calendar and scheduler. GPS with a decent maps set-up. Calculator. Voice recorder. These things are becoming more and more standard, but they are just as important on this new dream device.
11. Touchscreen
Allows for a bigger screen. I don’t want space taken up with keypads. I want the biggest screen possible on the device, to improve viewing. This does leads onto the next point though.
12. The stylus
If you are going to include one – and with a touchscreen it’s always a god idea – ensure there is a stylus bay in the casing. Having it hanging off as a dongle, as with the Viewty, is ridiculous.
13. Fold out keyboard
Ideally, with the option to turn the device into a landscape mode. It is rather infuriating knowing that my PDA can operate in landscape, providing a wider screen for typing, only for the Belkin keyboard layout to force it into a portrait position.
14. 3.5mm headphone socket
Come on guys. Releasing devices with propriety sockets is a bit lame in this day and age of interchangeable hardware. If I buy some state-of-the-art headphones, I should be able to plug them into my device when listening to music. Apple realized this when they changed their socket format a few editions ago. The Viewty was the latest villain here – offering a headphone socket that is unlike any I’ve ever seen before. If my Viewty headphones break for any reason, I’ll be forced to go through them for a replacement. I assume there are no choices with these headphones either, so if I wanted to buy a pair more comfortable for my ears, tough. So yes, my dream gadget has a 3.5mm headphone socket.
15. USB socket
And I don’t mean a socket that requires a very specific connector to use the USB port on the PC, I mean a standard USB port that a flash drive or any other USB device can be plugged into. Immediately, extra functionality is added by the inclusion of this one feature. Memory expands by plugging in a flash drive. Maybe a small mouse can be added for when I’m using the keyboard. Anything without a USB these days is restricted in its usability and compatibility with my other gadgets.
16. Protective case / pouch
I have been round every retailer in Sydney and still no pouch or cover for the Viewty. The phone has been out for nearly a year and no one has released a belt pouch or folio to protect it, yet. Sure, there may be guys in Hong Kong flogging Viewty covers on Ebay, but I’m not convinced they haven’t just grabbed the closest fit. Every day without a pouch or cover exposes my phone to more risk from scratches.
The Dream Device
So that’s it. If someone can just build me the device above, combining the best features of the Viewty, the iPod Touch, a decent PDA and the Asus Eee, with the accessories to match, I’ll buy it tomorrow.
Instead of having four devices, each capable of video playback of differing quality, I’d have one. Instead of hooking two devices together to access the net, I’d have one with wi-fi. I know I’m not the only writer / techno-geek out there. I know I’m not the only one wanting more from their gadgets to make life simpler for writing on the move. So why haven’t devices converged to the stage we have truly smart phones that don’t skimp in other areas?
Come on Steve Jobs. Pull your finger out Nokia. Get weaving HP. We all know technology is moving towards a fully featured combined unit that sits in the hand. It would just be really convenient for such a thing to be released before I buy iPod number five this week.
