If you call your phone 'Royale blade' one might infer it is not a tool of the masses. But before the worlds problems could be solved by hooking up the power grid to der Marx spinning in his grave, Motorola renamed the device to
SLVR 8. Slaver Eight?
Anyway this thing features 256mb, a vga cam, and usb connection. More than enough to appetize. I'm going to try have my old t630i repaired, as value for money at the moment seems to come packaged with uglyness.
My own phone design, which I'm still working on, lacked text buttons as it was meant to be used with a pocketed palm- or laptop. Basically I figured text writing is best done on a computer, and all the stuff being added to cellphones comes from that very same computer. I didn't really think this trough enough, so let's go over it again.
A cellphone should only do the stuff you want a smal package for instead of an ergonomic keyboard, in this day and age that means: music playback, phonecalls, message receiving, camera use. Let me add to that remote control for te pc- gotta work dem downloads peepz. Or something like that.
Let's run over all that again:
1-Mp3player: MP3, picture display
2-Camera: picture display, camera
3-Portable Console: MP3, movie display, picture display, camera, messaging, phone.
4-Phone: MP3, movie display, picture display, camera, messaging, phone, internet, pc applications.
5-Palm- or Laptop: MP3, movie display, picture display, messaging, phone (voip), internet, pc applications.
As you can clearly see, the mp3player is doomed. Its the extra remote you just don't need. Conclusion 1: be a player-hater.
The camera as a pocketable snapshot taker is also passé. A lens is a lens is a lens, but you only have 1 pocket. Conclusion 2: The camera is already on the phone.
Let's suppose you own the other three things. The biggest advantage of the phone is it's social acceptance and practicality. You can carry it around and use it in situations a laptop or conesole would be a hindrance or faux-pas. This also means that whenever you're carrying a console you probably will be carrying a phone. Wich puts me to Conclusion Two: Consoles should entertain and be pretty.
Laptops and palmtops are the workhorses of the personal electronic realm. They give you power to burn, applications beyond calendars, hard drives with the storage needed for a music library, a keyboard that's comfy, and a screen that's useable. However they are bulky, heavy, and you can't hold them up to your ear. Conclusion Three: Laptops are like tiny mainframes- keep them in the basement.
Let's look at the stripped down cellphone:
-The camera needs to improve since it's replacing real cameras.
-The keyboard needs a different layout to accommodate messaging and pc remote control.
Our console has another form factor with a bigger screen, which makes it perfect for streaming media from the laptop.
-Games
-Streaming media: movies, mp3, read-only content.
The lap- or palmtop stays the same on the outside, but inside:
-Multiple streaming
-Remote acessible GUI with thumbpad oriented layout.
Sony in it's many forms has both phones, consoles, and palmtops, it will be interesting to see if they can work away redundancies and come to the same layout. Other companies will want to replace the console with a dvd-player and will likely keep pushing games on phones. And as applications get powerhungry at higher rates than batteries get more efficient, the smartphone will disappear or your arm is going to be very very sore..
I'll be redesigning my phone, more on that later.
