[Samurai]

Most of us gizmo freaks buy gizmos primarily based on technology features. However, when it comes to gizmos that we carry around, we also have to consider lifestyle issues.

I rarely travel on business, therefore I am quite content with my 4Kg laptop. But I hate to carry any heavy bulky gizmos on me all the time, therefore I keep away from PDA or PDA phone. When I did buy a PDA, it was so small I kept it in my wallet. To give you an idea, this PDA (XIRCOM REX 6000) was also a PCMCIA card.



My first mobile phone purchase was a mistake. I did all my research on Internet and ordered it online from Cellular One (now known as Cingular), this was in 1999. When I received this Motorola brick, I instantly knew I was not going to carry it around. So, I carried it only when I was travelling away from home or office. Still it was a major pain to carry. I had picked a digital phone thinking it was leading/bleeding edge, but I think I would have been better off with smaller analog mobiles. But it was an important lesson. I learnt that any wearable technology should suit your dressing style and lifestyle. A person who wears suit on everyday basis can easily carry a PDA/communicator in the suit jacket. But I mostly wear T-shirts/Jeans to work, where am I going to put it. If you are buying something that you need to carry on person, first try it out in person and decide whether you want to carry it around. Never purchase mobile phones online without trying it out first.

Therefore all my later mobile phone purchases were primarily driven by wearability followed by technology, that is until now. Recently I went for N73 simply because the phone was too good feature wise. I was temporarily blinded by it and made the purchase. It is a very good phone, but it has become a pain to carry, I mostly have to hold in my hand or keep it on the table. I never had to that before except for the Motorola brick. Check out my previous phones since 2000:



All these were so small, I could hold them in my closed fist. But these were not so feature rich. But when saw people doing real cool stuff with their PDA/smart phones, I started feeling envious. Samsung makes phones that really fit my lifestyle, but they are low on features. So I ended up with a really cool phone this time. But I am not at all happy about it's wearability. May be should have waited longer for a smartphone that fits within my closed fist. I need a phone that can be easily slip into my jeans pocket, and not feel its presence until it rings.

After this long intro, let me pop the question. What should your dream phone have?

These are my dream phone feautures:
1) Clam shell format so that it can have a big screen that can be folded into a small form factor. It also protect the primary screen from bumps and nicks. The body should be strong, graphite or titanium. (folks who are aware of a recent incident, please shutup! )
2) Length: < 90mm | Width < 40mm | Height < 15mm
3) Should be a smartphone, have good camera.
4) HTML browsing, GPS, MP3 player, Outlook synced phonebook, MP3 ringtones.
5) Microsoft VPN, Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word), PDF reader, Gmail reader
6) WiFi, Bluetooth, Edge (also 3G when service becomes available)
7) Big screen, say 32x70mm screen, landscape mode for browsing, photos, etc. The external screen can be very small just showing essential info like incoming caller id.

As you see I am not too demanding, this will probably happen within couple of years. There are phones that already have all these features but not in the form factor I want. But in future I am going to continue picking phones that match my lifestyle rather than just features.

So, what would your dream mobile phone have and why?

[unknown]

For me it's Vertu Ferrari edition Coz very less people own it & it's exclusive !

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by unknown

For me it's Vertu Ferrari edition Coz very less people own it & it's exclusive !

In other words you rate exclusivity over other factors. For me it is wearability, let's see what other factors we can dig up...

[theMAG]

To put it in Dilbert-speak, my dream mobile should have all the functionalities of my laptop, should be able to detect trachion-field emissions, should have a large (21 ") multidimensional display like in Tom Cruise's AI, GPS, touch screen, a 15 MP Carl-Zeiss Tessar lens capable of amateur astronomy, should be able to monitor my vital signs, and of course be able to make/receive calls! Oh, and this phone should not be bigger than half my palm !

[hydrashok]

For me:
- Size not too much of an issue. But should not be more than 10% over screen size.
- Weight not too much of an issue (but below 180-200 gms) if the body is made of sturdy material (I fell in love with the Nokia 8800 the first time I touched it. The Stainless steel feels great. And the fit and finish is out-of-the world. Too bad it is a dumbphone -- series40 software)
- I would prefer carrying a single device that does most of it (I now carry a Nokia N70 and an O2 XDA IIi)

Physical characteristics
a) Screen size (most important): 3.5" and no less. Can be widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio). No less than 640x480 (VGA). SVGA would be great. 64,000 colours will be ok with me (not much difference in that screen size even at higher colour-count). More is better, of course. Screen orientation must swith from portrait to landscape with no lag.
b) It must be monobloc. No moving parts. No flips, slides, twists etc. (I will compromise on the "slide" form factor if I get a full QWERTY keyboard as a side-slide.)
c) Sturdy body, fit & finish. Brushed aluminium or stainless steel (black or silver). Since we are fantasizing here, carbon fiber would be simply great :-) Light and strong. Scratch-proof.

Radio
a) Quadband with GPRS, EDGE and 3G. No less. GSM preferred over CDMA. (3G makes it a little moot, but still).
c) Bluetooth 2.0, Wireless a/b/g/n, WiMax, Wireless USB (when it is finalised).
b) For what its worth, push to talk (heh, heh).

Capabilities
a) I won't say making calls, SMS, video calls, MMS etc as this is a phone, after all. All that stuff.
b) Push Email. And a good Email client on the phone. Better than Pocket Outlook.
c) A good web-browser. As close to a regular browser in capabilities as possible (Opera 8.5 still has a ways to go. Don't even get me started on Pocket IE).
d) Touch screen (of course!) and handwriting input (of course!!).
e) A good media player. Something that will play anything you throw at it, and something that won't crash. Something like TCPMP and Conduits Pocket Player rolled into one, and made even better.
f) a 3.5mm stereo jack. This is ABSOLUTE! Nothing else will do.
g) A phone interface as much like Symbian as possible in ease of use and capibilities.
h) Full support for 3rd party dev software.
i) Flash memory of 8GB. (Flash, and not a hard-disk).
j) A memory card slot that will read all current formats (yeah ,I wish!). With hot-swap.
k) A syncing software that does not require me to cross my fingers and pray to god each time I sync. Pleeeeeeeeease! Synch speeds for multimdia files that are similar to direct copying speeds.
l) Mini USB interface to a computer.
j) USB Mass Storage Device recognition.
k) A built-in backup software that does what it is supposed to do. Backup.
l) A good leather case that does not make the device look like a pregnant cow.
m) A battery that lasts for 2 days under normal use. A spare battery in the pack :-)
n) a Sync cradle and a separate travel charger in the pack.
o) 1 year unconditional replacement warranty.
p) All the usual stuff (software) that comes a PDA.
q) A full capability companion to MS Office on the Phone. That supports all features, on the phone. A PDF reader that won't take ages to open and load a PDF file.
r) A processor that will be good enough to keep the phone in the "most powerful" category for 2 years. And that will do everything I need the phone to do without a lag of more than 1 sec (yes, 1 sec).
s) A separate graphics processor.
t) GPS built-in.
u) And ah, a 5MP camera that's nearly as good as at least a regular 3MP camera. A simple cam that takes good snaps like a normal point-and-shoot will do.

And lots more. Can't list them all :-) Whew!

[danlalan]

THE T-MOBILE SIDEKICK 2





The T-Mobile Sidekick II's is what i would like to have...isnt power packed with all the pda features...most of all its missing ir and b-tooth but apart from that its got an awesome screen..love the flip up,keyboard etc...

[iraghava]

My primary requirement from a phone is Battery Life, Voice Quality, Signal Reception, Decent size buttons (Shouldn't be so small that I need to have matchstick fingers!) & Rugged build for the occasional drop.

Nowadays most phones come packed choc-a-bloc with features like 3.2mp camera, unlimited video recording etc. etc. But for me the primary requirements are being ignored as phones are becoming slower, have more software bugs & hang quite often.

The best phone I ever used was this:



Great Battery life, Very sturdy, East to use because of big buttons & simple display. Had all the features one needs including Bluetooth & best of all had no Software Bugs!

I know the E50 is the successor but it's not a patch on this phone especially when it comes to battery life. Whereas the chappal (as my friend's called it then ) had a minimum standby of 3-5 days in my heavy usage the E50 can only manage 1.5-2 days max & the 6681/6630 etc. don't even last till the evening. I appreciate the fact that phones have so many new features but I've realised over the years that their novelty lasts only for a week or two after which the basic abilities of making a call, standby time, ease of use take over & that is where new phones lose out.

Now only if Nokia would produce this phone once again I would buy half-a-dozen & keep using them for the next decade or so!!

[prasadee]

That would have to be an iPhone + PSP bundled into one.

[Sahil]

My dream phone would be the Vertue, i know it's total waste of money and i might never have the heart to spend so much on a phone with barely any features but then again what are "dreams" all about
The apple iPhone will be a close 2nd, which i think i will land up getting sometime this year unlike the vertue :P

[cooldude1988765]

Nokia 8910/ Vertu lamborghini

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by theMAG

To put it in Dilbert-speak, my dream mobile should have all the functionalities of my laptop, should be able to detect trachion-field emissions, should have a large (21 ") multidimensional display like in Tom Cruise's AI, GPS, touch screen, a 15 MP Carl-Zeiss Tessar lens capable of amateur astronomy, should be able to monitor my vital signs, and of course be able to make/receive calls! Oh, and this phone should not be bigger than half my palm !

May be I should have been more clear about it.

I am referring to a realistic dream phone that perfectly fits your requirements. Not pipe-dreams... That way I can imagine a phone that turns into a full-size ferrari at the press of a button.

[GTO]

So, what would your dream mobile phone have and why?

Primary performance. While everyone else in my house uses the latest phones loaded to the brim with bells/whistles, I stick to my humble 6610. Why?

Because it is faster than all their phones. The battery lasts 2 - 3 days in heavy usage (theirs barely covers 24 hours) and always has full range. Unlike their phones, my software has never hung or crashed. To me, a phone is a phone and I do not want cameras, planners, MP3s etc. in my phone. This could also be because I am an absolute 9 - 7 desk guy and hate field work. So my planners and emails can stay on the laptop, thank you.

However, I do like slick designs but cant find any new phones that are good-looking and miminal in bells/whistles. So the ideal phone to me is one that performs like my 6610 but looks a great deal better.

[Samurai]

This is not my idea of a dream phone.

YouTube - Conan - iPhone Commercial

[manson]

Agree with ishan and gto on this. Infact lately i ve had two phones to my disposal, a Nokia 6111 and a Nokia 1110, and i find myself using the 1110 almost six days in a week.

For near future i intend to get a phone that has excellent network and voice clarity, and is compatible with Microsoft Word alongwith good battery life.

Ishan: you bet the 6310i was some phone, mine was a silver handset.

manson.

[Akshay1234]

mine is definatey the n95.. am surely gonna get it when it comes out.. its got soo many features.. 5mp cam, gps, music player, big screen, wifi, hspda..