My Dream Smartphone

[ppatt]

...and I mean a phone not the PDA form factor.

I've owned PDAs and smartphones since their inception but I am have finally concluded a must-have set of features. First, my dislikes:

- keyboards on phones of any sizes.
Most people swell with pride, certain of other's envy, whenever they are seen pecking away at a tiny blackberry keyboard. I usually ask them what they are doing and they reply that it is an important business-related email. When I point out that their provider offers a voice email capability (voice recording appears in email in recipients inbox, along with the app to play it back) they deflate, seriously. Then, if they are screwing with a windows smartphone I show them my Remote Display Control program that lets me use my PC keyboard and mouse to interact with an attached PDA or smartphone they say thats nice but what if they are on the road...That's when I show them the voice email.

I'm no religious fanatic and I understand if people want this feature. However I don't want to pay for it, I would never use it, and it makes me feel dumb, not smart.

That one calls for a poll, I am curious as to whether my preference for no KB is unique and to what extent others think their pecking could be avoided altogether with voice-email capability. I have not yet tried the poll feature so I have no idea where it will appear...



OK, now for the gimme, gimme, gimmes:

- Form Factor
small flip phone like cingular 3125 with MP3 controls and clock on the outside. Flip phones reach both ear and mouth.

- 802.11B (better G)
I have software for Windows Mobile that lets me listen to XM and also lets me view TV on my MCE2005, both live and recorded. Hopefully they will eventually upgrade this so that I can set recording schedule too. The software is Orb ( http://www.orb.com ) and it works great. With the new denser screen resolutions watching on my smartphone really isn't so bad.

- card capacity of 4-8GB
Thats enough for my favorite music and a couple of full length motion pictures. Mini-SD seems to have more capacity and I was disappointed to find that some promising phones use micro-sd instead.

- bluetooth A2DP Stereo
I want wireless stereo headphones. If I need to talk hands-free I can always get an earpiece that includes speaker but I hate the wire when listening to MP3s.

To the best of my knowledge there is not yet such a phone. There seems to be some convergence between the phone and PDA form factors that blurs the distinction...HTC Excalibur for instance. I might accept a slightly larger form factor but I do not want to lug around anything close to pda size.

I currently own an Audiovox SMT5600 (earlier model that only works with cingular on the old AT&T network, which has problems like voice mail showing up a day late). They tell me this has to do with the ROM.

I've read that 1GB smartphone processors are in the works and since my dream phone does not exist (my guess is that it is right around the corner) I am holding out and will go with whichever provider has it first. Amazon generally has best offers on smartphones with a 2-yr commitment to the provider. I've noticed that immediately after release of a new phone model by the provider they try to sell it exclusively for a short period (sometimes not) then there is a brief period of 1-3 weeks when the phone is free with a 2-yr commitment, then if goes up to $49.00 for a while. I have seen this patter with several smartphones but am open to any other sources for deal if anyone knows them.

If the cingular 3125 had 802.11 then I might go ahead with it...but it doesn't.

Has anyone heard of an upcoming phone that fits these specs? If so, then I am all ears!!!!

[ppatt]

Darn, I forgot GPS. Even in a smartphone it is good. I have a Delorme Blue Logger (small Bluetooth GPS) and used it recently in Seattle and it kept me from missing freeway exits over and over again. Not great for plotting a course because of the small screen but great for knowing when something is coming up and what it is.

It would be nice for that to be built in. I use Pocket Streets as software, from Microsoft and I got it for $30.00.

[Mike Temporale]

Just so you know, you can already do voice email with Windows Mobile Smartphones. From a new message, just select Menu / Insert / Voice Note and away you go.
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"I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious" - Albert Einstein

[Mike Temporale]