A blueprint for the perfect phone

AnonymousMon 18 June, 2007 2:22pm

Perfect. If it was on the market, id buy it right now. i would change the design of the front slightly but that would just be for my particular aesthetic tastes.

AnonymousMon 18 June, 2007 2:33pm

Some interesting stuff here. I really like the idea of the double screen, looks like the best of both worlds. Not sure about the camera, it would be next to impossible to have an extending lens with 3x optical zoom in a phone that is 10mm thick, also the diameter of the lens would make it pretty hefty on the rear and the servos to control it would use up battery power. Would be good to have a decent quality picture from a phone camera though.

Design is an issue too, it's amazing to me as someone who love functionality in a phone how much i shy away from ones that don't look good. Looks can make or break a phone and they can't be discounted as part of a great phone, after all, you wouldn't want to whip out something distasteful in the pub, would you?

AnonymousMon 18 June, 2007 5:11pm

WOW. I LOVE the twin battery life. Beautiful yet simple. Black matte and hardened glass will beat any shiny jumping rocket fired mobile anyday! Excellent ideas and a discrete name DUB that is memorable. PLEASE MANUFACTURERS - GROUP TOGETHER AND MAKE THIS PHONE NOW!
SONY - CAMERA/BATTERIES/SCREEN NOKIA - INTERFACE SAMSUNG - SLIM CASING MOTOROLA - KEYS

Jens Buch JohansenMon 18 June, 2007 9:24pm

Im sorry to be the devils advocate here, but most of those things are pantended to speparate companies. So it would require almost all the major manufacturers to do this, which is highly unlikely. The best way i can come up with is some major company with a huge amount of money, bought the rights to use the lot.

This would in my mind probably mean that the only ones who would do it would be Microsoft. They have a history of huge buys, and they have the cash to back it up.

but still, very unlikely.

StephTue 19 June, 2007 9:24am

I've been looking for a phone to upgrade to for myself and my dad the past few months and it's impossible to find something to satisfy the basic requirements, DUB as you have called them. My dad is finding it particularly difficult - he's a full time dairy farmer so he's constantly on the go outdoors doing manual work. Aside from needing something with solid battery life he needs something robust that's going to be able to tolerate a few tumbles - very hard to find nowadays. As for usability - basic requirement of a sizeable keypad is tough to come by.

I'm a graphic designer and while I don't know much about product design I've been toying with the idea of sending out some kind of basic blueprint to phone companies - I'm glad to see someone has more than set the ball rolling

AnonymousTue 19 June, 2007 5:02pm

I have the sony ercisson W810i and it would be perfect for me, only if it had A2DP (stereo bluetooth), please God sony release a firmware update for this...which they wont!

ArbyTue 19 June, 2007 9:21pm

Using the OK button to take pictures? So every time you navigate a menu and click OK you'll be snapping unwanted photos. Yeah, that's a GREAT idea.

AnonymousTue 19 June, 2007 9:35pm

I'd say overall, your idea is good. I don't know that I'd have any general ideas of improvement off the top of my head but overall that would be a fantastic phone, especially with having a datebook built in or available via software. Also flash/java support within the browser would be nice, I believe there's a mini version of Mozilla Firefox that would support that pretty well. I think it was meant to fit on USB drives or something.

Sad truth is that it is unlikely that companies like verizon have the intelligence to consider ideas tossed around, especially when they are good ideas like this, because it probably isnt' proprietary enough for them. I have a friend who works as a mobile engineer for motorola to design new phones, and they give him carte blanche for new ideas. I will forward this to him.

StephenTue 19 June, 2007 9:36pm

How about taking the button connecting to the Internet off of the front of the phone or at least having a way to disable connectivity. Cingular has at least 10 dollars of my money because I keep connecting to the Internet accidentally.

AnonymousTue 26 June, 2007 6:35am

With the perfect phone you can disable internet conectivity. My K800i is configured so that if you press the wrong key 90% of the time it trys to load JAVA and conect to the internet. Pressing cancel give you 20 seconds quite time while it unloads JAVA. My provider has disabled my internet access but the phone doesn't know this and still repeatedly goes dead while it loads and unloads JAVA.

AnonymousTue 19 June, 2007 10:00pm

Make it a flip phone, and it's perfect.

Adding a flip to it is not only for style, but stops accidental button pushes in my pocket, as well as protecting the main screen.
Throw on a small clearly readable/strong display of the time and caller id on the outside to finish it off.

AnonymousTue 19 June, 2007 10:03pm

I'd buy it if it cost less than $600. Also, it should have quad-band GSM and tri-band UMTS, along with EDGE and HSDPA. I would prefer CDMA/EV-DO as well, but would buy it without those bands.

AnonymousTue 19 June, 2007 10:13pm

Your perfect mobile may come about sooner rather than later, and not from the current major phone manufacturers. Via's new mobile-itx motherboard form factor that was recently shown at Computex may enable a new player to bring a device to market and leave it completely open to developers. Pretty much anyone familiar with PC development could make, say custom UIs to cater to everyone.

AnonymousTue 19 June, 2007 10:14pm

Actually, here's the blueprint for the perfect phone: http://www.apple.com/iphone/

AllenTue 19 June, 2007 11:07pm

Very similar to the HTC S710 sans dual battery and OLED. The HTC also has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

The dual battery idea is actually sort of pointless, for several reasons: A) You can fit more of a single battery in a given space. B) Draining the primary battery would automatically render the functions of the secondary battery useless. C) Draining the secondary battery would leave you without those functions, even though you may have plenty of primary battery power left. Sure, you could have the phone automatically switch to the remaining battery for all power in the event that one drained completely, but why bother when that functionality would be better served by a single battery? The KISS acronym is particularly applicable here.

phloTue 19 June, 2007 11:07pm

Seems like quite an interesting phone except for a few details:

- Why would you put two batteries in there? If I'm not totally mistaken, one battery with the same size could hold quite a bit of extra power, now couldn't it? (Plus I know if I wanted to listen to some music, the mp3-player-battery'd just be empty and vice-versa)
- Can you really put both displays that close to each other and the edges of the phone? Where'd you put the speaker?
- Why HSDPA? It doesn't do much more than eat huge amounts of power most of the time.

AnonymousTue 19 June, 2007 11:10pm

@Anonymous ("Actually, here's the blueprint for the perfect phone: http://www.apple.com/iphone/"): I think you pasted the wrong link or something; all I can see on the page you're linking to is a huge (and by huge I mean duffel-bag-instead-of-jeans-pocket-huge), boring looking phone that does a hell lot of stuff and apparently nothing right...

TehniobiumTue 19 June, 2007 11:51pm

I really like the concept HOWEVER I hate the design. It looks crap - no one would buy it.

On page two you say "Smooth lines are important too" - you are right! - so lets include that in the final product. If the design doesn't have those lines it wont do well, because it wont look the part.

I respect the fact that you probably aren't a graphical designer, and that the phone should be seen as a concept rather than a finnished product - however I think you should have emphasized this more in the article.

I am not a graphical designer either, but I messed about with it in the GIMP for a couple of minutes...developing your concept phone.

Result:

http://lukedk.frih.net/niophoto/photos/49.png

Tell me what you think!

steveWed 20 June, 2007 12:03am

Nice, but why the camera? Just being able to call and text would be sufficient.

I am of the opinion that the Nokia 1100 would be the perfect phone if it was a bit thinner.

SJSWed 20 June, 2007 12:04am

Don't need the camera. Don't need the music player. Consequently, don't need the dual batteries. The dual screen is good -- but include a date & time display (would a b&w display mode consume less power on the color screen? or perhaps an LCD overlay), as that's a significant use of a phone for some folks.

10mm versus, say, 15mm and much longer battery life is an easy choice -- battery life. I routinely run my phone down to "dead" because I don't think to look at the battery status except when I /use/ the phone. Have "charge points" in the phone to degrade service as battery use declines... say, at 40%, drop out of the cell network for three minutes out of five; at 20%, disable speakerphone capabilities; at 5%, allow only text-messaging (assuming that voice takes more battery than text), etc. -- all user-settable, of course.

I don't care about internet connectivity /on/ the phone -- but an ethernet connection that would let me plug any machine (my laptop, my friend's laptop, a desktop...) would be very useful. If there must be internet connectivity, use a browser like lynx, and forget Javascript, Flash, etc.

Large, well-separated buttons are a must. I don't have tiny fingers, and most cell phones these days range from "barely usable" to "unusable". In fact, so long as you're going to have USB connectivity, let it take a USB keyboard for text-messaging input (and note-taking). I recall some small keyboards that were made for the Palm and Handspring PDAs, I'm sure there would be a market for a folding USB keyboard to hook to the phone.

Instead of a dial-and-button in the center, simplify. Have a green Send/Ok button, a red Hangup/Cancel button, and put a rocker switch in the middle (up/down or right/left, depending). If the phone's UI is mostly text, having large buttons with tactile feedback means I can learn to go to where I want without having to look at the screen except to confirm my final action.

If I need four-way control, I have the keypad right there... 2 is up, 6 is right, 4 is left, and 8 is down, right?

A physical power button is a necessity. If one was mentioned, I missed it. If not, it's needed. A recessed slide-switch probably works well. Press-and-hold not so well.

RichardWed 20 June, 2007 12:33am

I'd like to add:

1)Please make it a flip-phone. The advantage of a *big* screen, combined with a *big* keypad is compelling. The Samsung D830 is nearly perfect in this regard (except for the non-tactile keys). We can even have space for alphanumeric keys, if desired. Flip phones also solve the "key-lock" problem in a better way; they also put the earphone/microphone in the correct place.

2)Must work with Linux (as a modem, or for file transfer).

3)Should also support ogg files, and mpeg4.

4)Must be multi-band, and not tied to any one network or contract.

1tsm3Wed 20 June, 2007 12:35am

The dual battery idea won't work for several reasons. Some comments above have mentioned some of them, but they missed the main reason.

In most phones, the MP3 player is just an application running on the same processor as the rest of the UI or the Modem. So you really can't reserve a battery for MP3 player alone -- that will work only if the MP3 player is a separate piece of hardware. Also, I don't think any manufacturer is going to put a separate CPU/chip just for the MP3 player for cost and board real estate reasons.

Other things I don't agree with are the complex lens and flash for the camera. This is a phone, not a professional camera. If you want to take photos at any instant under any light condition, but one of the small digital cameras and carry them around. Complex lens and flash are difinitely not main stream requirements like the rest of the suggestions.

-Its me.

AnonymousWed 20 June, 2007 1:38am

You forgot something quite important: the camera application needs PictBridge (and DPOF) support. That is one of the only things missing from my K610.

AnonymousWed 20 June, 2007 4:57am

Maybe.

The camera _must_ be optional! Several sites I work at have a no-camera-instant-dismissal policy, which does apply to phone cameras.

The twin batteries is a terrible solution to an important problem. If you are sacrificing a certain volume of space for a certain volume of power, splitting it in hardware won't give you any benefit over splitting it in software. It would be much superior to disable the camera / mp3 player features, below a configurable limit. No mp3/flash draining your battery - and the ability to override when you go below '20%' free with 10 minutes left on your bus trip home.

Ed SmithWed 20 June, 2007 5:33am

Excellent design. Very simple, easy and intuitive to use, and lots of battery power. Two more ideas: (a) have an optional cover or shell of some sort to ruggedize it so I can fumble and drop it every other minute without damage, (b) assure that all common features used in the phone have a short navigation tree with the user able to "speed dial" (or "macro" or "hotkey", you get the idea) to the functions of their choice. All I want to do is get it out of my pocket, do it's thing as quickly and easily as possible, and get it back into my pocket (after dropping it onto the concrete below, of course) as easily and painlessly as possible.

AnonymousWed 20 June, 2007 9:38am

It looks like a s**tbrick man!
Rotten looking phone!

AnonymousWed 20 June, 2007 9:59am

I'm with you much of the way, but I want more emphasis on Calls, SMS and calendar. I can live without camera, and I think a phone camera should only be good enough to take 'OK' pictures - for real photography I'd prefer a proper camera. Bluetooth would be OK, but not networking - it's a telephone, not a mobile office. And it should not come on automatically, I don't want to be online every time I am near an access point, I want to be in full control. MP3 player would be fine, and perhaps I could find something useful to do with the SDK. I would want to HW to be durable - chunky is OK with me, if it means that the buttons don't wear out etc.

Dimitar ZhekovWed 20 June, 2007 1:57pm

A lite version without MP3 and camera and with one big battery instead of two would be just fine for me. And since there are no music or pictures stored, 64MB should be enough.

AnonymousWed 20 June, 2007 2:25pm

I would add

- Wi-Fi to be able to use hotspots in hotels or at the airports plus

- a true walkie-talkie (encrypted FM signal) functionality which will allow communication for short distances WITHOUT the operator being engaged (why shall I pay the GSM operator when I want to call someone in the other floor of the building). Once the FM signal become to weak, GSM call should be automagically made to continue the conversation in a standard way.

IsaacWed 20 June, 2007 2:50pm

You just described the BlackBerry Pearl (http://www.blackberrypearl.com/), with the exception of the memory size (actually MicroSD is about $20/2GB so it's not too far off) and the multiple batteries thing--which doesn't make any technical sense since seperating the power supply would mean you could suddenly listen to MP3s but not make a 911 call because your phone battery is dead and the phone doesn't just share the dang battery for everything...but I digress.

I got the Pearl about two months ago and I will never buy any other brand, with the possible exception of the iPhone. Really, look into it, it is pretty much what you described. Very awesome.

AnonymousWed 20 June, 2007 3:35pm

One thing that I would like to see in a phone is - ironically - the ability to turn off the phone & internet capability whilst leaving all other functionality available (flight mode). My W800i allows one to listen to music in flight mode, but nothing else. When a phone is replacing a number of devices (camera, music player, address-book, diary), you still want to be able to use those devices where phones are not permitted.

AnonymousThu 21 June, 2007 7:12pm

Sounds awesome, although I'd change the front design a little (those buttons look especially chunky).
The mp3 function would have to process sound very very well, as I'm wary of phones playing music as I can't imagine their sound quality is very good. Even my iPod Nano isn't as good as my Monolith, let alone a phone.
Also, what about the price? I imagine it'd be pretty high, especially buying the rights to all those copyrighted functions (namely the Click Wheel).

AJKFri 22 June, 2007 1:33pm

I am a bit of a believer in some conspiracy theories and why you will never get the perfect phone is one of them. Mobile phone producers won't give you the perfect phone, because then you won't buy a new one after a year or two or look at any of their other gazillion models. Features are devided among their phones. It will always contain one of the features you want and loads of ones you don't want. Their business model is based on you seeing a newer version of one of their models coming out and then moving over to that phone (because it it has one or two more features which suits your needs best), into infinity this cycle continues.

AnonymousSat 23 June, 2007 10:48pm

The only thing i would add is wi-fi, possibly at the expense of HSDPA, due to it being cheaper, and more practical for everyone.

AnonymousMon 25 June, 2007 9:40pm

I dig it. I have a concern with the gross amount of ear-grease that would get all over the screen, though.

My dream phone is the size of a silver dollar- all it is is a GSM radio and bluetooth tranceiver, a SIM tray, and a little bit of flash memory. The display is integrated into my wristwatch so I can discretely check incoming calls/messages. It connects via bluetooth to my PDA for advanced functionality like texting or phonebook management. I can use a blueooth headset, or interchangable bluetooth handsets for different scenarios - a weatherproof, rugged one for hiking, or a stylish one for the boardroom.

esteeThu 30 August, 2007 10:09am

I would buy this today - no probs - it's just what I've been looking for! Manufacturers take note!

AnonymousFri 19 October, 2007 4:56pm

Genius. SONY ERICSSON & SAMSUNG read this and start the race. Motorolla and Nokia may also have a chance. The others might as well just start manufacturing something else and stop wasting their time.