A blueprint for the perfect phone

Usability
Usability sounds straightforward but is often ignored in phone design. I'm going to focus here on the DUB's software interface.

Almost everyone wants to make calls and send text messages. Other features should be easy to use, but calling and messaging have to be paramount when designing a phone's interface. Calls should sound fantastic and the DUB would come with a sensor that automatically alters call volume depending on ambient noise.

Making and receiving calls, adding new contacts and sending messages on the DUB phone are all one click away from the homepage. Any recent call or message activity is displayed on the home page in a translucent list, similar to how emails are displayed.

This list would be a mixture of the latest five calls and messages made or recieved. If, for example, you've just sent a text message or someone has recently called you, then it appears on this list. When you click on any name, it shows you the message or call details and gives you the option to call or text them. This should make it very easy to contact your nearest and dearest, the people you call and text most often.

If you want to contact someone who isn't on that list, then you'd simply start tapping in their name and the correct number appears, similar to Windows Mobile's contact-search function. Alternatively, you just click down on the nav key and immediately go into your list of contacts, which you could then search through using the key's Click Wheel function.

Once you've located the correct contact name, then you are immediately given the option to message or call that person. The DUB's text editor would use XT9, which remembers regularly used words and phrases, making texting much quicker. Anything you inputted would be saved, so that if you press the end call key by mistake, your last message is still there when you go back into the editor. There would also be a text-to-speech option similar to Nuance or SpinVox's offerings.

Underneath the recent call and text activity list there are two fields similar to those on the Nokia 6300, which runs on Series 40 3rd Edition feature pack 2, that enables you to jot down a note and view upcoming calendar entries on the phone's homepage.

As for accessing the rest of the phone's features, it's a simple case of pressing the OK key and you're in the menu. All the menu's features are clearly marked using easy-to-understand icons and rather than clutter the menu with rarely used options, the DUB lets you customise the menu to display only the things you need. Practically everything can be customised on the DUB, from the soft keys to the wallpaper to the alarm ring tone.

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