The Ultimate Handheld Gadget (that hasn’t been invented yet)
When I think of a gadget, I generally think of something along the lines of a handheld device, though I think a broader, more fair definition is almost any electronics device. For the sake of this article, we’ll stick with the devices you can put in your pocket.
PSP Go, iPhone, Nintendo DSi, Blackberry, Palm Pre – what do they all have in common? They’re mobile devices. They’re gadgets. What else do they have in common? Not a single one of them does everything that it should. Each of them caters to a niche user, some more so than others, but I want each device to do more.
The iPhone changed the game as far as mobile phones. A gesture based interface was new on the scene, and it took off. It forced the rest of the mobile phone market to take a look at their junky phone lineups and reevaluate. All of a sudden, that $200 people paid for their RAZR seemed like a giant waste of money.
Several carriers responded with knee jerk touch screen phones that were essentially crap. A lot of them still are. RIM took a little longer and responded with the Storm, which was for the most part, a giant miss.
Now we’re up to mid-2009 and what have we got?
- PSP/PSP Go – Gaming device. Plays movies. Memory Card/Onboard Memory. WiFi.
- DSi – Gaming device. Two touchscreens. Camera. Aimed at kids in US. Sells well in other countries.
- Blackberry – Mobile phone. Email/text/messaging. Plays music (sorta). Plays movies (sorta).
- iPhone – Mobile phone. Email/text/messaging. Plays music. Plays movies. Plays touch based games.
- Palm Pre – Mobile phone. Email/text/messaging. Plays music (for now). Plays games.
Based on what’s out there, Sony and Nintendo don’t look to have any interest in moving their handheld gaming devices to the phone arena. Sony already has a mobile phone line that, from what I can tell, fails at every turn. Nintendo makes plenty of money off of their products as is.
The iPhone is the closest thing to a true all-encompassing device, but the lack of a physical keyboard turns some people off, and the lack of real gaming “buttons” does the same.
RIM seems truly interested in Apple’s device and emulating it. While the Storm is (let’s be honest) a failure, Storm 2 rumors are abound. They’re sticking with their bread and butter with the Bold and the new Curve, plus a few more unreleased devices later this year. They currently rule the roost in the smartphone market, and abandoning their winning formula completely would be a mistake. But it doesn’t hurt to try and expand.
Palm just released the Pre. It seems like a good device that does a lot of things right, but the types of games you’ll get on it are similar to those available on the iPhone. Without controller type buttons, it’ll not ever be a true gaming device.
When I opted to go from an LG VX8300 to an iPhone, it took a lot of self-convincing. Did I want to pay for a monthly data plan? Did I need all that functionality on a phone? I decided at first, that I didn’t. Which was probably a good thing because I would have thrown it out the window if I had to deal with EDGE speeds on non-mobile optimized sites for a year. But once the 3G game out, I got one and never looked back. My wife didn’t want a Blackberry when we switched carriers – she didn’t need all that fancy stuff, even though she’s a relatively avid text messager. Six months and one Sony piece of junk phone later, she’s got a Blackberry Curve 8310 and loves it.
What convinced me to buy an iPhone? I listen to podcasts and music every day on my commute to/from work. All my media is in iTunes. All my email is done through Gmail and work. It just made sense. I didn’t want to have to carry my iPod and mobile phone around all the time. Not to mention my work issued Blackberry. I could consolidate three devices into one.
That consolidation is what initially got me thinking about a reall “all-in-one” device. What are the most popular gadgets/features people use today? Phone, camera, email, GPS, games, video recording, video playback. When Sony announced the PSP Go a few weeks ago, my first thought was, “If Apple designed an iPhone like that, with a slideout gamepad AND keyboard, all my wants would be answered.” I want a PSP, but I don’t want to spend ANOTHER $250 (or less if I get a PSP 3000) on it. I want a digital video camera, but just get by with the one on my Panasonic Lumix.
So where does that leave us? In my opinion, we’re in a void that I wish was over. If I were to build the Ultimate Handheld Gadget, it would go something like this:
- Slide out keyboard in landscape mode with optional touch keyboard built into the OS
- Slide out game pad in landscape mode. This could overlay or underlay the keybaord
- 8 megapixel still camera with a flash, 5x optical zoom, and a few manual settings
- 720p digital video camera with 5x optical zoom and a few manual settings (though I’m sure upping that to 1080 wouldn’t be too much of a stretch)
- 32 GB onboard storage with SD slot for expansion
- App store
- Music playback
- Video playback
- WiFi (N)/Bluetooth (3.0) sync
- TV out
- Standard outputs (HDMI & USB)
- OLED screen
Granted, because of the players involved – Microsoft, Apple, RIM, Sony, Nintendo, there won’t be just one device that’s heading in this direction. Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony all have consoles that they SHOULD strive to also syncing with this mythical device. Apple and RIM only need it to hit the PC.
Hardware costs and getting a lot of this technology on the processor is probably the biggest holdup right now, but since I know it’s heading in that direction, I have to bide my time. Aside from the technical holdups in actually creating such a device, the software implementation also has to be solid. Many of these companies have a hard time getting their different departments talking and working with one another – leading to incompatabilities and a generally lousy user experience. While I have tendencies to root for Apple in this race because of the (mostly) excellent iPhone, I don’t foresee a gaming console in their future. And honestly, I’d like to play Madden or Halo from time to time. If Microsoft or Sony could manage to get there first, I might have to switch to that product, because it’s just easier to have everything in one place.
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