I watched all the great media hype on the phone. Read a few tests like at gizmodo on it and also read Setuid’s blog enty on its limitations. The iPhone sounds kinda cool and it has some attractions; but I wonder if it would take the drops on a parking lot like my Treo 650 has. As a disclosure, my 650 has had its issues. At one point, it insisted on locking up solid when only a certain number tried to call. That’s weird. Another time, it wanted to always reboot with a certain palm application. Another weird thing. Finally, there was this issue with how the OS on the 650 wrote files. Remember that one? You got far less numbers of files for contacts or calendar written due to its default file size. But still, the ole Mike Perry 650 drop test never really rendered it useless. It also sync’s to a bunch of stuff easily like at work against my version of Outlook and the exchange server we have that I wimpishly keep my appointments and contacts in, Jpilot, and even managed to get it to work with gnome-pilot and evolution. The last one managed to make the Treo behave really wacky.
So my take is that the Treo is a workhorse of a thing but it has wacky things that happen. The iPhone looks fragile and I think a drop would make it flake. It also appears that you gotta have a Mac system to sync it to. That’s useless. I don’t want a Mac laptop and never will get one. I can have all the free Unix applications I could ever want on Debian. I don’t need a over-hyped Mac.
But no blog entry is ever complete when talking about gadgetry unless one discusses what would make a perfect companion. Here is what I want from a gadget:
- Provides a beautiful color screen with nice resolution and ability to actually see it in broad daylight.
- Includes a 120g Laptop hard disk drive to keep appointments, music, contacts on.
- Has applications which support standard file formats and one can easily synchronize to the applications whether on Windows, BSD, or Linux.
- Has an expansion slot. Why not, I wonder. I’d like to plug in a removable drive to use as a portable data transfer thing.
- Has a video/camera recorder thing. Not that I use this often; but if I had one that was better than the stupid Treo one, I’d probably grow to at least accept it.
- Has a decent USB connection that never changes its size or type from one generation of device to the next. Bah on Treo and their ever-changing connection devices that I need to buy again and again.
- Has a phone element I can use with any service I want and that is usable internationally. Make the phone easy dammit!
- Perhaps a keyboard that my stubby fingers can actually use.
- Finally, has a flashable OS. I should be able to rewrite the OS and upgrade it easily.
Will this thing ever exist? I think it will. When the device makers get it into their limited memory banks that I don’t want any limitations. If I replace a few devices, the replacement needs to be able to take care of what all the devices currently do. My 60g video ipod has 20g of music on it now. I want more there on the new device. I will continue to amass music so it needs to be able to grow with me. My Treo has contacts and appointments from work and home. Handle multiple categories gracefully, says I.
My thinkpad for home runs Debian Etch. You are gonna have to be friendly there too and also take into account at work, I run a Dell laptop with XP, Exchange, etc. Give me flexibility and I want it now!
So, the big question is when. When will a device exist that meets a set of actual use-case criteria and can function as not only a current replacement; but one that will be there for me next year. I’m not gonna hold my breath on this. I don’t think the gadget and gizmo makers truly get it yet. Remove the drive size and memory limitations dammit! Make the display better and cleaner! Give us applications and expandability too!
I ain’t buying an all-in-one replacement until then; but I will probably upgrade my Treo at some point. It still has a few issues here and there; but it sure ain’t a uPhone.
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