Revolutionizing Mobile Phones

[sciguy125]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

There have been combination cellphone/PDA/mp3players/pocket-PCs out for a while now

and they have all tanked on the market

I think that the key may be the way each of the features is implimented. Take a PC for instance. It'll do all of those functions, but it's a little too big to carry around. Cell phone (and all voice phones for that matter) might go out in favor of video phones, which a PC could easily handle. There also seems to be a movement to cover the entire country with wireless internet access. With that, all communications (including media such as TV) could be moved onto the internet (or latest incarnation of it at the time).

From that point, you'd just need a portable PC. Maybe something along the lines of a mini-tablet PC. If it has a flexible screen, the guts could be contained in a small compartment and the screen can be rolled out. They had something like that on a sci-fi show, but I don't remember which one. The device, about the size of a very large cell phone, is two sections. You pull them apart and the screen unfolds. Push them back together and it compacts again.

Also consider what's happened over the last few years. PC's have had multimedia capabilities for a very long time. However, it wasn't until recently that people started using the technology in home entertainment systems. You can compress your DVD player, CD player, TV tuner, and a bunch of other things into a small PC. Yes, it does make it harder to operate (no more putting in the cassette and pressing play), but as it becomes mainstream, people are willing to accept it. Think of the number of buttons it takes to operate a VCR versus the number it takes to operate a DVD player (in terms of all its capabilities, not just what you actually use on a daily basis).

You might also want to look at digital cameras. Old way: point at subject, press button, take to lab. New way: point at subject, press button, look at display to verify good picture, take another if needed, copy to computer, (optional photoshop), print. Going from event to print in hand has gotten harder.

The omni-device is only as good as its interface. If you can't use it, it's worthless. So, as much as I hate to say it, Micro$oft may have a point. As long as the interface is good, I think that it will be sucessful. When it comes right down to it, people will probably chose to carry around one medium device rather than a bunch of little devices. I feel that the omni-device is inevitable.

[KenWittlief]

Im a little biased because my company makes video eyewear (www.icuiti.com)

and there are several companys now coming out with commercially viable stuff like ours.

once you take the display off a laptop or tablet PC, the size limiting factor becomes the keyboard.

for a PDA it becomes the input device (touch screen or mouse input). It will only be a few years until we have 1024 or 1280 resolution video eyewear, so the direct view LCD will definately be on its way out by then

but I have never seen anything that can replace a keyboard for normal PC/Laptop use

So you still have three distinct sizes of devices:

I dont want a big cell phone, I dont need a cell phone with video eyewear that is required to use it

wearable displays are excellent for PDAs and laptops. Im sure something like the AirMouse will replace the touch screen on PDAs and pocket PCs

but for portable PCs / Laptops, I cant see the touch-type style keyboard going away.

Thats why I see these three functions remaining as three distinct devices for the next several years