What do you want from your gadgets in the future?

Steveire

There seems to be a trend these days towards integrating all gadgets available together.

Do you want it all integrated into one über-device which does everything for you? I should clarify that i mean portable devices. Do you want a iPod-phone-PDA-digital camera-web browsing device-video player with a huge hard drive that you can take on the bus?

Personally, i think i'd prefer my phone to be a phone. I don't need the camera on it to be any better, and i wouldn't be willing to pay for a 3 Mpixel camera on my phone. The only thing i want from my phone in the future is greater connectivity with my other devices. I don't use the organiser on it, and wouldn't even if it was better. The last thing i want is my phone to play videos. The screen is tiny! What's the point in spending so much to get a phone with the capability to play videos?

Another gadget on the road to all devices doing the same thing is the iRiver. It's got a colour screen, so that you can look at photos from your digital camera on it.
!!!!!!!!
Your Digital camera has a screen on it! Why do you need to look at them on your iRiver? Why does your Hard-Drive audio player need a colour screen at all? I say put a monotone screen and headphone jack on it, and improve the battery life. I use a Creative Zen, and the only thing i want from it that it dosn't offer me is a "Play any album feature". Trouble is, if such a feature comes with the next Zen, said gadget will probably also include a colour screen and a host of other features that I dont want. I'd take extra battery longevity over trendy-unnessecary any day.

The main thing i want from my gadgets in the future is connectivity.
It would be useful to me to be able to transfer wirelessly photos from my digi camera to Zen, even if i couldn't view them. The simple reason being that it has a large hard-drive. I don't want my digi camera to have a large hard-drive, cos that's only going to lead to my Zen getting a camera on it to compete. Grrr.

So that's it. All i want from my gadgets is connectivity, preferably wireless, and maybe even a few steps backward along the route of mega-integration. Hopefully there'll be a new generation of bluetooth capable of being useful on this scale.

What do you want from your gadgets in the future? (Not just portables btw. That's just my peev for the moment)

Creamy Goodness

smaller and more connectivity as you said.

i agree with your "let a phone be a phone and a camera be a camera", they are just gimicks to get people to buy into them

Steveire

Well i guess i was right then...

mh

I do get the general thrust of what you are saying but I am not entirely sure that I agree. I use a Nokia mobile phone and a Compaq iPaq and I am getting really fed up with carrying both of them around. I spend a lot of my day going from meetings to meetings and I end up carrying the two bits of euipment and a notebook. I am very tempted by the XDA combined device - a little bit bigger than I want from a phone but at least it would be only one piece of kit.

While we are on the subject does anyone have opinions on a Blackberry? I have been resisting that particular gadget because everyone in work has one and it creates a culture of "I sent you an email ten minutes ago - why haven't you replied yet".

muckwarrior

Cremo wrote:

i agree with your "let a phone be a phone and a camera be a camera", they are just gimicks to get people to buy into them

I disagree. I want a phone with a 5MP camera and a 20G hard drive for my mp3s. Shouldn't be too long waiting
Seriously though, with 3MP+ camera phones with optical zoom only months away, why would you want to carry around 2 devices when one can do both jobs?

Steveire

muckwarrior wrote:

I disagree. I want a phone with a 5MP camera and a 20G hard drive for my mp3s. Shouldn't be too long waiting
Seriously though, with 3MP+ camera phones with optical zoom only months away, why would you want to carry around 2 devices when one can do both jobs?

For me it's size, battery life, and frequency of use.

Also, I use these gadgets differently. What i mean by that is this:

My MP3 player is something I turn on, press play, put away and listen to cos i'm bored and possibly in transit. It's size doesn't really matter to me, because once it's playing, I essentially put it away by putting it down somewhere.

On the other hand, I can reasonably describe my phone as "always in use". Even when not texting or making voice calls, it's on my person, and I'd want to have as close to instant access to it as possible. It's size and ergonomic design are therefore relevant to me.

As you see, I want different things from both of these devices, so I can't accept a grouping of them as a step forward. I'd imagine there would be (I accept that there, in fact, will be) devices which have a primary function as a phone, and secondary media player, and vice versa, and plenty of others in the in between, but I don't want one.

mh: Welcome to boards. My dad uses the Blackberry in work, having previously used a mobile and iPaq. Now he still uses a mobile, and does not use the Blackberry as a phone. He only uses it for the email features and other PDA-like uses. Essentially, it has just replaced his iPaq.

Muckwarrior: Would you want to run down the road of the über-device which does everything? (Pod-phone-PDA-digital camera-web browsing device-video player with a huge hard drive)

stevenmu

The things I'd value most are flexibility and openess which I suppose are both almost the same thing. The best gadget I've ever bought is my XDA 1. I can use it as a phone, mp3 player, games machine, contacts/diary organiser and countless other things that I can download software to let it do. If needed I can also write my own software to run on it too.

I agree though about trying to bundle too much hardware into one unit though. Carrying around a digital camera has absolutely no appeal to me at all, so if I want to upgrade to an XDA 2 I don't see why I should pay for an included one. I suppose what I'd like to see is some kind of flexible base unit to which I could connect modules, such as a phone or camera, to as needed, with open standards so any company could make those modules, kind of like the way the PC market works today.

muckwarrior

Steveire wrote:

Muckwarrior: Would you want to run down the road of the über-device which does everything? (Pod-phone-PDA-digital camera-web browsing device-video player with a huge hard drive)

Indeed I do!
Your main concern seems to be that for a device to perform multiple functions it needs to compromise the quality of one or more of those functions. While this is indeed true at the moment and probably will be for the first generation of "uber" devices, I think it's only a matter of time before the technology advances enough for a single uber device to perform its seperate tasks as capably as a corresponding independant device.

Steveire

stevenmu wrote:

I suppose what I'd like to see is some kind of flexible base unit to which I could connect modules, such as a phone or camera, to as needed, with open standards so any company could make those modules, kind of like the way the PC market works today.

Ooh, i'd like something similar. The ultimate in flexibility. Specify only what suits your needs, and just pay for that. Hopefully things will go that way, but it wont be until way after the orgy of adding functionality to existing devices. :rolleyes: Ten years?

I think you're getting to the idea of having a base unit in your pocket/bag and other attachments that you'd take out and attach as needed? Sounds a bit bulky and clucky to me. However, if there was a base unit which consisted little more than a hard drive, and was able to communicate wirelessly with my phone/ small mp3 player device/ camera, I'd buy it.

Cool functions would include:

• Copy the photos from the camera automatically when in range.
• Option of streaming from the hard-drive to the MP3 player when in range or copying to memory
• Copy all new data from phone automatically. For back-up. As we all know these thing get lost from time to time. And it sucks to be without your contacts list, and have to start again from scratch.

However, with copyright the minefield that it is, i can't imagine that we'll have too much freedom to do such things. We seem to be "protected" from the full potential of some of the devices (and software) we already use. Probably so that it's idiot proof, and that part of the market can be cornered. I can't think of any examples of this right now, but it annoys me sometimes.

[PS response to Muckwarrior]

Your main concern seems to be that for a device to perform multiple functions it needs to compromise the quality of one or more of those functions..

That is indeed one of my concerns. Others include ergonomics. It's possible, however, that these hurdles will be overcome. And maybe i'll buy it in a few years. Sounds like an expensive piece of kit though. And you'll be putting down perfectly funtional devices in buying it. I only replace my devices currently when they stop working. Not when "there's a new one that's so much cooler".

J-blk

Hmmm... some interesting points raised here...

On the one hand, I'd agree with Muckwarrior - I would indeed like the one uber-gadget that does everything I want it to and does it well - not sacrificing one feature to bolster another. As a gadget-addict, I find myself carrying ridiculous amounts of "portable" devices at times. There's the PSP, the Zen Micro, my Nokia 6600 and a Dell PDA... start adding them alltogether and the notion of portabillity kinda goes out the window. I like what Archos is doing at the moment with one of their models (is it the PMA or something?), that takes the more "traditional" video jukebox elements of their line and adds on web browsing capabillities, etc...

On the other hand, I find myself agreeing with both Steveire and Stevenmu, where a "modular" concept would be better - sure, I love all these gadgets, but there are numerous times where I've found myself buying stuff that has two or three features that will jack up the price bigtime, but which I have no use or interest for. Being able to choose which features your portable device will have, would indeed be a "killer" feature...

So, I guess that means, I want the uber-gadget that can do everything I want (and not what the manufacturer thinks I want) and doesn't cost an unreal amount of money . Oh, well, I can dream at least...

secret_squirrel

I want a bluepod - or similarly enhanced mp3 player. Just to hear the screams from the music industry.

Personally I think the mobile phone is going to dominate the gadget market - simply because its the on gagdet that is subsidised to a ridicoulous amount thus enabling it to severly restrict the size of the stand alone mp3 player and camera markets.

Ciaran500

TBH I don't think these uber devices are that far away. Phone with optical zoom and reasonble quality (2-megapixel) were released recently and mini HDD are just around the corner. Devices with camera/phone/mp3 player/video player/recieve email/game player are a reality.

secret_squirrel

Samsung have already Demo'ed a 7mp camera phone - which given that 3-4mp is good enough for decent pics up to A4 - 7mp is overkill tbh. If I was a Digital camera maker I would be quaking in my boots. Especially since liquid and flexible lens will be making their debut in camera phones in the next 2 years.

Personally I think I will end up with an uber gadget for phone, mp3 player and party camera, and a good high zoom camera for holidays and trips.