Tomorrow's Cell Phones 301
bart_scriv writes "Businessweek looks at the future of the cell phone, starting with some existing button-free prototypes and moving on to more outlandish and whimsical designs. From the article: 'New technologies drive many of the new designs. One example: Synaptics ClearPad, a new type of touch screen that will become commercially available later this year. Unlike today's touch screens, which aren't entirely transparent and often not very sensitive — we've all had to endlessly tap one with a stylus to get a response — ClearPad is clear, so it can be used as a sensitive overlay to a cell-phone display. Another innovation likely to change the cell-phone's appearance: flexible displays. An electronic ink screen prototype, developed by Koninklijke Philips Electronics and startup E-Ink, is thin and flexible like paper so it can be worn wrapped around a cell phone. Users can unwrap it to view a map on a larger screen. Eventually, the display could be used to watch video.'"
misfeature (Score:4, Funny)
Re:misfeature (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Don't worry. We will soon have him cured of such things!
Re:misfeature (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:misfeature (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't remember when I couldn't have made a call because the service was unreachable, or I was dropped from call due bad signal.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Not important to Slashdotters (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Not important to Slashdotters (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Slashdotters will only ever see her IP address.
(And the contents of this post basically mean I'm in that boat, too
Re:Not important to Slashdotters (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
This is Slashdot. Your comment makes no sense.
In a loud club,. . .
This is Slashdot. Your comment makes no sense.
No 6, 7 of 9. (Score:2, Funny)
Not if the girl's number is No. 6; or 7 of 9.
I think you mean... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Check it out, my new Gortec watch.
I can store 20 numbers.
Tonight, I'll fill it.
All or nothing.
Re: (Score:2)
And for those of us who already have a girlfriend or wife, the most important thing to do is make sure she does not have our leash^H^H^H^H^Hcellphone number
Next generation iPod controls? (Score:5, Interesting)
What I really want (Score:5, Insightful)
First?
I don't want a touch screen. In fact, that is the precise antithesis of what I want.
I want a cell phone that has few to no menus. I want to be able to operate it without looking, by feeling the keypad.
I don't care if the screen is even in colour, because I'm not going to be looking at it if I don't have to.
I also want to be able to connect it to my computer as a USB modem.
I have been asking for this for upwards of four years. Can I have that, please?
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What I really want (Score:5, Insightful)
Here are search results pertaining to my old Motorola v180, which at the time I bought it was the second-cheapest phone T-Mobile sold. [hotbot.com]
Re:What I really want (Score:5, Insightful)
Every time there's a cell phone thread, someone posts a variant of the grandparent post about how all they want is a simple phone that only makes calls and oh god why can't someone just make one. Apparently these people have never been to the damn cell phone store, because they make a jillion of those things and they're cheap as dirt.
Re:What I really want (Score:5, Insightful)
i have a very small set of features i want, but i'm well outside the curve. actually what i want is very close to the firefly, except some form of data service (preferably bluetooth) is a must and it clearly should have some form of address book syncing via USB/bluetooth (programming it on that 5-key pad is stupid).
Re:What I really want (Score:5, Insightful)
The modern cell phone has gone thru gobs and gobs of feature creep. The market wants more gadgetry, and if that is what sells, it will be provided.
I think the reason nobody has made (to my knowledge)the cell modem, is because they can cell (sell!) you a PCMCIA plug in and bill you for the modem service as an independent service. Verizon sucks $150 a month out of me instead of $70. You get the idea.
Re: (Score:2)
Mine has that. (Score:2)
The one drawback is that it is a modem. It is not a broadband connection. The speed is similar to a 56k modem. Don't expect to download your favorit Linux Distro. Not even DS
Re: (Score:2)
or you mean the possibility to use a cellphone as modem? well, even an old nokia 8210 can be used as modem via the infrared or (with a data cable) serial interface.
Re:What I really want (Score:5, Interesting)
OUT-
Video
Camera
Ringtone Symphonies
IN-
Detailed Call History w/ Search
(ex: show me the number from the phone call I got on a thursday night last month after 11pm, not sure which week)
Intuitive Dial
(ex: I call my wife from work, and I call my office from home, when I open the phone it should be ready to guess which call I want to make based upon the time and location)
Security-
My phone is probably the ONLY place I want a biometric security device like a fingerprint scanner, and I want to be able to call the cell company and have them tell me the approximate place I left my phone (ie Corner of 9th and Main)
Energy-
I know it's not going to recharge the thing instantly, but why not toss a small solar cell on the back and let me dribble charge my phone by setting it on the dashboard?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The term you are looking for is Trickle Charge [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
WARNING: Do Not TAUNT The "Happy Fun Ball" Phone. If your "Happy Fun Ball" Phone begins to glow or grows warm, set it down immediately and move to a safe area.
Call recording (Score:2)
(and recording your own phone calls is perfectly legal in most states, it certainly is in mine)
A few phone makes/models are starting to be made that do this, but for some r
Re: (Score:2)
The treo will do this, with the $20 CallRec program. The windows mobile based phones can generally do this as well, some even have the software built-in. I've even seen app
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
You don't need to use this when you call me, though. I already know I am an SOB.
Re: (Score:2)
BTW, one of the items on your list, the GPS phone locator service, is offered by Disney Mobile [go.com].
Re: (Score:2)
i want bluetooth and/or USB, which is data networking, locally; i w
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You're confusing handset makers with providers. In my country phone companies are forbidden from tying the phone to the
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
no recharge cable & brick; standardized dock, cheap to buy extras
STANDARD cell phone network (FCC does its job)
bluetooth contact sync & bluetooth modem -- don't care about usb
ONE E-paper screen (save power- ditch graphics)
Runs at least as long as my iPod
no buttons except as needed (please kill keypad, I can speak names, numbers, and spell words)
Example: STNG communicator badges have 1 button
no moving parts, strong enough to survive being in a back pocket of an a
Re: (Score:2)
Great, so now you can replace your PDA and phone with a single device that does neither job particularly well. Yay convergence.
Re: (Score:2)
Buttons are "out"? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Buttons are needed ... (Score:2, Interesting)
No buttons means,you have to LOOK at the pad when you type.That means its going to be difficult to dial under low light conditions.
An example is ipod.Every time I use Ipod at night before going to bed,I first have to hit some button to light itself up and then work on the menu/pad.
Re:Buttons are needed ... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Buttons are "out"? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Do we need all that junk? (Score:3, Interesting)
Forget the camera and data transfer capability, as this makes them a target for bans at work, jury duty, the gym, and other sensitive areas.
Re: (Score:2)
Never mind the fact that when navigating through the menus, there is no way to go back up one level... you must cancel out and start over.
e-ink phone seen years ago on Earth Final Conflict (Score:3, Informative)
Re:e-ink phone seen years ago on Earth Final Confl (Score:2)
It has been mentioned on slashdot before and it's prototype for electronic paper, as the e-ink name suggests.
Re:e-ink phone seen years ago on Earth Final Confl (Score:2)
Helloooo? (Score:5, Funny)
Yah. I think we can all see how that statistical fashion trend is accelerating.
Re: (Score:2)
e-Ink hype, again (Score:2)
The "e-Ink" guys need to shut up until they make their technology work. What they have is an expensive overlay film for existing displays that makes them reflective. What they've been talking about for years are cheap high resolution flexible displays, which they don't have. Eventually, someone may do that, but it probably won't be e-Ink.
Re: (Score:2)
Cue the oldies (Score:2, Insightful)
It's OK, you don't need to keep telling us, we know and phones for you exist. There is also a large market which wants email, internet, calendar, notes, SMS, video playing, music playback, radio etc on their phone: I certainly do.
Re:Cue the oldies (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Oldies but Goodies (Score:2)
There's some fair points to be raised, though.
1. The actual function of the phone call is still shit poor. I live in a HUGE metropolitan area, and there's still random and inexplicable dead zones. If they can't deliver an audio stream, how are they going to deliver a video stream?
2. More features means more to break. There's a car analogy lurking about. They either have to stream the video, which I'll believe when I see, or it needs to be stored locally, and now I need either a iPod-style hard drive, or
Kids Cellphone (Score:4, Insightful)
Button 1: Home
Button 2: Parent's cell/work number
Button 3: Other parent's cell/work number
Button 4: Other relative
Button 5: Neighbor
Button 6: 911
Now the kid can use it to call their parents in case of emergency or other problems, (or just need to be picked up after soccer practice). Can't use it to call their friends since it doesn't have a normal keypad. If you want to be paranoid, add some GPS tracking software so you know where your kid is.
This type of thing may also be appropriate for younger children since it is hard to abuse - except by calling 911 when your mommy doesn't answer her phone. But if your child isn't old/smart enough to know that, they probably shouldn't be out of your sight.
Re:Kids Cellphone (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Kids Cellphone (Score:4, Informative)
The number one feature they need... (Score:4, Insightful)
I cancelled my family's cell phones because with the price of gasoline we couldn't afford an extra $80/month, Verizon's cheapest plan at the time, for two cell phones. So I cancelled them and we went back to a "land line" via Vonage for $27/month. Yes this is on top of our $50/month for broadband but I'll cancel everything before the broadband connection.
It's amazing how little I miss having a cell phone. Of course I still keep the phones in the cars in case of emergencies - all cell phones will dial 911 for free.
I won't consider cell phone service again until it's around $10/month.
Keep the bells and whistles - give me Third World cell phone prices. If they can have it, so should I.
Steve
Re: (Score:2)
"I cancelled my family's cell phones because with the price of gasoline we couldn't afford an extra $80/month, Verizon's cheapest plan at the time, for two cell phones. So I cancelled them and we went back to a "land line" via Vonage for $27/month. Yes this is on top of our $50/month for broadband but I'll cancel everything before the broadband connection."
Here in my third-world country (Brazil) it's easy to get $20/month plans (not including prepaid) for cellphones. You can also get broadband for under
Re: (Score:2)
I actually have a $20/mo plan from T-Mobile grandfathered in from the Voicestream days of yore. Last I checked they still have a comparable new plan but it's buried on the website and they go out of their way to hide it.
slave to fashion? hardly (Score:2)
All of it useless (Score:2)
Razr V3 - nice formfactor, volume is way too low, antenna sucks badly, OS kind of crappy, camera a complete joke.
Treo - nice try, let's not have early alpha stuff please?
Some of the Nokia devices get close but they always lack somewhere. Somf of the lacking is the fault of the provider locking it out.
Touchscreen? No thanks! (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Dude... getting grease from fried chicken or pizza on your buttons isn't any more sanitary than getting it on your touch screen. You don't need to answer your phone while stuffing your face with substances more likely to kill you than ciggerrettes. Call them b
Quantum leap (Score:2, Insightful)
It puzzles me that people use a "quantum leap" as a term for a large jump, when in reality it is the smallest jump possible.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
In physics, a quantum leap or quantum jump is a change of an electron within an atom from one energy state to the next. This is a discontinuous change in which the electron goes from one energy level to another without passing through any intermediate levels. This phenomenon contradicted expectations set by theories older than quantum mechanics that energy should always change continuously.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_leap
"quantum" leap means "substantially different" (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the idea is that it is the smallest jump possible that makes it different; in other words, there is a substantial change. I guess you can add as small an amount of energy to a radiating body as you want, but if you don't add a quantum of energy, it's not going to produce a photon.
But you're right, too many people seem t
Re: (Score:2)
The misuse of quantum leap bothers me just as much as the misuse of aggravate vs. irritate.
What about cold weather? (Score:3, Informative)
Cell phones could go a long way, but I think that something like this limits the environment too much.
Secret Compartment...finally (Score:2, Funny)
I've said it before, I'll say it again (Score:3, Interesting)
The Ultimate Buttonless phone (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe it's just my experience, but battery life has gotten much better. The phone I had back in 2000 couldn't go more than 24 hours without a charge. Mostly standby, a little talking. The phones I had in the 2002-2005 time frame could go about 2 days without a charge. My current phone goes for about 4 days on a charge. I think that's progress. Granted, there are factors I'm not addressing here that affect battery life (signal strength, amount of tal
Re: (Score:2)
Huh? I get a new cell phone every 2-3 years because my old one no longer works well. I choose my new one based on features, durability, and price.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:video on the cell phone (Score:5, Informative)
Re: dropped calls (Score:5, Informative)
The software and business arrangements in the industry are fundamentally broken. The technology is pretty good, and the companies involved manage to screw it up through concerted effort.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm counting down the days until mine expires on the same network; I think they have the fewest dropped calls, because they have the fewest even connect in the first place!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I had an issue with Cellular One a few years ago when my (brand new) phone kept dropping calls, with increasing frequency. Soon, I couldn't make a 30-second call without getting dropped.
I called up and let them know, and it turned out that they had sold me a *MA (I forget) digital mode phone and then promptly upgraded the network to CDMA, which was the opposite kind of digital and incompatible. I got a new phone out of the deal, free, a
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Additionally, they do NOT prorate your last bill -- it is always billed to the end of the billing cycle whether or not your SIM card was even active.
Good luck porting your number from them for this reason... they just cancel your account immediately upon the port request, giving you pr
Re: (Score:2)
I mean, they already fit nicely in your pocket...its not like they are the bricks from the eighties. Who's the gimp with the cellphone who keeps whining "I need a LIGHTER SMALLER cellphone...my arm gets SOOO tired!"
I'm with you on reception and battery life tho...although my phone goes 4-5 days usually (I don't use it a lot however).
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Obviously a slashdotter...
Re: (Score:2)
I got a Bluetooth hands-free unit recently, to use in the car, and my first thought was "too bad they didn't put the whole phone in there."
Obviously the voice-recognition in current phones isn't good enough to do this, but I could imagine that if it got better that you could do away with the button-pad completely except as some sort of add-on device. Or use a Bluetooth-enabled PDA or computer as the keypad and for programming. The sole purpose of the phone would be to int
Earth: Final Conflict's "Global" Communicator (Score:2)
Exactly what I was thinking when reading:
And make the portable video phone a reality where camera phones have feared to tread.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You might want to learn what "intuitive" means.
Re: (Score:2)