We last left off with me offering, "With cell phones that are pagers, PDAs that open your car door, pagers that fax, and more, where are we going next? What is that dream machine, and how far are we from having it?" I also described the dream machine as "a palm-sized supercomputer with wireless modem, PDA, 2-way pager, and mobile phone (weighing 2 ounces with 7 days of battery life)." So with the typical human businessperson's needs and today's evolving technology, what's the dream machine?
It Slices, It Dices
People love one item that has multiple functions. That's what makes the cell phone with short message service, the pager that sends and receives e-mail, and the mobile phone that's also a 2-way radio increasingly popular. However, for some of these items to retain practicality, I think we should build two dream machines since getting everything in one would make it nearly impossible (at this time!) to have great features and specs AND clip it to your belt AND still walk.
Dream Machine 1 - Communications Workhorse
Dream Machine 1 (DM1) is a combo of a cell phone, pager, and PDA. It has a nice 2" greyscale screen (you don't really need to see your pages in colour, do you?). Using a wireless Internet, DM1 can send and receive short e-mails including news and other information. It has a built-in address book, and since it uses its own OS, small but useful applications can be bought. It weighs 4-6 ounces and can be worn on your belt (wear a thick belt), and uses a battery that needs recharging once a week. This item is based on the Nokia 9000, that mobile phone that opens up to a PDA with internet capabilities. However, the DM1 would have to have more battery life than 3 hrs talk time, especially if "talk time" is also "e-mail time" and "web surfing time." The Nokia 9000 weighs 14 oz. (397 g), and I think especially if you're using this as a pager too, the phone needs to be handy... which means hanging off a belt or pocket (most often). The DM1 would have to weigh less. The main focus of the DM1 would be to have instant communications and some e-mail/fax access for sending and receiving important messages - leave the nice colour screen, web browsing, and advanced apps and the like to the DM2.
- When's it coming?
My guess is that it will be here and start to be reasonably affordable a year from now. The technology is almost there. The price is another story; the Nokia 9000 phone currently sells for $700, and that's before you start paying for mobile phone service as well as the internet/paging service you'll need.
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