The Butt Ugly Weblog

I have the Treo 300, and I look at it like a Palm Pilot that makes phone calls. I use it more for a Todo list, Calendar, Directory, calculator / spreadsheet than I do as a phone.

I think that the cell phone form factor needs some kind of break through in redesign.

• The screen is too small to be useful for anything. On the other hand, I'm near flat, light colored walls on a regular basis, can I get a screen to project onto the wall? It would be big enough to see, and two or more could look at the same display at one time.

• The 12 button keypad is not suited to text entry. My oldest sends SMS messages, I can out type her on the keyboard of my Treo, and I can send at twice her speed if I use the handwriting (graffiti) option. Can I get a voice / text option? Have the back open up to be a keyboard?

• The remote headpiece connection (via bluetooth) is a good thing, it will free the other end up from needing to be a phone. It would be nice to have two or three extra buttons on it (call home, call office, call voice mail) so the base unit can stay on my desk, pocket, dash of the car, etc.

• Smart voice mail. A few years ago (95/96).I used a system called Wildfire. It was great, it was all voice controlled, super smart, super easy to use. Paul English article on wildfire

• Storage. I'd like 2-4 GB of storage in my phone so I can use it as my USB thumb drive and keep a handful of songs on it. I could then ditch the IPod. I could then use it for Podcasts.
  • BTW, I wish there was a way to speed up Podcasts to make them talk faster. My voice mail has that option, it would reduce a 30 min Podcast to 15 mins.

--Foster, 07-Sep-2005

Janne Jalkanen is a little bit upset with O'Reilly's hype around Web 2.0, but agrees that "participation" is key, equally in the mobile space.

http://www.josschuurmans.com/josschuurmans/2005/09/web_20_means_pa.html

--Jos Schuurmans, 09-Sep-2005