Does the world really need an all-in-one device?

Hmm, thanks for the suggestions guys, the T39 looks quite good in terms of size and function, but is pretty ugly, oh, and discontinued.

The T69(i), is um, pretty ugly too.

Also, neither really seem as small as they could be.


I may try and find a T39 on ebay or something though - I don't suppose they make an updated version of it?
 
See, that's where _I_ don't believe in convergence... TV shows on a mobile's tiny display... Quality isn't all that good, you pay too much etc. I'm sure if I had a SonyEricsson V800 (nice phone, but I'm sure it has all the SE drawbacks in the interface) I'd watch TV shows all the time on it - just to defend myself buying a 3G phone (and service) in the first place... Alas: I want my all-in-one devices to be truly helping my productivity. And the Nokia 9500 does just that. Serves my PB and iBook as a GPRS modem when I'm on my way (Orange in Switzerland has free E-Mail access through GPRS for 5 CHF a month, can't beat that unless you give me whole internet access for free at the same monthly rate ;)) and when I leave the 'books at home, it still gives me all my PIM stuff, lets me handle my E-Mail for free and even lets me type my stories on the (real but small) keyboard. It has some MP3s on an MMC that I sometimes play through the mono speaker (course it doesn't beat my iPod with headphones, but then again I don't ALWAYS want to carry too many devices...) and I don't really dig its camera since I have a 'real' Sony DSC P-150 for when I actually want to take photos. So: I _am_ a smartphone user. But rather than eliminating my need for a separate MP3 player or digital camera, what it really shines in is minimizing the weight I carry by letting me work without my iBook or PowerBook. An office away from the office, so to speak. All-in-one doesn't necessarily mean camera or MP3, you see... There are other things that might be more important to some. Like good E-Mail handling (i.e. not on a 128*128 pixel screen, not with a stupid toothpicker-graffitti-type input device etc.). Or for other people: Games. I mean: What do I need a gameboy or portable playstation for, when my mobile phone handles my distraction needs.

A smartphone (a good one at least) can take care of many, many other things, because it can handle third party applications. Important things, too, like diabetes-monitoring (yes, that's only for people with diabetes, but there ARE very different needs with different people) etc. A smartphone can do those things and reduce the stuff you carry around. Whether it eliminates a specific device you have, of course depends on what _exactly_ your needs are. If it's just "music" in General: The mobile phones can do that. Sure, an iPod is 'better', but even better is a home stereo - only not so portable. But it depends on the individual's quality requirements.
Don't forget about E-Books either. Have some documents in PDF-format you have to read over the weekend? You can carry your notebook - or just a Nokia 9500 with Adobe Reader. Works just fine.

So I just want to reiterate: I'm definitely for manythings-in-one devices. Doesn't have to do ALL I want, but if it lets me travel lighter, I'm all for it.

And back to the off-topic-topic in this thread: You see, you may think Bluetooth is a basic feature, really, but the phone makers don't seem to think so. They generally offer Bluetooth only in 'higher-end' phones. And creating mobile phones for highly specialised wishes (I want this but not that, that but not those...) doesn't make financial sense to them. And I again reiterate: If your phone has a feature you strictly don't want: Just don't hit the button that activates that specific feature. My communicator has IrDA. Don't use it ever. But I sure don't go to Nokia and complain that they don't make a communicator that erases that feature. Coz that's just whining in my book.
 
fryke said:
And back to the off-topic-topic in this thread: You see, you may think Bluetooth is a basic feature, really, but the phone makers don't seem to think so. They generally offer Bluetooth only in 'higher-end' phones. And creating mobile phones for highly specialised wishes (I want this but not that, that but not those...) doesn't make financial sense to them. And I again reiterate: If your phone has a feature you strictly don't want: Just don't hit the button that activates that specific feature. My communicator has IrDA. Don't use it ever. But I sure don't go to Nokia and complain that they don't make a communicator that erases that feature. Coz that's just whining in my book.
Click to expand...

The point is, though, that all these additional features (camera, mp3, etc...) add unnecessarily to both the size and cost of the phone.

It's not a matter of not hitting the button, it's a matter of not wanting to pay more for a phone that is bigger (and, gernerally, uglier) than it needs to be, as well as cluttering the user interface.

It's also the point that already manufacturers are moving more and more to all-in-one devices, and that it simply isn't true that you will always have an option - already you have very little option on the matter, and more and more phones have integrated cameras, and fewer and fewer phones don't.

You may consider it to be whining for me to complain about having to pay more for features I will never use, and that make my phone bigger than it needs to be, but that suggests to me that you just have more money (and pocket space) than sense.
 
fryke said:
Alas: I want my all-in-one devices to be truly helping my productivity. And the Nokia 9500 does just that.
Click to expand...
I looked at this phone - what makes it better for you than a (less expensive) Treo 650?

Kap
 
Well, I think the treo is a very good smartphone, too. But the N9500 gives me a keyboard I can work with (the treo one's too fumbly for me) and a widescreen, which I like more. It also has WiFi, which is kinda important nowadays - and often cheaper than GPRS etc. ;) ... But I guess it's all a matter of taste, too. I've found that Nokia gives me the integration between phone and PDA, whereas on the Palm-based smartphones, I feel like using a PDA that also has some telephony features...
 
fryke said:
Well, I think the treo is a very good smartphone, too. But the N9500 gives me a keyboard I can work with (the treo one's too fumbly for me) and a widescreen, which I like more. It also has WiFi, which is kinda important nowadays - and often cheaper than GPRS etc. ;) ... But I guess it's all a matter of taste, too. I've found that Nokia gives me the integration between phone and PDA, whereas on the Palm-based smartphones, I feel like using a PDA that also has some telephony features...
Click to expand...
Very compelling arguments - in fact, if I do end up getting a smart phone, you've just about sold me. :)

Further questions on the N9500 (mainly about how well it plays with Apple):
  • Does the WiFi allow you to browse the web via an Apple WiFi (Express/Extreme) base station?
  • Does it sync Address book and iCal info without hassle?
  • Is there a limit on text file size? How do you transfer text files back and forth with your Mac?
  • Any problems playing video, rendered on your Mac, on the N9500?
  • Is the battery easily replaceable?
Kap
 
My problem with all the add-ons has always been the fragility that those things introduce.

I also dislike that phones are always so unusably small these days. My fingers are quite large (apparently) and I can't use the buttons on many of the phones around these days.
 
As somone on the first page of this thread pointed out, all-in-one device usually means a great deal of comprimise. Sometimes that fits, and it's a good thing.

And I'm all for convergence, but not exclusively. If you want a cellphone with all the bells and whistles, go get one. Great for you. But I dont' like the industry only catering to you.

I, and I feel many others like me, do not need to carry around a video player with us everywhere we go, or a digital camera.

I love my ipod, but honestly, games and calenders don't really fit with playing music. It doesn't do a good enough job of that to warrant having the extras. It's not usefull. The notes feature could be usefull if your using the ipod for audio books.

A contact list/organizer makes sense in a phone. Why? Cause you use a phone to contact/communicate with people.

Using a phone as an all in one music player/camera palm device...not so much.

I'd like a good PDA (Newton 2.0.... though Palm might get it right with Linux). A small decent camera, my iPod and phone.

I don't need all at the same time. I won't use them all at the same time. So why put them all in one form factor and make comprimises, when you can make them seperate and great on their own.

But that's just me. Choices are nice.
 
I have thought this over alot and been through many different devices, searching out the best and (most of the time) most portable. The fact stands that there is no all-in-one device on the market that has all 5star devices. The camera is very important to me, as well as the mp3 (memory capacity). When there is a 5mp + camera and a 20gb + mp3 player built into a cell phone you can count me in. There portable charging options out there, and they will continue to improve.
 
all in one device? dunno. camera phone - yes. although my current phone is no SLR, the amount of stuff i have captured on it is unbeleivable - i have a camera with me the whole time, because i have my phone on me the whole time - some of my favourite photo's are shoddy lo quality ones, but at least i captured them! moments that would have other wise bewen lost, i got.

the camera's are getting better - the very first digicams only did 640x480 and were terrible, but then they got better! just because there's a phone attached to it doesn't automatically mean it's going to be crap, just that the ones at the moment are, but they are getting better.

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_6630-review-20.php

here are some samples off the 6630, the phone i have just bought and am awaiting arrival - you have to agree that is progress - very good, vibrant, crisp shots, with very good colour, not fuzzy or grainy at all in the right lighting. (many phones now have flashes as well) - if you added the ability to text someone off your digital ixus, would it become crap? no.

mp3? it would need a hard drive to become viable, which is actually where the industry is going - with HDDs getting smaller, rapidly, many companies are thinking of HDD camera's and even HDD phones, using something like a next generation Hitachi-like 1.8" drive. capacity and size can only get better. look at the progress in the last ten years! (what HDD did you have 10 years ago? i had a 500MB main hard disk - it was plenty. my brother now has 500GB).

again progress and logical progression would point to you filling it with music as well.

video is the moot point though. it would need a very large screen to become effective - i watched AvP (sh*t!) on my friends Ngage and it was crap - the screen was just too small, and there was just too much going on. it would need a big wide screen monitor, eg nokia 7710. this makes the device a lot bigger, especially with the HDD.

I can quite easily see me buying a HDD camera phone with Mp3 ability, if done well, and shrunk enough to not be cumbersome (ipod :p)

listen, apple - your logical way of manufacture would point to you making a very good device - ipod ease of use!
 
Phone cameras can't ever be as good as digicams, because there's just no room for proper lens function and any sort of good focal length. In other words, the CCD isn't getting a nice, crystal, focused image.

Until people are willing to have a phone with a pop-out lens in the back (which then increases the depth of the phone, measurement wise). It's just stupid.

Bah! to camera phones :p.
 
texanpenguin said:
Phone cameras can't ever be as good as digicams, because there's just no room for proper lens function and any sort of good focal length. In other words, the CCD isn't getting a nice, crystal, focused image.

Until people are willing to have a phone with a pop-out lens in the back (which then increases the depth of the phone, measurement wise). It's just stupid.

Bah! to camera phones :p.
Click to expand...
Why can't they just put the camera lens on the top of the phone? Then they get the increased focal length without needing to increase the phone thickness.

Kap
 
They did that (well, the bottom) with an add-on for Sony Ericsson phones. That was great! I loved that you could do that; if you wanted to have a camera phone, you made it one!

Only problem with that is the handiness of having a camera with you at all times.
 
texanpenguin said:
They did that (well, the bottom) with an add-on for Sony Ericsson phones. That was great! I loved that you could do that; if you wanted to have a camera phone, you made it one!

Only problem with that is the handiness of having a camera with you at all times.
Click to expand...
I don't mind the idea of a clip on, but it should attach so snugly and securely as to be indistinguishable from a phone with a built in camera.

Got an mp3 attachment for my Ericsson phone a few years ago and it was a nightmare - stupid thing was always coming out (esp. when I kept the phone in my pocket to listen to mp3s).

Kap
 
the sony t1
http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/sony-cybershot-dsct1-reviews.html
has a tiny body, and a full 3x optical zoom inside the body. it's really good.
not perfect - but really good -

my point is, just because camera-phones started off being crap, does'nt mean they are destined to be that way forever. you are all being very closed minded about this

what if the word was, What If? - you are all apple enthusiasts - you should be always thinking outside the box - the potential of something to it's nth degree.

i want a device i have with me everywhere - it needs something essential to keep it in my pocket - a phone already has this - contactability. if i want to take pictures of something - i have to activily think - take ixus. it should be:

"wow! that's so cool - i want a picture of that.... wait, i have my camera[phone] with me, as always. thank geeks for technology"

Think Different. who said that...?
 
I think the point of it all really comes down to this...

Yes, there is a market for an all-in-one, but it isn't the only market.

Many of us don't want to have to pay for all-in-one devices, but we are forced to because that is seemingly all the phone people want to make.
 
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