What would your dream device look like? In March 2009, I mused over the hypothetical specifications for my next handset. This is what I came up with.
| OS: | Android or Symbian S60 5th Edition. Since I set my mind on Android over a year ago now, and the fact that I have both recent S60 5th Ed. and Windows Mobile devices, it will most likely be the former. |
| Weight: | Of less importance, but anything from 150g and down will do fine. |
| Screen Size: | At least 3.5 inches would be nice, the standard size for large screens. On my three last devices, I’ve gone up from 2.4″ to 3″, and now I have a 3.2″ screen on my Nokia Tube. 3.2″ is quite alright and I would be content with that size as well. A few of the largest screens of mobile phones thus far are those of the Samsung Omnia HD (3.7″), HTC Touch HD (3.8″) and the whopping 4.1″ display of the Toshiba TG01. |
| Screen Type: | An OLED capacitive touchscreen, of course! Why do I need OLED, you wonder? Because it uses less power (dosesn’t require a backlight) and it enables a greater range of colors, brightness, contrast and viewing angle than an LCD screen. OLED also has much faster respond times. All Nokia NSeries devices for the past three years or so have been able to display 16 millions of colors, so of course that is preferable. But the first two Android phones have only had 65K colors, not to mention Windows Mobile which after nine years of development still don’t allow screens to display more colors than that. Both my Xperia and Nokia 5800 have resistive touchscreens, so a capacitive (instant response to a screen touch – there’s no need to press down) would be great for a change. |
| Resolution: | Basically, the higher the better! Though the WVGA (480×800) resolution on my Xperia’s three inch screen at times put a bit of a strain on the eyes since some items get so small. 360×640 pixels so far seem to be the standard resolution for Symbian 5th Ed. devices, though I hope the OS allows greater resolutions than that. On the other hand, the two Android devices to date (Dream & Magic) only have 320×480 pixels screens, so I might have to settle for that. |
| Camera: | I’ve wanted a good camera with at least 5MP (or why not 12MP?) for years now, so I hope I can get that on my next device. A proper lens cover would be a bonus. |
| Memory: | Since the max capacity of microSDHC cards currently are at 16GB (and will rise to 32GB in 09), the internal memory is of less importance. 32GB of internal storage (like the Nokia N97 has) wouldn’t hurt, though. |
| CPU: | I don’t really care, actually, as long as the phone’s OS is fast. The Toshiba TG01 supposedly will have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz processor, so I say the same thing as with the internal memory: it wouldn’t hurt. |
| RAM: | My Xperia X1 has 256MB of RAM, so at least that amount. Regarding RAM memory, the HTC Touch Pro2 probably currently is somewhere at the top with its 288MB. |
| Other Features: | Naturally Quad-band GSM, WLAN, HSDPA (downlink) and HSUPA (uplink) connections. A microphone to record audio is a must, as well as a radio with RDS, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an accelerometer, mini-USB port and an assisted GPS. I also want a device with a digital compass (for improved navigation) and hardware accelerated 3D (for smooth graphics and gaming). Slow motion video recording at 120 FPS and a panorama function on the camera (like Samsung innov8) would be a plus, but not a likely one. I also would prefer a device with a QWERTY hardware keyboard because of the fast typing (although I never make a typo on my Xperia, my nerdy 280 characters/minute alphanumerical keypad T9 texting speed is still unsurpassed). And of course, if you want to use your phone for gaming and emulation – hardware keys are almost a requirement. |
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