Do People Want Converged Devices?
from the no,-but-yes... dept
A new report has come out (and I swear we've seen similar ones in the past) claiming that people don't want converged mobile phones and PDAs, as there are fears that converged devices do everything badly and/or that they start to include useless/pointless features. Of course, part of the problem is that the survey is asking people if they want "converged devices," and not about what they'd do with a converged device. The thing is, if given the option of doing what a real converged device let people do, many people would go for that option. It's not about the device, but the applications of that device.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Other types of convergence, like adding mp3 player capability, makes more sense.
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A Different Convergence
In other words, I'd use the phone capabilities for connecting to the Internet, not making phone calls. I even wrote an editorial about this way back in 2003.
So while I'd still probably carry a cell phone with my connected PDA, I'd also have the ability to use the PDA as a phone if something happened to my cell phone (dead battery, lost, stolen, etc.).
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PDA Phones can be OK
As for the form factor, I remember using the old Motorola brick phone (pre flips) and dealing with the size. Today a Treo is larger than many of the phones on the market today, but it's still small enough to fit in a suit pocket and fulfil both duties quite well.
Anecdote, I had some problems with the microphone on the Treo and had the use of a Siemens S55 on loan while the Treo was being repaired. While I appreciated the bluetooth syncing, the calendar functions are practically useless, I overloaded the contact list limit and navigation to numbers is exceedingly lame. They don't handle large lists elegantly, and the screen is way too small for PDA functions.
That said, a palm screen is more than adequate and the tight integration of the phone features with the contact list allows me to get to a person in 2 or three button pushes, even with a contact list that exceeds 600 people.
I guess the large difference is defining the expectations of the PDA. If you are using it as it was originally designed, the Palm phone combo is very nice. If you want to edit Word and Excel documents on the go, you're pushing the limits (although the higher res Treo 650 screen might improve this).
For the moment, it works for me - instead of a phone in the left pocket and a palm in the right, I have on device.
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Blackberry
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cut-rate convergence
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Return of the all-in-one stereo
For me, the same concept holds for mobile devices. Just as with audio equipment, components are where it's at. My ideal would be a little receiver/transmitter that I could keep in my pocket that spoke WIFI, bluetooth and the cell protocol du jour, a small form factor PDA-style input device with memory and screen and an earbud/microphone. Separate components all talking to each other via bluetooth. Frankly, I don't want to hold a Palm Pilot up to my ear. Nor do I understand why I need to carry around two input devices (cell and PDA).
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Combined Stereos And Pocket Transmitter
As for carrying a WiFi/Bluetooth/cell connection in my pocket, why not just get a vasectomy? I'm not sure I want all that radiation near my crotch.
I'm thinking more along the lines of what Mark said, but I don't require convergence to be essentially free. I'll pay a small premium for a converged device if the convergence is done well and doesn't severely cripple the functions compared to dedicated devices.
For example, I use my Pocket PC as my MP3 player. With a 1 GB SD card, I can hold more music than I listen to at any one time, the function is built-in to the OS and I don't need another device on my belt.
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