Phone/PDA convergence

[catenoid]

I like to have a phone that's also a PDA - it cuts down on chargers and takes
up less pocket space. All of them are afflicted with serious flaws, though.

For me, a good PDA/phone needs these features:

• Thumbboard. Many devices have reasonable thumbboards, but fewer have niceties like Control keys, necessary for mobile SSH. It may be possible to remap a different key, but most hand-held devices don't have many to spare.
• Screen at least 480 pixels wide. This is necessary for displaying 80 column terminal screens via mobile SSH.
• Screen that's at least slightly visible outside
• Fits in pocket. The Nokia 9500 is 5.83 x 2.24 x 0.94in and 7.84oz (148 x 57 x 24 mm and 230g). The i-mate JASJAR is 5.02 x 3.19 x 0.98in and 10.05oz (128 x 81 x 25mm and 285g). Both of these devices are viable, but only just.
• Vibrating alert. Nokia, quit leaving it out. I wanna be able to go to the movies while on call, amongst other things.
• Flight mode
• Good reception on all bands. For GSM/EDGE, this means 850/900/1800/1900Mhz. For UMTS/HSDPA in the US, it's looking like 850/1900/2100MHz. For CDMA/EV-DO, I believe it's 800/1900MHz.
• Bluetooth, for connecting to a laptop and providing Internet access.
• Fast startup. This really requires a customized embeddable operating system, stripped of bloat. With a real time kernel, you don't need a separate processor/DSP for phone duties, making the device simpler.
• Wireless data support. EDGE is OK, but UMTS/HSDPA should be better. Theoretically, it has much lower latency (less delay before a response), supports simultaneous voice and data, and has much more bandwidth (faster downloads). Latency is very important, especially if you can't fit much cache into the device.
• Good software. The Web browser is particularly important (and difficult) - e.g. the default Opera on my Nokia 9300 can't log into LiveJournal and has some weird spontaneous scrolling bugs. Robust SSH is required, and needs a good way to send any characters that aren't on the keyboard. Calendar, contacts, notes and text messaging are all very important. A good email client is a big plus.

Features that might be nice:

• Mass storage for media. This pushes hard against the space and weight constraints. It won't be replacing my 20GB iRiver any time soon.
• Gaming-grade input devices. A tiny little analog stick like the PSP's would make a good portable mouse substitute without devoting a hand to a stylus. A nice d-pad wouldn't take up much more space than arrow keys and it'd be more useful. I'm sure you could come up with a work-related excuse for fire buttons as well. A tilt sensor might be useful as a substitute if it were generally feasible to read the screen when tilted.
• GPS
• Camera
• Laser pointer and light source. Why, yes, Virginia, we are getting silly. But charging gadgets separately is a pain, so more integration is good. Perhaps a modular system would help - take CPU unit, clip on keyboard, screen, battery, camera, toothbrush. This approach will be too delicate and bulky to be usable within, say, five years.

Next episode: contenders, actual and projected.