Is Apple Planning a Smart Phone? - A Closer Look at Smart Phone Design
(Page 3 of 4 )
Am I the only one who has wondered if smart phone makers are in a contest to see how many different functions they can combine into one portable device? So far smart phones have boasted the capabilities of watches, pagers, alarm clocks, digital cameras, global positioning units, flashlights, personal digital assistants, FM radios, MP3 players, video players, and heaven knows what else. Apple will have to make some hard decisions about what it includes and what it chooses to leave out. It won’t be able to do this based solely on what makes good design sense; it will have to look at the market and see what other handset makers are providing. If you’re going to spend a lot of money on a phone that also plays music, for instance, you’d expect it to have a digital camera and lots of other functions too.
But there are certain issues you run into with the more features you include. One of these is memory. How much can you fit into a small space when you have several functions that use memory? Sure, saving phone numbers is no big deal, but music and pictures eat up more space; add video, and you’re looking at potential storage problems, depending on how much you want to take with you.
Another issue is battery life. It takes power to play music, show video images, connect to the Internet and browse the web…and oh yes, make and receive phone calls. With some of the newer phones, I have seen claims as high as nine hours of talk time; how much of that do you think you’ll have left if you listen to music with an iPhone as much as if it were an iPod? Don’t think this won’t have an impact, either, as more people are ditching their landlines and using their mobile phones as their only phones. (I admit I’ve run my own phone from fully charged to all the way down in one conversation more than once).
A recent article at the Register’s website also offers some food for thought about including multiple features in smart phones. The author points out that, when people are offered something they don’t really want, they will push down the price until it is free, and uses the example of games on cell phones. What if people don’t really want to listen to music on their cell phones? Won’t that squeeze Apple’s revenue model?
Next: Other Hurdles, Other Options >>
More Opinions Articles
More By Terri Wells
