Some mobile phone hardware suggestions

[Tzer2]

Every so often you find yourself in a situation where you wish "If only my phone could do this..." because it lacks the necessary hardware for a task. In a perhaps slightly tongue-in-cheek editorial, AAS takes a look at hardware features which are not available on modern mobile phones but perhaps should be. As always comments are very welcome in the thread below, especially your own suggestions for potentially useful phone features.

Read on in the full article.

[eletrix]

I want a blu-ray burner into my phone.
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Apart childish jokes.
The features i have always wanted.....and suggested nokia 2 years ago before the nokia n95 release in competion in order to win one of this milestone....but not won..
'THE POSSIBILITY TO RECORD FROM RADIO IN MP3'
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'Audio and Video Chat'_hope the talented guys of Lonely Cat Games make it through with their new awsome Slick'

[malerocks]

I hope people post stuff other than asking for a bigger megapixel camera or optical zoom or standard xenon flash

[malerocks]

I have a very simple request (this already exists in WM phones) - LED indicators. Its very handy if you have some sort of tiny light flashing on the top of your phone to indicate minor things like you have a missed call or you have a new message or your bluetooth is on, etc.

Video calls over wifi - I dont think the telephone companies will allow a video call that is divided between voice on their network and video on another (wifi) network. Yes, video chat over IM clients like MSN/yahoo/google would be awesome. I dont think this will be that difficult. You can already chat over IM clients using apps like fring.

[cirrus]

Oh what I wouldn't give for an FM aerial on my phone. I use Bluetooth headphones and so the radio is a feature I never use even though I'd very much like to (though not enough to put up with wires and poor-quality sound from the earphones that came in the box).
I agree a telescopic aerial is very old-skool (although Japanese ISDB-T and Korean DMB TV phones use them!) and presumably wouldn't be any use while the phone's in your pocket but perhaps someone will find a way to shrink the FM aerial enough to be built into the phone.
I don't know much about radio transmissions, but it seems to me that if they can produce an integrated FM transmitter (a la N78) they ought to be able to make an integrated FM receiver too.

[ILoveGadgets]

As for powering the phone - butane batteries are still under development, but that would be a nice one to see. Or, how about a clock-work battery top-up - if they can do it with radios then surely a phone is not going to be rocket-science.

ILG

The stylus on touch screen phones could double as an aerial.
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symbian.site666.info

[Tzer2]

Video calls over wifi - I dont think the telephone companies will allow a video call that is divided between voice on their network and video on another (wifi) network.

Sorry, I should have made this clearer in the article: by "wi-fi video call" I don't really mean a phone network videophone call, but a video call through a totally separate non-phone service.

For example Skype on computers offers video calling, as does Google Talk on Nokia internet tablets, so either of these services could (technically) be implemented on wi-fi-compatible smartphones. That's what I'm suggesting, basically.

Oh what I wouldn't give for an FM aerial on my phone.

Just had a thought on that, too late to add it to the article but here it is anyway:

If DVB-H television channels can be received on a phone without an external aerial, could radio stations be sent as part of the DVB-H multiplex?

Of course you'd need a DVB-H phone to do this, but perhaps it will become a standard feature one day?

I hope people post stuff other than asking for a bigger megapixel camera or optical zoom or standard xenon flash

Yeah, those features are already available on some models, so if people really want them they can get them.

Or, how about a clock-work battery top-up - if they can do it with radios then surely a phone is not going to be rocket-science.

Good idea, especially for people in remote or poor areas without access to a power source. The "$100 laptop" has a wind-up charging system for exactly that reason, and of course the massive success of wind-up radios in developing countries is well known.

Come to think of it, I'm fairly sure a third party manufacturer has actually released a wind-up phone battery charger, can't remember its name though!

the most annoying thing for me about blackberries and WM devices is the flashing LED's (forcing your eye to them).
The gentle pulse of the E71 (which i hope can be turned off), is much more pleasant, if you need something other than the indicators on the home screen.

Hardware extensions:
- an included FM aerial, that could use the headphone cord to improve reception, i.e. it only gets the very strongest signals without the headphones being plugged in.
- TV/VGA out
- USB master, so that hard disks, external keyboards, mice etc can be used.

For me it is more about software improvements:
- PIM sync at least as good as Palm used to be;
* Configurable so that if there is clash, there would be choices like; make me decide which one is correct or newest wins or PC or phone is always master etc
* multiple calendars, multiple note categories etc
- built in office suite at a functionality & quality level like Psion had
- synchronisation of text files in a folder between PC and phone

[ILoveGadgets]

This one will need more power, but I would love a phone that could stand on the desk, projecting it's high-resolution image on to a flat surface of your choice, while it also projects an infra-red full-size querty keyboard on to the desk in front of you...all this while giving you a back-rub


ILG

[malerocks]

This one will need more power, but I would love a phone that could stand on the desk, projecting it's high-resolution image on to a flat surface of your choice

Maybe this can work through a portable projector connected to the phone through the miniusb port...

A reel type aerial will be more practical. Or perhaps pull out notch-type head phones with reel-out/in mechanism would be more smart, that way you don't need to carry the head phones separately.

[pennas]

An AM radio - so that I can listen to the sport! (without relying on streaming).

DAB maybe?

A compass.

HD video capture capability - ie faster processer require I guess

There are endless software improvements possible, but those are the hardware ones I can think of

[dabotsonline]

... to see the return of a compass and thermometer etc., like in the old 'outdoor' Nokia handsets.

I have a very simple request (this already exists in WM phones) - LED indicators. Its very handy if you have some sort of tiny light flashing on the top of your phone to indicate minor things like you have a missed call or you have a new message or your bluetooth is on, etc.

Yep. Two of my female colleagues have stuck with v old silver clamshell Nokias that flash when you've got a txt or missed a call because they (like many women) keep their phones in their handbags so frequently don't hear the ringtone in noisy environments and obviously wouldn't feel the phone vibrating when switched to silent at work as its not in their pocket (where most men keep theirs I'll wager). Really simple thing, but noone seems to be offering this functionality any more.

A quick glance down into a handbag takes a lot less time than pulling out the phone, pressing two buttons to unlock and then having to repeat to put the phone away.

Extra bonus: apparently it's a lot easier to do the glancing thing surrepticiously several times when you've been stood up at a bar without everyone else in the place knowing