What I want in a cell phone (but probably won’t get)…

February 15th, 2007 Arash Posted in Technology |

There’s been tons of iPhone hype in the air lately, and until it’s actually released, I’m not sure how much of it is justified. Once you get past all the fancy features, you can start to digest the drawbacks of it:

• 2 year contract with Cingular
• $500-$600 price tag
• voice service + data service
• closed framework
• no buttons

The 2-year contract with Cingular is something most cell phone customers are used to by now, but I still avoid them like the plague. I don’t like this sneaky system of cell phone providers overcharging their customers every month in order to subsidize the free cell phone they receive. I’d like an option where if I bring my own phone, I pay what it actually costs for service, not the typical fee that you pay when locked into a contract and given some piece of junk phone.

The last thing I’ll mention is the artificial differentiation between voice and data plans. Voice is a type of data and the cell phone providers know it also. The only reason they’re marketed as two separate services is because there’s an opportunity to nickel and dime a public that generally doesn’t know the difference. There’s a lot of money to be made for a cellular provider if they simply provided an unrestricted and unlimited data service to its customers. Customers could simply use VoIP for their voice calls and use their phones as portable internet access devices. Genius.

So here’s what I want in a phone:

• Open framework - So I can load my own apps and download other ones too
• Logically layed out menus - Motorola, I mean you
• Responsive user interface - Samsung actually has this working
• Doesn’t crash
• High resolution screen
• Not bulky

I’m not holding my breath for all this, but until then I’ll stick with my T509.