I love gadgets, and if I had to have just one gadget in my life, it would be my Palm Treo. The biggest problem I have—and judging from what I find on the Internet, I am not alone—is getting the thing to sync correctly with Apple software. Granted, I try to do more complex maneuverings that most, such as syncing my Treo’s large address book with my wife’s, using almost all of the available fields in Address Book, syncing with our computer’s address books, etc., but why does this have to be so complicated? We can send ships to other planets and cure diseases, so why can’t the geniuses at Apple figure this out? The reason millions of people stay away from certain technologically-advanced devices is because they are either too complicated, poorly made or filled with bugs and glitches.
I am really, really hoping that Apple comes out with their own brand of cell phone that will do away with synchronization problems. What I would like bundled together is the phone, all of the features of the iPod (with a 10,000+ song capacity), an interactive address book, iCal, blazingly fast wireless sync (when I walk into my office, it should just do it automatically, if I so choose), a great camera and a memo pad. Everything else is great, but for me, it is just fluff. And I want it to be able to sync automatically, in the background, with my wife’s cell phone and BOTH of our address books on our computer, without .Mac, which seems to never sync right anyway (the fields never seem to sync correctly). Is this so much to ask? Is it really that complicated?
My prediction is this: the minute Apple designs a cell phone/iPod/information manager that does everything I mentioned above, and does it well, their market share will explode. Perhaps if Apple comes out with their own phone, and we use their software, all will be right with our geeky world. I’m crossing my fingers.
To see what one of these things might look like, check out this EverythingiPhone site.
Here is a cool mock-up someone Photoshopped of what it might look like:
It looks great, although I would want a Treo/Blackberry-like keyboard.
What really matters is saving time. If this gadget makes it to market, those of us who are inclined to use such devices will hopefully be able to save more time than ever. What's funny is that in ten years, we'll probably be debating when Apple (or Kiwi, the new Apple company) is coming out with that new brain communication chip that will allow us to wirelessly communicate with no gadgets at all.