Things I Wish My Phone Would Do
I love my phone and I love my netbook. I remember a time when I didn’t have them and it sucked. I also remember walking around Montreal with my primitive Ericcson flip and thinking all the things a phone could do. Now most of those things can be done. However, today’s super jack-knife phones still neglect some basic, simple features which I think would be mara useful. Specifically, forwarding contacts, managing contacts and not dying on me. All of these things are technically possible now, but haven’t quite happened.
Forwarding Contacts
I hate talking on the phone and don’t do so for pleasure. It actually gives me slight social anxiety. Thus something like 90% of my calls or SMS are just requests for a certain contact. I find that forwarding these contacts mid-call is impossible, and even after getting off the phone it’s a pain. Plus the contacts get forwarded in some weird format which doesn’t work on all phones so I have to physically write it down and then physically enter it in again.
I wish there was like a three click solution to just forward a number to someone. If I could just look down mid call and there was a ‘send contact’ button which would send the number as an inline SMS. That would be sweet.
Managing Contacts
Far too many people I know are occassionally like ‘who are you? I lost all my contacts.’ If you brick or lose your phone you lose a bunch of people, and it shouldn’t be like that. I personally think contacts should be backed up on the network. Dialog has a Phone Backup service but I find it confusing. I wish the information were just there automatically. Even if I could just view it later that would’ve saved me a lot of trouble. However, it is occassionally nice to reformat your life.
Also, on a broader issue, I wish this stuff would sync. I wish that my phone contact would also have their email information, and that their Facebook profile pic would pop up when they called. I have worked on the telco side seeing how one could sync up this identity (it’s difficult) but the big guys are making some moves. That consolidation of ‘identity’ across multiple manifestations is IMHO the next killer app.
Just Working
I have an awesome phone which can do any number of things, but I too often end up in a situ where I can’t do anything because it’s dead. Solar power for phones isn’t that expensive and it’s a great backup. Furthermore, I find it fascinating that a $500 device can be crippled by the lack of a $5 charger. And that someone can charge you $35 for said charger, and you pay. Manufacturers have already signed on to make a universal charger for Europe. It can’t come soon enough. Honestly, the universal charger is Micro-USB, they should just use it.
That’s just a start, but these are some basic features I want out of my phone. Being able to slice bread and make fart noises is great, but a few simple innovations like these would actually improve my life.
All but the last thing is already there. With sonys, you can cut n paste numbers into a message. With the nokias you can select a contact detail to insert into a message. The other manufacturers have implemented either one or both of these techniques. As for vCards(the format that contacts are sent in), they are recognized by all modern phones. Only the older ones display them as text.
HTC’s few android implementation is something to look out for. In their ‘hero’ phone contacts are linked to their respective facebook, twitter and mail accounts. All in one slick interface. Check out the videos. Even sony’s coming out with an OS to do that, rachael or something.
Backing up contacts is easy. Just synch with your pc. Most manufacturers’ software allows for exporting the phone’s address book.
As for power, well… Carry around one of those mobile chargers? Charge is off your laptop? I agree on battery life needing to be longer though. Just not enough technology for it. Or just too expensive to implement. Solar panels offer little energy, and most phones are stuck in pockets most of the time.
Google has mobile sync and I use it with Sony Ericsson. It works great. http://www.google.com/mobile/products/sync.html
I also keep backups of everything with a program called myphoneexplorer – which is pretty cool.
As Jerry says, all but the last is available on a Blackberry too.
And also the Palm Pre. The Pre can Sync all your Facebook, Email, IM contacts into your phone and show them as a single contact. It’s pretty cool. The GSM version will be out soon :)
Nokias have ovi & you can backup contacts on to the network without that much trouble. but probably not all of the phones support that, and Ovi site sucks in general usability. still, better than nothing i guess.
Indeed, the features are all there, just as there were touchscreen phones before the iPhone. It just takes a bit of magic for them to become suddenly ubiquitous
Indi, on an S60, forwarding a contact mid call is not much of a hassle. Takes less than three clicks I guess.
As yajith said Contact management is possible through Ovi Sync, it uses Sync ML and also synchronizes Notes etc. You can download the settings from the website and restoring the backup is also possible anytime. Plus, the service is free ( at least for now ).
However, I agree with you on the last one hands down.