Apple Newton "PowerPod"?
mactarkus said:
Whatever it is, I hope it eliminates a device on my belt or in my briefcase and not add one ... I'm now carrying a Hiptop/Sidekick and my miniPod. Device count is down to 2 but the HT/SK doesn't have near the PDA capability that either my Palm or my Newton had, but I'll sacrifice capability for convenience, size, and simplicity. I would love if Apple would take that number down to one with a device which is usable as my PDA/MP3 Player/Cellphone. With this platform they could add the video playing capability as well. To be honest, this thing would have to be big enough to make it too big to be a marketable cellphone.
I'm with you on the potential value, and market interest, of a Newton that consolidates several portable devices into one, and the more integration, the better and more compelling this device would be. In keeping with Apple's i/Power prefixing theme to distinguish consumer from pro lines, the name "Newton PowerPod" comes to mind, but they could also go with "iNewton" and "PowerNewton" if they wanted two distinct devices for consumers and pros. However, IMHO, it would need to be smaller than the original Newton MP1x0 series, nevermind the 2x00 (I think the originals' bulky size was a likely point of market resistance, a point borne out by Palm's subsequent success), yet not much larger than an iPod, Palm PDA, or HipTop/SideKick.
I'm thinking of something resembling a slightly larger iPod, about 3x5" index card size, with the screen extending almost to the very edges of the front face where a slim protective raised border/frame surrounds the screen edges (i.e., no extra frame space on any edge, unlike the original Newtons or any Palm). Much larger than that would be ungainly and hurt market potential, but smaller would be too small for a practical media-watching screen size. Picture the iPod's stainless steel backside "bucket", but a bit larger (again, ~3x5" index card size), with the entire front face nearly-filled by a decent-resolution color screen (rather than the iPod's partial-face screen above an array of buttons and the touchwheel).
IMHO, the OS/GUI should be more like NewtonOS (which was specifically designed for portable-size use with a stylus), albeit modernized with an Aqua-fied/Quartz-ite appearance (making impressive use of the nice, high-res color screen), rather than some stunted/shrunken version of Mac OS X and Aqua, proper (which was specifically designed with ever-expanding desktop and laptop display resolutions in mind)--OS X's underlying tech could be applied to the guts of the OS, but the GUI itself should be more like NewtonOS. Phone and iPod controls could simply be displayed on the touch-sensitive screen (think: virtual iPod!)--better yet with voice-controllable phone (and iPod?) functions.
Since the device would incorporate music-playing functions, it would obviously come with headphones (perhaps bluetooth?), which would serve double-duty for phone use and allow you to leave the device itself in your pocket, holster, etc. A mic could easily fit on the earbuds' mini-remote (or even be integrated into one of the earbuds, Jabra-style), and the music could be set to mute whenever you get or make a call. Another idea I once had was that the stylus (telescoping-style like the original Newton styli) could serve as a bluetooth phone handset--get a call, pull out the stylus and extend it to full length, hold it up to the side of your face and talk!
An optional keyboard would also be nice (the old Newton keyboard was about perfect), yet the main device itself should be smaller than the keyboard--perhaps just enough size difference to also allow an optional bluetooth mouse to fit alongside the main unit and both facing the keyboard when not in use, so they could all be connected and folded together to make a tightly integrated, portable package, like this crude ASCII diagram (viewed along the bottom edge of the keyboard on the bottom, the long edge of the main unit and short edge of the mouse on top):[FONT=Monaco,Courier New,Courier]
___________________
|_____________|____|
|__________________|[/font]
Well, whadaya think o' them Apples?
