SmartPod--would you buy?

[iMacZealot]

I always have trouble deciding on what to carry with me--my iPod or my Palm. I came up with an idea for a product, and I think it may have been discussed before. Anyways, I thought of what would be called as a SmartPod. The SmartPod would have a 6, 8, or 10 gigabyte hard drive to hold not only songs but appointments, addresses, e-mails, and quick notes. This device would have a screen in the range of the iPod screen and a PalmPilot screen. It could have a Click Wheel and when typing in text, a keyboard on the screen would appear, where users would tap the letters with a stylus. This would sync up to iSync, and songs would be put on the device from iTunes via iSync. The planner would copy events from iCal onto the device and vice versa. Furthermore, contacts would come and go from Address Book. Also, the user could write an e-mail on the device and the e-mail would automatically go to Mail when syncronized. I thought this might sell for $350-$600.

The question is: would you buy it?

 

[clayj]

I personally would not buy one of these, because between my iPod (music, photos) and my Windows Smartphone (e-mail, telephony, web browsing, contacts, calendar, syncs to Outlook) and my PSP (gaming, movies as soon as I can find a 1 GB MSProDuo for a reasonable price), I've got it all covered. I used to have a Dell Axim, and before that, other Pocket PCs... but I never used them, and eventually sold them. (I still have my Vadem Clio, but I don't use it, and it's not worth selling.)

 

[iMacZealot]

(I still have my Vadem Clio, but I don't use it, and it's not worth selling.)

Wait a minute--you have a Vadem Clio? I thought I was the only one!

 

[clayj]

Wait a minute--you have a Vadem Clio? I thought I was the only one!

Yeah, bought it in Seattle in early '99... Clios were quite in vogue with a lot of us Microsofties. Quite a nice device, great handwriting recognition... too bad Vadem were such screwups.

 

[iMacZealot]

I personally would not buy one of these, because between my iPod (music, photos) and my Windows Smartphone (e-mail, telephony, web browsing, contacts, calendar, syncs to Outlook) and my PSP (gaming, movies as soon as I can find a 1 GB MSProDuo for a reasonable price), I've got it all covered. I used to have a Dell Axim, and before that, other Pocket PCs... but I never used them, and eventually sold them. (I still have my Vadem Clio, but I don't use it, and it's not worth selling.)

But what I'm saying is...wouldn't it be nice to have them condensed into one? I would buy one. For me, it would be nice to have my SmartPod and cell phone as oppose to my cell phone, iPod, and Palm Pilot. Sometimes I like to scribble down a quick note, but I can only do that with my Zire31.

 

[clayj]

But what I'm saying is...wouldn't it be nice to have them condensed into one? I would buy one. For me, it would be nice to have my SmartPod and cell phone as oppose to my cell phone, iPod, and Palm Pilot. Sometimes I like to scribble down a quick note, but I can only do that with my Zire31.

I think part of the appeal of the iPod is that it DOESN'T try to be a jack-of-all-trades-and-master-of-none. It's VERY good at playing and managing music, and the other functions (photos, contacts) are quite minimal. As soon as you try to make something that does everything, you'll usually find that it does nothing perfectly.

 

[iMacZealot]

I think part of the appeal of the iPod is that it DOESN'T try to be a jack-of-all-trades-and-master-of-none. It's VERY good at playing and managing music, and the other functions (photos, contacts) are quite minimal. As soon as you try to make something that does everything, you'll usually find that it does nothing perfectly.

Then what about your smart phone?

(Note: The SmartPod wouldn't be a cell phone. Just a planner, address book, note pad, e-mail writer, and music player.)

 

[iGary]

I hate Palm Pilots, so, no.

 

[DeSnousa]

No i would not. I own a palm an an iPod. Both of these products should stick to what they do best. To provide music and the other to organise.

 

[Jo-Kun]

Nope, I'm not a big fan of this all-in-one stuff.

ok its true I use the hard disk option on my iPod sometimes, but I don't even use the addresbook/iCal options its mainly an MP3 player, and that's what I wanted ;-)

That's why I allso don't want MP3, Internet, Camera, PDA in my phone either... thats allways a fun moment when buying a new phone and telling the probably dissapointed salesperson I need it to make phonecalls and receive text messages & want it to be reliable... no more, no less
now I have one with colour screen, just because it was hard to find a good one without it

call me old fashioned

 

[mpw]

Nope, I'm not a big fan of this all-in-one stuff...

...I also don't want MP3, Internet, Camera, PDA in my phone either...

… it’s hard to find a good one without it.

call me old fashioned

You’re old fashioned. However you may be in luck, I hear the latest trend in Japan is for mobiles with just phone and text functions.

I’ve got to say I’d love an all-in-one PDA(iCal/Word/Excel/Address Book/Safari)/mobile/camera/WiFi/BT/iPod/Movie Player but until someone (I’m looking at you Jobs) brings one out that works flawlessly (or damn near flawlessly) I’d prefer to keep these duties separate. And while they’re separate I want them as small as possible.

I’d like to see a mobile built into a headset no bigger than the BT headset on the market today that had a single line B&W LCD and a sony-esqu jog wheel to select menu items. Add a couple of buttons for yes/no functions and that’s all I need/want.

 

[efoto]

I had a Dell Axim, and rarely used it for much of anything. I am not all that into the mobile notes and such, I usually just bank on memory until I can get back to my PB and jot it down somewhere in there.

I thought the Axim would be good because it can play mp3s, movies, store files, calender, etc etc, but I don't think I ever used more than just the calender and perhaps once or twice the contacts. Modern mobile phones overlap many of the basic features of a 'Smartpod' such as calender, contacts, perhaps short notes on some.

Personally, I would rather have a combo phone/pda than a pda/iPod. I think that the other functions go more closely to the phone than the mp3 player, but as usual this is just my ,02

 

[irmongoose]

However you may be in luck, I hear the latest trend in Japan is for mobiles with just phone and text functions.

Haha, yeah right!

Anyways, no I would not buy an all-in-one device. Simple is best.



irmongoose

 

[howard]

the only problem is that they would have to make a touch screen, and i like the ipods cause of how tough they are.

otherwise i would want something like this, the only thing is i'd only want it if they didn't change the size at all. (unless smaller of course)

 

[sigamy]

I'm not sure about merging the iPod with a PDA. I agree with the others that the PDA and phone are best to merge. I'm in the middle ground, where I'd like the combined phone running Palm OS but I don't need it to have a camera, dishwasher and swiss army knife too.

I would like a touch screen iPod though. Many times I'm using "Shuffle Songs" and I come to an artist or an album that I'd like to switch to. It would be great if I could just tap on the artist or album name and then the iPod would switch over and start playing tunes from there.

 

[Xenious]

I would like it all combined, but only if it was small enough not to bulk up my phone, solid enough not to break and had enough storage. The trick is to do it well and not halfway. I welcomed the ability to ditch my PDA and only have one device. I'd love it if someone could but a nice camera CCD in a phone so that the camera wasn't crap. (I don't mind the lower resolution so much for snapshots, its just the quality that sucks.)

Really, the only reason I would enjoy it is because I always carry my mobile phone with me. I don't always carry my ipod (or my ipod shuffle), camera, etc.

I think that music jukebox + phone is more feasable that game machine + phone if only because gaming requires a larger screen and more processor. I wouldn't trade my PSP for an N-Gage.

 

[clayj]

Then what about your smart phone?

(Note: The SmartPod wouldn't be a cell phone. Just a planner, address book, note pad, e-mail writer, and music player.)

The Smartphone has a LOT of deficiencies. No QWERTY-keypad, so you have to use that whole numeric entry thing (C = 222, S=7777, etc.). No touchscreen. It's OK for reading things, but not so good for creating new things. And the screen is smaller than a normal PDA's. On the other hand, it's very small, no longer than pretty much any other cellphone. It's got WMP built-in, but memory cards are expensive and I have an iPod large enough to hold ALL of my music.

 

[mad jew]

I don't think I'd buy an all-in-one Powerpod but more realistically, I'd love to see an extension of the current iPod's Notes section so that I could easily see all of my documents (Word, Excel etc.) I'm pretty sure there's a third-party app that does this already but I can't find any traces of it on Versiontracker so I could be wrong (or just stupid ). Anyhow, I'd love to see Apple implement this and make it easy for stupid Podders to set it up.

I reckon, if you want to write stuff on the go, grab a notebook.

 

[ClarkeB]

Hopefully apple will add .pages support on iPods!!

 

[iMacZealot]

Now just a note: Apple would still make plain old iPods, but also a SmartPod as another line.

Well, it looks like I'm the only person on the face of the earth that would buy a SmartPod.

Here's something to think about: If you could design your own iPod, what would it be like?

 

[EGT]

Here's something to think about: If you could design your own iPod, what would it be like?

1) 60+ GB...100 would be nice for backups etc... but no thicker than the current iPods.

2) Colour screen like the current iPod Photo/colour (whatever its called now) but with the ability to adjust the brightness so one can preserve battery life

3) Get rid of the standard metal back plate/white front. Make it like the iPod Mini ... all matt anodised aluminium, possibly silver, like the powerbooks and powermacs. Maybe available in different colours like the mini?

4) 18+ hours battery life ... and not just with 128 ACC ... Large files as well. I have loads of Apple Lossless stuff in my library. They do have an effect on the battery life.

5) No more audio issues. Get it sorted out once and for all apple... argh!!!

---- Possible features, but not really important ----

Bluetooth 2.0.

Built in FM transmitter for when you get bored of listening to music and you want to catch the latest news.

Larger colour screen for better viewing.

That's all i can think of for now. Wow, Thats one sweet iPod!