Opinionated comments on mobile phone industry news
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All entries are written by Anders Borg, CEO and Consultant of Abiro, that has a long experience in strategic planning, developing embedded and Java software, usability aspects, and the mobile phone industry in general. You can also read the latest Mobile News entries on your phone via wap.abiro.com, and we provide many News Feeds from popular news services. For advertising and contribution queries, please use the feedback form. News feed (local) FeedBurner Feed
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Friday, August 18, 2006
A smartphone trend and possible consequences
I don't think I've discovered something you don't already know, but it might lead to some events that might not be totally obvious:
All popular smartphones have alphanumeric keypads, and a flat form factor with a wide display, and display and keypad in the same fixed plane, as in RIM BlackBerry, Nokia E61, Sony Ericsson M600 etc.
Due to that I expect the following to happen (of course pure speculation):
* Nokia will drop the Communicator form factor, and go for E61 like smartphones
* Sony Ericsson will drop the P series form factor and use only the more modern/ergonomical M600 like form factor
Some still say a touch screen for handwriting is as good as a keypad, but in the broader market I believe few agree.
A touch screen could still be there (it doesn't cost much) for browser/map/menu/etc navigation.
If there's no touch screen, navigation could be made simpler/quicker with a wheel (a la Sony original phones, iPod etc) and/or an accelerating joystick or button that could be moved in any direction, that also has a select function. Separate buttons for arrows (even though often designed as a ring) and select makes navigation quite tedious and slow.
Here's another smartphone with the trendy form factor:
Excalibur up close and personal - Engadget Mobile
All popular smartphones have alphanumeric keypads, and a flat form factor with a wide display, and display and keypad in the same fixed plane, as in RIM BlackBerry, Nokia E61, Sony Ericsson M600 etc.
Due to that I expect the following to happen (of course pure speculation):
* Nokia will drop the Communicator form factor, and go for E61 like smartphones
* Sony Ericsson will drop the P series form factor and use only the more modern/ergonomical M600 like form factor
Some still say a touch screen for handwriting is as good as a keypad, but in the broader market I believe few agree.
A touch screen could still be there (it doesn't cost much) for browser/map/menu/etc navigation.
If there's no touch screen, navigation could be made simpler/quicker with a wheel (a la Sony original phones, iPod etc) and/or an accelerating joystick or button that could be moved in any direction, that also has a select function. Separate buttons for arrows (even though often designed as a ring) and select makes navigation quite tedious and slow.
Here's another smartphone with the trendy form factor:
Excalibur up close and personal - Engadget Mobile
