Smartphone & Tablet Should Be One Device

The smartphone and the tablet are not two separate products despite the fact that they are currently being manufactured and marketed as two separate products.  They should be one product.  


There has been some movement toward the one product approach with innovations like the Motorola Atrix and Asus Padfone.  Also recently the Clambook has been announced.  This is a product that uses a smartphone for the CPU and programs.  The Clambook provides a monitor and keyboard. These are moves in the right direction, but aren't getting us to where I think we should be.


So if I'm saying that this needs to be one product, then there need to be reasons for only having one product. Let's list some :


1.  Never ending complaints about the screen being too small or too large.  With only one product everyone gets the screen size that they want.


2.  Paying for two of everything when one is all that's needed.  Do I really need a camera on two devices when one will get the job done just fine.


3.  Do I really need to pay for two data plans?  I won't if I only have one device.


4.  We keep being told that bandwidth is limited, and I'm wasting it to keep app updates current on two devices.  I won't if I only have one device.


So I am proposing that we only have one product – the Personal Device (PD).  The Personal Device is defined as a small, multi-function personal computer that is on your person or close to your person 24/7.


When you purchase a Personal Device, you will buy two components – the Personal Device module and the Screen.  The Personal Device module will be an encased product that has all the components of the current smartphone except those included in the Screen.  The Personal Device module will slide into the Screen to complete the Personal Device.  The Screen will include the screen, battery and, optionally, the keyboard.


Now it's time to talk about choice.  The Screen comes in all sizes.  For a person with small hands and/or limited carrying options, a 3 inch Screen might be the right component.  For an older person with diminishing eyesight, a 5, 6, or 7 inch Screen would be better, with the final choice being determined by the ability to carry it with you.  For someone who has mastered doing everything on their smartphone with one hand, maybe a 4 inch screen would be the best choice.  The point is that you have choice – you pick the size that fits your lifestyle.


Also think about special needs Screens.  Let's say you own a small tree removal company.  You are out in the bright sunshine everyday directing your crew and handling the generation of new business.  You need a Personal Device that allows you to handle all your business needs in bright sunshine.  Your Screen needs to allow you to see it perfectly in bright sunshine.


The Screens are just the screen and battery, in most cases, and therefore should be reasonably priced.  You need a Screen that is the right size for that comfortable chair that you sit in while you watch TV and catch up on your social networking.  You need a Screen that allows for one-handed use while you curl up in bed reading.  You need a Screen that works outside while you work on your suntan.  They will probably all be different sizes.  Again, you have choice.


Changing Screens has to be easier than changing a battery on a smartphone.  Turn off the Personal Device.  Slide out the Personal Device module.  Slide the Personal Device module into the new Screen.  Turn on the Personal Device.


Think into the future ten to fifteen years or about eight or ten iterations of the chips in these devices.  These devices will be vastly more powerful than the smartphones we have today.  Today there are supposedly three billion cell phones in use worldwide.  Cell phone usage is quickly converting to smartphone usage.  In ten to fifteen years there are going to be significantly more than three billion devices.  These devices are going to be the primary computers for the majority of the world.  Let's simplify the manufacture of the Personal Device modules and say that each company makes three models - "bare-bones", "middle-of-the-road" and "all-the-bells-and-whistles".  The majority of the world will be using the "bare-bones", a device way more powerful than we have today.


So is it going to happen.  I don't think so.  I don't have unique ideas;  this has been thought of and rejected for some reason(s).

Basketball Memories #2 - Seeing Bill Walton Play

I saw Bill Walton play two games against Atlanta during his heyday - or did I? 


During his championship year with Portland (1976-1977 season), a number of friends and I went to the game.  Walton and his team were terrific.  By the middle of the second quarter they were up by 30 points.  We had come to cheer on the Hawks, and were disgusted.  We left and went barhopping.  The good news is I did get to see him for a quarter and a half, and he was dominating.


The next year it looked like Portland was on the way to a second championship, and we again got tickets to the game.  The strangest thing happened during the game.  Walton picked up a quick foul when the game started and then another and then another.  By the third foul we were looking at each other and asking if anyone was seeing those fouls.


I don't remember how much time was passing in the game, but it seemed that he quickly collected his fourth and fifth fouls.  I will never forget the details of his sixth foul.  We had seats at the end of the court at ground level - in line with about a 16 foot shoot to the basket.  A Hawk was standing right in front of us about 18 feet from the basket.  Walton was guarding him but standing a good 5 feet from him.  The ball got to the Hawk, and he went up for a shoot.  Walton jumped up and closer, maybe getting as close as 3 feet.  The whistle blew and Bill Walton had fouled out of the game.


We were disgusted and went barhopping.  I never saw anything written about what was going on with Walton and the referees, but something sure was.

Listening To Music - Unable To Breath

On two occasions in my life, I found that, while listening to a music cut, I was unable to breathe. I was sure that I was having a heart attack, but, really, I was just overcome by the music. One definition for 'to take one's breath away' is, literally, to cause someone to be out of breathe due to shock or hard exercise; or, figuratively, to overwhelm someone with beauty or grandeur; to surprise or astound someone.  Definitely, the figurative definition is true.  However, the literal definition is also true because I was physically unable to breathe.


The first happened in February, 1969 when I was living in West Palm Beach, Florida. I was listening to a jazz station in Pompano Beach,  Florida, and the announcer came on and said that he had to apologize for what he was about to play because it was certainly not jazz. However, he said, the artist truly needed to be heard, and he felt that he had to play it on his show. What followed was 'Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye' by Roberta Flack. Soon after the music started, I found myself unable to breathe. A couple of cuts later he played 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face'.  The next day I bought Roberta's album, First Take.


I got to enjoy Roberta for a few years before she became an overnight sensation when Clint Eastwood featured 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' in his 1972 movie, Play Misty For Me.  Roberta went on to have a great career in music.


The second time it happened was in 1995.  Over a number of months, I saw the same singer on TV multiple times, a slight woman with a big voice, without finding out her name.  The first three times she was singing to young audiences so I figured she was a performer for kids.  I thought the kids were very lucky because she had an amazing voice.  The next three times I saw her she was singing to older audiences.  So I'd seen her six times and I still don't know her name.  


How can that happen?  This was a time before DVR's.  If I didn't have a specific show to watch, I sat in front of the TV with a clicker in my hand.  If the current channel didn't grab my attention within five seconds, I changed to another channel, and then another, and then another, etc.  That was how I caught this singer so many times in the middle of a song.  I missed the introductions and thus missed the name of the singer.


Then one day I was channel hopping and caught a show on PBS.  It was a show about a new CD that had just come out.  The CD was titled Tapestry Revisited, a tribute album to Carole King's Tapestry album from the early 1970's.  I listened to a couple of cuts, and there she was - and she had a name - and she started singing - and I couldn't breathe - and I was sure I was having a heart attack - again.  Celine Dion was singing (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. Celine's career has been at the superstar level and well deserved.


I have had two heart attacks over the last ten years.  I think I prefer listening to music and being unable to breathe to an actual heart attack.