There is no Smart Phone

Do you own a smart phone today?

Well, you cannot own one because one does not exist. Not in my opinion and not according to my definition of a “smart phone”.

You could argue that iPhone or the Android variants are smart phone but I think of them more as Hobbit-ized Mackbooks and iPads. My definition for a smart phone is very different (I like to believe) and very smart (again something I like to believe).

My smart phone will definitely NOT have the following:

• No retina display of any size
• No Keypad or Touchpad
• No camera
• No MP3 player
• No Video player
• No Games
• No Apps – no App stores – I prefer these on the iPads

If the thought that I have gone crazy and don’t know what I am talking about has crossed your mind then I would say I have you right where I need you.

We don’t need a phone with all these features.

I would like to have a phone that is 2.3 x 4.1 x 8 inches and weighs 0.3 ounces. To put these dimensions into perspective use the following as a visual aid:

Yes my smart design coincides with those of a standard Bluetooth handset.

The one mission critical feature of my smart phone is Siri (from iPhone) or its Android equivalent.

Has this triggered your own imagination and an avalanche of ideas?

You will still need to hear my ideas. This is what i envision my smart phone will do is:

• Using voice commands you should be able to all the usual stuff: make calls, answer calls, set alarms/reminders, tell time, send messages, send emails, play voice mails, etc
• It should be able to inform and read out messages/emails to you – on demand
• It should be able to sync with your work calendar, remind you of appointments/meetings and change the status to “Do not disturb” when you get into one. You don’t want a distraction now.
• You should be able to set an emergency threshold. If you have a person calling you more than twice in succession and within a few minutes, the phone triggers it as an emergency alarm and alerts you. You decide if you still want to take the call
• Based on your motion it should be able to do some of the following:
• If you are moving at a speed that is equal to the average speed of a man/woman jogging or running and if the time is convenient – it should play some music from a Radio station. (With the advent of Spotify, Pandora and Rdio the demand for personally storing MP3 will diminish).
• If you are running at odd hours, you could just instruct it to tune it to a Radio station
• If you are moving at a speed that is equal to a moving car then it should turn off some of the distractions and enable features like GPS and traffic alerts
• It should be able to accept voice commands to set locations in the GPS and guide you to your destination
• It should be able to accept voice commands to help you find restaurants, attractions, pharmacies, gas stations etc
• It should provide you with location based services:
• If you are standing in your bank office, it should be ready to give your account number, balance, attached card numbers, expiry etc
• If you are standing in front of a movie theater it should be ready to give you reviews of the movie playing there. Or suggest on other nearby “similar” activities
• If you are sitting in a restaurant, it should be ready to give you information on the popular dishes
• If you are in the library it should be ready to either give you reviews of the books you are interested in or recommend the next book based on your previous readings

You may find the list of features more elaborate and may feel some of them already exist in some form on some devices; but let’s not lose focus here. I want to emphasize on the design of the smallest and yet the smartest of phones.

Would you call this a smart phone or you are happy with your iPhone and its variants.