The global market for smart mobile devices continued its rise in Q2 2005 according to estimates released by research firm Canalys. Nokia once again saw its smart phone shipments increase at more than twice the average market rate. Palm still leads the handheld segment, with 31% market share, but its handheld shipments declined 32% year on year, resulting in a 1% unit decline overall. Handheld shipments fell in most regions, with North America down by 36%, while Latin America and Asia Pacific fell 12% and 21% respectively.
I personally hope handhelds aren’t discontinued. I don’t want a web browser, Email Client, Word processor, etc in my phone. I want to flip it open, type a number and talk, that’s it. Perhaps keep a phone book.
I prefer keeping handhelds and phones seperate. Of course, I’m obviously the minority.
I prefer keeping handhelds and phones seperate. Of course, I’m obviously the minority.
You’re not that much of a minority.
Some phone companies have started producing basic models again.
I agree. I still use an old (four or five years old) nokia 7110 (first nokia with wap), and it works perfectly (and battery life is excellent, after buying a new Li-Polimer ultra-light-and-thin battery), and i’m very happy with it, it works 100%.
On the other hand, just today a friend of mine was telling me that his super duper 3g photo etc nokia sometimes freezes for a while when you are placing a call (while it’s still ringing on the other side).
Of course, that may be or may be not a problem of his specific device, but I think that more and more we will have problems and the important things not work if the smartphone makers keep adding and adding and adding unuseful stuff.
Also, it’s nice not to worry about losing your $500 cellphone or dropping it or getting it wet, because if you have separate devices, you can take the ones you need and feel confortable to carry at that time (for example, i am terrified of taking my pda anyware near the beach, or of using it in public transports, because it could get wet or sand, or it stands out too much as something probably not cheap).
ditto
all i want is a fricken phone, phone book, clock, alarm and umm….. that’s about it… i don’t use my phone as a toy.. i use it to talk to people
You are not in the minority, quite the contrary. Single purpose phones are still the mainstream choice. Just because smart phones and convergence devices are gaining popularity does not change this. If for no reason other than size basic phones will remain popular for quite a while.
For convergence devices and to a lesser extent smart phones there is a size limit to how small you can make the device and still have a usable screen. This limits the appeal to a large chunk of the mobile society. I am not a heavy phone user, I only use about 400 minutes a month. On the other hand my data connection is critical to my lifestyle and saves me from having to carry a separate phone and pda. To each his own.
Kokopelli
You are not in the minority, quite the contrary. Single purpose phones are still the mainstream choice.
Not really. True pda-replacement type phones are cost-prohibitive for most people at the moment, but take, for example, camera phones or phones which do the web. As soon as these were available in reasonable price ranges, they were snapped up.
I love PDA-replacement type phones. I hate having to carry two bloody devices around and most people I know do as well. If you’re going to have a PDA AND a phone, you might as well have it all-in-one.
Guys, come on…maybe the quality of services and some applications are poor now, but these things can get better. This is just the beginning, here in Asia…people prefer to have everything in their phones rather than haaving too many devices to handle…and some of the new features in smartphones will be very common in a few years time…an no, it is not a toy….it is an utility that will have it’s uses to people who need new tools to increase their productivity.
Two points:
* Battery life — Do you want to miss a call because you ran out of batteries using the PDA features of the phone?
* Screen size — Phones don’t require that much. PDAs do.
battery life; with extended battery my convergence device has about 7 hours talk time and can handle normal PDA use throughout the day. with my usage patterns (3-4 hours OF GPRS a day, 30 minutes of talk time) I do not go below 60% after a day that starts (phone out of the charger) at around 6:30AM and ends (back in the charger) around 9 PM. Over and above this there is a larger battery available if needed but it is a camel hump style which I do not like.
And for the earlier comment about phones with cameras. I still classify that as a single purpose phone. Cameras and voice recorders do not significantly increase the size or change the purpose of a phone. They are simply conveniences attached to the phone. Having PDA capabilities in the phone on the other hand does significantly change its purpose.
WRT battery life, we’re talking an order of magnitude difference. My Palm V has a life of almost a month. Personally, I don’t want to have to recharge it each day, much less every 7 hours.
My 20G MP3 player lasts 16hrs, pretty much the full day, but even if it cuts out on me (which it never has), it’s not critical. However, a 7hr life would definitely not be enough on the weekends when I’m out all day.
A life of 7hrs might be okay with cell phones. If you’re away from a recharger for an extended period you can always turn it off, and if worse comes to worse, 9 times out of 10, you can resort to land line phones.
Different deviced have different power and usage needs. IMO, until the battery and flash RAM technology are improved and until you can have folding monitors (e.g. so you can increase the monitor size without normally taking up a lot of space), mixing a PDA, MP3 player, and phone together is sort of like trying to crossbreed an ostritch, giraffe, and lobster. It may be possible, but why would you want to?
The current phone companies are so screwed up and greedy, there is not a large enough base to support innovation in the phones.
For the most part in the US, you cannot even purchase a phone that works across the US. It will work in some places, but not others.
And the price will be insane if you want data for your “smart” phone.
The US will never see a true “smart” phone until there is a “smart” phone company. And based on history, the chance of the latter is so remote that it is a gift not to call it zero.
Re: “The current phone companies are so screwed up and greedy, there is not a large enough base to support innovation in the phones.”
I agree that most cellular carriers need to reconsider their prices for voice & data plans to meet with current technology trends. This is not only an issue with the USA but other countries as well.
Re: “For the most part in the US, you cannot even purchase a phone that works across the US. It will work in some places, but not others.”
I dissagree in one aspect for GSM coverage. I’m with Rogers (now owner of Fido) here in Canada who’s the sole provider of GSM in Canada with 93% coverage across Canada. The only state in the USA that I’ve found which doesn’t adequate GSM coverage is Montana. Other than that I’ve had no issue travelling in states such as New York, Florida, California, etc. You may be referring to CDMA which I’ve noticed is becoming less supported not only in the USA but other countries. Just to point out the towers built are not cheap and cellular carriers are less inclined to build a tower in less populated areas such as rural towns with population less than 500 persons.
I’d rather carry a smartphone such as the Palm Treo, Motorola A1010, etc which is an all in one device instead of carrying a cellphone with PDA or laptop. After all on a daily basis it’s easier to carry an all in one device that does the functionality of several devices.
Its easier to carry a all in one device but I think they are jack of all trades and master of none.
I think i would prefer a lifebook to a handheld or smartphone any day.
I remember an article several months or even years ago in which a study was conducted and people in North America (Canada & U.S.A.) were much less likely to buy multifunction devices along the lines of cell phones and PDAs that are supposed to do everything. The results also showed more acceptance of multifunction devices in European and Asian countries, but I like the way it’s done here much better and I really don’t know what to attribute the European/Asian view to.
Multifunction devices are much more than I, and just about everyone else I know needs, I would much rather carry around a cell phone and PDA than have all the functions of both devices (PDA also does mp3/ogg &movie playback) inside one overdone cell phone with a huge manual. Simplicity really helps to lower stress and blood pressure, I for one love having individual devices and each havign only limited functionality, the best part is that if one device gets stolen not everything is gone.
I honestly can’t understand why people would want all sorts of functionality inside their cell phones, I don’t even use the things and I like my PDA the way it is. It also comes to mind that the more functions a device has, the more can go wrong with it.
“For the most part in the US, you cannot even purchase a phone that works across the US. It will work in some places, but not others. ”
Warning, the following message may come as a shock to you … you see, the world is a bit bigger than the USA. Personally I use my smartphone all over Europe, Middle East and Asia to make phone calls and have wireless data for mail, browing, SSH and even VOIP (where UMTS is available).
As a frequent traveler I do have an expensive subscription (Euro 150 a month), but that includes 1000 free voice minutes, 500Mb of free data and low cost abroad calling (local rates + setupfee of Euro 0,89 per call … instead of Euro 2,- per minute). So to me … the phone is very smart.
I only have problems with connectivity in some parts of the USA and Africa… but that’s about it.
I find myself more and more en route without my powerbook and rely more and more on my smartphone with foldable bluetooth keyboard. Really good solution…. really smart.
I bought my SE P910i on Jan 2005 and I plan to add GPS module to it. I can’t really see why someone would prefer to bring a PDA + cell phone instead of a single device who does anything you might need while going around. For statistics, I’m in EU 😉
I didn’t even consider to buy a PDA and just said to my friends that I would have waited until my phone could do that.
Well, right now I enjoy the possibility to have only one device to take notes, connect to the Internet, do stuff, remember my appointments and tasks, do my calls and sometimes playing Lemmings while I’m idle on a bus or something like that.
I can get 1GB smartcard to that phone and listen to MP3 with excellent quality (both with internal speaker and external audioset). I can get a whole movie to that smartcard to watch at while I’m on plane.
Definitely, it’s smartphone to me.
As a side note, since Jan, only one time my phone locked up, ending up by resetting itself.
PDA, I mean. It’s just going to be another device that I can forget everywhere.
I used to have both, but if I rememered the phone, I forgot the PDA and vice versa. Not a good thing.
Now I have my phone, and it’s not that big, and that’s it. I couldn’t cope without it; it is remembering everything for me.
The phone (a Palm Treo 650) I can have in a belt clip, remembering it every time I leave. I think that make me look geekey enogh, let alone me carrying a PDA in another clip – nah, that would be too much, even for me.
./nalle.
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I love PDA-replacement type phones. I hate having to carry two bloody devices around and most people I know do as well. If you’re going to have a PDA AND a phone, you might as well have it all-in-one.
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True enough. When my palm started to misbehave recently I looked at smartphones as an interim measure to replace it. Who would buy a new Palm now with the move to a Linux base around the corner? So getting, say, a Treo or a Symbian-based phone for 12 month contract would buy you some time to see how the new Palm OS shakes out.
At the same time cameraphones have reached 2 megapixels with autofocus, so my wife has no intention of buying a camera – she is going to go for the 2-in-1 phone option.
As I don’t wear a suit jacket I generally have room to carry a phone or a PDA – and the phone seems to lose out. My Palm is behaving again now so I’ll put off the decision for a while. But I’m sure I will go for a one-box solution eventually
I’d rather buy a PDA that exactly suits my needs and a mobile phone that exactly suits my needs (that is – makes/receives calls and SMS), than buy a phone that doesn’t quite satisfy either requirement.
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I’d rather buy a PDA that exactly suits my needs and a mobile phone that exactly suits my needs (that is – makes/receives calls and SMS), than buy a phone that doesn’t quite satisfy either requirement.
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Well, good luck with that. If your phone has exactly the features you want, no more, no less, and your PDA the same, I’m happy for you. But most of us already accept spec/price trade-offs on single-function devices anyway, so what’s new?
Personally, after seeing this today;
http://www.ddhsoftware.com/news.html?sub=HanDBase&view=release&num=…
(HanDBase for Symbian 60 OS released!!)
… my last reason for needing a separate device is gone