The mobile blogger: A market missed?

On the behalf of a friend I’ve been doing some research for a phone
with some fairly specific requirements:

• QWERTY keyboard (or a very good on screen keyboard)
• Decent camera
• Moderate screen size
• Good battery life
• Easy to use but not limiting
• Wide range of connectivity options

What surprised me was the poor range of choices available. The
requirements generally point to a smartphone, but not exclusively. But
maybe I should explain and qualify my list.

QWERTY keyboard

While touch screens have come a long way, on screen keyboards are
still (and probably never will be) no match for a physical keyboard.
Typing at any speed is simply far easier with a slide out keyboard.
I’ll admit that capacitive touch screens have bridged the gap, but
unless you have a huge screen like the HTC HD2, you’ll be sacrificing
a lot of screen real estate. So preferably a slide out physical
keyboard then.

Decent camera

What most people don’t realise is that anything above 3MP is generally
a waste, a marketing ploy if you will. Especially if your target is
for a blog, there is no reason to aim for higher resolutions.
Important aspects are easy shooting, auto focus, decent flash and good
colour reproduction. Optional extras would be touch focus, face
recognition and Xenon flash.

Moderate screen size

If you’re going to be viewing web pages and typing a lot, there is no
substitute for square inches. I’d say 3″+ is a minimum requirement.
Colour depth shouldn’t be a problem anymore as just about all phones
are at least 65K colours or better these days. Resolution wise I’d aim
for 800×480 but 480×320 would suffice.

Good battery life

Pretty self-explanatory but often overlooked. If you’re going to be
using 3G services and tapping away at your phone all day, that mAh
rating (and the phones frugalness with power) becomes mighty
important.

Easy to use

The simplest of requirements but so very important. Not all of us are
technically minded and thus willing to put up minor bugs. For the
majority of users it needs to work first time and doing anything
should be easy and intuitive.

Now this is of paramount importance. If you’re mobile, you don’t want
to wait for your up/download to slowly finish. It needs to connect
wherever, whenever and be lightning fast. This means bluetooth, wifi
and 3G HSDPA (at least.)

This brings us back to the cell phones available that fulfill the
requirements as well as those on the horizon. (Please note that I’m
focusing on phones available in South Africa. ) The pickings are
scarce and frankly all a bit over the hill:

The contenders are:

	SE Xperia X1 The Sony Ericsson X1 while a very sturdy and powerful phone, is long past its expiry date. It would handle all the tasks well but general usability pretty much negates it as an option. The recessed screen, inability to use fingers on the screen and the outdated Windows Mobile just all count against it.
	Nokia N97 The Nokia N97 is not quite as old, but lags in nearly all respects to phones available today. The only saving grace might be its ease of use. However the very same OS (S60 5th edition) that makes it user friendly (for Nokia users) still hasn’t come to grips with touch screens, making the touch screen pale in comparison. All over though it fits the bill modestly.
	HTC Hero The HTC Hero was ground breaking when it was first released and the imminent upgrade to Android 2.0 means it’s not dead yet. In most respects it would fit the requirements quite well, if only it had a slide out key board.
	Apple iPhone 3GS The ever popular Apple iPhone 3GS is also up there as a contender and ease of use is definitely a characteristic. However high price, poor camera and slow connectivity count against it. Of the contenders however it is the only phone with a capacitive touch screen and a decent on screen keyboard.

My conclusion however is that while all of these phones would make a
fair job of serving a mobile blogger, none would do it with
distinction. Recommending any single option for a mobile blogger
becomes a question of personal preference. There are a few that could
be available soon that seem to fulfil the requirements slightly
better, but still I can’t help but wonder if a certain segment is
being missed: the blending point between simplicity, power user
(QWERTY) and touch screens. FYI here are the imminent possibilities:

	Sony Ericsson X2 While based on the same hardware as the X1, has had a redesign and it appears to be succesful. A flush screen with better battery life and updated OS are major improvements. But I have to ask if the slower than average CPU and mediocre camera won’t be its undoing.
	HTC Legend The HTC Legend is the spiritual successor to the ever popular Hero and comes with two vital upgrades: capacitive touch screen and better camera. The Android OS (ver 2.1) should make the most of the relatively older underlying hardware. Still no keyboard…
	Motorola Milestone The Motorola Milestone is somewhat of a dark horse and a mystery at once. Not available in SA and no word on if it ever will be. However, considering the popularity of the Droid abroad and the fact that it fulfills all the requirements with ease, it would be a shame if we had to pass on this contender. I really hope our mobile operators take a close look at bringing this phone in.

I would love to hear your feedback on these phones (or any others that
I missed) or if you think I’m simply being too pedantic in this
regard.

~ Yme