Cell Phone Design

Check out these creative design prototypes of cell phones.



What would you like to see in the perfect cell phone?

Google Wave

I was lucky enough to get a Google Wave invite from my Dad a few weeks ago. If you haven't used Google Wave yet or even heard of it it's basically a new approach to communication and collaboration. You can read a little more about it here.

So far, I've mostly used it for short conversations with people that could more easily have taken place via email or facebook, but its a new toy so I want to play with it. I have used it a couple of times as a collaboration tool (very minimally so) and again, the type of collaboration may have just as easily been done on email. I think it will become more useful when utilized for larger, web-based collaborative efforts with multiple people. I think right now it is a little difficult to fully utilize it because not a lot of people are using it. Of course, I should also mention that its not even in beta yet, as it is still in "preview" mode. (I'm wondering if that is kind of like alpha...)

I did catch a glimpse of their maintenance page though today, which you can see here. It is a pretty cool maintenance landing page, with the text saying "Surf's out, dude. Google Wave is down for maintenance. Time to chillax."



If you have used Google Wave already, what is your opinion? What have you used it for?

Dyson Fan

This summer I had the pleasure to use a Dyson Airblade Hand Dryer at the MoMA in New York City. I had wanted to try one from the moment I had heard about them, but never was at a place that had them. It was everything I hoped for and more. If you don't know about the Dyson Airblade, watch this video:

Dyson recently announced their new room fan, which in Dyson fashion is quite expensive. The best part of Dyson (in my opinion) is that they do tackle problems from different angles and utilize creativity to solve those problems rather than just taking the road well traveled. Dyson is a great example of marketing in design.



Read more about the cool background and features of the new Dyson room fan at Fast Company and UberReview.

HTC HD2

My current phone as well as my last cell phone were both made by HTC. I thoroughly enjoy the phones they come out with, and in my mind they are really the only phones that compete with the iPhone. And one thing that blows Apple out of the water is the selection that HTC offers, whereas Apple's idea of selection is black and white.

I would like to introduce you to the new HTC HD2. I wrote previously about the HTC Touch HD, and was really impressed. The new HD2 is just as exciting.



One thing you may notice right away is the large screen. The screen is an expansive 4.3" diagonal (compared to the iPhone's 3.5") while still retaining about the same size as the iPhone. The screen is also capacitive (as opposed to resistive touch) and offers WVGA resolution (more than twice the resolution of the iPhone). The HD2 is a little thinner than the iPhone but it is slightly wider and taller. Other great additions for this phone include 448 MB of RAM, 1GHz processor, built in tethering, 5MP camera with dual LED flash, 3.5mm stereo audio jack, G/Proximity/Ambient light sensors, digital compass, as well as very inclusive integration of social networking including facebook, twitter, youtube and flickr.

Also check out the video about HTC Sense, which replaces TouchFLO 3D. It looks pretty great.

Text or Call

With the new study done at Fresno State about texting while driving, I was reminded of something I heard while on my recent trip to Edmonton.

A DJ on one of the radio stations I was listening to was talking about getting in touch with the radio station, and she said "And if you're driving, don't take any unnecessary risks by calling, go ahead and text us at XXXXXX". I thought to myself, is it really safer to text the radio station while driving than to call them?

What do you think?

My New Phone

If you've been following this blog for a while, you will know that I've been interested in the new phones that HTC has been coming out with. I finally took the plunge and bought one, putting my total lifetime cellphone ownership at 4 (2 Nokia and 2 HTC).

My new phone is the HTC Touch Diamond2.



So far my experience with the phone has been exceptional. The biggest change with this phone from my previous phone (HTC Touch) is the severe lack of Windows Mobile interface. HTC has done a good job at masking a lot of the non-finger friendly Windows Mobile features. My stylus is almost completely unnecessary now (although I do sometimes still like to use it). The new TouchFlo 3D is slick looking and quite user friendly. The other very noticeable feature of this phone is the WVGA screen. At a respectable 3.2" the screen packs a whopping 384 000 pixels (480 x 800). The resolution is so good that I almost can't make out any pixelation at all. It really is a sight to behold.

Some of the other notable things is the G-Sensor (accelerometer), ambient light sensor, zoom bar at the bottom of the screen, GPS, 5MP camera on back and VGA camera on front, FM Radio, & WiFi 802.11 b/g.

It's definitely a big step up from my old phone and it has a lot of fancy new features. I haven't even tried them all out yet, but so far I'm really happy with my purchase.

Good News to Report

As you may have noticed (hopefully) I haven't posted in a while. I recently moved, and due to the move I transferred over my DSL to my new place. Unfortunately AT&T is on a slightly different schedule than I am, and 3 weeks after moving my Internet is finally working today!

I guess its not that they maliciously wanted me to be without Internet access for 3 weeks, none of the two phone jacks in my new apartment were even getting a dial tone. They sent out a few technicians and got the problem resolved. It's just I haven't been 3 weeks without Internet access in years. I know, I'm spoiled, but I use the Internet quite a bit.

I did want to blog about my experience with AT&T tech support.

A majority of the people I talked with on the phone at AT&T were friendly. I think my biggest complaint is the hold times. I spent at least 2.5 hours on hold throughout all my calls, and was switched literally back and forth and back to different departments a number of times. As well, its unfortunate that I was unable to have a technician come out while I wasn't home, and that meant a little longer wait to get a time that would work for both myself and a technician.

Overall, I think I will stay with AT&T, and might even upgrade to their fiber-optic/U-Verse package in the future. One of the good things that came out of this ordeal is I now have the direct toll-free phone number for DSL-line connectivity/strength issues.

WM6 Outlook Issue

In an attempt to help others that may have run into the same situation I'd like to describe an issue I recently resolved.

I was having trouble with my SMTP outgoing mail with Outlook from my Windows Mobile 6.1 device. I could receive my Gmail messages without a problem, but any time I tried to send a message through Outlook I would get an error telling me to check my connection and/or my settings. It is strange because nothing had really changed on my phone to adjust settings or anything.

I double checked my settings to make sure they were correct, and they were. I was also obviously connected to the Internet because I would be receiving messages in my inbox.

All I had to do to resolve this problem was delete my Gmail account in Outlook and go through the steps found here to set up my account again.

It's a fairly easy fix, so hopefully you found this useful if you ran into the same problem.

DTV Fresno Update

The DTV Transition has been pushed back to June 12th here in the US and there are plenty of commercials and advertisements to let everyone know what's happening. One of them gave me a good idea to re-autoprogram my TV to pick up any new digital channels that may have started since the autoprogram.

Sure enough I found a few new channels. Channels 43.1-43.5 aren't new channels, but they are new on the digital spectrum here in Fresno.

KGMC
Azteca
KSDI
KJEO
KJKZ

These channels all appear to be owned and/or operated by Cocola Broadcasting Companies.

Not sure how often I will be watching these channels, but one bright spot is KJEO. In the past they have broadcast CFL games, which is the only chance I have to watch CFL games. Now that its in digital it will come in a lot more clearly.

Should Facebook Listen?

As a follow up to my post the other day about all the complainers of the new Facebook, read this post from Seth Godin about ignoring your critics.

This kind of message is hard to swallow and even harder to actually implement, but its true that the masses usually only want the status quo. Growth requires change, and change is often difficult.

The New Facebook

It seems like I write something like this after each time Facebook changes their layout, but it is usually in response to so many people complaining about change.



After reading a number of people's reasons for disliking or even hating the new Facebook, here is my summary of the complaints.

• Confusing
• Difficult to do things that were easy to do in the past
• Don't understand it
• Want to see more customization of the Homepage/Newsfeed

I just have to say that anyone complaining using the first three issues is just not giving it a chance and is probably against change in general. There is going to be a learning curve with anything new. Utilize the resources that Facebook has provided to learn how to do the things you want to do. These types of things work better when people know what they are doing.

The fourth type of complaint I partially agree with. I agree with it because I think the customization/filtering of the homepage and newsfeed should be a little more powerful. However, most of the complainers that used this reason didn't seem like they realized there is a filter on the left side of the page that does what they were talking about. So most of these people need to read the above paragraph.

As a matter of fact, I've actually been reinvigorated with the new Facebook. I have found that I've spent a little more time using Facebook after the change compared to before. I would also be as bold as to say that a lot of the people who are complaining that they aren't getting to see all the "stories" about their friends that they did in the past, are the same people who complained that the newsfeed was too invasive and stalkerish in the first place.

I guess my point is that people are often too quick to fight against change. In a month or two everyone complaining about the new Facebook will have forgotten about their issues, and in all likelihood will have found something else to complain about.

The Internet in 1996

Jason Kottke's recent post on "Was the internet boring in 1996?" got me recollecting about my history with computers and the Internet.

Unless you think about it 1996 doesn't seem that long ago, well for me at least, cause I am still fairly young. But 1996 is 13 years ago, and for me that is a little more than half of my life ago.

It is hard to think about everyone not being on the Internet, but back in 1996 there were a lot of people who weren't connected.

My family has always had a computer and some sort of Internet connection, thanks to my Dad who has always been at the forefront of technology. But my big Internet starting point was in 1996-1997. This was my first year of Junior High School at John D. Bracco in Edmonton, AB, Canada. I volunteered to help the IT guy put together a website for the school. This was very exciting because I got to do a lot of learning about HTML as well as getting to spend otherwise school time on the computer.

My three biggest memories of computer and Internet usage from 1996-1997:

1. After Edmonton Oilers beat the Dallas Stars in Round 1 of the 1997 Stanley Cup Playoffs, I found and emailed a picture of Todd Marchant's game 7 winning goal to our IT guy. He put the picture as the wall paper for the entire computer system. It was only a thumbnail size, but brought so much emotion to using the computer because that was one of the most exciting goals I've ever seen.
   
   
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg4nLyxsi4g
   Infact, watching this goal still gives me goosebumps.
   
   
2. I got a bunch of .bmp picture files that I wanted to put on the school's website I was creating. I knew enough to know that .bmp files wouldn't work on the Internet, so I converted them to either .jpg or .gif files (I can't remember which). The only problem was that they wouldn't show up on the webpage. No matter what I tried these files just wouldn't work. My Dad finally helped me trouble shoot, and we realized that I didn't actually convert the files, I just changed the file ending.
   
   
3. I signed up for Hotmail so I could have an email account to get all my webpage design stuff completed more efficiently. This was back in 1996 shortly after it came into being, and before it was purchased by Microsoft. I remember very early on they employed a login button that was actually a picture with a link attached to it. I found this a little frustrating because I could type in my username, tab over and type in my password, but I couldn't just hit enter or tab and enter to finish the login process. I actually had to move over to the mouse and click on the login picture. I decided I would send this up as a suggestion to the Hotmail team, and sure enough the next day the login picture was gone and was replaced by a login button. I like to think I changed the course of Hotmail and free webmail service for the rest of time.

It is a lot of fun reminiscing about when back when on the Internet. What fun stories or good memories do you have of the Internet from the mid to late 90s?

MultiTouch Cell

From a Finnish company MultiTouch, check out this new, scalable, multi-touch display.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur2qKbtapnc

Looks pretty sweet, but I'm sure not very affordable at this point.

Via Josh Spear

Name Badges

Name badges and name tags have been a fascinating thing for me, especially over the last 5 years.

You may be aware that I wore a "Hello My Name Is" name tag every single day of my four years of college. (Starting about a month into my Freshman year). And working at Target has given me the opportunity to continue that tradition of wearing a name tag.

I was reading this post by Robert Scoble about the nTAG badges given out at the MIT Emerging Technology. Read about them, they sound pretty interesting.

I haven't been to a lot of conferences, in fact, I can probably count them all on one hand. However, one conference I did attend was the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association conference (IHRSA) held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. I was on one of the committees for the planning of the Student Recreation Center that recently opened up at Fresno State. One of our assignments was to plan out some of the fitness and exercise equipment, so a natural thing to do was head to the IHRSA convention and check out some of the vendors and their products. One of the most interesting things was the name badges. They were nowhere near the sophistication of the nTAG badges, but every name badge had a barcode on it. If you were interested in receiving more information from a vendor or enter to win a drawing/prize, you could just have them scan your name badge and they would have your contact information directly uploaded into their database. This saved a lot of time and carpal tunnel pain.

HTC Touch HD

At least I am not as late on this one as I was on the HTC Touch Diamond, but HTC recently announced a new addition to their Touch lineup, the Touch HD, with a full, wide, HD quality screen smartphone. While a few of the specs are the same as the Touch Diamond, there are quite a few improvements and changes.

HTC Touch HD


HTC Touch Diamond


Here is my comparison of the HTC Touch HD to the (Apple iPhone 3G). (Here is my original comparison of the Touch Diamond to the iPhone 3G)

• 115mmx62.8mmx12mm (115.5x62.1x12.3)
• 3.8in screen (3.5in screen)
• 480x800 px (480x320 px)
• 146.4g (133g)
• 3G (3G)
• 5.0MP Camera (2.0MP Camera)
• Secondary Camera in front (No secondary Camera)
• A-GPS (A-GPS)
• Resistive & Capacitive Touch Inputs (Capacitive & Resistive Inputs)
• 528MHz Processor (620MHz processor underclocked to 412MHz)
• MicroSD expansion slot (8GB or 16GB of Internal Storage)
• G-Sensor for screen orientation (Accelerometer/Proximity/Ambient Light sensor)
• 1350mAh battery (1400mAh battery)
• 288MB RAM (128MB RAM estimated)
  

There are some fairly substantive differences between the Touch Diamond and Touch HD. I would say the biggest differences are the Touch HD has a larger screen, even better resolution, bigger size (almost the exact same size as the iPhone), better camera, and a MicroSD expansion slot instead of integrated memory. The Touch HD still uses Touch Flo 3D ontop of Windows Mobile 6.1 platform.

I was very thrilled about the Touch Diamond, but I like this Touch HD even better. The only complaint I do have about it is the larger size (almost exactly the same size as the iPhone), but I guess with the larger screen this is almost a necessity. Look at this Sizeasy comparison of the iPhone, Touch HD, Touch, and Touch Diamond. The other thing I might miss is the lack of navigation control buttons, which I actually use quite a bit especially when navigating with one hand. However, I think with the larger screen size this may be less of an issue.

This appears to be a new top contender for my next phone, but it will all come down to what is available when I am ready to get a new phone.

Useful Phone Feature

While here in New Orleans my dad forgot his cell phone at the hotel while we left on a short walk through the french quarter.

It got me thinking that cell phone companies should have a feature where a person can call in to their voicemail and turn on their call forwarding. This would mean that if you forgot your phone somewhere (or went swimming with it) you could use a friends phone and easily call forward your phone so you don't miss any important calls.

Wake Up!

That is the text I have set to flash on my phone when my alarm goes off in the morning. I set both my phone and my alarm clock to make sure I get up in time for work. However, when I really need to wake up I will often set my computer to start "yelling" at me with some sort of jarring music.

Here is another option.

I have found that using my phone to gradually wake me up by setting the snooze to fewer and fewer minutes each time it goes off when finally my alarm clock makes me at least sit up and rush over to hit snooze works the best to wake me up. It is about a 20 minute process, and I think it is very useful during stretches like the one I am in right now. Working 14 of 15 days in a row right now... not so much fun.

I have also learned that if I keep my alarm clock right next to the bed, I will inevitably get to the point where I am able to hit snooze a number of times without actually waking up, thus canceling the effects of said alarm clock. I now keep my alarm clock somewhere where I actually have to exert some sort of physical energy to hit snooze.

Much More Exciting than iPhone 3G

At least it is to me.

I'm just sad that I didn't find out about this sooner, because it has apparently been on the HTC website for a few months now.

Introducing the new HTC Touch Diamond!



As you may know, I recently bought the HTC Touch, which was the original touch based cell phone, released even before the iPhone. I really like my phone, but I almost wish I didn't find out about this Touch Diamond until I was ready to get a new phone.

Looking at some of the features of this phone is making me drool (almost literally). Since the iPhone 3G will be the best phone to compare with, I will give you some examples of the Touch Diamond's features compared to the iPhone 3G.

Touch Diamond vs (iPhone 3G)

-102mmx51mmx11.35mm (115.5x62.1x12.3)
-2.8in screen (3.5in screen)
-480x640 px (480x320 px)
-110g (133g)
-3G (3G)
-3.2MP Camera (2.0MP Camera)
-Secondary Camera in front (No secondary Camera)
-Video Recording (No Video Recording)
-A-GPS (A-GPS)
-Resistive & Capacitive Touch Inputs (Capacitive & Resistive Inputs)
-528MHz Processor (620MHz processor underclocked to 412MHz)
-4GB Internal Storage (8GB or 16GB of Internal Storage)
-G-Sensor for screen orientation (Accelerometer/Proximity/Ambient Light sensor)

So these are the basic features of both, obviously they run on different OS platforms. The HTC Touch Diamond is by no means the hands-down winner, but at least for what I am looking for it wins out. I would say my top reasons are 1)smaller, 2)better resolution/more pixels, 3)Camera(s)/Video. It would have been nice for more/expandable storage and maybe a few more of the fancy sensors, but I'm doing fine with 4GB of storage in my current phone.

Here's a video of some of the features of the phone.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=f_vKsxOT3Lw

When watching this video, specifically watch for the weather animation. I absolutely love the rain animation with the water droplets and the windshield wiper

Also, in fairness, because you can actually buy the iPhone 3G through a carrier you pay a lot less (ie $199 & $299). Through Amazon.com you can buy the unlocked version of the Touch Diamond for $789. I know, it's expensive, but I think I'm going to save up for it (after getting some more use out of my current).

That Was Quick

As you may remember, I recently applied for my US Passport. That was on May 23rd. I went out to get the mail and sure enough I got my passport today. That is less than 3 weeks from application to receipt!



Three weeks to get my passport is very quick, considering it took about 8 weeks to get my last Canadian Passport. However, I'm sure that almost any situation would be better and less stressful than getting that last passport.

One thing that I am very curious about is the fact that I have a U.S. Electronic Passport, which basically means that it has an embedded RFID chip. I just wonder if it is safe.

I must say though that the artwork and stylings of this passport are great, the pages look great compared to older model US Passports. Every page has a different picture depicting US history/life including the Statue of Liberty, Native American Art, and an homage to the Space Program. It is pretty neat. The cover is a little thicker than your average passport, but the front cover design is the same as the older passports with the exception of the RFID symbol.

Reaching the World (Wide Web)

As a Christian it is important to reach the rest of the world that doesn't know Jesus. One of the biggest complaints I've heard about the Church is that it is a social club only for its members. While myself and I'm sure many other Christians see the validity in this view, sometimes it is hard to know how to get out of that rut and reach people who aren't already sitting next to you.

One thing I love seeing, and hope dearly it is working, is Churches just trying different things. As a big user of technology and someone that is almost never separated from e-mail/facebook/Internet/twitter it is cool too see Christians and Churches using and utilizing some of these technologies.



Church Marketing Sucks pointed to a Church that projected a Twitter feed onto the big screen at the front of the church and actually encouraged people to contribute to the sermon and the worship experience of every participant. Reading about this from someone who was one of the driving forces behind the experiment, it sounds like it was a success. People could comment on different aspects of the service/sermon or even carry out a public dialog about what was being said/felt/experienced. I bet this would make for a much closer knit community especially if more dialog was encouraged after the service (in a face-to-face environment). Plus it would be a lot more acceptable to read from a digital bible.

I truly think these are the types of things that Churches should be trying, because what worked 5-10-50 years ago probably won't be effective in today's world. Although this will not work in every situation, every Church, for every person, but each Church has to find their own niche.

Not to toot my own horn, but I actually thought something like this would be an interesting idea a few years ago. I think I was sitting in on one of my Dad's sermon's and I thought it might be a cool idea to make it more of a collaborative effort with the entire congregation. My idea involved laptops and tablet PCs and more of an IM format, but it would accomplish a very similar outcome. I think this might also be very useful if a number of people in the group are not clear on something. Either the pastor or the rest of the group can see this immediately and react and adapt the message.

What do you think?