Wish List: Smartphone and Tablet

Not to scale.

I don't know what I'm going to do.  When I first got into phones a few years ago--and tablets even more recently--there was so much more room for improvement.  Now, they're getting so powerful and thin and beautiful, there's not a lot else to wish for. At least, not spec-wise.  Every phone and tablet comes with front and back cameras, they all have capacitive multitouch screens, they all have at least 16 GB of memory, and all the (non-Apple) phones have 4G.  In fact, my dream phone is pretty much the Galaxy Nexus and my dream tablet is mostly accomplished through the Transformer Prime.  Nevertheless, I'll list the specs of my dream devices since there is still room for improvement on both devices.

Dream Phone (Galaxy Nexus features denoted with a ✓)
OS: Stock Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) ✓
Processor: Quad-core
Expandable Memory: Micro SD slot
Display Tech: Super AMOLED Plus
Display Resolution: Full HD (1920x1080p)
Display Size (horizontal): 4.3 - 4.5" ✓
Thickness: <9mm ✓
Battery Life: 10 hours talk time
Charging/Connectivity: Micro USB or MHL ✓
Video Out: Micro HDMI or MHL ✓
Back Camera: iPhone 4S or Nokia N8 quality
Front Camera: 5 megapixels
4G: LTE or T-Mobile HSPA+ ✓
Design Other: Camera button, Kickstand
Other: Gorilla Glass or Fortified glass screen ✓, DLNA ✓, NFC ✓, Pixel Qi?
Price: $200

Further Description
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus almost fits this description.  It has Ice Cream Sandwich, a 4.6" screen (a bit over 4.5", but that figure didn't account for on-screen buttons), MHL, LTE, a fortified glass screen, DLNA and NFC. It's also 8.9mm thick.  The display tech (Super AMOLED) and resolution (720p), are close, too.  It's $300 now, but it'll probably be $200 at Amazon.com in 3 months.  Some people like name brands and the fortified glass screen is not technically Corning® Gorilla® Glass.  However, some have suggested that Gorilla Glass doesn't work well with high resolutions, so this nameless glass will suffice until Corning releases their newest big thing: Lotus Glass.

What it doesn't have is the removable storage.  16 GB might be enough for me now, but what if I want to upgrade to 32 GB?  Plus, files are easier to manage when I can remove a micro SD card and put it in my computer.

Also missing is great battery life.  This is probably my biggest wish for any smartphone, especially for battery-consuming Android.  iPhones claim 8 hours of talk time and I think that is barely sufficient.  10 hours would be nice and would start us on the path to dumbphone-esque battery life.

The rest is mostly me setting the bar high because I can, not because I actually need it.  I'm just throwing quad-core out there.  Full HD? Why not?  If we have HD phones now (the Galaxy Nexus and the Rezound), full HD can surely happen this year.  The camera is fine on my phone, but I am a little jealous of the iPhone 4S camera, which takes better shots than my Coolpix.  I really like having a camera button on my EVO 3D and don't see why more phones don't have it.  Kickstands are always great.  I put Pixel Qi with a question mark because I haven't seen a Pixel Qi screen in real life and suspect that the display may not be as gorgeous as Super AMOLED Plus.  And $200 is just how much any new smartphone should cost.  It's what my iPhone 3G, iPhone 4 and EVO 3D all cost at release, and it's the max price I want to pay for a phone.

Didn't put RAM here because I don't know how much it takes to make a phone great.  My phone seems to be doing just fine with the standard 1 gigabyte.


Dream Tablet (Transformer Prime features denoted with a ✓)
OS: Stock? Android 4, Windows 8 compatible
Processor: Quad core ✓
Expandable Memory: Micro SD ✓
Display Tech: Super AMOLED Plus
Display Resolution: Full HD (1920x1080p) ✓*
Display Size (horizontal): 9" - 11" ✓
Thickness: <9mm ✓
Battery Life: 10 hrs battery life without keyboard ✓
Charging/Connectivity: USB, Micro USB or MHL ✓
Video Out: Micro HDMI or MHL ✓
Front Camera: 5 megapixels
Antenna: Wi-Fi only ✓
Design Other: Kickstand/Keyboard Stand ✓
Other: Gorilla Glass or Fortified glass screen ✓, DLNA ✓, Pixel Qi?, HDMI In
Price: $500 ✓

Further Description
The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime is nearly this tablet. It's got a quad-core processor, a Micro SD slot, a 10.1" screen, roughly 10 hours of battery life (plus 6 more with the keyboard dock), and a full USB port. It's 8.3mm thick (!).  Although there is a proprietary charging port, you can charge the tablet with USB (but not the dock).  There's a Mini-HDMI port, a Wi-Fi-only edition, the optional--albeit expensive--keyboard dock, Gorilla Glass, and DLNA.  The expected price is $500 (again, keyboard dock not included).

Drawbacks: Although it's got Android 4, it isn't stock, which is not something I'm sure I need on a tablet.  It also will require some hacking to get Windows 8 on it, if it's even possible, because of the Android bootloader.  Instead of Super AMOLED Plus, ASUS opted for a Super IPS screen.  While I haven't seen it in person, I can't imagine it will match the rich colors and deep dark blacks of Super AMOLED Plus.  The 1280 x 800 display is better than 720p, but not quite full HD, which I think is achievable in the near future.  In fact, there's a rumor that Samsung is releasing a 2560 x 1600 tablet next February (which is not quite as good as the iPhone's Retina Display, but better than 1080p).

The front camera at 1.2 MP is good enough for video chat, the only real purpose of a front camera.  But I don't see why they couldn't have stuck the 8 MP rear camera on the front.  I still think it's ridiculous to take pictures with a rear camera, since holding a tablet to take pictures is awkward.  If I want to take pictures, I'll use my phone and email/Bluetooth/SD card transfer/beam the photos to my tablet.  I don't even need a rear camera.

Pixel Qi, once again, is something I still have (fading) hopes for, but I can't call it a hard requirement, or even a soft requirement.  The truth is, Pixel Qi might suck.  But I believe in its promise: backlit LCD for inside use and an e-reader-like display for use in direct sunlight.  It may not be the Pixel Qi brand... it might just be an upgraded version of SAMOLED+--but mark my words: someday I will have an inside/outside screen on my phone and/or tablet.

Lastly, tablets have nice big screens.  Why can't they be used as displays for your phone or other devices?  Transferring files or looking up a webpage that's already open on your phone can be time-consuming.  Tablets should have a HDMI in port for simple displaying of stuff on smaller devices.  Perhaps, this can be achieved with DLNA; I'm not sure.


*Update: ASUS is releasing an updated Transformer Prime (TF700T) in the second quarter of this year that will have better than full HD resolution.  It will be 1920x1200 pixels!