I’ve been inspired. This posting over on the mobiface blog has offered what it thinks is an ideal travellers phone…. I think we may be able to do better… so I started drawing it, and actually I think we can come up with the perfect phone for travelling – between all of us we know what we need – and we have enough enough mobile people around to know what’s achievable.

So here’s the deal – let’s use this page – leave comments and I’ll update this post – and use this flickr group I’ve created to upload your drawings – and we’ll see how far we get, then, if I can pull it off I’ll get the little black book out and see if we can’t get some feedback from one of the manufactures…. this is going to be fun.

This is my first stab at it

Technology: (updated)

  • 8mp+ camera on back
  • lq camera on front
  • very loud speaker (possible use as a siren?)
  • emergency aaa battery slot / multiple charge options – inc mini usb
    • 110/230v 50/60hz and unregulated 12v dc supplies
  • whole back should be a solar panel
  • should work all over the world on all networks
  • dual sim?
  • exceptionally long battery life (dual mode? good battery vs performance?)
  • hq / medium sized screen to view maps – should be anti-glare for reading on – perhaps e-ink
  • GPS / DGPS
  • External GPS antena plug
  • wi-fi and bluetooth – easy to manage in power settings / hardware?
  • LED Torch
  • Hard Drive
  • Video playback & audio playback
  • Sat phone compatibility (plug in external antenna)
  • Pico Projector
  • Projected keyboard?
  • PLD/ Spot device (personal locator beacon)
  • OS based mapping (not internet)
  • 2x mini usb to attach peripherals
  • normal sd card slot
  • audio & video recording

Design: (updated)

  • made from very hard, durable ‘flexable’ plastic – not metal – perhaps from a hard rubber?
  • ‘grippy’ sides
  • easy large buttons
  • dust/wind/rain proof
  • easy menu navigation, even in bright/low light
  • screen / settings change in low power mode
  • Light of some sort – flash? led torch?
  • d-ring

OS: (new)

  • Should be hackable
  • Should allow access to an app-store
  • Full PC OS / small cut down version?

Apps: (new)

Okay over you… what else should it have – let’s start with building out the requirements and those of you with a design bent can use the flickr group to upload designs…..