Android phones, apps and tablets

That doesn't sound good at all, David... :S

skydancer that sounds terminal, and dangerous. If looking for a budget replacement for the Samsung Galaxy S2, I can't recommend the Huawei Ascend P1 enough. Its superb for its price.

Cheers GA2G ill check that out , after I check if my sg2 is terminal or not.

N7 £20 off at Argos git those not bothered with waiting for the new one

Any news of the updated model landing?

Oh I see 24th July.

OK, So I basically want to change my telecoms setup to something I'm not sure exists.

So... gist is that I use my smartphone for internet and stuff, it's basically a small tablet.

I don't really use it as a phone.

What I'm keen on doing is to not take the smartphone with me always, and to have a small ultra-light and long battery life, potentially displayless, phone.

When I am carrying my smartphone then I want my telephone to be the equivalent of a modem and a local communications hot spot.

So the setup I imagine is:

1) A voice activated displayless phone with no address book, contacts, apps, etc. But a solid battery life, 2G, 3G, 4G, bluetooth, WiFi hotspot. All of the latter it would configure to be via a VPN. I imagine this to be the size and shape of 1/3 of a packet of polos, and for the battery to be replaceable. I imagine a single button for the voice activation, and a small mic and speaker built in. Voice activation would dial numbers, configure the thing.

2) Take out the SIM from my smartphone and have it use the connectivity (WiFi or bluetooth) of the telephone. The smartphone should also have the capability to be a handset to the telephone.

Does this exist?

Only in your mind..

http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/06/the-displayless-s-series-from-icare-targets-elderly-drivers-ki/

http://www.intomobile.com/2008/01/15/hop-on-hop1900-graffiti-disposable-phone-back-from-the-dead/

It's just this: http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Devices/Huawei/E5756_MiFi

But with basic voice stuff.

And hopefully using the latest low-power Bluetooth for internet sharing.

And with long battery life, or a replaceable battery.

Nokia 105 http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/news/coming-soon/nokia-105

Then keep your smart phone.

Nokia 105 http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/news/coming-soon/nokia-105

Then keep your smart phone.

Nice.

But no wifi.

Would like to have one contract/sim, yet have connectivity for multiple devices.

Hence... basic telephony, with connectivity sharing.

Yeah thats a great idea. Sadly not sure if It's possible.

I'm tempted by the 105 - it'll cost around £20 then just change sims over.

I had wondered if one of the phone watches might do something like that, but they all seem to be 2g (I suspect for power reasons) and bluetooth 2.0, not the new spec (which may be in the androd release anounced on the 24th) and not have wifi.

Might be worth a bit of a prod of some of the Chinese phone cataloges looking in the watch phone sections?

All the watches seem to follow the Google Glass line... they are handsets, remote displays, and a few additional sensors... but they all seem to require a smartphone to be the modem/hub and main connectivity.

I'm looking for the opposite of that.

For a very small, long battery, modem/hub of connectivity, but no display or sensors... just a pure communications device.

It's definitely an interesting idea, but could be a bit ahead of its time, depending on which way the market goes.

With the predictions of things moving towards systems based around more, smaller interconnected devices after this first step of devices like glass and the first generation of smart watches, theres a chance that a device like what you describe could come into existence to be the centre of these ecosystems, but I'd guess that it really depends on what happens to the smartphone over the next few years as these peripheral devices start to pop up around them. Could be that the smartphone stays strong and becomes the centre of the ecosystem, or it could be that more and more features are broken away from it, allowing for greater user choice, and it falls to the wayside.

All the watches seem to follow the Google Glass line... they are handsets, remote displays, and a few additional sensors... but they all seem to require a smartphone to be the modem/hub and main connectivity.

I'm looking for the opposite of that.

For a very small, long battery, modem/hub of connectivity, but no display or sensors... just a pure communications device.

afaik there was an attempt to do this. Exactly like the Star Trek communicator (NG version not the old school one). No idea wtf happened to it though

Could you make your own? Buy an old smartphone and put the internals in something small?

Has MightyText stopped working for anyone else? I can receive messages to my PC but It has stopped sending them....

It's definitely an interesting idea, but could be a bit ahead of its time, depending on which way the market goes.

With the predictions of things moving towards systems based around more, smaller interconnected devices after this first step of devices like glass and the first generation of smart watches, theres a chance that a device like what you describe could come into existence to be the centre of these ecosystems, but I'd guess that it really depends on what happens to the smartphone over the next few years as these peripheral devices start to pop up around them. Could be that the smartphone stays strong and becomes the centre of the ecosystem, or it could be that more and more features are broken away from it, allowing for greater user choice, and it falls to the wayside.

That's basically what I'm thinking. That the smartphone is the wrong thing. That having a computer inside what is effectively a display + microphone + speaker + sensors doesn't actually make sense.

And given we're billed per data connection, having a shared data connection and the heavier duty battery there does make sense.

I'm already at the point that I juggle peripherals and yet don't feel I'm getting the most out of any of them because of the mess that is connectivity. Multiple SIMs cards is not on the cards, I cannot afford it and it would be dumb. But effortless networking amongst the peripherals and a centralised comms device that doesn't have the sensors, displays, etc... makes perfect sense.

Not quite what you're after (I think) but my new laptop has a sim port (WAN connectivity) so that I can connect to the internet over 3G. But being a laptop can do almost anything you can think of?

That's basically what I'm thinking. That the smartphone is the wrong thing. That having a computer inside what is effectively a display + microphone + speaker + sensors doesn't actually make sense.

And given we're billed per data connection, having a shared data connection and the heavier duty battery there does make sense.

I'm already at the point that I juggle peripherals and yet don't feel I'm getting the most out of any of them because of the mess that is connectivity. Multiple SIMs cards is not on the cards, I cannot afford it and it would be dumb. But effortless networking amongst the peripherals and a centralised comms device that doesn't have the sensors, displays, etc... makes perfect sense.

Yeah, I'd definitely like this sooner rather than later, but it's going to take a while.

One big barrier along the road is going to be that the carriers will absolutely hate the idea of multiple devices all running off one sim, and I can imagine when it becomes a realistic possibility they'll probably put prices up massively.

In an ideal world I'd really like to pay one bill to one person to cover all my connectivity needs, for my laptop, phone and any other devices and they'd all seamlessly switch between whatever networks are available (some form of home base station, or mobile towers when I'm out) without ever really having to think about it. Also they'd stay the fuck out of my face with random offers or cheap festival tickets and all that shit (fuck you vodaphone!)

Yeah, mine has long done that.

Problem is... I want fewer data connections, and want the thing I always carry (the phone, for emergencies) to be the thing containing the unified comms.

It's really a case of: If the display were external (a watch, a tablet, Google Glass if you must), and anything could be a headset... then why not fundamentally change the shape of a phone and make it a pocketable hub for every other device?

And... once you've followed that logic, what are the problems with phones? Battery life has gone to be up there, signal and connection as well... but if you're freed from the shackles of "battery is constrained to fit behind the display" and "most of the external body must be glass/plastic"... then one could make the core of the phone's true functionality (communications) and put it in a body which contained a more capable battery, and if metal bodied the whole thing could be the antenna.

It could fix battery life and signal, whilst liberating us to choose the sensors, microphones, speakers/headsets, displays that we choose.

I just don't see the point of this stuff being on the phone any more. The assumption that it is, leads to bad technology.

You should think about starting up a company.