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Smartphone and netbook: Converge already, will 'ya? |
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My name is John and I'm a gadget junkie ("hello, John").
I freely admit to the problem. Generally speaking, the more electronic gizmos I own, the greater my inner contentment and spiritual satisfaction. While a religion based on this base tenet (or tenor bass) would no doubt be ridiculed and derided by ecumenical scholars, it does have plenty of potential as a tax dodge, and that's fine by me.
But despite my love of all things tech, I'm getting real tired of toting around a smartphone and a subnotebook. My cell, a BlackBerry Curve, works great as a phone and is halfway decent as an email machine, particularly with Google's Gmail. But in medical research, the Curve's tiny keyboard has been shown to significantly boost the systolic readings of apes who touch type (and you know who you are). As a tool to browse the web, my smartphone lacks that certain something (say, a screen that visible to the naked eye)
Conversely, my subnotebook, a Sony Vaio, is great for getting onto the web (I've got a wireless broadband connection on it). It's fairly light and small, but no matter how much canola oil I use, I still can't fit the thing in my pocket. Of course, I could do voice over the internet on the Vaio, but my BlackBerry is just so much easier for that task.
And while the new Blackberry Storm, and of course, the iPhone, are big steps forward, they're still not what I'm looking for. Moreover, I'm getting fed up with the debate over which device--smartphone or netbook--is going to eventually dominant.
Neither will. The portable that is going to rule is an all-in-one device that's closer in size to a smartphone, works like a phone--but still provides the functionality of a netbook. Sony's P series netbook is getting closer to the ideal, as is Lenova's Pocket Yoga.
But closer doesn't cut it. Manufacturers: work on it.
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