Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

I have both N810 and N800. I had N810 over half a year /before/ getting a N800. I prefer the placement of dpad and menu key on N800.. something to consider about shrinking the frame is that the tablet becomes harder to hold in one hand as the "handle" area shrinks. Or, I guess you could make the kickstand edge softer so that it isn't painful to hold tablet by the extended keypad :)

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Not to sound like an old saw, but again, the Psion Series5 had this over ten years ago... it was a small, long-life lithium "pill" (the sort you find in watches, only a bit larger) that would keep your system alive while you swapped the AA batteries (or if they ran down on you). Of course, there was no Flash memory back then, everything was in RAM, so the functionality was sort of vital... :-)

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Being left handed, I really like the placement of the D-pad on the N800. It makes it very easy for me to use the tablet one handed.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Things I have learned about what I want in a device, from having the G1:

1. a physical 5 row keyboard is a must, and better ergonomics than the N810's keyboard are a must (the G1 is very nice in this regard).
2. non-recessed screen.
3. a well designed touch screen is not a substitute for a pointing device, thus the pointing device needs to ALWAYS be available, not just when you open the device. I can deal with a plain keyboardless tablet if it's in the 7"-9" screen size AND has the ability to use USB and bluetooth keyboards AND it can display enough of the application on the screen while the virtual keyboard is up (the Q1 non-ultra did this well, with split translucent thumb keyboards; or if you were to do the portrait mode of the iPhone keyboard, only where the top half of the screen is big enough to display a full terminal window) ... but not on my pocketable. The screen is too small to still have a usable view of the application while thumb-typing on a virtual keyboard.
4. a micro-trackball is a terrible pointing device, I want a dpad.
5. a stylus should be optional ... some touch screens don't register them at all, and that's bad. The BEST stylus I've seen is the one for the Tube -- a guitar-pick like shape on the phone's lanyard.
6. having buttons on a non-moving shoulder/chin is much better than having some of your buttons move away from you whenever you open the device (ie. like the 2 buttons on the face of the N810).
7. while an asymmetric shoulder arrangement (like the G1, which only has one shoulder, the "chin") isn't as annoying as I thought it'd be, it's still a little annoying.
8. while a kickstand isn't necessary, some form of screen elevation is (ie. either a "tilt screen" or a "kickstand" is a must, and I'd greatly prefer the tilt screen because the kickstand gets in the way of the ports; though a kickstand like the one on the back of the Samsung Q1 Ultra might be acceptable).
9. proper placement of the expansion ports is a must. On this one, the G1, the N800, and the N810 all FAIL. Comfortably holding the device while typing ... while charging the device and/or using the wired headset ... is an extreme annoyance.
10. Separate ports for charging and wired headset are a must (the G1 uses a single port for charging/data and headset, and it's annoying).
11. Charging via USB is the best thing to happen in human civilization since sliced bread and peanut butter. Ok, maybe penicillin goes into this group too. But, yeah, that's how good charging via USB is.
12. even though a physical keyboard is a must, some form of dialing and txt entry is necessary even when the device is closed -- on the G1, I often wish I could do T9 text entry on the existing virtual number pad. (sometimes I only have one free hand, but need to send a message or reply to one, or even just make a quick note)

Those are the things I would like to see applied to the design of a pocketable.

Speaking generally, I'd start with either the Nokia N97 or HTC Touch Pro 2 (Rhodium 100), only scaled up to a 4.1" or 4.3" 800x480 screen. I'd change the design so that only the screen slides (like the Sidekick Slide). On the shoulders, I'd put a 5 way dpad, and 3 or 5 buttons (non-phone: home, back, menu; phone: add call and hangup); whether the buttons were all on one shoulder (the right/bottom shoulder, like the G1) or spread out around the shoulders (like a sidekick) is up for debate. I'd have the screen do slide and tilt to reveal a G1-like 5 row keyboard, only I'd add a control and an escape key to the keyboard.

So, in terms of face, button layout, and keyboard, a larger version of the HTC Touch Pro 2, with shoulders (so the buttons you see on the far right still there, but on the shoulder, adding a menu button, and then maybe putting a 5 way dpad on the near left), and preserving the 5 row keyboard, just adding an escape key since it already has a control key (it should be possible both to keep the 5 row keyboard, and have the shoulders, since the device will be bigger) (you could probably re-use the arrow keys on the Rhodium, since the dpad will be on the left shoulder, right near your thumb; I'd put a shift key, a control key, and 2 other useful buttons there, then I'd put the escape key where the "caps lock" is, and put a shift key where the existing control key is).

As you hold the device like a N800/N810, open G1, or open sidekick, the mini-USB charging/data port would be on the lower right (facing down, but close to the right end). The 3.5mm audio port would be on the upper right (facing up, but near the right end). Thus, neither of these ports would interfere with holding the device in your hands while using the keyboard. The USB host/OTG port (mini or micro) would be on the lower left, as would some form of micro-DVI-I or micro version of the Apple Display port. In order to give as much battery space as possible, the microSDHC card slow would be on the upper-left. I might be convinced that you could swap the place of the microSDHC card and the audio port, and MAYBE have the audio port face off the short side of the device, as long as its very close to the corner to avoid interfering with your hands while you type.


Now, if the N900 were like that, it would be OUTSTANDING. With built in GPRS/EDGE/HSPA, if it turns out that it's usable as a phone/messenging device (via Google Voice, and/or Zer01 service), then I would be all over it. But, as I've said elsewhere, my pocketable has to be both an IT/PDA and a phone. I'm not going to carry 2 pocketables.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Actually, looking PDAnet's feature list for the N97 and the Rhodium, they would be excellent starting places for the N900 (the changes I suggest above, adding shoulders and such to the Rhodium, could just as easily be applied to the N97 ... the N97 would just need to have a 5 row keyboard). The N97 has a few wins, and the Rhodium has a few. Hopefully with a larger device, you'd be able to both increase the battery (and battery life) as well as use the best of both device's features (the Rhodium's GPS, the N97's 5MP camera, etc.).

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

This is funny. Eric G says he likes the n800 dpad where it is because he's left handed; I like the n800 dpad where it is because I'm right handed. And the first time I saw the G1 I thought, "the keyboard's upside-down and the screen folds out the wrong way." Crazy.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Yeah, I'm right-handed and like where the N800 D-Pad is too. My guess is that if it were on the other side, Eric G would find that he's perfectly happy using it with his right hand; and that we right-handers wouldn't have any trouble with it being on the right side, either. I don't think it matters which side it's on.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

If videogame consoles have taught us anything, it's that it doesn't really matter which side the d-pad is on. Despite a majority right-handed public, all modern videogame controllers feature the d-pad on the left side.

Left handed vs. Right handed only seems to matter when writing, all other interactions can be easily trained.


YARR!
}:^)~

IncanCapt'n

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

I wish there were ONE MORE BUTTON on the face of the N800 (and hence on the face of the N900). I'd like a pseudo-Shift key or Toggle Button or whatever you want to call it. This is what it would do: In a text app like Notes or in a Browser, it would act as a Shift key does in combination with a mouse on a desktop; that is, you could tap with the stylus to place the cursor somewhere in the text, then scroll to a second point, and if you click on that second point while holding down the pseudo-Shift key, all of the text between those two points would be selected. (Just like on a desktop, you would, depending on the particular webpage, be selecting more than just text.) In a file manager, you would use the pseudo-Shift key to easily select multiple files.

Those are the main reasons I want such a key, but other apps could also use it as a modifier key, so that you would get an alternate response from clicking on an icon. E.g., if you clicked an application icon on the desktop, while holding down the shift key, maybe you would get Properties (Get Info) instead of launching the app.

One issue that comes up, though, is the right-versus-left placement of such a hardware button would matter, since you would be using it in combination with the stylus.

Re: What woud you realistically like to see in the N900?
 

Here's an easy one. Get rid of the expansion port mechanism on the N810. I think it's more complicated than normal, and near impossible to get the MiniSD card out. It is also dangerous as it's very easy to put the card in at an incorrect angle, and since it requires quite a bit of force to go in, can result in a damaged card. It should be replaced by a MicroSD slot (perhaps 2) that provides very easy access to the card.

As it stands, card swapping is very difficult to do. In order to swap cards currently, I need to be sitting at a desk and is as such not an on-the-go procedure. It should be as easy as opening the door, sliding the card from the reader, and popping in a new one!


YARR!
}:^)~

Corrrrr