I think Dilbert has basically lost the plot . . .

[xiphias]

So, yeah. Yesterday's Dilbert was as follows:


For my blind friends: Pointy-Haired Boss and Dilbert talking.
Panel 1
PHB: There's room in the market for a device that's bigger than a phone but smaller than a tablet.

Panel 2
Dilbert: So you want me to design something that is a bad tablet and an even worse phone?

Panel 3
PHB: To my mind, it's a market niche.
Dilbert: Maybe you should get your mind out of your niche.

See, the thing here is that the PHB is 100% right, and Dilbert is 100% wrong. Because I'm that market niche. And you might be, too.

I've loved my Dell Streak since it came out, and my next phone will be a Galaxy Note. These are the huge phones that are a bit larger than a reporters' notebook, and which have been ridiculed in the press as a terribly silly idea. But they're really not.

Here's the question you want to ask yourself: how often do I actually hold my phone up to my face? Seriously. How much time do you spend using your smartphone as a telephone, rather than web-browsing, reading books, texting, emailing, or playing games? Of the time that you spend using your phone as a phone, what percentage of the time do you use Bluetooth of some form, or some form of headphones and microphone?

Of the time that you spend talking on your phone as a phone, how LONG are the conversations on the phone in which you actually hold the phone up to your face?

For me, I can go months without holding the phone up to my face for more than half a minute at a time. But I don't go an hour without doing the other things.

So designing a phone to be easy to use by holding it up to my head? Really not a priority for me.

However, I also can't fit a tablet in my pocket. A tablet isn't immediately accessible for the dozens of times a day I want to just use my phone. Besides, a tablet can't access a data network, other than through WiFi. So, if I want to browse the web most places I go, I'd need a phone to tether my tablet to, anyway. Which I would basically use for tethering, and very occasional talking-on-the-phone -- something I don't do much, but would like to have the ABILITY to do on a moment's notice.

So my ideal device would be small enough to fit in my pocket, but as large as possible within that constraint. And it would be all screen. And it would be able to access a data network, and be used for phone calls through Bluetooth or a headset, and, in a pinch, to be able to be used by holding it up to my face, if I really had to.

That's the Streak, which Dell discontinued. And that's the Galaxy Note.

And I think that usage patterns, long-term, are going to go in this direction. I mean, who TALKS on the phone anymore? Besides, we're all aging, and, as we age, the ability to have larger things to see and larger things to type on -- very, very beneficial.

So, is it a niche market? Yeah, at the moment. But I really think that, as people start thinking about how they actually use their phones, it's going to get more popular.

Comments

[snippy]

Lots of people seem to talk on the phone-especially other drivers, holding it up to their tilted heads. But I agree, I hate using it as a phone, I'd much rather get a text message--and I don't have any hearing loss (yet), unlike my OSO who has a cochlear implant and strongly prefers not to use the phone.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

I talk on the phone All The Time. But during the couple weeks I had an iphone to test out, I never held it up to my face.Still, I often have either girlpockets or no pockets, which makes huge phones Bad.

[jazzfish]

For me the constraint isn't "fits in pocket," it's "fits in hand." The 3.5" screen is pretty well perfectly sized for my one-handed use.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Why do you use your phone one-handed? For me, I'm either typing two-handed with a thumb keyboard, or it's in my pocket, being used as an MP3 player, Bluetooth phone, or what-have-you. What can you do one-handed with a smartphone?

[jazzfish]

Because sometimes my other hand is full. Most recently I needed to:

* Remove phone from pocket
* Slide to unlock
* Tap "Email" icon
* Find email containing the address I'm going to
* Tap the address link so it opens in Maps
* Drag to scroll around the map until I figure out where I am in relation to where I'm going
... all while holding an umbrella.

Other common one-handed uses include: placing a phone call (the dialing-a-number and the navigating-customer-service-menus parts); texting (I'd rather type with two thumbs but it's nice that I *can* use one if necessary); skipping this song that I can't remember why I left on there in the first place; checking bus schedules or the weather or the calendar.

(I also don't use Bluetooth headsets et al because I hate the idea of having yet another thing I need to keep charged, so any time it's in use as a phone it's being held up to my head.)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

So, basically, under ideal conditions, you could use a phone two-handed, and you run into ideal conditions rarely enough that that is just not a consideration? :)

[ailbhe]

Yeah, I almost never need anything from my phone when I have two hands free; if I have two hands free to use a smartphone, I'm using a laptop, which is much more comfortable.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

No way, for me. To use a laptop, I have to be sitting down, or standing at some surface where I don't have to hold the laptop from underneath while trying to type on it.

[(Anonymous)]

I only need one hand free to use my laptop, which is on my desk. If I'm out, I have three children with me, so maximum of one hand free. If I have two hands free, I'm at home or in somewhere like a train or cafe.

[ailbhe]

Er, that was me, from my phone, where I wasn't logged in and didn't notice... oops!

[jazzfish]

heh. It's more that even under ideal or semi-ideal conditions, I want to be ready when I encounter the non-ideal. Needing to pick something up or whatever. Too, the smaller form factor means I run less risk of losing my grip.

[bradhicks.livejournal.com]

I've had this argument with people on a couple of the Android news websites. It's smaller than the Newton MP2k, which I carried around for years with no problem. It's small enough to fit in the shirt pocket of every shirt I own, sticking maybe a quarter inch out of the top of a couple of them. It weighs about the same as my current smaller phone, and has better battery life. I'd love a Galaxy Note.

Maybe a year from now, when the price drops, I'll get one. At $300 with a 2-year contract, when I can get a 7" tablet for $250 or less with no contract, I just can't justify that price. I just plain cannot guess why it's so expensive.

[burgundy.livejournal.com]

Heh. This is like some kind of alien anthropology thing to me. I am a very, very (very) late adopter: my current phone is not smart in the slightest. It's a flip phone with a pull-out antenna and no dedicated keyboard, so when I text, I have to hit each button multiple times to select the letter or number I want. It is also my only phone, so I frequently hold it up to my face, often for long periods of time (I don't know if it's bluetooth compatible or not, because this is not something that interests me). I have no idea what it would take to get me to switch to a smart phone or a tablet. I am sure you are correct about what the actual market is like; it just amuses me because it's so far outside the way I use technology.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

But you CAN text. The Streak is the first cell phone I ever owned, so, odds are that you had a cell before I did. :)

[navrins]

I'm with you. I want my phone to be a good phone, dammit. Everything else is optional.

I am sadly coming to accept that, these days, texting is a requirement for a phone. Grr.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

Ditto. Except that I know what it would take: confidence that I will have room in my monthly budget for a data plan for the foreseeable future.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you want a tablet, but with a better carrying mechanism. Sachel? Hip holster? Folding tablet? (not that it exists, but...)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

If someone made a tablet with phone capability, I'd be interested. I'd carry it in my bag, and get one of these to actually talk into.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

I believe tablets + skype or something may suffice...

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I thought I went over that already.

The point is that I'm often places without WiFi. But which DO have cell signal. I want a data connection of some sort. In order for me to use Skype, I'd need a smartphone to tether the tablet to. Which kind of defeats the purpose of having fewer devices. :)

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

What? No. I don't know about the mini-tablets you mention, but I'm pretty sure the iPad has, besides WiFi, a 3G or 4G data connection over the cell network. (My Android has both capabilities, also, but that's more intuitively obvious.) So if other tablets don't yet come standard with that, it's the next obvious evolution.

[shmuelisms.livejournal.com]

Why would you need an entire smartphone for your tablet?? You could get a USB stick-sized "modem", that will plug you right into the phone network. Looking at Amazon they are about 60 USD. Here's an example: 4595 3G Mobile Broadband Modem by Zoom

As a diligent Dilbert acolyte, I think that the specific product here is not the point at all. He was making fun of mini-niche products in general, and of PHBs that think they'll find the Perfect Niche to Make it Big.

[cellio]

I hold my phone near my face in order to read it. I would have to with a tablet too, which is part of why I don't have a tablet -- too heavy. My Kindle has a nice screen-size/weight trade-off, so something that size but not e-ink would suit except that it doesn't fit in a pocket.

What is the largest device that would fit in most people's pockets, I wonder? Are you looking for a slightly smaller Nook?

[ailbhe]

Are we discounting women's pockets for the purposes of this experiment? because my Galaxy Nexus S doesn't fit comfortably in any of my pockets.

[cellio]

Pockets on most women's clothing are pathetic (or, too often, non-existent). I was talking about jeans/khakis/etc, not formal wear.

[ailbhe]

My jeans can't hold things safely in their pockets :( I do know someone who thought hers did until she lost her iPhone.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

What I'm looking for is exactly what I have. About a five-inch screen, which is the largest that will fit in a pocket, and has data capacity, and will work as a phone in a pinch.

[cellio]

Oh, ok -- I thought you were looking for something additional (but wasn't sure quite what).

[rymrytr.livejournal.com]

See that fella out there? The one still plowing his field with a Mule and a single blade plow? Right in there between all those others, plowing with Big Tractors and multi-bladed plows... That's me. The one with the mule!

I don't web-browse, read books ( I have a Creative Zen MP3 Player for Audio Books), listen to music, text, email, or play games.

I'm still using my Motorola V360 (I did spring for the extra fat battery and door cover!!!!)

But, (and it's a big one), that's just me. When I retired, I bought a new Laptop (with backlit Keyboard and finger print reader), and dropped out of the rest of the world. I've only got an Acre to plow; not 640! :o)

[embryomystic.livejournal.com]

I currently have a not-at-all-smart phone, but I'm on the same page as you about this. A coworker recently got the Galaxy Note (I think; possibly something very similar), and while it seemed enormous at first, I realised that it's actually the perfect size, for me at least. I have trouble typing on iPhones because my fingers are bigger than they seem to anticipate, and I love having something a bit bigger than that but still smaller than a tablet.

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

This is right on.

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

So you need a Kindle Fire that makes phone calls...