SlashNOT

Matthew writes: A recent market review of existing cell phones has revealed that every cell phone model is hobbled by one or more engineering tradeoffs.

The effect of these tradeoffs are varied—-some lack color screens or cameras, others have poor battery performance, and still others have poor reception or lack multiple band compatibility. For example, the Motorola V60 series is renowned for its long battery life, but it provides only such pedestrian features as making and receiving phone calls. The Kyocera Smartphone, on the other hand, has a camera and a Palm PDA built in, but is hobbled by its large size and poor battery life.

“It’s disappointing to see manufacturers releasing phones that they know are hobbled by tradeoffs. It’s as if they deliberately don’t want to make the perfect cell phone,” Says industry outsider Eric Harris. “I’m no engineer, but it doesn’t take much talent to figure out what people want: A phone that easily fits in your pocket and includes voice recognition and speech synthesis for texting, a 2.0 megapixel or better camera, broadband speed, Bluetooth, a PDA, and a week or so of talk time between charges. If I was the CEO of Motorola or Nokia, we’d be kicking ass.”