Science Week Competition: The Next Gadget I Want To Buy
Posted on November 15, 2007 - Filed Under Science, Stuff I Want, Tech | 5 Comments
Although I like the basic premise of the iPhone (i.e., an iPod/phone hybrid), I’ve no intention of buying one at the current price or with the current limited memory space. Besides, the iPhone’s main selling point is that it enables you to carry one item less; I say, what about three items less?
The mantra I repeat to myself every time I’m heading out the door at home is ‘phone/wallet/pod/keys’. This serves as quick checklist for everything that I’ll usually need in the course of a day. The next gadget I want to buy is one that will do away with the need for such a list, i.e., a gadget that serves as a phone, a method of payment, an MP3 player, and my car keys. Such a device is surely not too many years away, and it would be monumentally helpful in freeing up pocket space.
Technically, this should be achievable. There’s already a phone/music player hybrid, so the other two features could just be built into this. A method of payment feature would work much like a laser of VISA card, except it would be scanned a little differently, or maybe it could transfer the relevant information itself to some receiver at the cash register (a noun which will surely sound anachronistic within a decade or so). As regards integrating a car key, I believe that this should be even easier to accomplish. I’m pretty sure that my dad’s car doesn’t have a key as such, but instead the device that typically serves as an remote control locking system doubles as the means of ignition. Obviously there’d be some issues with regard to different models of cars needing different programming, and of course the settings for each car would have to be a little different, but this could all be ironed out eventually.
So there you have it. When I’m replacing my Polo (which probably won’t happen for some time), I want to be able to operate my next car with a device with which I can also make phone calls, with which I can also listen to music, and with which I can also pay for things. Get cracking Apple…
(If the good people at Science Week want to consider this as an entry for both today’s and yesterday’s competition then they’re more than welcome to do so.)
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5 Responses to “Science Week Competition: The Next Gadget I Want To Buy”
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I had a similar process: phone, pda, pod, keys, wallet (and a few other things).
Now the iPhone replaces: phone, pda, pod
Notice what it replaces:
$300 phone
$200 pod
$300 pda
Notice what it doesn’t replace:
$50 wallet (*)
$0 keys
I’m not sure you want an expensive replacement for cheap, abused devices.
I think the iPhone replaces most of the usual expensive devices most people carry.
I certainly don’t want to give my iPhone, pod, and wallet to the parking valet!
And I don’t want to carry my iPhone with me on the beach or when I’m rock climbing, and how do you lock your wallet and your phone, pod, etc. in your car during those times without locking your _keys_ in the car?
(*) I have a thing for nice, sturdy wallets, and am willing to pay extra to replace them 5 times less often.
While I take the point about the utility of being able to lock your iPhone in your car, for sheer space saving alone I still think that a 5/4 in one device would be really useful. Based on what I’ve read, using phones to pay for things is something that’s already in development, so the iPhone will probably be incorporating this feature sometime in the future anyway.
Modern Japanese mobile phones function as a wallet (linked to your debit/credit card accounts with fingerprint scanner for ID)—you just place them on the payment pad, press your finger, and move on—and I’m sure adding an electronic lock that is synced to your phone is upcoming.
One fantastically cool feature is barcoding. In Japan most things are barcoded (QE codes) that your phone can read. So if you see a product you like in a magazine you scan it with your phone and it automatically takes you to the website, you can buy it right there, and it’s shipped to your door.
Or if you see a poster for a band you scan that code and a new entry is put in your calendar to remind you about it.
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