The Opposite of the Treo 650

I want a new phone. The menu interface on my SonyEricsson T610 is annoying and frustrating. Part of it is T-Mobile (a text message for each voice message isn’t necessary), part of it is SonyEricsson (a 12-step process for writing an SMS?), and part of it is me (highly critical behavior strategist & interaction designer).

I’ve been eyeing the Treo 650 for a while now and if T-Mobile was offering it I’d probably already have it. But they don’t and I don’t.

I’ve already talked about how BluePhoneElite is a necessity in my world. I use it for all my SMS writing and 90% of my phone calls. With BluePhoneElite, I only need to touch the handset to talk – if my Jabra was charged up, I wouldn’t even need to do that.

The more I think about how I use my phone currently (dial-up internet, voice calls, some text messaging, address book and calendar back-up), the more I want the opposite of the Treo.

Rather than a pocket computer, I want a peripheral – something that’s nearly useless on it’s own. I’m thinking of the phone version of the iPod Shuffle.

Here’s what I’m looking for:

• No keypad, just a single button for dial/hang-up
• Bluetooth for voice, data, dialing, address book and calendar synchronization
• Voice-activated dialing
• Audio Caller ID
• No ringtones, just vibrate
• Call Recording
• Access call recordings, voice & text messages with a web browser
• That’s it. Nothing more.

If you’ve seen anything like this, let me know.

PalmOne’s LifeDrive with Skype might be the answer (20 May 2005)