Wish List - Hardware

Revision as of 14:42, 15 February 2007

Some small hardware enhancement could be cheap, but very useful. Please add your ideas/wishes here:

• Video-capable camera

preferably in rotatable turret set into top of unit, so it can face in either direction, making it useful for video conferencing

• Integrated WiFi hardware

To sync data

To access Internet when WiFi is available (at home, work, school, friends)

For VoIP (this uses much power but maybe the user have the charger connected)

for videoconferencing (as with AccessGrid)

• LED

blinking LED would be cheap and less power consumting, good for informing the user about new SMS/Email....

Note: the LED and button ideas could be combined: illuminated buttons)

• D-Pad and Buttons

Adding a D-pad (to the bottom of the phone) and 2 to 4 buttons (to the top) would provide some tactile input controls, in addition to the touchscreen. They could be used as shortcut keys in the menu, or playback control when playing media. When the phone is held sideways, they can be used as games controls. (With touchscreen alone, gameplay options are limited)

• Accelerometer

list of ideas requiring Accelerometer

• SIR transceiver

Could be used to detect when to turn of the display (if the low power IR signal is reflected) and activate the key lock. And could be used as a remote. iPhone has a proximity sensor.

• Standard 3.5mm jack

• Multitouch screen

• Multi I/O adapter

VGA, standard Jack (line in & out), standard USB

• MMC/SD/SDIO slot (rather than?) miniSD or microSD.

Cheaper cards

More durable cards

Cards are harder to lose

Wider selection of accesories, including SDIO accessories.

More widely accepted format

Only because CF takes too much room (or CF would be the wish, instead)

• Thumb keyboard or keyboard attachment accessory

Could be slide out or clamshell (hinge on long side) design with an external OLED. The keyboard should be protected when not in use.

Could be a clip on keyboard that attaches to the serial port or communicates by bluetooth (not preferred for permanent keyboard users).

cheap clippable miniusb keyboard

• LASER keyboard (can be a full QWERTY keyboard)

• EDGE support

• Ability to insert more than one Sim-Card and (if possible) connect to more than one network at the same time

• RFID tag

• powered USB 2.0 host

• UMTS support

• Dump the egg-shaped case design and go rectangular for more screen space

• A standard slip-on or clip-on template (possibly with buttons) to make the touch-screen blind accessible.

• Speakerphone functionality

• Small metal frame for protection (like Siemens M65, only with more style)

• free GPIO ports on a connector to allow easy, simple hardware extensions

Sources:

• http://www.linuxtogo.org/gowiki/OpenMoko/Hardware_wishes_for_next_versions