some hardware suggestions

[H.Hveem]

Processors:

PXA320 Monahans

Cortex-A8  will run at up to 600MHz in low-power applications but clock 
to 1GHz in more performance-sensitive roles.


128MB Dedicated for open files, running software etc., not for storage,
or 256MB at all would be really nice and enough for any future software.
ROM

Enough to Hold O/S and a fair number of applications and their settings.
Persistent Storage with XIP capability. About 128 MB.
Storage

An internal Micro SDHC should be used for users' files and additional
software
Wireless data networking
WiMAX support

3GPP LTE Support ( via bluetooth)

Camera
Display
Multitouch screen

262k or 16.7M colurs for displaying images and especially videos.

OLED for better contrast, more rich colours, and less energy consumption.


Distance sensing touchscreen

Video acceleration

Hardware acceleration for video playback and 2D/3D accelleration



Transreflective screen


Input devices
Tablet PC like pen input (Wacom Technology)


Regular phone keypad


No Dependence on Stylus


QWERTY or Dvorak keyboard


A laser projection keyboard ( via bluetooth ? )


Just a few more Buttons

2 buttons more, 3 buttons total, mounted sideways would be enough. You
could use them for play/pause and loudness controll while the phone
remains in your pocket (display locked, ...), reading mails, rss,
ebooks,... without wasting display space and so on.


D-Pad and Buttons

3 axis Accelerometer


Determine Position
Dynamic Screen Orientation

Side-Mounted Touch Strip



Heart Rate Compatibility ( bluetooth )


Digital compass

A digital compass is useful for orienting maps to the terrain and other
location/direction/orientation based applications (... is 300 meter that
way) when the user is standing still (regardless of GPS reception) and
for following a bearing when GPS reception is poor or speed is low. Also
could be used to make the accelerometer data more exact.


Wishlist:Auto Align Map
Thermometer


Barometer and Variometer (Altimeter) ( bluetooth or usb )

A Barometer measures air pressure. This can be used to give weather
information, and also as a variometer, to sense relative altitude.
Variometers are commonly used in flying microlight and ultralight
aircraft, to get accurate relative altitude.

These are also common on high end GPS units. This is a great feature for
walkers as you can tell how far you have got on any ascent/decent.



Barcode Scanner (bluetooth )

Light Sensor

Ability to sense ambient light, and act accordingly. i.e if it's 3am and
LightValue<.1 then Ring Quietly.



Make all unlocking of phone, password protected


Storage
MMC/SD/SDIO slot (rather than?) miniSD or microSD
Cheaper, more durable cards in a widely accepted format.
Much much larger storage capacity, even 32GB
Cards are harder to lose
Wider selection of accessories, including SDIO accessories.
Make externally available so that larger length SDIO cards can be used
(thinking about SDIO WLAN here)
SDHC compatible. It seems to already have the right hardware for it -
see Neo1973_Hardware#microSD-Card.
SD Card Slot

Micro SDHC for /home partition. Keep like current design underneath SIM


Local Communication
USB
5V Powered, to avoid having to carry around a hub for when you want to
occasionally plug in a memory stick.
USB 2.0

Bootable USB device emulation: the possibility to boot any computer on a
bootable flagged partition of the transflash.
Protection against incorrectly wired USB ports: some USB ports are wired
incorrectly; if the +5V and GND are swapped, the device would get -5V
when it's expecting +5V, which could burn some chips. A reverse-biased
diode between +5V and GND, D+ and GND, D- and GND, and (if used) ID and
GND, with a low enough forward voltage drop (to limite the negative
voltages to what the chips can withstand), would protect the device by
tripping the port's short circuit protection.
2 USB-Ports; one for acting as USB-host and one for acting as USB-device
at same time.



SIR/FIR transceiver (Serial Infrared) / IR remote control

Output devices
LED
The Neo1973 GTA02 will have LEDs of some sort behind at least one
button. [1]
For example a multicolor LED which pulses yellow for GSM/GPRS transmit,
blue for Bluetooth/Wifi, green to indicate non-urgent information -
missed call etc, red to indicate battery low or other urgent notices.
The LED and button ideas could be combined: illuminated buttons.
It must be possible to completely disable the LED to save power or other
personal preferences.

Flashlight ( high output LED )
For finding keys, or any other application. May also optionally pulse in
time with ring, to make phone more visible. This is really well done in
Nokia 5500.


FM transmitter ( bluetooth )

Small FM transmitter to output to car, and other nearby radios.

Fix the biggest flaw in the iPod before Apple does!
Infrared Transmitter w/ universal remote software


HAC Compliance

it would be nice to see the phone include a
telecoil, which allows the phone to connect wirelessly to many standard
hearing aids.

Mobile Communication options

UMA/GAN
Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA)
GSM/GPRS
quad-band EDGE

UMTS -  HSDPA (asia)



Casing

watertight/shockproof casing
Expansion Module Casing

Space efficient Lanyard

The hole at the bottom of the phone takes a lot of space. A Kensington
Security Slot could be used instead.
Rugged version

We need something you can drop from 4 feet in to a puddle of dirty water
on construction site. Sunlight readable display, maybe aluminum or
titanium case. The big ugly pseudo military version. wired to a
protection mechanism which suspends all processing/data activity in case
of a (free) fall.


Make a transparent, see-through casing. Why do we need a closed casing
for open hardware and open software? Show the world it is a truly
Free/Open source phone.


Blank casing

Even though the transparent case would work too, I would like to see a
blank case of pure black or white so people could have the option of
air-brushing,painting or even drawing on the case.

Misc
Battery Size/Standby Time


Dedicated Power / Charger Pinout



I suggest a tiny 3mm, dedicated +5V power input (something a la Nokia).

With the dedicated charger it would also be possible to use any standard
USB device if the phone recognized the external power and enabled 5v
power when plugged in.

GLONASS/GPS receiver
A multi-standard satellite positioning module would be nice.



X10 RF Remote


RFID tag/RFID Reader

NFC ( Near Field Communication ) chip

Standard 3.5mm headphone jack

The Neo1973 uses a 4-conductor 2.5mm jack for stereo headphones and a
microphone. A 2.5mm jack is the most common for headsets.

There is an emerging convention used in the Nokia N800 and some other
devices. A 4-conductor 3.5mm jack that can use a microphone with special
headsets, but can also be used with off-the-shelf 3.5mm stereo
headphones. Adapters to 2.5mm are of course available and this 3.5mm
jack is much more robust.


Software should know of the jack status

faster boot time
A boot time of a minute is WAY to long!


Consider economy / inexpensive / less featured edition

Some people want less features, because they do not need them. Leaving
out some features either lets the phone get smaller or possibly enhances
battery life.


Vibration

Instead of using a counter-weighted motor to provide a vibrate function,
a small solenoid could be used.It would provide more of a tap or click
feel. It could be used to provide feedback when a on screen button is
pressed. Different patterns of taps is a lot easier to recognize
compared to different vibration frequencies. For those who know morse
code they could have the phone tap out the phone number/name of the
person calling/messaging or other alerts.

Running without battery

Please make it possible to run the device without a battery inserted
(with the charger attached).