Advanced mobile users have always had a tough time finding the perfect device.  Historically many devices have needed to make great sacrifices to remain pocketable in size.  Gadget lovers have long been forced to choose between a mixture of 3G, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, A2DP, Removable Storage, a great camera, 3.5mm headphone jack, QWERTY keyboard and/or large touch screens.

In their search for the Perfect Mobile Device, many advances users were forced to import unlocked devices not sold by their carrier of choice.  This meant the devices were expensive without carrier subsidies.  The worse downside was that often the 3G frequencies of imported devices weren’t the same as the carrier, so Expensive Imported Devices were trapped in modem-like network speeds with EDGE.

The Nokia N95 was one of the first devices that didn’t make compromises.  Sporting most of the above listed features, save the touch screen and qwerty, The N95 was the singlular choice among most bloggers and media creators prior to the iPhone.  Remember that Nokia has sold over 10 Million N95′s in less than one year.

The iPhone has kick-started the revolution of well-equipped devices with full carrier support.  While many Nokia users would scoff at the iPhone (and many also switched!), many iPhone users were upgrading from a crap-phone like the RAZR.  To these users, the iPhone experience out-of-the-box is mind-blowing.

Two Thousand Nine is the year that all US carriers will (Finally) offer wide choices of very powerful pocketable computers, many US exclusives. The Palm Pre, iPhone 3.0, Sidekick LX, Nokia N97, Nokia E71x, Samsung i8910 are all new devices delivering on this promise starting in June. at&t recently launched six qwerty “messaging phones”, and Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile all have Tsunami-compatible devices in their near-future lineup.

The next infobit to consider is the mainstreaming of Social Media.  Oprah’s on Twitter, your Boss is on Facebook, and your little brother is a star on YouTube.  In the very near future a device *will not sell* if it does not support Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter out of the box.  Many of these devices will support widgets, which will deliver updates without requiring launching a dedicated app.  Some of these devices will pull the phone directory from these online services, as well as profile pictures.  Sporting full QWERTY keyboards, typing a quick status update, instant message or email is no longer an annoyance, it’s downright easy.

Most of these new devices not only record decent quality video, you can upload the videos to YouTube with just a few clicks.  The user becomes the media creator overnight.  After an initial period of shyness, the wave of video publishers will be big.  Having a camcorder in your pocket will also bring social justice.  The people are watching the watching men.  The camera is the new gun.

Yes, the June Tusnami is the effective end of CrapPhones as we know it.  It is the beginning of much higher expectations from most users.  From taking great pictures and video, to instant communication, the next round of devices are evolutionary, and will start a Media Revolution.

Communication barriers are shattering all at once.  In your pocket. Right Now!

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Well now you can solve the iPhone Bluetooth issue for $3.99.  MeDevil has published iBluetooth in the newly commercialized Cydia App Store for jailbroken iPhones.  Why release this killer app in the Cydia store instead of the Apple App Store?  Obviously because Apple wouldn’t allow this app to be released.

via UMPC Portal, via IntoMobile

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It sucks that Apple’s iPhone doesn’t quite support bluetooth audio.  On one occasion I’ve found it to work, only in the least convenient time.  Try hooking up a bluetooth headset to your iPhone.  Call someone, and in the middle of the call, play some music from the iPod app.  Real stupid, right?  If the call ends, music seems to blast out of the speakers again.  Weak.

I just realized that Sony’s bluetooth iPod dongle works with the device.  First establish a connection between your bluetooth headphones and the iPhone.  I used this one.  Then connect the dongle on the base of the iPhone and turn it on.  Whether or not you’ve turned it on, the iPhone will prompt you with a caution message about using airplane mode.  Select “No.”

 

Ignore the warning.Click “No.”

Your music should now flow through the headphones.  All the buttons on my Philips headphones work:  play/pause, next, previous, volume up, volume down.  When receiving a call, the music will gently fade into the call received.  One issue I did have was that if you attempt to switch the audio source from the bluetooth to the iPhone, the music will continue, oblivious to your buddy on the other end.

 

Click for an alternate view.

Although your iPhone will increase slightly in bulkiness, consider the space you’re saving by carrying one less device.  As for me, this is only a test.  I’m most likely going to continue using my iPod for a few reasons.  80GB is favorable to the iPhone’s 8GB/16GB.  Also, the current support for connecting the iPhone to Linux is still bleeding edge.  I’ll be discussing Linux connectivity in my next article.

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