Does the 'perfect' mobile phone exist?

Everyone has a different idea of what makes for the perfect mobile phone, and it's probably a fair summary to say that if you asked everyone in the UK what their ideal mobile phone would be like, you would most likely get a lot of different answers. With mobile phones growing ever more powerful, an interesting question to ask is: is there such a thing as the 'perfect' mobile phone?

Michael Gartenberg, over at Engadget Mobile, believes that there is (at least, he'd like to see his perfect mobile phone being made), although he does go on to say that it's not been made a reality yet.

So, what does he suggest would be the ideal phone for him? What he seems to be describing isn't that far beyond modern smartphones, with an exceptional web browsing experience and superlative email facilities. However, one thing he also mentions is 'crystal clear voice calls'. This has long been a goal of mobile phone manufacturers, but up until now, voice calls have been, paradoxically, the one area of mobile phone technology that hasn't improved much in recent years.

High-quality voice calls are only now starting to infiltrate the market, thanks to Orange's HD Voice initiative. This aims to redress the balance, giving attention to voice services that other features, such as web browsing and email, have received in spades over the years. We may soon reach the point where Gartenberg's hope for 'crystal clear voice calls' becomes a reality.

Another important idea Gartenberg comes up with is that of the phone being 'agnostic' towards which services you use on the device itself. For example, at the moment, if you use an Android-powered mobile phone, it's heavily reliant on Google's services, such as Googlemail, and if you use Windows Mobile, there's no easy way to sync your device with an iTunes library on your PC. 

It seems that what Gartenberg is suggesting is a mobile phone that will easily work with any service you desire, although given the attitudes of various technology companies, it's unlikely you'll see Apple's iTunes playing nice with a phone made by Google, for example (especially given recent inflammatory comments about Google by Steve Jobs).

Finally, Gartenberg says he would like the phone to do all of that, and yet, still be a small phone, and he does have a point. If you're carrying a device around with you all day, something heavy and cumbersome isn't going to be particularly appealing.

One possible consequence of this is that such a mobile phone would turn out to be more expensive. In that case, as with the current generation of smartphones, mobile phone insurance is certainly going to set your mind at rest if, say, the replacement cost of the phone is above £500 (which it feasibly could be).

Those, then, are the features Michael Gartenberg would like to see in his next phone. But as noted at the start of this post, if you were to ask everyone in the UK what they wanted from their ideal mobile phone, they would most likely choose different features altogether. Some may favour a powerful camera, while others may prefer a high-quality music player.

That brings us back to the question of whether there can ever be one perfect mobile phone, and in all honesty, the answer is probably no. What may be perfect for one person might be the complete opposite of what a different user wants, although there are some things we would all benefit from, namely improved call quality, and the idea of 'agnostic' phones, as noted earlier.

Unfortunately, it seems like that second one is something we're unlikely to see, but in the future, who knows...?