I’m going to do you product designers a favour.  I’m going to spell out for you right now what I want in a mobile device.  But first, why you should care.

• I’m 25 and have graduated college.
• While I may not have a huge amount of disposable income, I do have a tendancy to make impulse purchases on what I view as cool toys.  This is evidenced by my unemployed purchase of a 15″ PowerBook G4 and 20″ Cinema display and four iPods.
• I am technically competent and have, on occasion, been ahead of the crowd.

That said, I think I am the general early adopter that companies want to woo.  So, for Origami or Nokia’s next mini tablet, this is what will make the difference in if I purchase and talk about your toy:

• Good Storage: If I’m going to spend iPod money on something bigger than an iPod, it better have a hard drive in it.  I don’t need much, 30 or 40 GB is fine, but no less than 20GB.  I may not need it, but I won’t buy if it isn’t there.
• Good Size: This is the hard one I think.  The screen can’t be smaller than 4 inches or bigger than 8 inches.  It also needs a good strong resolution.  This is post-HD people.  Please stop giving me mobile devices that I might watch video on or surf the web on with resolutions less than 800×600.  And that’s a minimum.
• Good Features:  It has to have WiFi, and bluetooth would be nice.  It should play video (and not just WMV or MOV).  It should be able to get my photos from my camera (so USB).
• Good Price:  It has to be at the cost of a toy.  $1000 is too much, hell so is really $500.  I would like half that, but I would settle for $400, if everything else is good.

Along with things this beast should have, there are a few things it should definitely not have.

• Phone Support:  God, if I see cell service bundled in with yet another product, I will flip out.  I mean it.  I don’t need the extra cost and concern with bundling all of that circuitry and cost into something that I will never use.  I mean it.  Really.
• Need For AntiVirus:  Microsoft, if you are making this dream machine, please for the love of all that is good either disable the features that are attacked or come up with some way to not need additional software.  The AV programs just take too much of a hit on a system, and I don’t want to pay for more system than I need just to make sure it is usable.  I don’t think I’m alone here.

There you go.  Now, make me something to be proud of.  Please.  And, if you base it off of my specs, please give me a free copy so that I can eat.  Thanks.

I love my PowerBook; I really do.  I’m one of the few who doesn’t want a MacBook (although, if Jobs offered me one… ah dreams).  I bought this thing not even a year ago and plan to have last as my main laptop well into 2008, hopefully even 2009.  That said, if Origami is anything like the hype right now (and the price is right), I will have a new toy.  It will be a complete breakthrough, probably not in technology itself (but then again, neither was my precious iPod), but in size, capabilities, and (yes) marketing.

I am not one of the Apple fans who have clamored for a tablet mac.  I don’t really feel the need for a laptop that folds, or (even worse) a laptop that is missing a keyboard.  I have a laptop, it’s pretty big, but it does everything I need it to do.  For me to add another computer at this point, I would need to see a new use.

Tablet computers as they exist now are too big, too weighted down by their features.  This is something different.  It looks to be a bit bigger than my iPod and can go online, allow me to jot notes (not that I would be giving up my moleskines anytime soon), and handle other work.  It would have to allow me to leave my laptop at home and still be able to function.  If Microsoft is the company that will deliver this to me, I am amazed.  Who knows, though.  Jobs has been really screwing around with touch interfaces recently (seriously Steve, if you need someone to play around with one of your toys to, you know, put it through it’s paces I have one thing to say to you: I’m here).  This could possibly be the next “killer app.”

Or it could simply be the next bomb.  There are three factors that have to be at least close to perfect: features, size, and price.  Guys, don’t fuck this up.