Worth noting that the iPhone was also made by a company that had never made a phone before.

Kinda says something about the companies that do make phones.

"Kinda says something about the companies that do make phones.: --Yes. Motorola is failing. That's what happens when you have been in a business for too long and get complaicent. The new entrant will eat your lunch. Moto, deserves to fail. They need to make a huge revamp of their software. Same problem with Palm. They are toast.

At least it seems that RIM (Blackberry maker) is getting a little bit smarter, and it is finally going to update their software stack. Until a year ago, they thought that just having good email support would be enough. Well... no. Users also like multimedia, good support, navigation, pretty UI... etc. etc.

While the koreans, just like they do in with they cars, just copy what they see successful (I am talking about LG and Samsung). They society just doesn't reward new thinking.

If you were to draw that conclusion about Korean society from their cars, then you could draw the same conclusion about Americans if you looked at our video games and social network apps.

I think that this completely misses the point of why the iphone is great.

When the iphone came out it was something that we had never seen before - it was sleek, had a great userinterface, large touchscreen and so on. That is why it was a success. It created its own niche that had not been filled before.

Now all sorts of companies come up with "iphone killers" and think that they can do better than apple. But the game is already over - the market has moved on. The iphone was cool because it was a genuine innovation. Whatever rip-off some company dreams up now will only be compared to the iphone, effectively establishing Apples brand as the innovative leader.

What you really need to do if you want to create an iphone killer is to think creatively and make your own innovative product. A copy-cat iphone will always be just that: a copy.

Incremental improvement is still improvement. iPod wasn't the first mp3 player, and it had no "killer feature". But it was better, and therefore it got popular. I think these iPhone knockoffs aren't doing so well simply because they are not better.

I'm talking about mindshare, of which technical merits are only a small part.

Why can't a phone company just make a device that does it all? Here is what I need, and it doesn't seem too complicated:

1. Phone (duh)

2. Camera

3. MP3 player

4. Lots of storage (at least 30 GB would be nice, but more is better)

5. Wifi, GSM, 3G, bluetooth, etc.

6. Mechanism for allowing 3rd party apps

7. Unrestricted USB/flash interface

Is that really so much to ask? I want one device that does all of that, and I would gladly pay for it. Is it out there and I just don't know about it?

Basically, I don't even have a digital camera or an MP3 player right now, and I have about the most rudimentary cell phone you can get. I would love to get a smartphone to fill all of my needs, but until I see one that does everything I want, it's just not worth it to me.

Almost for the same reason it's hard to make a helicopter/submarine hybrid. There are conflicting design parameters you've got to squeeze together at a price point people are willing to accept and a design that makes it easy to use.

It's a lot of gadgetry to pack into a small package. If the cries and consternation from FIC building OpenMoko is any indication, it's not easy.

A testament to Apple's engineers' capabilities over phone company engineers, more than anything, perhaps.

I hate to continue to market my Nokia N95-8gb on here but I love it so much that I feel like people like you are missing out. Based on your list, the N95 has:

1. Check

2. Check - 5-megapixel w/ CZ lens. I tossed out my camera after getting this phone, the pics are just plain amazing. Oh yeah, did I mention 30fps video at 640x480? That and Nokia includes a VGA cable for video AND audio out.

3. Check - Supports MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA with a standard 3.5mm headphones jack. A2DP support is also there if you want quality wireless headphones.

4. (1/2) check. 8gb is more than I've used so far, it's not a complete music-collection device.

5. Check, Check, Check, Check, oh and it has GPS and FM radio too, you forgot those.

6. Check - Series60 phones have no shortage of 3rd party apps. Installing Google maps took me no more than a minute.

7. Check - I plug in the phone and it simply asks me what mode I want it in - Raw Flash drive, PC Sync, and one other.

Specs are here: http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n95_8gb-2088.php

Oh yeah, and I get 3-days battery life minimum. With minimal usage I charge once a week.

Awesome, thanks. I'll check it out.

I can't think of any device that has more than 4 of those, so all 7 would be a bit of a stretch.

Proprietary operating system? As if there weren't already enough for developers to support. More diversification is bad at this point, I'll pass thank you.

Finally, something I actually want in my cellphone: decent navigation! I could care less about music and web browsing. I want my phone to tell me how to meet up with my friends and lets me find Mexican restaurants at 3am.

That's really the only fault in my N95-8gb... it has Assisted-GPS and usually takes 90+ seconds to lock on with a satellite. It already crushes the iPhone in functionality and I've had plenty of "omg cool phone" comments on the actual design.

When you do get a lock-on, the navigation features are wonderful, hopefully this Garmin phone has a faster way to do so.

Overall this Garmin phone looks damn functional, I just wish it wasn't boring-PDA grey.

That's actually a really good point, though Apple had made a handheld before, the Newton.

And don't forget the other handheld device - iPod. It has all the characteristics of a PDA, but the software is limited to media.