IDEA: Consumer electronics with open personalization

Okay, I have to do a quick post since I am at work.

I have mentioned before that I love the idea of people customizing their experience with the electronics they use each day. I have seen anime and other creative stories that have interesting UIs in cell phones and the like.

My idea is to have a company that makes consumer electronics such as cell phones. The primary goal is to add software to these devices that allows the user to personalize their experience.

You could say that Android systems allow this, but customization for each person does not seem to be an easy task from the little research I've done. Feel free to chime in in the comments if you know otherwise.

For this company, their software would allow users to personalize their device easily and quickly, perhaps even on the fly. One obvious example is font for various phone functions. The user could design their own font for use throughout the phone. Other possibilities for customization include background, animations, and so on.

This came up after I was thinking how cool it would be to use some of the LED displays I had obtained in watches, and then I thought "Well it would be easier to just do it with a single matrix-type display using software.

IDEA: From Desktop to PMP

I think in the whirlpool of mobile computing, we're missing the big picture of what the desired goal is, so I'll map it out.

- Desktop for home computing and organization.
- Laptop for mobile computing and organization.
- PDA for mobile organization.
- Phone for communication.
- Mobile phone for mobile communication.
- Media playing software for home entertainment.
- Portable media player for mobile entertainment.

My idea is that as we go from home to mobile, we should be able to carry our data and preferences with us. An example of the implementation of my idea is the following: when moving from desktop to laptop, there is some common bridge that allows us to transfer our computer preferences and necessary files over to the laptop with no fuss or muss.

Taken a step further, the desktop and laptop could be combined into one, and the PDA, phone, and media player could also be combined into one. In this scenario, I envision two docking devices. The dock has the big hardware that drives the more powerful requirements needed at home, while the detatchable mobile parts carry the preferences, data, and necessary mobile applications to manipulate those items. When changes are made to any one device, it transfers to the rest of the devices upon docking. You could even have a single dock at home that has a detatchable laptop and mobile device.

Going even further, a degree of customization for shells is possible for the mobile devices.

This all loops back to my underlying premise of allowing the user as much control over their environment as possible, rather than being locked in to the company's software interface.

See also http://www.modumobile.com