Should one device do everything?

Or should many devices do their own things at higher levels of proficiency?

This is the dichotomy of modern consumer electronics. Let's discuss it with the help of the current avatars. The Specific Design approach is exemplified by the original iPods. They play music. It is a box designed to store and replay recorded media. They play music well. The battery life is long. There is a robust and easy to use shopping model to allow people to effortlessly spend lots of money to stock their iPod with songs. You cannot use an iPod to order dinner. You cannot use it to tell you the weather. An iPod does not take pictures. It simply plays music.

The Jack-of-All approach is perhaps best exemplified by a modern cell phone. The cell phone is a personal organizer. The cell phone keeps addresses. The cell phone has GPS. The cell phone plays music. The cell phone has TV. The cell phone has internet browsing. The cell phone checks email. The cell phone plays games. The cell phone takes pictures. The cell phone takes movies. The cell phone opens Word documents. The cell phone sends text messages. The cell phone may also make calls.

The cell phone doesn't do any of these things extremely well. The screen is too small for a true GPS device. The camera is not powerful enough for detailed photos. The address book has less storage than a devoted device, because it has to share space with music and pictures and ring tones. The internet browser is on the same small screen. The phone may not have enough battery if it also gets used as a full-time music player.

A dedicated device will (hopefully) always perform better at a certain task. My recently purchased camera takes fantastic pictures. I purchased it expressly for that reason. It doesn't make coffee or tell me where the nearest Denny's is, but that's OK. I only need it to remember how to take pictures. That must be the philosophy I have as a consumer. I have an music player, and it plays music. I have an audio recorder, it makes excellent recordings. I have a phone, and it makes phone calls.

Of course, each dedicated device takes up space. And to carry around enough stand-alone devices to equal out what the single multi-purpose cell phone does, our pockets would overflow and our trousers would end up around our ankles. Hmm, maybe that's why kids always have their pants so low: they've got too many electronic devices!

This thought about multi- versus single-purpose devices got planted in my mind about a month ago, when I was out with a bunch of fellow musicians after a performance. One of the guys brought out his cell phone and showed a picture of himself and his son. It was cute, and everyone at the three tables said, "Awwww!" Then someone else showed a picture of their dog, and around and around it went, with everyone showing pictures on their phones that had been taken of dogs, girlfriends, children, cousins, etc.

Except for me. I was the only person at the table of eight whose phone doesn't have the ability to take pictures. Or store pictures. Or display in color. Or get text messages. I frowned, and people laughed. But I don't need any of that. I want my phone to make phone calls, tell me the date, and show me the time. That's it. And since I haven't lost my phone since I first bought it, I've still got the same phone. But the battery has 12 hours of talk time, and can go for two or three weeks without needing to recharge it.

I wrote this article because the Apple iPhone is coming. It does most of the things I listed above. It looks beautiful. The touch screen is very appealing. The colors are bright and shiny. It has exciting new ways to browse through your music collection. It's also $600. It also requires a brand new two-year contract with AT&T wireless. And who knows how much extra it costs to actually use the data transmitting features (texting, internet, etc.)

It's cool. The geek in me is excited, but I would never buy one. Even if it were given to me, and the service paid for, I still might end up being disappointed. It's too soon to make hard conclusions, but I'd be very concerned about how long my battery will last while browsing, rocking, and phoning all day long. I've been following the gadget industry for a while, and it's increasingly acceptable for devices to have enough battery power to last a day. A day? So, if I forget to plug my phone in one night, it becomes useless the next day? And not just the phone but also my email, maps, and music?

I'll stick with my silly INDIGLO phone, thanks.