Handspring adds voice to devices

Handspring will add voice capabilities to its Palm-based handheld devices by the end of the year, and also plans to introduce models with colour screens.

In his keynote speech at PC Expo in New York this week, Handspring founder and chief product officer, Jeff Hawkins, said: "Conventional thinking says that wireless data will be the killer application for handheld devices and smartphones, but this is wrong. The killer application for these types of devices will be better voice calling."

The company also plans to introduce colour screens to its range, as well as the ability to recharge the devices, which are currently battery-based.

"There will be colour devices in the future, but this does take a lot of power and makes the devices bigger and more expensive. We are also working on producing better contrast on the screens," he said. The only function that improves with the addition of extra pixels is photography viewing, he added.

Hawkins also urged smartphone and handheld PC manufacturers to keep their designs simple and that more focus should be made on user friendliness. He believes that mobile phone and smart phone applications, such as speed dialling and call history, are not being used to their full potential today. He said the integration of the PIM (personal information management) will be a key feature of those devices, along with improved browsing and the ability to complete transactions.

"This requires a persistent connection and low latency, and the cell phone networks today don't really support this," he said.

Hawkins also predicted that in the future, more handheld devices will be used to access the internet than any other type of device. "Handheld devices will be the future of the internet," he said.