The perfect netbook, MID, etc...

right, but that's the thing - I'm looking for a bunch-in-one instead of an all-in-one. I like having a dedicated phone...although if the 4GB, $99, iPhone comes out I think I'll get it.

But, I do understand what you mean. I just think that small netbook could be the ticket for me...

Best,
Shalin

I dream about a bigger form factor iPod Touch with 3G cellular data, (don't care about the phone) wifi, turn by turn GPS. a 6 or 7" screen and a 256GB flash drive that does flash and silverlight(for internet streaming like Netflix and Hulu). It would be an awfully good internet/entertainment device.

I'm sure Apple will never make this exact device or if they do it will be missing several of the items listed above. But the UI will no doubt be fantastic. Some third party may make a device that has almost all those features but it will be saddled with some crappy UI.

It seems you can't have it both ways. You either get a device that goes deep or a device that goes wide. But rarely do you seem to get both.

Jack of all trades tend to do the job with less parts and a more consistant user interface. Ease of use and efficency are damn valuable attributes. There are devices that nail it.
The personal computer, iPhone. It's just harder to engineer, but multfunction is the way to do a gadget.

The list of functions its missing is quite long. It's crappy camera is a perfect example of its lack of mastery (but then again so are all cell phone cameras. No matter how many megapixels they cram into them a tiny cheap lens with a itty bitty sensor is never going to take the kind of pictures a standalone camera can take.)

The reason the iPhone is so popular is that it does a fews things so well that the rest of its shortcomings fall to the wayside. In fact the same can be said about most Apple stuff. They go deep at the expense of breadth. Its always a tradeoff. And I will choose quality over quantity every time but that doesn't mean I think Apple makes perfect products.

The personal computer may be a jack of all trades but it hardly does all things to perfection. And when I speak of devices I am thinking of smaller "convergence devices" that try to cram a lot of functions into a tint bit of space.

The camera is just there out of obligation, people expect them. You can get 5 megapixel cameras with decent lens in some nokia's.
But how many devices would you need to do it all seperately.
iPod, portabke video player, web tablet, flashlight, phone, ebook reader, GPS.
Are you seriously suggesting it's better way to do it if you have a seperate device for a seperate function?

Ohh I think the PC does an amazing job at nearly everything.Tv, DVD player, blu ray, gaming, web/email, content creation. It does all these better than seperate devices and without the clutter.

<i>The camera is just there out of obligation, people expect them. You can get 5 megapixel cameras with decent lens in some nokia's.</i>

Why should you or anyone have to apologize for Apple's crappy camera? If they do a camera it should be a good camera not just out of "obligation". And just adding megapixels will not make it better. The megapixel race is a specifications farce designed to make people think they are getting better quality when all they are getting is more grainy pixels.

My point is that when manufacturers try to fit everything under the sun into smaller and smaller devices and do it all for a low price point they must make compromises. Its just basic economics. When you specialize and do one thing and do it well there are fewer compromises you must make.

Megapixel is just a specification. Hence why I added a decent lens. Honestly the iPhone camera is so bad that I'm embarassed to give people pictures it takes because I think it reflects poorly on me. It's only there to avoid rye uproar there would be with no camera, I think apple gave it a very low priority. But the point is there are phones out there with good cameras.