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So, if you’ll remember, we picked up on T3’s fake 01 Phone website and story when it first hit a while back. Seems that it was a nicely-rendered plea to cellphone manufacturers to get off their butts and put all the stuff that’s available, technologically, into a single device that gives users everything we want. More after the clicky thingie…

You have to admit, it does seem almost silly that there are new phones announced (officially or otherwise) at least several times a week, and really not a single one of them does everything that all phones can do. Why is that?

Well one reason is power. As any iPhone 3G user will tell you, the battery only lasts so long. Sure, a “dream phone” like T3’s proposed 01 Phone could be a bit thicker or, heaven forbid Apple, have a user-replaceable battery, but the fact is that with all the advances in tech, one of the areas that advances the slowest is battery life.

What I like about T3’s 01 Phone concept is the big, hi-res screen, voluminous amounts of memory, and nice, clean looks. The laser keyboard idea is nifty, and certainly available, but those haven’t proven to be fantastic to type on (and I’m not sure you could fit that component into a package as small as the 01 Phone concept, especially considering there’s a phone in there, too). I also like the hi-res camera (hey, T3, where’s the flash??) and think that a dream phone would, in fact, include a second front-facing camera for video conferencing.

But how would such a device be powered in a way to have it last more than a few hours between charges? With all of that gadgetry onboard, and in use, the odds of it holding up even nearly as much as a loaded laptop would be slim to none.

Ultimately I applaud T3 for calling mobile manufacturers to task. I, too, would rather see 10 “nearly perfect” phones on the market than 250 mostly crap ones. And yes, there’s a market for phones that are just phones, but there are SO many feature phones that are somewhere in the middle and inspire very little passion from people at either end of the spectrum.

But while T3 petitions the mobile makers to improve their phones, I’d like to send out a similar request to all the eggheads & boffins out there working on improving battery power & life on a scale that can power these dreamy do-all devices for at least a few days at a time.

When the battery’s ready, I’m sure there’ll be a phone waiting to use it.

T3’s 01 Phone