Editors Comment: Jake's original article, published on August 26th, has been replaced with this updated version

Welcome to the first part of my five part series on the future of handheld computing.� I have written this series based upon the kind of handheld computing software and hardware I as a designer and end user envision and would like to see.� To a large extent this series is based on a presentation I gave Jeff Hawkins the founder of Palm Computing, Handspring and the inventor of the original Palm Pilot.

The following is an outline of what I will be covering in this series:

Part 1: Bullet Train. �The origins of BulletTrain and BulletTrain for the Treo 600.

Part 2: Phantom V Design Reference.� See the futuristic handheld computer I designed which I consider to be close to the perfect form factor.� The Phantom V is approximately two thirds the size of a Treo 600 yet its screen is physically twice the size of the Treo 600s screen.

Part 3:� Bullet Train Desktop Dashboard. �I believe that there needs to be a new PIM (Personal Information Manager) desktop application to replace Palm Desktop and Microsoft Outlook.� I designed a highly customizable new user interface that allows you to extend your desktop to the Phantom V and also allows you to run multiple handheld applications on your desktop.

Part 4:� Bullet Train Auto Dashboard. �See how I envision cars working with PDAs in the future.

Part 5:� Bullet Train Express Schedule.� A replacement for the native Handspring Datebook+ program.

I was able to get a very early preview of the Treo 600 and as a result I wrote an article that was published on TreoCentral named Treo 600: Love at first sight:�� http://www.treocentral.com/content/Stories/240-1.htm

As many of you know, I am extremely passionate about design.� I have been designing for two decades and I take design very seriously.� I am also an avid Treo 270 user.� After I wrote my article I contacted Jeff Hawkins and shared with him that I had many ideas on how to take the Treo to next level and beyond.� I had almost two weeks prior to my meeting to prepare. As you will see I not only offered my constructive criticism, but I offered detailed solutions from my outside the fishbowl perspective.�

I invested a great deal of time prior to my meeting coming up with ideas on how to significantly improve the entire Treo-Palm Desktop experience.� I previously developed my BulletTrain Keyboard UI enhancement which you can view below, but because I was so excited and passionate, I kept working on my presentation and ended up designing a handheld device I dubbed the Phantom V.��

If you have any questions or comments about my work product I would be happy to respond in the thread that follows this article.� I would like to see my BulletTrain Keyboard concept made into an application, but I am a full time designer and I do not have the time to produce BulletTrain myself. Interested third party developers can contact me directly for further discussion.� To learn more about my design background and philosophy please go to: www.JakeEhrlich.com

I hope you enjoy reviewing my presentation as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Best regards,

Jake Ehrlich, Designer.

San Francisco, California U.S.A.

Part 1: The Origins of BulletTrain and BulletTrain for the Treo 600 >>

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