For the last two and a half years, I have refrained from upgrading my cell phone. I have no doubt that my cellphone needs a replacement, but, at least today, nothing on the market has the fairly unimpressive feature set that I want in a phone. It really comes down to six features:

1. A logical, simple, aesthetically-pleasing and stable user interface
2. Seamless syncing with my Mac, without gobs of extra software or encumbrance
3. A GSM/UMTS radio that operates both in Europe and the US
4. Easy data input, either via handwriting recognition or a Blackberry-style thumb keyboard
5. Basic PIM and email functionality
6. A reasonable price

Some models have come close, indeed very close, to meeting all six of my not-that-outrageous criteria. Palm's Treo 680 comes close, but Palm OS syncing on the Mac is quite painful and the Treo 680 lacks a 3G radio. Samsung's widely publicized BlackJack also scores well, but it uses Windows Mobile, which does not sync easily with the Macintosh and runs the notoriously unstable and obfuscated Windows Mobile OS. Sony Ericsson's P990i, available only in Europe, does everything, but it costs $1000 in the United States: far more than I would like to spend on a phone.

With all of the buzz surrounding Steve Job's keynote tomorrow morning at Macworld, I have adopted a hopefully attitude that, tomorrow, I will finally have the opportunity to upgrade my phone. But if Apple makes the phone too consumer centric, then I doubt it will have a GSM radio compatible with European networks or any easy way to input data. Nonetheless, it is Apple, so I have high hopes that, perhaps, they will release two or more models, if indeed they aim to make the phone consumer-centric, rather than catering to the Blackberry audience.

I cannot wait to see what Apple announces tomorrow morning at Macworld, be it this long-rumored Applephone or a menagerie of other fun gizmos. Though, a cell phone that satisfies my six criteria would really make my Tuesday.