By Senior Editor – Kris Smith (@croncast)

This can be distilled down to a handful of features that are the foundation for an awesome phone. The iPhone, Droid, Pre and Imagio, to mention a few are great phones. But not a single one of them is awesome.

With the exception of the  iPhone, if you pick up a phone today in any carrier store it will magically transport you back to the innovations of 2005 for mobile phones. If the device doesn’t fall into that category it will surely fall into one of the other two: your nana’s phone or an iPhone knockoff.

I would settle for an iPhone knockoff if it had additional features that would bring it toward the peak of awesomeness. They are either crippled by carrier software modifications or suffer from form factors that leave the user scratching their heads and hating the phone.

With all of that said, I wanted to take this opportunity to just say that I want an awesome phone. What means awesome to me may be not so awesome in your world. So be it. Below is what a phone in 2009 heading into 2010 needs in my book.

1. Connectivity – 4g capable, 3g legacy, wifi, bluetooth, IR
2. Camera – 8 MP min, flash, top side trigger, HD video
3. Keyboard – onscreen, external QWERTY (centered on the device), bluetooth full-size keyboard
4. Software – Android or Windows Mobile
5. Size – 12.7 MM larger on all sides than the iPhone

There is not one device on the market with all more thank 3 of these 5 items available. As a user of many a smartphone it seems  strange that a device with the capabilities hasn’t been made yet. I would settle for an awesome camera that had 3g and keyboard capabilities but those don’t exist either.

I want to see some awesome people! Where are the game changing products of 2009 and 2010? They seem to be missing in action.

What would you put into a phone to make it awesome, not just great?

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0