The first telephone
that I remember was a black plastic handset with no dial. It wasn't
hard for me to memorize our number. It was "400."
I thought about that a week ago when I got an email from my daughter.
The night before the family on the West Coast had been celebrating
my grandson Diego's sixth birthday. My daughter took a picture
of a grinning Diego with her cell phone and emailed it from the
restaurant.
Sometime while I wasn't paying attention phones jumped off the
desk and into pockets and purses everywhere. They shed their dowdy
image and got colorful. They cut their cords, added features and
became the Swiss Army Knife of the Digital Age.
The companies that make these things have added all kinds of
features to their phones. Some make sense, like the ability to
sign on to the Web or get email, keep an address book and calendar,
and let you know who's calling. Other features seem more frivolous
like mirrors to turn your cell phone into an emergency compact,
or a built-in flashlight.
There's a problem with this and it's the same one you get with
the real Swiss Army Knife. It may be great to have all those tools
in one handy gadget, but gadgets that try to do lots of things
tend not to do any of them well. You'll know this if you've ever
tried to cut anything with those teeny scissors.
What's really interesting, though, is the things folks have thought
of to do with their phones. Here are a few that may be new to
you.
Text messaging has turned out to be a great way for folks to
communicate when voice is inappropriate. A while back I attended
a college graduation and watched dozens of graduates I could see
as they sent and received text messages on their phones while
the commencement speaker droned on.
Those students might have been setting up the after-graduation
parties they would go to. Cell phones have become a preferred
way to organize meetings and social events on the fly.
The hottest new accessory right now is the camera phone. Even
businesses are getting in the technological swing. Contractors
are using picture phones to record the condition of finished jobs.
They're also using them to show a problem to a supervisor, rather
than trying to describe the problem or requiring the supervisor
to drive cross-town to see it.
But like anything else, technology that can be used for good
can also be used for evil. In December, a Washington man was charged
with using his cellular phone to take pictures up a woman's skirt
in a supermarket. Several municipalities have rushed to ban camera
phones in places like locker rooms.
If you want to use your cell phone to deceive there are folks
waiting to help you. There are alibi clubs, for example. Let's
say you want to get out of a dinner engagement, using the excuse
that you can't come because you've been called away on business.
First you send a text message to other members of club asking
for help. Those willing to help get back to you and you work out
the details. Then your partner in deception calls your dinner
host with your excuse.
You can buy audio recordings of street or office or airport sounds
that you can play to mislead the person you're calling about your
location. You can get the sounds of a racking cough so your boss
will think you're sick when you really want to go skiing.
There doesn't seem to be an end to what phones can do and be
used for. Phone manufacturers are talking about adding even more
features like mosquito repellers, laser pointers, and the ability
to watch TV on your phone.
There are problems, though. All those new applications involving
color and motion suck up power at a horrid rate. Batteries can't
keep up.
Then, there's the input problem: tiny little keys and big fat
fingers. And there's a keypad issue. Either you have to use a
telephone keypad and take two or three times the number of strokes
for every job, or you need two different keyboards in one tiny
little phone. Bad choices, both.
Even so, you'd better get ready for those designers to pack even
more functions, tools, and features in your handy-dandy Swiss
Army Knife of a cellular phone and for users to find more ways
to use them for good and for ill.
Top of page
Here are some
cell phone resources.
About.com has an excellent section on the history
of the cell phone.
Cell Phone Carriers
is a site with a rich collection of cell phone resources.
If you're thinking about buying a cell phone or changing your
plan, you should check out one or more of these sites in addition
to your favorite shopping sites and the sites of the major wireless
providers.
There is a site devoted to picture phones and the issues that
surround them.It's called Picturephoning.
6 July 2004
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