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View Full Version : Have Mobile Phones Gone Stale?


Mike Temporale
11-30-2004, 04:45 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.thefeature.com/article?articleid=101234' target='_blank'>http://www.thefeature.com/article?articleid=101234</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The mobile industry is stuck. But don't start printing out those resumes quite yet. A new romance may give the industry just the kick it needs, if we are to put faith in the words of the intriguing director and head of user experience at Nokia's Insight and Foresight unit, Marko Ahtisaari. In a talk he provocatively called "Phones as a Hackable Platform," the Helsinki-born technologist shared a dark and rarely uttered truth: "If we look at this industry and the speed of innovation, innovation has largely stopped." ..."What have we had? We've had mobile voice, which was the lead application and still is the lead application. Texting, person-to-person, one-to-one messaging. And, recently, the only dominant functionality that we've added is the camera. We need new innovation on this platform for it to grow." Ahtisaari understands that the most promising and compelling software innovations have always been born in the hands of playful users."</i><br /><br />I'm not sure that I totally agree with Marko. While we haven't seen much in the way of enhancements recently, we are heading down a new slipper slope called VoIP that could potentially change your phone for ever. What are your thoughts? What would you like to see added to your mobile phone?

Jerry Raia
12-02-2004, 07:23 AM
This is so new I think its hard to predict where it will go. I think in another year we will have a much better idea. I don't believe for a moment it is stuck!

yslee
12-04-2004, 09:00 PM
I've been saying that since 2002, I think. Take a Nokia 8250, and compare it to say, one of the Samsungs that seem to be so popular around here. The additions? Colour screen, camera, MMS and err, that's about it. Some phones add a FM radio, MP3 player, Bluetooh (always handy), and GPRS (only if you use it with a notebook as a modem, or if your phone has a PROPER email client and web browser), but really, beyond that, phones haven't changed that much. And people wonder why I was using my "dinosaur" of a Siemens ME45 during the great camera phone upgrade season. :roll:

The real upgrade to me is in the convergence of the PDA and the phone, which was why when I decided to upgrade from my ME45, I got a Tungsten W on the cheap. Partly because the thumb board would make a great upgrade from the mushier-and-mushier keypad of my ME45, and partly because I felt it would give a real boost in functionality. I wasn't wrong, however after killing 4 earpieces (including an expensive Tereny flip cover) I thought I'd cut my losses, sell the thing, and get something else.

Since the PPCPE devices I want weren't out yet, and the Treo still too expensive, I went ahead and bought a MPx200. I haven't regretted it, functionality wise it beats most handphones out there (imagine, a Samsung handphone that costs twice what I paid for the MPx200, and it does 1/10th of what the MPx200 can do, and people here say the Samsung is a better phone, makes one wonder :roll:), though I still want a PPCPE device!