Founding Father

[Jerry Raia]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://laptopmag.com/Features/Founding-Father.htm' target='_blank'>http://laptopmag.com/Features/Founding-Father.htm</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Martin Cooper is frequently called the father of the cell phone. That's not a stretch: In 1973, he developed the first cell phone and then shepherded it to the first commercial network in 1983. But Cooper isn't always thrilled with how his baby has turned out."</i><br /><br />I like this guy. I like the way he thinks. The "Father" of the cellphone speaks out. Whether you agree with what he has to say here or not it is nice to read clear thoughts.

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"One thing people don't seem to be learning is the intrusiveness of a loud conversation in a public place. It sounds as if they're trying to make the call with no electronics in between." :wink:

[Jerry Raia]

That was a great comment he made. So true too :)

[Sven Johannsen]

That was a great comment he made. So true too :)
And imagine it on an airplane..I hope when we consider whether we could, we consider whether we should.

[Mark Larson]

There is definitely something to be said for the fact that the rates keep people off the built-in phones in-flight. Red-eye flights will be interesting to say the least with people burning through unlimited night minutes to stave off boredom :D

[Ben]

I think his best comment was:

". . . the idea of a carrier withholding features from a customer to maximize their revenue is poor marketing. Bluetooth is one example. Another is that in GSM, the whole concept of a SIM card is that you can put it in any phone. The U.S. carriers lock their phones so they won't work on another network. So you're taking a feature that was designed to help people, and for [an] egregious reason, withholding it."

And his worst comment was:

"The universal device was poor judgment in the first place: The manufacturers and carriers are trying to build a device that will satisfy everybody with every service. Any device that purports to do all things for all people won't do any of them very well. Bluetooth could solve one of the drawbacks of trying to shoehorn so many functions into a single, all-in-one device: Just let a PDA be a PDA, and a phone be a phone, and use Bluetooth to connect them."

I am one guy who would willingly pay thousands of dollars for a single device in the form factor of clamshell smartphone, but that had all the features of a current cutting edge Pocket PC (including international cellphone, mp3 music, a digital camera, push email, internet browsing with both GPRS and wi-fi (absolutely essential), read ebooks, edit word/excel/powerpoint files, watch videos (and television?), voice recorder/dictaphone, and play great games (PSP quality, anyone :wink: ) and have a qwerty thumbpad and GPS attachment for extra convenience. That is all I will ever need, and it easily could be in one device. All the technology already exists. Just give it to me already! I had high hopes for the MPx.

The only feature I don't think I will ever need or use is Bluetooth, which is a little ironic. I can't live without Wi-Fi (and the internet browsing and VoIP possibilities it opens up), but I think Bluetooth is a waste of time, technology, and battery life. Just plug in a headset; how hard is that? Just use a wire in your car, or between your phone and laptop. If you are already carrying a laptop, or using a charger inside your car, how hard is it to carry and use one more wire? :roll: