Mobile Metamorphosis

Today, mobile media is more than a phone, it’s a communications lifestyle
Gone are the days when a cell phone, once considered a luxury item, is just for making or receiving calls. It has evolved into a powerful, computer-like communications center where data is transferred at incredible speeds to just about everywhere (except for some of the roads around the reservoir in Cheshire and some apartment buildings in Boston). Even the once-monochrome screen now radiates brilliant colors and is customizable to fit your mood, visual acuity or work style. In fact, the screens are getting bigger – note the new IPhone – so that watching vidcasts or movies are actually enjoyable. Not even the ingenious Mr. Bell could have imagined this mobile metamorphosis.

Why just today, I heard a commercial for Wachovia Bank extolling the virtues of managing your account and paying bills using your cell phone. A year ago this commercial wouldn’t have aired. The market demand or the technology to power it didn’t exist.

The mobile phone, once a 5-pound accessory for the rich, is today an affordable communications tool that not only keeps us connected, but informed. From the busy executive flying from country to country on business, to the running about town mom, to the tribal farmers in Africa setting market prices for their produce, the cell phone has become indispensable to modern living, no matter where on the globe you may be.

What can today’s cell phones do?
Today’s phones have layers of features, many of which you pay extra to use, such as internet connection, sending photos, downloading ring tones. But you don’t have to. Besides an abundance of ever expanding, rich features, this is what I like best about digital technology – choice. No other portable device offers so many. Here are some of the most popular features on current cell phones:

2007 Cell Phone
|_calls – incoming/outgoing
|_3-way conversations
|_call forwarding
|_ address book/ contact info
|_ text messages
|_camera
|_mp3 player
|_games
|_location aware, multi-player
|_internet
|_email
|_web surfing
|_podcasts
|_video player
|_gps

Mobile technology – what it can do for you
Calls…..that’s obvious. But it’s the number one reason for a phone. The accompanying features that enhance our ability to make and receive calls are usually included in the monthly fees – call forwarding, contact information (just about everything you need to know about a person can be in here).

Texting…..It's a smart use of time and technology. It's one, quiet, unobtrusive way to keep in touch, just check in, or mark the progress of people that you need to reach. Although texting is currently limited to 160 characters, this restraint on blabbering fits the immediacy of this device. Shakespeare might agree as he once said, "brevity is the soul of wit".

Camera.....I’ve never seen so many people using a cell phone camera to capture a moment. In fact, not only a moment, but so much of their lives. Unlike a bulky SLR (single lens reflex camera), the cell phone, which you always have with you (how many times have I forgotten my camera?) is small, convenient to use and with a few keystrokes you can send an image around the world. They’re also getting better image quality. Last March, 2006 Samsung announced its new SCH-B600 10-megapixel camera phone. There’s nothing I can say after this…whew!

Mp3 player…..Nice option, but you can’t beat an IPod.

Games…..Using location-aware mobile technology, you can play multi-user games. I don’t see myself running around a city with my cell phone, but I can see how people could have fun with this. It’s the location-aware ability that attracts me. Software developers, like Socialight.com have mobile programs that guide you to nearby restaurants, shopping, events tagged by users with their reviews. This is the most convenient method I can think of for an up-to-date guide with useful commentary – all in a phone.

Email, internet…..My job does not require me to be in constant communication. I’m not in sales, or own my own business. My email can wait (or so I thought until I took this class) And internet access whenever and wherever you want it allows you to look up a stock quote, read the paper, check out YouTube, shop online….the list goes on.

Podcasting…..This has been the biggest eye-opener for me – being able to download and listen to episodes of radio programs I like but can’t always listen to; vidcasts, especially instructional ones where I can learn or improve a skill. To have this capability on a cell phone is such a delightful surprise. And to be able to extend this to other mobile media, like IPod, makes me smile.

Playing videos…..As long as they are relatively short, and you have enough battery life, a cell phone can be used for watching videos. But the screen is still a bit too small for me to go out and get some popcorn.

GPS….. Location-aware software like GPS is quickly catching on in cell phones. Its many uses like child monitoring and travel directions only add to the must-have reasons to use all that your cell phone has to offer. I have a one-year old Garmin GPS mobile device which is pretty good, so I won’t be using my cell phone for this yet. But having so many useful functions in one device is very attractive.

How this little phone has had a big impact on our lives
* Mobile technology changed the face of news. Every day, citizen journalists are scooping the professionals with on-the-spot photos and stories. Most major newspapers devote up-front space in print or online for this specific new genre.

* Cell phones can catch the moment – even of people in high places at low moments. And those supplying the tabloids with embarrassing images have made big money. Remember the photo – from a very unflattering angle – of Princess Diana working out at a gym? I know there are more; I just don’t read those magazines or papers.

* It helped tell the story of September 11 when people on Flight #93 knew from their cell phone calls that commercial jets had rammed into the World Trade Center. This knowledge of an attack fueled their efforts to fight the terrorists and prevented them from a suicide mission that would have killed who knows how many more innocent people.

* Cell phones can change the world. Sounds overreaching, but it is true. When Buddhist monks led a peaceful march protesting the repression taking place in Burma, it proved to the world how bad the government actually was when they attacked the marchers.

* It’s almost impossible to do anything in secret anymore. Someone always has a tiny cell phone in his pocket. When Saddam Hussein was hung for his crimes, it was planned as a private event. But video, with voice, got out and the world got a glimpse of what really happened.

* It helps you find your keys when you drop them in the dark.

* Peace of mind when you connect with those you care about. If this were its only feature, it would still be the best.

Mobile technology has changed the world
And we can’t go back, we can only go forward.
We are fast becoming one through today’s evolving mobile technology. The lines are blurring between the device, its features, functions and data. The transformation of this once-simple invention – the telephone – has truly redefined not only our American culture, but cultures around the world.

Everyone is reachable. Place is no longer important. Mobile technology provides us the opportunity to access information at any time, anywhere; to communicate in voice, text, photo and video with people around the block, around the country, around the world, or just to amuse ourselves as we wait for the next train.

The world is getting smaller even as mobile technology expands
It is only inevitable, that development for more and more user applications is on the rise. Why, even in our mobile class, there are quite a few programs designed by users, not programmers, that I would definitely use, and pay for, if (I should say when) they come to market.


My personal mobile metamorphosis
At the beginning of this class, I was one of those people who used a cell phone just as a phone. My husband always tells me I come kicking and screaming into technology. He’s right, but what he leaves out is that once I jump in, you can’t get me out of the pool. I guess it’s because I’m comfortable with what I know, which is one reason I wanted to take this class. As the weeks progressed and I became immersed in this technology and learned of the current applications, it became clear that this device is a pocket powerhouse whose full potential is unknown.

I have such a greater appreciation for what mobile technology can do, and look forward to its future that I honestly don’t look at my cell phone the same way I did when this class started. I have another year on my cellular contract, but I’ve already asked Santa for an IPod. Next year, who knows…a Blackberry? Treo? IPhone?

Thanks for a very enlightening semester, Samuel.

An IPhone as an MS computer?

The video of this new technology - surface computing - is something you just have see.

I couldn't help but think of the IPhone as a comparison. In fact it looks like an IPhone but is evern better, because it's a computer with a much larger screen.

Gotta watch it!

Hi

Welcome to my world of books

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