In a recent Blog article, Mitch Joel argued that the new range of smart phones are less about being a phone and more about “A computer that is in every person’s hand that connects them to information and everyone else in the world.” This corroborates what Deni Kasrel said to me about a conversation she had had with an Apple Support employee about the iPhone was told “It’s really 10 percent a phone and 90 percent a computer.”
The iPhone, the Palm Pre, the latest HTC, the Nexus One are all, to a greater or lesser extent, powerful micro pcs. And people are racing to adopt, and then vociferously defend, their chosen device. But at what cost? Firstly, you are pretty much buying into a platform for life. For example, spend a few hundred (or more) pounds on Google apps and even if you fancy a change of phone 3 or 4 years later, you are unlikely to want to wave goodbye to all of that money and start again on a new platform. Is it really a great idea to tie yourself into one manufacturer like that?
The race seems to be on to include features on these smart phones that were cutting edge on PCs of only a few years ago: the ability to multi-task; Google Maps (or something similar); fast processors; lean, stable and fast operating systems etc.. My question is: Do we really need all of this on a mobile phone? I’ve read all of the arguments about mobile communications being so important, and I agree, but don’t netbooks and small format laptops fulfill that function?
I can understand the benefits of push technology and being able to access your emails on a smart phone but once it comes to browsing websites and looking at images, the small screen on a smartphone is really limiting. Add in the problems for anyone who is long-sighted and it can be a recipe for frustration!
I am seriosuly considering going back to a phone that’s a phone, that is based on high quality sound and using my 13″ laptop for mobile computing – I almost always have it with me so why duplicate the technology? It will avoid all of the synching across 3 machines that I hear people complaining about. It may also prove to be the most efficient way of managing my on-line social networks.
Go on, convince me I’m wrong!
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