I want a new cellphone. My MTN contract has been due for an upgrade for the past three months, but I’ve been stalling.
In short, I want the “perfect” cellphone … if, indeed, there is such a thing. I hope I’m speaking for the many who are facing the exact same dilemma. I’m not 16 years old so “clever” gimmicks don’t impress me. Nor do pink phones Or phones trying to be iPods. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t want a gold phone designed by Dolce & Gabbana or one called “Chocolate” either. Even if Chocolate phones now come in pink.
No, I don’t want a Carl Zeiss lens. Who purposefully takes 3 megapixel photos with their phone?! If you’ve got the few thousand rand needed to purchase one of these super camera phones, surely you already own a digital camera? Yes, you’ll want to take one or two opportunistic snaps at some-or-other late night out, but do you really need a lens that takes up half the size of the phone?
No, I don’t want an extremely thin phone. This translates to a much wider and taller phone that usual (just to make it “thinner”). Why would you want a phone as thick (thin?) as a CD case? I don’t get it. I do not want you to continue trying to make your one-hit-wonder, the phone that arguably saved your company from bankruptcy, thinner and thinner and thinner. I want keys that my fingers can press easily, not microscopic bumps. Soon there’ll be almost nothing to hold on to while trying to make a simple phone call.
No, I don’t want my phone to store gigabytes and gigabytes of music. I’m not even sure I want an FM radio – although it might be useful?
No, I don’t want a cellphone that I can flip over from one side to the other to switch between the “phone” and the music player. Even Beyonce couldn’t convince me to buy one of these.
No, I don’t want a guitar chord dictionary, metronome, musical pitch finder, ringtone composer, video editing software, PDF reader or barcode scanner built into my phone! (Yes, these are all features on some newer handsets!)
The simple things
Yes, I want 3G. It means my data will be sent faster, I’ll be able to browse websites quicker. This should almost be standard on handsets by now, shouldn’t it?
Yes, I want Bluetooth (or “Blueteeth” as the guy in the Vodacom advert terms it). Get rid of the bizarre urge to ship every handset with an Infrared port. Bluetooth replaced this technology a good few years ago.
Yes, I want a simple navigation interface. Lose the silly animated icons and let me choose my own menu order. Any phone that requires over three menu selections just to type an SMS (never mind send one) should not have been made. The glaring error made by a lot of handset manufacturers is that the technology side is crammed full of features, yet the software and operating system on the phone are as counter-intuitive as you could imagine.
Yes, I want a battery that will last longer than a few days. Four days would be first prize. This doesn’t mean that I want my phone to last four days while left next to my bed on standby; lasting four days during normal/day-to-day use is a start.
Yes, I want simple integration with my calendar (preferably Microsoft Outlook). Ditch the proprietary PC suite and contacts backup software. Let me simply sync my Outlook appointments with my phone.
Yes, I want to be able to receive e-mail on my phone, preferably even with Blackberry (push-to-device) technology. I won’t need to download all my mail, I’ll simply receive any new messages when they arrive.
A phone that’s just a phone
A lot has been published in the US over the past few weeks, mostly relating to a seemingly bland handset, the Nokia 3109 Classic. Top technology writer Om Malik a few days ago categorised this as a “what-took-them-so-long-to-figure-this-out” phone.
John Barry, Director of Mobile Phones at Nokia said at launch that “We recognize that a sizeable number of people just want a mobile phone to stay in touch on their own terms.”
And this has taken them how long to realise?!
There has been a lot of hype surrounding this Nokia, not necessarily because it’s the best of what’s out there, but because the company has managed to capitalise on the hostility towards bloated, feature-filled cellphones.
Speaking at Sony Ericsson’s country launch earlier this year, region manger Martijn Lutgerink also acknowledged that some users just want a simple phone.
Besides the Nokia handset, to be released as the 3110 Classic in South Africa soon, there are other cellphones you could consider. That is, if you’re in search of a phone that’s just a phone.
Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Motorola (as well as LG, and others) all have cellphones that are simply “phones” in their ranges.
Visit your service provider or cellphone store and consider your options. Don’t be bulldozed into buying the newest and “best” handset because the assistant suggests it. No, you do not want your phone to pretend to be an MP3 music player, do you?
You might end up with a phone that takes five seconds just to open your phonebook because the operating system would be more at home on a laptop.
Think before you “upgrade”.
