Slashdot Mirror
Plain Cell Phones Fading Away?
An anonymous reader writes "According to this Reuters article plain old vanilla cell phones are fading away in the US. Instead, the author claims, (after quoting some 'expert' from this company) that phones with fancy features (cameras, games, etc.) are starting to dominate. I beg to differ - one of the few things stopping me from purchasing a phone is the fact that I do not want to pay for hundreds of features that I will never use. All I want is an address book and a way to make calls."
Most cell phones have had at least small-scale games on board for years. Nothing advanced, but simple enough things that can keep you occupied during a really boring airport wait. Now, as the processing power increases and the color screens are more common, it's not surprising that the games are getting a little more attention. The new trend is the color screens and cameras, games were already on board.
as long as there is a market, there will be plain jane phones. I don't think so. When the phones with the features are as cheap as the plain jane phones, then they will replace them. Take calculators nowadays. Most people could get by with add, subtract, divide, and multiply. But since it is so cheap, you've got square root, memory functions, tax functions etc all built in. and that costs no more than a regular calculator. There is a market for plain jane caluators, but you can't find them.
My user number is prime. Is yours?
In theory, one could make a Bluetooth device that itself has no interface other than Bluetooth and whatever celluar network system, and then depend on other devices for the microphone, speaker, etc.
However, the cost of including a microphone, speaker, and small display, especially in mass-marketed form, is so small I just can't see that happening. It'll be cheaper for the cell phone makers to just hand you a standard cell phone with Bluetooth, and just tell you to ignore the features you don't want or need.
It's simple really, I want to be able to plug into my phone and think the words, and they person calling me can hear them. Thats all I want, no camera, no games, I'd rather think talk than think how many times do I push 4 to get the letter captial 'I'.
I wouldn't bother anyone by needing to speak loudly in public. That is the most important thing of all. A cell phone that allows me to communicate, while extending the courtesy of silence to those around me. THAT is the killer feature I am waiting for.
AngrPeopleRule
"Science is about ego as much as it is about discovery and truth " - I said it, so sue me.
I beg to differ with you begging to differ.
Maybe in the US, but here in the UK it is almost impossible to buy a plain black and white basic phone.
Phone functionality works in 6 month cycles. What is high tier this year will be middle tier middle of next year and low tier at the end of the year.
6 months ago colour screens and polyphonic was middle tier, now even the most basic phone these days has them both. Next year the most basic phone will have a camera (and the high tier will also have cameras but be capable of pushing 2 megapixels)
Ever tried getting a phone that doesn't have SMS? You can't and in two years it'll be the same with the other bits of functionality you despise.
So yes, they are dominating. Just because you are holding back doesn't mean they aren't. But when yours bites the dust you'll realise that you'll have to move with the times.
Which may or may not be a good thing depending on your point of view.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
In some ways I agree with the author of this post. I mean, yes, it would be nice to have a camera on my phone (except that in all honesty, why would I use that camera when my digital camera is better), or instant messaging (except that keypad typing is really annoying, and thumb-boards are as well, and I'm not a JOT fan), and a web browser (if only I could really see what I was looking at), and fancy ringtones (my self-esteem is so low that I need some fancy song to play when my phone rings so everyone thinks I'm cool), and GPS (ok, so I actually like this feature), and a radio or mp3 player (except I can buy a better mp3 player or radio, a lot better)...
Ok, so maybe these features sound nice to begin with, but in all honesty, when your camera isn't that high quality (and yes, some are going to argue that they get GREAT pictures from their phone, thank you, I work in a publications department, lets compare your phones digital camera to our 10,000$+ digicams), your screen isn't big enough to really do that much, and the phone uses a keypad for text entry, is it really worth all that extra money?
In my opinion, not really...
I'd like one or two 'special features' but in all honesty, all I really want is a phone, an address book (and maybe a planner, if my phone can sync to my computer), really great battery life, and a good signal wherever I go. beyond that, there isn't much I want. I see how it's great that all these devices can come together (eliminate pocket bulge today!) but you end up with one somewhat mediocre device in the end.
I've been considering getting a combo pda/phone for a while, but the cost is just to high compared to the quality, and then when I see that most of them have internal (think ipod) batteries, and I know how fast I go through cellphone batteries, I can see myself being stranded somewhere without a charge when I might really need my cellphone, or worse, killing the battery from overuse over a few months (In the last 7 months I've logged 296 hours on my current cellphone)
[Something witty and intelligent should have appeared here.]
{Traicovn}
To be honest, to me this smacks of Luddism; the additional features you bemoan clearly don't add to the cost of the phones, as the 'baseline' phone price hasn't increased in the past 3-5 years - in fact, it's decreased. I don't know of any phones on the market which do not have "an addressbook and a way to make calls", so the argument is basically pointless.
On the flip side of the argument, I've been using a Sony Ericsson P900 since it came out (and the P800 before that) - it's at the other end of the spectrum to the type of phone you describe, having a full-function PDA, Web browser and camera included - and it's been a total revelation. Having instant Web access wherever you are is astoundingly useful, and applications which make specific use of this feature are starting to appear - for example, I use a nifty little program which downloads the weather forecasts and exchange rates every day (or on demand), so that these data are always available to me. Until you try it, you won't think it's any great shakes, but once you have, you won't go back...
In short: the additional features aren't useless. If you don't want to use them, don't use them, but most people will get utility from them. And they're not adding to the cost of the phones; the increased sales of new models lead to economies of scale which bring down the cost of all phones. Win-win.
Yes, of course. The Rice Crispies machine. A simple set of photos of the outside allows them to clone it. Here's a roll of film I took of my car. Make a fuel injected 4-cyclinder DOHC engine now, please.
Oh, you can't? Hmmm. Funny.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
- Take notes (most recently, I was looking at a shelf for my kitchen, and needed to take the measurements, price, etc. Instead of writing it all down, I took a picture).
- Take a picture of every person whose number I put in my phone. I am absolutely horrible with names, and in my last phone I'd say that maybe 20% of the people in my phonelist I had no idea who they were, but was hesitant to delete them in case one day I'd think, "Oh, THAT'S who Taro is! Damn, I should've kept the number!". Now, whenever someone calls, their name and picture shows on the screen, so I know who is who. Also helps to separate "Taro #1" from "Taro #2" for people whose last names I don't know.
- Take pictures of anything that would be a pain in the butt to describe to people. For instance, talking to my girlfriend and saying "yesterday, I saw this really cool looking poster in a store window. It was, like, an abstract blue and green thing with like these spikey things coming out...well, it was really cool. I guess you'd have to have seen it yourself". Now, if I see something cool, funny, etc., I can just snap a picture and send it.
- Personalizing mails. For example, if I get a mail that makes no sense, I could send a "WTF?!" response, but instead I'll just make a WTF face, take a picture, and send it. Much more personal than just words.
- My phone can take both screen-sized pictures, to send to other phones, and full size (1024 x 768) photos, which I can transfer to my computer through the SD card in the phone. This comes in handy on those days where I see something really beautiful (a sunset, a festival, etc.) that I wasn't expecting, and therefore wasn't carrying my normal digital camera around for.
Like I said, these are the ways I use it. You may find them incredibly retarded, but it doesn't change the fact that I (and most of my friends) get a lot of mileage out of these features.And really, the ability to have a person's face appear when they call is an absolute lifesaver for me (as well as to browse through my phone numbers with a face displayed next to the name). I don't use my cellphone for work, at all, so necessarily most of my uses will be casual. Still, that feature alone has made my phone amazingly more useful.
As for web browsing, games, etc.:
First, I live in Tokyo. That means no car. Public transportation only. Having a game you can play with one hand on your cell-phone is incredibly convenient for crowded train commutes. Other than that, honestly, I don't use java much.
The web browsing is incredibly useful, but, ironically, not for browsing the open internet. Instead, there's a site I use several times a week that will tell you the quickest train route between where you are and where you're going, what stations to change at, what time the trains leave, when you will get there, etc. Without this site, again, I would be pretty much screwed.