I remember when cell phones came out. They were about the
size of a hard cover novel and about as heavy too. To answer them, you’d have
to unzip the case to get to the phone handset inside. You couldn’t just carry
the handset around with you though, as it was connected to a black box, which
held the rest of the guts of the phone.
From there, cell phones gradually got smaller. A favorite
game, when businessmen gathered, was to show off their cell phones. One would take
his out of his jacket pocket, in order to make a legitimate call. Seeing this,
anyone who had a smaller phone would pull theirs out of their pocket, so that
they could show off. Generally speaking, whoever had the smallest phone was
king of the hill. That could get a bit sticky at times, especially when one had
a smaller cell phone than their boss.
Cell phones continued to grow smaller and smaller, and
flip-phones, patterned after the Star Trek communicator began to take over the
marketplace. In Japan, the country of miniaturization, they started building
them into watches, making even Dick Tracy jealous. Yet, the quest for the smallest
cell phone continued.
It seemed that this would go on indefinitely, getting to the
point where we’d have our cell phones implanted in our fingers, like Inspector
Gadget. That is, until something shocking happened, the invention of the smart
phone. Now it wasn’t about having the smallest phone any more, the contest
switched to having the phone with the most whistles and bells. But, the evolution
of the cell phone wasn’t over.
The next stage in cell phone evolution was the addition of
the touch screen. Keyboards started giving way to on-screen keypads. Once again,
the race was on; this time, not to make the phones smaller, but to make them
bigger. Bigger screens were better, so the phone had to grow with it.
Who knows where this will lead us. However, I have recently
seen what I think is the ultimate cell phone. This touch screen wonder measures
11” x 17”, the same size as a tabloid newspaper. Talk about touch screen, this
baby’s got it! You can make those angry birds really fly!
Yes, the giant touch screen telephone is the next wave in
cell phone technology. While it may be a bit awkward to hold up to the side of
your head, you can really make your apps sing on it. Imaging playing games on a
screen to rival that on your desk. Imaging having multiple touch points on that
screen, so that you can compete with your friends and co-workers. Why, this
could usher in a whole new generation of apps; we’ll have to call them
super-apps!
The biggest drawback to the super-tablet cell phone is
carrying the thing around. Not only has it gone back to the weight of the
original, but it’s bigger than those original cell phones, to boot. Various
accessories are under development to allow users to easily carry their
super-tablet cell phone, such as specialized backpacks, chest packs, and a very
promising strap arrangement, which allows both hands free to play on the touch
screen, while walking.
Rumors are already circulating about design ideas to beat the
super-tablet cell phone. One even includes a circular screen, like a lampshade,
which you put your head inside, creating a virtual reality on your phone. This
particular idea is receiving a lot of opposition, believing that it could
become a safety hazard. It appears that the company may be in agreement, as
they are working on creating a HUD (heads-up display) version of the same
thing, which would allow pedestrians and drivers to see past the screen to the real
world around them.
While we know that the Apple corporation is working on this
problem as well, hoping to increase the leadership position that their iPhone
has given them, they are being secretive, as usual. We’ll have to wait to hear
about their next generation of super-phone, until Steve Jobs comes back from the
dead.
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