Psst: People Still Want Mobile Phones To Be Phones First
from the kitchen-sink,-second dept
Jeremy Wagstaff makes an important point that is important to repeat every once in a while: for all the fancy new smartphones out there, many people still want a mobile phone to just be a phone that works. Wagstaff makes his point by saying how an unnamed top mobile phone exec told him off-the-record (hence the lack of identification) that despite all the fancy feature-filled smartphones he was out trying to convince the world to buy, his favorite phone was the simple Nokia 1100. It's a simple, straight-forward phone. No camera. No video. No internet. Not even a color screen. But, it works. This reminds me that until only about a year ago, my main mobile phone was a Samsung SCH-3500, which I'd used for about six years or so. Sure I'd tried this or that smart phone, but none of them seemed to do the most basic thing (act as a phone) nearly as well. It was only earlier this year that I finally switched to a smart phone full time, but it still doesn't work nearly as well as that old 3500 for just making and receiving calls. I, like many people, certainly like the idea of the various features found in a smartphone, but if it can't work well as a phone, it's really not particularly useful.
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Filed Under: feature creep, mobile phones, smartphones
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Disagree
But how many people buy cars without air condition, Radio? How popular are navigation systems and OnStar?
Making phones as less phones and more portable computers.. makes sense. It's just a change of paradigm which companies are leaning toward.. It just takes time for the technology to mature. Remember that cell phone technology is 25 years mature or so-- smart phones are perhaps.. 10? And smart phones are far more complex beasts..
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Re: Disagree
Unlike cars, gadgets are getting cheaper and smaller all the time. When I want an mp3 player, I grab my Ipod. When I need to take pictures, I grab my digital camera. When I need to make a phone call, I grab my... phone. The first 2 have one primary function and do it well. The last one has one primary function that it pretty well sucks at, plus a whole bunch of other crap that I don't even want.
Make a phone that lets me walk from my kitchen to my living room without dropping a call- THEN worry about mobile tv and all that other crap.
Hell- I went to a concert last weekend and had to leave my phone behind because it had a camera in it- a camera I've used once in 3 years. I didn't even want the damn camera, but I couldn't get a decent phone without one...
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Re: Re: Disagree
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But how many people but a car with
the car does NOT work.
Car must be a car first.
Phone must be a TelePhone first.
First things first.
If you try to be all things to all people
you end up being nothing to no one.
Know what you do an do it well.
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I think that the RIAA might be responsible for the forest fires in California. Have you ever seen a tree buy an album? Just saying.
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Re: DAMINOS
I don't want to buy a phone just for a phone, an MP3 player just to play music, a $600 PDA just to send email and check appointments.
I can see you now walking down the street with 6 devices clipped to your belt looking like Batman.
No thanks. Just give me one device that does many things "good enough": good enough to get me through the times when I am not behind my computer, which happens to do all things wonderfully.
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Very true
I live in a rural area, near the main highway in idaho.
A city 10 miles North of me...and sun Valley farther north.
Some companies get 1/2 way to the next town...After that town, NONE work. and its 10 miles from the freeway. Past that location upto Sun Valley...the signals ARE very bad. And it ISNT digital if you do get a signal.
Im not even counting all the dead spots, in cities, and along freeways..
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My old phone needed charging once a week. Actually about every 10 days, but I was in the habit of charging it on Friday evenings. Now my smart phone with its plethora of features and big screen takes charging every night. That means I sometimes forget to grab it off the charger in the morning and don't have a mobile all day.
My provider made it worse by deciding they could make money if I shopped through my phone. So all of the menu's start with shopping and I have to tell the phone "No, I don't want to shop" before I can get to the other phone features.
I really hope the 700MHz auction goes well on its first round. I would love to buy a phone that has the features I want configured the way I want them.
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Samsung SCH 3500
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And since I actually like having it with me (hated having a regular cell on me since I don't make that many calls, and I don't like the idea of a "Bother me" device), people can actually get in contact with me more frequently (though at the expense of my isolation).
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Re:
The sound might be great for you, but it sucks for whoever you are calling.
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pfff
Let me browse, email and IM. That's all I want. No video, no youtube, no damn webclipped versions of sites.
I don't own a cellphone. I don't have a land line at home. I use skype for the 5 phone calls I make a year.
I realize I am in the minority here, but screw phones.
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Very Very true
One feature I really like in plain-phones is that they have a looooooonng battery life (the Nokia 1100 can be charged once in a week in light uses .... or you can stay all day long talking in it and it stands up to 2 full days).
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At the end, all I need is a phone; I am anxious to get to the day when i can ditch my RAZR and get something more reliable and sturdy.
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Give me a *simple* phone
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Next feature
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new
It's only a matter of time and shrinking tech until we carry our computers and at this rate it's going to be made my Sony Ericsson and Nokia not Dell and Gateway.
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All I want is a typewriter
I think you are missing the point here. Five years from now, smartphones will be a whole lot better, and probably just as "indispensable" as our PCs are today.
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Progress
A. You want something simple because you are confused by technology
B. You are buying crappy phones.
There are plenty of phones that work great as phones And have tons of features. You just need to do your research before you buy.
Is it really surprising that a telco exec wants a simple phone? He is probably 60+ Most older people that come into my store want a simple phone (because they fit into reason A), but just about everyone else wants the features.
Accept the fact that it is progress. Yes, your car's dashboard is now more confusing because it can do so much more than it used to. Yes, your computer does way more now and it probably more confusing for you. Same with your phone. If you don't want all those extra features buy a basic phone and don't use the extra features, but Most people Do want all the extra features.
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Re: Progress
Also it is hard to judge an individual phone in a vaccuum. We compare each new phone we're forced into to the one before, which we invariably preferred.
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Re: Progress
...but Most people Do want all the extra features.
And I bet most of those people want all the extra features and the basic phone to work as well. That is the reason why I refuse to get caught of in the hype of mobile content this and mobile tv that. Perhaps when the quality of these all-in-one devices gets to the point where all those extras AND the basic phone works worth a damn more people (myself included) will invest in them.
Yes the dashboard of a car is more confusing with all the new doohickies and whatnot but at least the ability to download the latest Family Guy episode while getting directions to the nearest theater on your GPS and having your OnStar tell you movie times won't come at the cost of your car suddenly stopping while driving down the freeway.
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cell phone designers cant be trusted with color like children can't be trusted with guns
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This whole anti-smartphone bit is pathetic.
Do some googling and look at smartphone sales/usage in Japan and Europe.
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Geek who just wants a freaking phone
Here's where is gets inconvenient and decidedly uncool, though. If my cell phone breaks, my business is inconvenienced but not down. If my mobile computer breaks, my business is inconvenienced but not down. The issue is this when both happen to break at the same time and/or I am without them for longer than a day or two.
Now, that's never happened but to simulate it I tried not using either a while back, mainly out of curiosity. I was almost completely unable to conduct business. I spent so much time working around the problem that I discovered if I was without one or the other longer than a day (two at most) my business virtually shuts down. That impacts my business for the next week at least because I've got to catch up. What if my clients that I can't handle in a timely manner go elsewhere? This is even worse!
So here's a geek (and I do mean geek ... I a basement full of gadgets and they spill into the rest of the house) that will not have a combined device. I need a phone to be a freaking PHONE. If it does some basic GPS and text messaging, fine. If not then so much the better. I need a mobile computer that is mobile yet functional. The UMPC market is catching up to that need but it has a bit more to go.
What it amounts to is convergence is a good thing for many but it cannot serve all aspects of the market with a single device. When a company marginalizes potential customers, they will go elsewhere.
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Re: Geek who just wants a freaking phone
Translated. Have an extra phone available for use when the first one is dropped getting out of the car or when the waiter pours coffee all over it. Transfer the SIM and keep on going.
And don't say you can't afford it, as such things are 100% tax deductible.
BTW, I have an iPhone and a notebook. If the notebook dies I can still check and respond to my email on the phone. (Which I do from time-to-time anyway when my notebook is at home.) And if the phone dies I can still do email, text, chat, and VOIP with the notebook.
You see, in my book convergence means that you're automatically carrying around a backup...
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Back to a basic phone
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