That Technology is a Funny Thing

I realized this a while back and was reminded of it again today, but Cell Phones make me laugh.

We started out with giant cell phones back in the 80s and through the 90s and early 2000s, cell phone companies were in competition to make the smallest phones possible so they weren't so big and clunky.

Now here we are 2012 and the phone companies are trying to make the biggest touch screen smartphone possible. Samsung came out with the Galaxy Note which is a tablet and phone in one.

We kind of went forwards and backwards at the same time.

it's a Star Trek thing- first they had to invent functional communicators that flipped open like in the original series, now they are trying to invent those pads that they put everything on during the Next Generation years..

blue tooth technology was invented solely for the purpose of replicating Uhura's ear piece and the tricorder.

i'm waiting for the day that computer repair merely involves swapping out different colored crystals or small square pieces of glass..

novaderrik wrote: i'm waiting for the day that computer repair merely involves swapping out different colored crystals or small square pieces of glass..

And yet the more things change, the more they stay the same.

People can make fun of me all they want, but I have an "old" flip phone, roughly the same thickness and 1/2-1/3 the size of an iphone. But ive dropped it 15 feet in the middle of a call, it was fine. New technology isnt necessarily better.

I remember all the commercials for the smallest phones in like 07 or 08, the juke would be tiny compared to these smart phones.

fritzsch wrote: People can make fun of me all they want, but I have an "old" flip phone, roughly the same thickness and 1/2-1/3 the size of an iphone. But ive dropped it 15 feet in the middle of a call, it was fine. New technology is necessarily better.

I've dropped my iPhone in a pond and watch it play submarine, flying around like it knew where it was going. Same phone was dropped from a 2 story house on the concrete, it was also flung off the top of my car onto the freeway and run over by who knows how many cars plus a fully loaded bus. AND IT STILL WORKED.

BUT much later a 2' drop that had it land on the front corner broke the glass.

novaderrik wrote: blue tooth technology was invented solely for the purpose of replicating Uhura's ear piece and the tricorder.

Cute story, totally false.

I am amused slightly at the trend toward growing phones, but you've got to realize that the smartphone is a total game-changer. They're not even used as phones much anymore, which clearly has changed the dynamic.

That said, my DroidX is about as large a device as I'd consider practical.

I have a galaxy S.. only because I am a bit old fashioned and like a real keyboard on my phones (it slides out) and it is about as large as I want a phone to get

carguy123 wrote: I've dropped my iPhone in a pond and watch it play submarine, flying around like it knew where it was going. Same phone was dropped from a 2 story house on the concrete, it was also flung off the top of my car onto the freeway and run over by who knows how many cars plus a fully loaded bus. AND IT STILL WORKED. BUT much later a 2' drop that had it land on the front corner broke the glass.

I've dropped my iPhone 100s of times, but one day I was working in the garage and it fell off the lid of the garbage can where it was sitting and smashed the back glass. Put a cover on it and still use it.

I rarely use my phone for making phone calls. It's mainly a camera, gps, and mobile computer. I mainly communicate via text. And half the time I do make a call it's to businesses who's number I looked up online on my phone.

Modern phones don't fit in my pocket. When I first got a phone, it was a narrow flip phone, and it fit next to my wallet in my front pocket perfectly. My next phone was wider, the next wider still, and the one I have now is slightly too wide. Then again, I hate cell phones with a burning passion, so I should probably just get rid of mine and get a land line, but my wife would kill me because she'd "never be able to find me if she needed me." I don't think she remembers there was a time when cell phones didn't exist...

I don't think I'll ever buy one of those huge phones. My current phone is about the size of an iPhone but thicker. My last 3 phones have had roughly the same volume.

A bigger smart phone like that would be ok if I could have a Bluetooth C-Shape device to actually talk on. Maybe it would have a minimal screen and number pad. The whole bluetooth ear piece thing is really annoying for everyone not wearing them, and using the voice recognition software to make calls is awkward.

Basically, a bluetooth device that was a "minimal phone" that worked off your gigantic smartphone that could be stashed in your briefcase, backpack, or wedged into your pocket. It would be less expensive than your "actual" phone, the one with all the bells and whistles, data plan, emails, and nekid pictures of your girlfriend, so if you lost or broke the handset you wouldn't feel like you world ended.

They already make similar "bluetooth handsets", but they don't feature number pads, so you still need access to the actual phone, and they aren't exactly portable.

That Galaxy Note would actually be perfect for my job, but it needs to have a speaker phone and it needs to be worth a E36 M3. I need something thats a cross between a tablet and a phone.

My company can't decide whether we are using iPhones or iPads or both together. They are a Fortune 500 company and should be working with Apple to develop a device like that Galaxy Note. We currently have Symbol phones and they are the biggest piece of junk.

PHeller wrote: Basically, a bluetooth device that was a "minimal phone" that worked off your gigantic smartphone that could be stashed in your briefcase, backpack, or wedged into your pocket. It would be less expensive than your "actual" phone, the one with all the bells and whistles, data plan, emails, and nekid pictures of your girlfriend, so if you lost or broke the handset you wouldn't feel like you world ended.

I'm so shocked that this doesn't exist. When the tablet PC plus bluetooth came out I had the same thought. It would turn your Ipad/Droid Tablet/Kindle type device into a true all in one. PC/Phone/PDA everything. I think this is probably why they don't do it. They want you to have an IMac, IPad, and an Iphone (Droid, Microsoft all the others are the same not picking on apple). Why have 1 device that can do everything for $500 when we can make you buy 3. It's the same thing with TIG/plasma cutters from the big 3 (Miller/Hobart/Lincoln) I would GLADLY RUN NOT WALK to my nearest welding shop if for ~$1500-$1700 I could buy a Hobart brand/quality Inverter Tig that can run as a Plasma cutter as well. But no! I can get an $800 chinese device that will do it but I have to buy 2 pieces of $$$ equipment from Hobart to do it.

I wonder how much of the this is driven by FCC regulations. You would think that putting everything in one device like my Nook Tablet and adding phone service with a Bluetooth earpiece would be easy to do. Must be a reason it's not done more frequently.

Same goes for laptops

vwcorvette wrote: I wonder how much of the this is driven by FCC regulations. You would think that putting everything in one device like my Nook Tablet and adding phone service with a Bluetooth earpiece would be easy to do. Must be a reason it's not done more frequently.

Nope no regulations or anything preventing this, they just don't make tablets with cell voice capability for some reason, even though some of them already have a cellular modem for cell data and basically have all the hardware needed.

The 5" units like the Galaxy Note are known in the biz as Phablet (phone/tablet) and you will see more of them entering the marketplace.
http://www.gottabemobile.com/2012/04/26/zte-to-launch-two-phablets-this-year-to-compete-against-samsung-galaxy-note/
http://www.technobloom.com/samsung-galaxy-note-shatters-korean-lte-sales-record-doing-just-fine-in-the-us/228415/
These will be all the rage for this years 4th quarter. .

Are they for everyone, no; but many will like them.

The biggest I will go with a phone is a iPhone with otterbox. The damn thing is unkillable (still rocking the 3G).

I've been waiting for an Android phone with a stylus since Android came out. But I checked out the Note in a store and it's just too big. Give me a Galaxy or Nexus S with a pen and we're talking.

The biggest issue with going small is input. You've got to have something large enough to allow you to input numbers consistently without double dialing.

The same is true of the display. It's got to be big enough for you to easily see the content they are giving you.

I'd dearly love an iPad that was also my phone. I could do everything with one device and I wouldn't have a problem carrying it around either. I "think" I"d probably lose it less often too.

I hate Bluetooth because I wear glasses and they both want the same real estate, but for this I'd tolerate it for minutes on end, and just remove it and put it in the convenient holder that would be made for it in the holder for the iPad/phone.

I don't need a stylus because there are so many holders for the iPad that give you a keyboard and give you back the real estate the keyboard on screen steals.

nocones wrote:

PHeller wrote: Basically, a bluetooth device that was a "minimal phone" that worked off your gigantic smartphone that could be stashed in your briefcase, backpack, or wedged into your pocket. It would be less expensive than your "actual" phone, the one with all the bells and whistles, data plan, emails, and nekid pictures of your girlfriend, so if you lost or broke the handset you wouldn't feel like you world ended.

I'm so shocked that this doesn't exist. When the tablet PC plus bluetooth came out I had the same thought. It would turn your Ipad/Droid Tablet/Kindle type device into a true all in one. PC/Phone/PDA everything. I think this is probably why they don't do it. They want you to have an IMac, IPad, and an Iphone (Droid, Microsoft all the others are the same not picking on apple). Why have 1 device that can do everything for $500 when we can make you buy 3. It's the same thing with TIG/plasma cutters from the big 3 (Miller/Hobart/Lincoln) I would GLADLY RUN NOT WALK to my nearest welding shop if for ~$1500-$1700 I could buy a Hobart brand/quality Inverter Tig that can run as a Plasma cutter as well. But no! I can get an $800 chinese device that will do it but I have to buy 2 pieces of $$$ equipment from Hobart to do it.

It does. Kindof.

Motorola Atrix.

http://www.amazon.com/AT-Laptop-Dock-Motorola-ATRIX/dp/B004M17D62

Also I would never buy a phone that requires a bluetooth earpiece thing because one it makes anyone using it look like they are talking to themselves and two anyone using one looks like a twat.

I'm considering getting a bluetooth handset:

I have a droid bionic, and I'll tell you, the damn thing is big. Sometimes nice- I watched a movie on it once. Otherwise, it's a little bulky. Does make it easier to swype on the "virtual keyboard". I like it fine, but all in all, I think I'd rather it be smaller.