Advanced Technology

Mobile Phones – The New Computers?


What is a mobile phone? A mobile phone can be defined as a telephone that communicates by radio waves rather than along cables. (Farlex, The Free Dictionary). Mobile phones used to just be used as functionally direct replacements of their wired forebears. But now they have suddenly become platforms for entertainment and commerce and media consumption. This essay on mobile phones will look into their technological advancements since they first burst into the market in the early 1990’s. It will look at where mobile phone technology is today, what the future may hold and where technology can go wrong.

Since mobile phones first burst into our society in the early 1990’s they have rapidly become a necessary item in our culture. The technology that mobile phones utilize in today’s society would have been seen as unpredictable phenomena’s that were impossible when they first emerged into our market. The new solutions that are used in mobile phone technology today are utilized in ways that would have never occurred to their original designers. But it isn’t just the designers that contribute to the ascendency of technology, we too, the general public, the consumers, play a big role in the advancing technology. We have to be in the vanguard of early adopters, we see it as a real “must”. We somehow have the notion that it is a real “must” to be the first to find and use a new solution. We see that as being a value in itself. “We all want to be able to control our coffeemakers with our handset. Why? Because it is possible! (,Lindholm, Christian, Keinonen, Turkka, Kiljander, Harri, 2003, page 1)

Let’s just take a quick look into mobile phones in the past. Mobile phones were originally designed for calling people, storing contact details and occasionally text messaging people. They used to be considered as ‘bricks’ that had much less technology in a far bigger end product. Though in today’s society we expect our mobile phones to be our alarm clocks, personal schedules, download music, download movies, instant chat, email, take photos, capture videos with sound, be mp3 players, watch movies, watch live T.V, have Microsoft office applications, connect to the internet and recently provide us with GPS maps. That’s quite a lot of applications we expect to have in something so small and compact. But our mobile phone technology is that advanced that we are capable of providing all of those applications in something light, compact and easy to use. You would think that we would be happy with the amount of technology offered in mobile phones. But no, we always want more, more applications, more memory, we want more value for money and we want it to be fool-proof. But until we live in a perfect world nothing is fool-proof, not even our beloved mobile phone that we depend on so much.

Some people that depend on mobile phone technology to continue evolving are businesses and the people involved in those businesses. They don’t just depend on it for personal use; their careers also depend on it. This can be a disaster though, should their mobile phone malfunction by means of battery failure, cracked screen, software damage, falling out of reception, getting wet or simply by getting stolen. One such example of mobile phone technology failing is the Blackberry outage in New York that left millions of users without mobile access for hours. So if mobile phones are so technologically advanced why did they fail? Quite simple, every e-mail sent or received on a Blackberry passes through computers owned by RIM, says tech analyst Bill Hughes with researcher In-Stat. (Kessler, Michelle, 2007, ‘BlackBerry outage exposes RIM’s ‘soft underbelly’). The computers at RIM do all of the work, they ensure that every e-mail messages pops up on Blackberry’s instantly, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. But what do RIM’s computers have to do with technological failure? Well the answer is quite simple really if they fail or malfunction in anyway then millions of Blackberry users are left helpless and without their technology that they rely on to such a great extent. Not only does it raise the issue of technological inadequacy and helplessness it also raises issues of security, privacy, and reliability concerns because Blackberry users must trust RIM to keep their e-mail safe.

So relying on mobile phones 24/7 or even technology for that matter is quite silly and there should always be a back-up source or hard-copy of the information needed available. Sure technology is seen as empowering and used as a “career status” that provides us with limitless uses but it still has a weak point and people shouldn’t depend on technology so much. Because in an instant everything they have worked so hard to achieve can be gone in an instant and be gone forever. That’s not to say that mobile phone technology isn’t great though.

On the forefront of mobile phone technological advancements are Microsoft and Macintosh. Which is hardly a surprise are they are such fierce competitors in the computer technology marketplace. Microsoft develops software for mobile devices such as PDA’s, and general mobile phone applications so that they can stay technologically advanced. Macintosh has just released the new iPhone causing them to be Microsoft’s main rival once again. Sure they are rivals but the NOKIA ‘n-series’ and Macintosh’s ‘iPhone’ both utilize the latest mobile phone technology to their fullest potential. Mobile Phone designers have hit alarm clock makers and camera manufacturers and now they have a new target, personal navigation device makers. The NOKIA N95 mobile phones offer the latest in technology as they are bringing GPS services to mobile phones. Though the prices of these mobile phones aren’t accessible by all consumers they are still on the market and are expected to expand rapidly.

So if mobile phone technology is this advanced now then what will the future hold? Mobile phone makers dream of a day when people will be able to use their mobile phones to find restaurants nearby. Google and Yahoo are seen as keen to add mobile navigation services to their mapping offerings, while car navigation firms are adding mobile services to their product. So really mobile phone technology advancements are limitless and only our imagination can tell what the future will hold.

Not only are the possibilities of future technologies unpredictable but, on the level of individual projects, even the possibilities of present technologies may remain mysterious. Technology does not provide bedrock for design. (Lindholm, Christian, Keinonen, Turkka, Kiljander, Harri, 2003, page 7). And today, the world imagined in which our memories would be tangible, machine-enhanced, indestructible records always there, no gaps, no grasping for detail of time and place – is moving ever closer to reality. Digital living, in its complete sense, is here now, encompassing the way we think about our past, act in our present and look to our future. But are we ready for it? Do we really want it? (McMahon, Neil, 2007, ‘Your whole life is going to bits’).

Resources

Lindholm, Christian, Keinonen, Turkka, Kiljander, Harri, 2003, Mobile Usability – How Nokia changed the face of the Mobile Phone, McGraw-Hill, New York

Harper, R., Palen, L, Taylor A, (ed) 2005, The Inside Text – Social Cultural and Design Perspectives on SMS, Springer, The Netherlands

Hirst, Martin, Harrison, John, 2007, Communication and New Media – From Broadcast to Narrowcast, Oxford, Hong Kong

McMahon, Neil, 2007, ‘Your whole life is going to bits’ Sydney Morning Herald 14 April, 2007

2007, ‘Phone makers embrace GPS’ Sydney Morning Herald 3 May, 2007

Kessler, Michelle, 2007, “BlackBerry outage exposes RIM’s ‘soft underbelly’ USA Today 20 April, 2007

Burke, Kelly, 2007 ‘Guy who can cut hours of cyber flab from executive days’ Sydney Morning Herald 13 April, 2007

‘Apple iPhone’ http://www.apple.com/iphone/ (accessed 3 May 2007)

‘Nokia Nseries’ http://www.nseries.com (accessed 4 May 2007)

Farlex, ‘The Free Dictionary’ http://www.thefreedictionary.com (accessed 2 May 2007)