In which Sky reminices.

[cerulean_sky]

Has anyone else noticed that, while it was fashionable for them to be small and cute and compact, this last year or so has seen an influx of fashionably large cellphones* that can play music, surf the web and get email? Does anyone else remember phones like this?

[ * Hah. Bet you were wondering where that sentence was going. ]

Comments

[sbbo.livejournal.com]

I used to have that phone. I now have this one (http://www.lgmobilephones.com/phone.aspx?id=828). It is also small and compact.

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

Is it about the same size as the Motorola Razr?

[khyros.livejournal.com]

Small and cute and compact is still a trend. Those phones/successors in their form factor haven't gone away. However, technology made more things possible on small devices so a new category of "smart phones" took hold and became arguably a separate product. Regardless, cell phones will never be as big as they used to be at the dawn of their invention, and even in the feature rich smart-phones, where the display size is a factor, there's a fight to be the thinnest (iphone is winning here, I believe). And even in smartphone land, the Samsung Glyde and Blackberry Pearl are going for small and cute.

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

Even more to the point, it's still small cute and compact that everyone's heading towards. Instead of carrying your palm IIIx *and* your motorola startac you can now carry the latest treo or an iphone.

For everyone who doesnt have a smart phone the trend *definitely* is to small and compact, most of the newer phones out there are, as has been the case for a while, smaller and sleeker than their predecessors

I think the *real* thing that Natasha's noticing here is that suddenly more people want mobile internet platforms, not necessarily just phones anymore. Cheaper components on flash drives, screens etc make the devices cheaper. Higher bandwidth and more reliance on web-based conveniences = more of a demand than there ever was with the old set of PDAs, and better (I said better, not good :-p) cell network service means you dont necessarily have to pay RIM through the nose for similar functionality, making it more affordable on the service side of things.

In short because it's cheaper than it was to do, more useful than it was before, and possible to do "small, cute, and compact" the demand for devices that, by necessity, are a bit bigger than *just* a phone is growing.

[khyros.livejournal.com]

Well, the thing about Smart phones is that and Usability and small/cute often run counter to each other. The Glyde sucks cause it's too effing small and the Pearl's squished qwerty layout isn't outstanding either.

Also, I like hard buttons. Ipod touch 2.0 was smart to stick on hard volume controls, I might actually get one now. But no way am I getting an iphone.

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

I think the first part is true in general, it's hard to make early gen products (and I dont necessarily mean individual companies first run, though that's true too, I mean first of a type) small/cute and functional, and if there's enough demand for the product eventually (hopefully) a better engineered product will make it to market. The all-in-one phone/pda/internet device market is still relatively young and still significantly expensive (particularly in countries like the US where primary reliance is still on cabled communications infrastructure, and so it's still a luxury and not a necessity to have, say, a data plan)

I hear you on the hard buttons, but I have to admit, aside from volume control I dont miss hard buttons on my touch. The software is (mostly) good enough for my needs to be a good substitute. I do miss occasionally not being able to control it by touch from my pocket, but not enough to replace the like I have for the simple, mostly button free interface.

I might miss it on a phone though, which is why, like you, I'm up in the air about getting an iphone.

[khyros.livejournal.com]

I dont miss hard buttons on my touch. The software is (mostly) good enough for my needs to be a good substitute. I do miss occasionally not being able to control it by touch from my pocket

You know, I never especially thought about the irony in the name of the touch before, but now I'll never be able to not.

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

I thought about that as I was typing it :_p

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

and by "functional" I meant usable, I should proofread things I type

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

Eowyn's phone is the only one with qwerty (that doesn't have a full keyboard) that I haven't thought looked like it needed someone with toothpick fingers to be pushing the damn buttons.

Honestly, I think qwerty keyboards should be left on computers. That's the only place I'll ever use or need them.

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

For your use that works, there's a lot of people out there who like having it on mobile devices. That said, take heart, more plain jane cells get sold than smart phones atm

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

Personally, I want my phone, iPod and computer to be to all be separate. That's another problem I have.

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

It happens with everything in technology, goes through phases:

Few cool things get come up with, prohibitively expensive to combine them --> becomes economical to bundle them -->new cool thing gets invented or other cool things get complicated enough to seperate out again. Vis: printers and scanners, motherboards and expansion cards, phones and cameras, etc.

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

But that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be the option to get the printer without the scanner or the phone without the camera.

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

companies can only shove so much through their production lines, they make what makes them money. I wouldnt be surprised if desktop computers become a niche market soon, giving way to laptops, in the same way that plain jane cells may become more scarce. Neither will go away as long as there's demand, but it may be harder to find

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

also, in addition to my comment, I never found that set of lg phones small, sleek, and compact. Now This (http://www.raovat123.com/app/raovat123/uploads/33093/bb04916399d60c81f7a4f9ab17082999.jpg) and it's ilk (a number of which were smaller and cooler looking, but the model nums escape me now, and I remembered the 7280) from that same era were small, cute, compact :-p

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

I never said sleek. Those phones weren't sleek. They were vaguely egg shaped, I always thought. They fit in the palm of your hand very nicely. That's what I meant. And that phone? Is not "small, cute or compact". Ok, it's compact. I feel like it's probably about the same length as a pen, which means it doesn't fit into a (woman's tight jean) pocket particularly well.

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

they had others ~ the same time that were. I remember a guy who had this tiny little nokia back in freshman year of stony, narrow, slim, came in red :-p

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

I think it's the "vaguely egg shaped" and "fits in the palm of your hand" that's the key elements to the phones I miss. And the key elements that are missing on all the phones that you're bringing up.

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

::shrugs::, I never really liked those honestly, found them less comfy to talk on for long periods of time

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

...well, ok. I don't recall saying you had to love those phones. Just that I liked them and missed them.

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

point taken :-p

[blondebebop.livejournal.com]

also, REALLY HUGE BAGS are now popular.

HUGEMUTHERFUCKINGBAGS.

but i guess they're slightly more functional?

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

I think 60 minutes had a spot on bags the other day... About how EVERYONE is carrying something these days, but women carry MORE than everyone else. I dunno. My bag isn't that huge. And I still manage to put tons of useful and needed stuff in it.

[inamirata.livejournal.com]

I do, I remember them well. I remember when phones were phones, iPods were iPods, and sheep were scared. ::giggles::

I miss phones that don't flip.

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

But you *can* still buy candybar phone you know. Hmm.. candybars.... :;wanders off in search of a snickers::

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

Having walked into a Verizon retailer before posting this, they don't sell them there. Not ones that aren't also smartphones with little (pardon my french) clit buttons.

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

I've seen a few decent ones, perhaps verizon doesnt carry them. They arent the only cell provider in the country, and they're *are* the one I tend to ignore with their ridiculous polices on things like tethering and OBEX

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

Right, but since Verizon is the service I use, it's the one that I care about having the phones that I want.

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

you could change services when your plan ended if it meant that much to you...

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

...yes, I could. But it doesn't mean that much to me. I was just making a comment on trends these days, not expressing my deep and abiding unhappiness with the world.

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

...and all I was saying was that they are available if it *did* bother you such

[inamirata.livejournal.com]

I can, but my Razr hasn't mysteriously ceased all function... yet. I'll look into it. But I don't want a candybar. I want... a trufflephone.

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

God, I know. All I wanted was a Motorola Slvr. I never got one, but that's all I wanted.

Also, have you noticed that phones never just flip anymore? They have like... two different ways they can flip, or they slide or they flip open to a keyboard or whatever. I was so happy with my little LG....

[inamirata.livejournal.com]

I know, I know. Remember those halcyon days? I didn't even know how to text.

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

I remember THE DAY when I started texting. *sighs* Oh man. It was on the giant Nokia phone I had.

[lskull86.livejournal.com]

heh, I feel old. My first cell that was *mine* was a motorola startac, first real flip phone, built to last through a war and still not particularly bulky. Nice, easy keypad. best phone I;ve ever owned

[merigreenleaf.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I haven't even noticed a trend of large phones, but that could be because I ignore commercials. ;)

The last phone I had (until last year) looked almost exactly like that second one, only without a view screen on the front. The phone I have now is this one (http://uk.gizmodo.com/sony_ericsson_i300.jpg) and it's still a small, flippy open type one. And it's silver, black, and orange, which makes my inner-goth happy. ;)