Having recently acquired a new phone after about 3 years, I was amazed by how far cell phone tech has come. I had seen the commercials for the iPhone and the Blackberry, but having a new generation phone in my hands and interacting with it is really neat. The internet was very quick, it synchronized quickly and easily with my music on my laptop, and it was all intuitive. My dad had told me and everyone else in my family that one day the television, the computer and the phone will all be on one device and that it would be on the phone. At that time I was skeptical, but with built in cameras, internet, and music players, it seems the phone will have all our computing needs in the future.
Counter-intuitive to me, while everything is being added to the cell phone many of the original core functions of the cell phone have branched off. Some singular functions becoming their own specialized devices. I discovered the Zipit while I was researching websites that are designed for viewing on cell phones (another great specialization). It is a like a phone, but used only for text and instant messaging with a mobile plan dedicated solely for those functions. Also, there are cell lines dedicated to only voicemail and some people have phones dedicated to this line. Then there is the Skype wifi phone that by passes over cell technology in favor of VoIP.
To me cell phones are the first technology I’ve actually seen grow and mature in front of me and I can’t wait to see what else is in the future.
Yeah, I actually remember old car phones that my grandparents had. I also remember the huge early cell phones my mom had, with matching huge antennas. The iPhone is a marvel of technological innovation, it’s beautiful.
With my heart condition I’ve seen some medical technology improve tremendously over time. Particularly, Holter monitors (which used to be huge and use full size cassette tapes) and event monitors. The event monitors used to be massive as well and they didn’t work very well. Now they have a display that shows how many recordings you have (since they can now store multiple recordings), your current heart rate, and days of battery life left.
The best innovation is that they are always recording your heart so when you press the button to record, it has already recorded 30 seconds before you pressed the button. That allows it to get the beginning and end of the episode.
Another awesome innovation I have experienced last Christmas is laparoscopic surgery. I’ve heard of a lot of research about how successful this method is in reducing mortality (thank the Lord!) and other general improvements. It’s pretty amazing.
I know the feeling. I was one of the kids who grew up with AT&T computers and Commodore 64s — I used to use 2400 bps modems to dial in and post on sports and Star Trek posting boards around 1988. By 1991, I was on Prodigy running the Olympics division of this massive posting board conglomerate called “The Sports Club”. By 1993 I was living in an abyss of danishes (@@@@@) and LOLs on America On-Line, where INSTANT chat was the name of the game.
Around 2000, when I went to college, suddenly I didn’t have to dial-up anymore! CAN YOU IMAGINE? LOL. You could talk on the phone *AND* be on the internet at the same time!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOA.
Let’s not even get into computing speeds. Graphics. It’s amazing. We live in a wonderful world, the path for which was paved by MacArthur, Reagan, and Thatcher. Sadly, Ron Paul has yet to contribute much of anything, but I have hope for a Revolution bearing fruit.
I think this would be an instance more of generalization than specialization, since mobiles are adding functionalities rather than shedding them. I would add, Josh, that cellular phones (wow, how old am I to use that term!) are also a growing segment in the payment system elsewhere in the world, particularly in Japan and Europe. I imagine that by the time I’m ready to replace my wonderful phone, Americans will be doing much the same.
I must say that the new developments in cell phone technology is exciting. However, I am less optimistic about the state of the telecommunication companies. Thanks to high barriers to entry (and possible extensive government interference?), we are stuck with a few carriers that force us into expensive contracts. I’m surprise the pay-as-you-go model has not succeeded here in the US, unlike China, India, and Europe. Any comments on this matter?