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What do you need your cellphone to do?

Cellphones are becoming a Swiss army knife of technology gadgets. It’s almost amazing when you look at the evolution of cellphones to see what they have become.

When I first got involved in cellphones they were then called car phones. This was in the mid 1980’s and the only practical place for it was in the car. There weren’t that many cell sites and the transmitting power of the cellphone was much greater than it is today, not to mention that to transmit that power the energy used was much greater. The first portable phone was call a bag phone and in many cases it was simply a cellphone that was put into a bag with a battery the size of a big paperback book.

But then as now the principle use of a cellphone was to communicate from one person to another. But the technology, or maybe it’s just the marketability of the cellphone has cause it to be a multifaceted device. One that is not only used to talk to an associate across town, or a friend across county, but one that allows you to take pictures, send text messages or even listen to music.

Is this a good thing? I suppose it’s all in whom you ask. I personally would rather have three devices, one each that is designed for its purpose than to have one that only partly delivers.

Cellphone cameras, while getting better with each issue, still do not measure up to the quality of a digital camera. Maybe it’s better than the one you purchased 4 years ago, but not as good as the new one.

Digital music players may not be that much better. Aren’t there times you may want to go somewhere, listen to music and not having to be bothered with a cellphone.

I once thought it was a good idea to have a calendar on my cellphone, but I also discovered that it was harder to enter meetings nor did not have the same information as my PDA. I ended up carrying both anyway.

There are phones that now have all of these features included, but I look at the phone and think, isn’t that just a bit big to be lugging around when I want to go jogging. Features may not be the same on the Palm cellphone as it is on the Palm PDA, so I have to change my way of doing things just to keep from having multiple devices.

You may also have to start thinking about where you need to be doing business. I have heard that many companies, especially those dealing with defense contacts are requiring cellphones with cameras to be left at the security desk. That sure makes it hard to call someone to get additional information.

Just something to think about when you go out to get a new cellphone, one that has all the bells and whistles, some which you may or may not ever use.

Some factors to consider:
Plan Minutes – Too many and you are spending money for throwaway minutes. Too few and you may be paying a premium price for those few extra minutes.

Features: Don’t pay for features you don’t need. If you don’t text message, then don’t pay for a text-messaging plan. Most have reasonable rates for texting if you are only using it a few times a month

Phone: Do you need a phone that has a camera, calendar or music player? If you aren’t going to use it, you don’t need it and those phone do cost a bit extra.

© 2006-2007 Steven G. Atkinson – All Rights Reserved – tt4sb.com

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