Five Devices Killed by Cellphones
Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: smartphone, Devices, Camera
Did cellphones kill the camera and the MP3 player? Probably not, but it’s still fun to speculate why mobile devices are taking over the world.
According to an article over on Wired, the five gadgets that saw an early demise because of the nasty cellphone beast includes the PDA, the camera, the UMPC, an actual wall-mounted phone and the MP3 player. That may sound crazy, but when looking at Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s Blackberry, one can’t help but wonder if devices like MP3 players and home-based phones could really be a thing of the past. Could cellphones even take down the mighty laptop? Sorry, that might be pushing it a bit.
But let’s be honest: current cellphones eat up battery power like kids in a candy factory. To even consider that consumers would resort to listening to music on cellphones by default is utterly ridiculous... or so it would seem. Granted the ability is useful every now and then, but it’s difficult to fathom Apple’s iPod or Creative’s Zen biting the dust anytime soon because the Blackberry can play MP3s or WMAs. The same goes for any kind of built-in camera: while they’re useful in quick situations, cellphone cameras aren’t exactly the ideal device for family snapshots or detailed vacation highlights. Wired is correct though, cellphone cameras speak to a young demographic who love to take quick snapshots of groupies, credit card numbers, and/or private parts.
Probably the biggest adversary to the cellphone is the actual landline however. What’s more convenient than taking to friends and family no matter the location, whether it’s the back yard, on the toilet or from Santa’s lap down at the local mall. Unless calls are forwarded to mobile devices, landlines only stretch so far when using a wireless phone. In July AT&T reported its second-quarter results, specifying that while the wireless aspect of its services continued to grow, the landline voice services were actually down 7.8 percent from the first quarter of 2007; retail consumer lines fell a whopping 5.4 percent between 2006 and 2007. However, cellphones aren’t wholly responsible for the decline: digital phone services and the overall economy plays a big role as well.
As for PDAs, its slow death began many years ago as laptops became ultra-portable and cellphones took on more of an intelligent form. HP and Palm are but two manufacturers still keeping the PDA alive, the former currently selling the iPAQ 211 Enterprise Handheld Organizer for a whopping $450 and the iPAQ 111 Classic Handheld Organizer for $300. But PDAs have been around since the early 1980s, so it’s no surprise that the "personal data assistant" would eventually come to an end.
Still, when considering cellphones such as Apple’s iPhone 3G and RIM’s Blackberry Storm, and their intentional capability to play music, video, surf the web and take pictures, it’s easy to see how separate MP3 players and cheap cameras could be phased out. Throw in touch-screen technology and an uber-quick wireless network, many consumers just might decide to abandon laptops altogether. With cellphones taking an open approach to user-created applications, these devices are becoming more like pocket PCs rather than instruments originally dedicated to making calls wirelessly.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a little game playing either. Don’t be surprised to see mobile phones taking a bigger portion of the gaming market as the years go by. Although not a cellphone, by the looks of it, Apple’s iPod touch just might be a step in the right direction as far as portable graphics are concerned... and it’s super slim, too. Perhaps consumers will eventually see game visuals heading in that direction, with the inclusion of left and right triggers planted on the cellphone’s backside or a built-in accelerometer. If that happens, cellphones could get blamed for the death of portable gaming consoles as well.
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Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I still have a land line and refuse to get rid of it. The reason is when Hurricane Wilma came through South Florida, my land line was the last phone working. All the major cell providers went down. I never use it, but it's nice to know I can make calls if another disaster strikes.
Cellphone cameras are limited by the law of physics. Unless Steve Job is God and changed the law of physics, I don't see camera being replaced.
Note: stupid Mac user might end up killing the P&S camera if they thought their iPhone picture looks better.
Owning a cellphone has become a trend, but if we don't count PDAs I don't see devices being replaced.
Photo quality of camera phones is lousy and indeed the battery capacity is a big problem.
The iPhone is great, but is more a fashion product that a necessity.
Lame... yahoo posted this on their homepage a couple of days ago.
My BlackBerry is the best damn MP3 player I can think of, for one simple reason.
I can download songs from my FTP using PaderSyncFTP, which means that I can simply delete old songs, then download new ones on the fly!
My BlackBerry is the best damn MP3 player I can think of, for one simple reason.I can download songs from my FTP using PaderSyncFTP, which means that I can simply delete old songs, then download new ones on the fly!
Now you've done it, setting up a personal FTP server to download songs on the fly. I'm sure the RIAA is this very minute figuring out how they can sue the crap out of you. First they'll hack into your server and download a file. Then they'll slap you with a suit saying you were knowingly, willfully and criminally distributing their copyrighted works.
Which type of devices are we talking about replacing - the consumer quality versions of these devices, or the professional quality version of these devices?
I can easily see the typical consumer ditching their tiny portable cameras, MP3 players, and so forth for an all-in-one device with a couple of extra batteries. They go for convenience.
However, businesses and professionals will not. They go for quality, because their customers expect it.
I'm only half on board with the notion. Cell phones have replaced my wrist watch and line phone, but hardly the camera or music player. Most phones have absolutely horrible cameras and even worse music capabilities.
Cell phones will most definitely replace the cheapo digital cameras on the market. My cheap 3Mpixel Cannon that I bought 3 or so years ago takes terrible photos. I would consider them to be about the same quality as the iPhone photos. So while cell phones won't replace higher end prosumer models, they will certainly take the place of the cheap ones.
As for MP3 players, once flash capacities get to 100GB+ for a cell phone and battery life increases by 4x or so, the standalone MP3 player will be pretty useless. That will take maybe another 4 years.
The land line phone has been dying for a long time. I can only think of 1 person I know that's under 30 that has a landline.
This article fails to mention the pay phone. These are almost dead already. Too bad though, they're nice to have around if your cell dies.
I for one am going to stick up for the PDA. While I was looking for a new smart phone, i decided I would just get a nice cell phone and keep the ol' PDA. If I weren't in school, I'd go out and buy the new HP.
There's something to be said for a 4" screen instead of 1.8. And the increased memory and processor speed are nice for looking through programs.
Of course I'm in grad school in the medical field and actually would like to run a few more programs than what the cell phone would run nicely. It's just too hard to read all that text on that tiny screen.
"The same goes for any kind of built-in camera: while they’re useful in quick situations, cellphone cameras aren’t exactly the ideal device for family snapshots or detailed vacation highlights."
I don't agree with that! By far the feature I use most on my n73 is the camera. I hardly ever use it to call anyone. I use the camera, and I use it to watch small video clips from the little sd card.
In fact when I got the n73 I threw my old agfa camera away, cause the phone made better photos and is always around when I need it.
My best friend's got this expensive nikon or something camera with a huge lense to do really nice stuff - but he hardly ever uses it, cause it's so big and unhandy - he uses his sony phone for stuff like vacation and family shots