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The Wonderful Future Of Cell
Phones
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by: Amit Laufer
The popularity of the mobile phones is constantly on the
rise like a snow ball. There are numerous reasons for
that and they are well beyond mere communicating with
each other.
The development of the cell phones and technology in the
past decade along with social and cultural processes as
well as sharp decrease in prices contributed to their
phenomenon success.
Cell phones have long become a symbol of status as well
as a fashion statement. Some manufacturers have started
to produce special designed phones for women. Other
models are designed with interchangeable facades to
cater for the youngsters. A lot of young people are
transferring their instant-messaging habits to their
cell phones.
The integration of so many different functionalities and
technologies into the cell phones is more impressive and
beneficial than the all-in-one office devices that
integrated a scanner, a copier, a fax and a printer into
a single compact space saving multifunctional machine.
The current generation of G-2.5 technology as well as
the very near future G-3 units that are starting to
emerge right now will carry in it so many functions
which are mind blowing. These new Cell phones are going
to be a multimedia center, a mobile office, a navigation
device GPS (Global Positioning system), a computer with
fast Internet access, a text messenger, a high
resolution camera and video, a watch, a calculator, a
PDA, an MP3 music player, TV and a Wallet! Yes, we will
be able to pay with it for things we today pay with
coins like vending soda or coffee machines as well as
for parking space, trains and buses tickets etc’. It has
become our “Swiss Army Knife”...
In Israel they used the cell phone to send SMS message
and approval for one dollar donation payment for needy
children. I guess that in the future it will be a
legitimate tool for voting in contests and may be even
in Elections.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, an executive for a
wireless company noted that “in Slovakia, people are
using mobile phones to remotely switch on the heat
before they return home,” and in Norway, “1.5 million
people can confirm their tax returns” using cell phone
short text messaging services. Paramedics use camera
phones to send ahead to hospitals pictures of the
incoming injuries; “in Britain, it is now commonplace
for wireless technology to allow companies to remotely
access meters or gather diagnostic information.”
Construction workers on-site can use cell phones to send
pictures to contractors off-site. Combined with the
individual use of cell phones—to make appointments,
locate a friend, check voicemail messages, or simply to
check in at work—cell phones offer peoplean unknown
level of convenience. (Source: The New Atlantis –
Article by Christine Rosen).
Other interesting applications are providing a locating
service of your friends, or in other words if one of
your friends is very close to where you are right now an
SMS massage can alert you of this fact.
Cell phones and Dating Services
Several companies now offer a way to flirt and meet
people anonymously. These services offer cell-to-cell
texting and PC-to-cell texting. (Text-messaging phones
also can receive messages sent over the Internet from a
PC.) Companies including UPOC (Universal Point of
Contact) and SMS.ac allow users to fill out a profile as
they would at any dating service (some dating sites are
dabbling with texting) and then search for an ideal
match. Profiles can include photos and can be accessed
either with a picture-enabled cell phone or through a
PC. Say you want to meet a 20- to 30-year-old man in
Kentucky who is interested in hiking. Do a search and
three names pop up. You can send one a text message
without ever exposing your phone number
Cell phones as safety device
One of the main reasons the cell phones
have become so wide spread nowadays is
that besides convenience it is perceived
as a security and safety aid, Parents
provide their children with mobile
phones in order to track their
whereabouts, to make sure they arrived
safely to their destinations, to give
them a mobile phone to report in real
time when in any sort of trouble. Many
women feel much safer in the street
knowing they can call for help when in
need
