Mobile phones and the bigger picture

Mobile phones are a pretty amazing piece of technology. Twenty years ago we were mystified by the idea that these things could play such complex games like snake on such a small machine, whereas in the year 2010 a teenager doesn't even need to blink twice at the prospect of a motion sensing flight simulation game on their shiny little iPhone. However, will the mobile phone become the dominant screen of the 21st century? Hardly likely.

Although the expansion of technology to smart phones and the mobile suites of applications that many phones can provide these days, mobile phones are still restricted in the notion that their screens are tiny, and their keyboards are small. You'd be pushing it if you wanted to do your homework on it, take notes in class or perhaps write a blog post, and I'm damn sure you'd get eye and finger cramp at the same time.

Paul Levinson was also correct when he discussed the amazing price of new mobile technology. Off the shelf, iPhones' demand at least $850 brand new depending on where you buy it. Putting that in to perspective, A high end computer gaming system wants roughly the same price, and offers even more than 8 times the computing power of the iPhone.

However, I still must express how extremely useful this new technology can be. Stuck in an argument about the type of mint George drops into a patient during surgery in the famous show Seinfeld, and away from a computer terminal to be able to bring fact in to the equation, my hand only had to retire to my pocket so that I could do a quick two minute search to find the answer, and we all know how very addictive Facebook can be when you're pretending to work, or do your homework.

While I do not argue with the fact that the mobile phone is an immensely popular piece of technology, I do disagree with the notion that it will be the dominant screen of the twenty-first century. Amazing for communication and consuming media, there still lays a line between writing on your phone and your computer, or watching a movie comfortably on your couch in front of a screen larger than your palm.