5 Gadgets Killed by the Cell Phone
Electronics, Misc. November 18th, 2008While I may not agree with everything – here are Five Gadgets Killed by the Cell Phone from Wired.
1. PDA
2. The Camera (I think the phone has a long way to go to catch up – but not impossible)
3. The UMPC
4. The Phone (landline)
5. The MP3 (coming)
Some are obvious, like the PDA. Others, well, I think their demise will happen but it will take a few more phone generations to do so, including major advances in technology (i.e., bendable screen).
Any other gadgets that the phone could kill? Movie projector? Tape recorder? Kindle? Credit card? Your thoughts?
Mark Viquesney
November 18th, 2008 at 11:40 am
What about the yellow pages, or maps – traditional print media. Alarm clocks. Calculators – even graphing calculators. Voice recorders you mentioned (about 6 different available for iPhone). Radios – tons of music streaming services (Pandora, AOL Radio, Last.fm, etc). Newspapers. The Weather Channel. TV Guide. The Big Pill book I used to have at home is replaced by Epocrates Rx.
That’s just off the top of my head.
November 22nd, 2008 at 9:49 am
Stand alone GPS devices (also coming).
November 25th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Hi Mark,
What about text messaging? In a recent Intro to Nanotechnology session for high school students the presenter mentioned a new technology based on nano sized microphones for use in future cell phones. The nano-microphones will allow a much clearer form of voice recognition in cell phones that will translate your voice into words for text messaging. Great no-hands text messaging.
One of the students remarked saying “What will be the fun sending a text message without using my hands. I would just rather call the person if that happens.” This is kind of how I have felt all along about text messaging today, wouldn’t it be easier to just call the person?
November 26th, 2008 at 8:15 am
It looks like we will soon be carrying one all-inclusive device. Tom mentioned the pager is gone as well. I remember how people used to feel so important because they had a pager. Gone are the days where in a movie or church you would hear the beeps of a pager. Unfortunately, the ring tone “Highway to Hell” is not one you want to start playing while in church.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
While I’m sure that my cell phone is not as fancy as Gordon’s and Mike Q’s, there are still a lot of items it has replaced in my world. I use it as my alarm clock everyday. I even use the calculator function on it before I reach for my desk calculator. It replaced my wall calendar at home. I still wear a wristwatch for fashion – but I look at my phone to get the exact time, and have even refrained from buying people watches as gifts because I know they rely on their phones too. When was the last time you pulled out an old dusty photo album vs. showing or sending friends pics on your cell? I think this holiday season’s Verizon TV commercial sums it up. The lady gives her husband a cell phone, then another gift to unwrap (a digital camera), then another (a music player), another (GPS), etc. Here is the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN5nOOt2Nek