iCentury

“Mobile phones are reshaping the way we communicate, interact, work and live.” Ruston and Stein, 2005:1 The Work of Stories. Will the mobile phone screen become the dominant screen of the 21st century? I believe with the introduction of the smart phone, they already are.

The mobile phone has come a long way since the ‘cellular phone’ was introduced in the late 80’s and has continued to evolved even further during the 1990’s and into the 21st century. The rapid development of mobile phone technology is what we know today as the ‘smart phone’ such as the Iphone and Blackberry. These smart phones do much more than just make and receive calls and texts like the mobiles phones up to 2002, but now compete and even exceed many laptop and PC computers. According to Paul Levinson, 2009, people used to read, write, see, hear and produce new new media – the devices, or I can say people like to keep in touch with new new media although they are in work or public transport. That electronic device these days provides E-mail, access to the internet, high resolution of image and also anything they desire. People don’t need to buy several gadgets to fulfil their needs, all they have to do is purchase a ‘smart phone’ like an iPhone. What’s more, the capabilities of the iPhone are increasing day by day as newer apps are being added.

As an avid Apple consumer over the years, I have an iphone and love it. Why is Apple so popular? I believe its due to the fact that their products are innovative and far ahead of the rest of the pack. Whatever it is, Apple amazed us with the iPod, iPhone and shortly almost certainly the iPad. The iPhone combines the innovative multi-touch technology with the basic ideas of a mobile devise, to deliver a complete browsing experience to the iphone users.

The 21st century has seen the ‘smart phone’ become the dominate communication tool of choice. And rightly so I say, as they offer consumers almost everything they could imagine. On an Iphone you have access to social networking media, think Facebook and Twitter. Why should one turn on his PC and sit in front of it to converse with his friends when he can do it on the go? I’m a university study so having a Dictaphone is very helpful for recording audio from lectures. You just load the free iTalk app and your iPhone is now a full functional Dictaphone. The English language isn’t one of my strong points however I have the dictionary app, which is obviously far better option than carrying a real paper one. I like playing games when I’m sitting on the train, having an Iphone allows me to choose from over 4,000 free games to play. I’m a girl so naturally I love shopping. Other than buying things at Apple’s App Store and iTunes Store, you can shop more real things using your iPhone at the Amazon’s iPhone optimized store.

With an iPhone, you don’t need to carry a separate iPod for your entertainment. It can play the stored music and videos as well as those on the internet. Here a song on the radio you like? Shazam it and by listening to only 10seconds of the song it will get you the artist name, song title, album name and even an iTunes Store link to buy it right there. You have access to photos and streaming video directly from the Internet. The iPhone is also a camera. You can edit photo, download apps to change the style of photo to a polaroid for example. Do you still read previous day’s news from the newspaper supplied to your house in the morning? Get news literally minute by minute using the iphone. One of my used applications, the GPS. This not only gives you an interactive map of the location but also can help you make hotel reservations around the globe. No longer be tied to a printed phone book or a computer to find a phone number. Search for local business information directly from the phone and effortlessly place a call with one click. I could go on raving about all the marvellous things a ‘smart phone’ such as the iPhone can do, but these are just a few of the applications I have on my phone. The iPhone has reached a popularity level way above imagination because it has the capability of performing many tasks in its single shell. There really is no need for any other screen to view movies, take photos, design art and access the Internet.

I strongly believe that the mobile phone screen will become the dominant screen of the 21st century simply by noticing the trends happening now in the way of compiling multimedia functions into a single device.As Levinsion said, ‘the iPhone starts to satisfy the longstanding human need to have any and all information, anytime we may want it, wherever we and the information we seek may happen to be.’ Technological advantages such as the iPhone may have turned me into a Cyborg but I honestly feel the benefits out way any negatives. The mobile phone platform is rapidly become the norm on which we rely on for news & weather, social networking, multimedia and entertainment.