Cellphone evolution is amazing
For the longest time, I was a cellphone holdout, especially in the early days. I just did not see the point of carrying around a phone. After all, when we are in a car driving, why in the world would we want to be distracted by phone calls. And yet today, people talk to each other via cellphone, hopefully using hands-free Bluetooth devices, daily while driving, walking or doing some other task. I had a Bluetooth device for a while, but I just could not get used to the earpiece, and today I could not tell you where it is.
What convinced me initially to get a cellphone was a personal situation in which I wanted to make sure I could get help if it was possible, and on more than one occasion I was grateful that phone was available to me. I was extremely reluctant to purchase it for several months, but I did relent. That first phone was in a satchel and was larger than a normal telephone, although most of it was the battery. I remember it plugged into the cigarette lighter. By the way, there is a subject for another column about how language to describe something changes. Today that cigarette lighter is now a charging port, but I fondly remember those hot red coils that could ignite scraps of paper.
At that time of course, all the phone did was make phone calls. I was exposed to this type of bag phone when I first graduated from college and lived in King of Prussia. The shipping clerk in the phone company I worked for was a ham radio operator and was interested in what was then new technology. We went on a service call one day, and when I was in his truck I was exposed to a crude example of today's portable phone. His phone was much larger than my first bag phone, probably because the electronics technology was still advancing and the battery was large. He showed me how he could call home and explained it worked by transmitting to a nearby radio tower like a ham radio. I'm not sure if it was cellular or operating on radio waves at that time in 1990. I was intrigued, although I could not see how it was practical if you could only call someone with a radio setup.
Fast forward six years, and there I was in a Radio Shack purchasing this first phone. It was bulky and sat between the front seats. The major reason I did not eagerly consent to the phone initially with my ex-wife was because there was no coverage in Summit Hill, and without coverage it might as well be a big paperweight. Of course, we needed it because the issue was for a situation in the Lehigh Valley where the phone had service. We had that phone for three years or more.
Within that three-year span the advances made on cellphones were incredible. My next phone was a truly handheld portable unit. It really was nothing more than a phone, but I had it from that point until we were divorced. I continued to use that phone until I met and married my wife, Katie. That winter we purchased a pair of phones in a family plan, and I also switched carriers to Nextel. I was active in the fire department at that time as a fire policeman, so Nextel also gave me a discount as an emergency responder. This was the first phone that did more than just make phone calls. It was able to instantly connect like a walkie-talkie, and for the first time since owning one of these portable phones, I actually enjoyed it. Besides the direct connect feature, I think it had some simple weather and news reports on it and some text-based games.
If I remember correctly, we had those phones for at least five years. Once again, I was a technological holdout. Katie waited patiently as the iPhone was released with all of its fancy new features, and while many folks embraced the technological smartphone revolution, I was not among them. Finally I submitted to the revolution and purchased my first Android phone along with Katie in 2010, and I have to admit my wife was correct as usual. It was well worth the price, although we switched carriers and took advantage of the unlimited data plan and rebate on the phones they offered.
Two phones later, I find myself actually looking forward to my next upgrade eligibility and seeing what advances are being made. I'm totally captivated by the modern smartphone and its unending capabilities. It is truly a modern marvel, and consider this. According to an article by MIT Technology Review blogger Christopher Mims, the modern smartphone can replace a digital camera, handheld video camera, a GPS system, a compass, a scanner, the newspaper, magazines, up to 50 pounds of books via an e-reader, dictionaries, ATM machines for deposits, road maps, notebooks, voice recorder, grocery lists using an app, portable game systems, MP3 players or iPods, and of course the phone.
In short, the phone is a modern miracle of technology, and if one doesn't find a device that has more power than a computer that occupied an entire warehouse magical, then I don't know what is.
Till next time …
