Responce 3

Whenever I went to my grandparent’s house as a kid, I would always play around with their technology. Now, by no means did they have much tech or even recent tech. That is what made it so interesting to me. The thing I liked to play with the most was my grandfather’s cell phone. It was much larger than any other I had ever seen. It was about the size of a brick, same weight too. In recent years, he has upgraded to a smaller, lighter phone but I remember always thinking that phone was odd.

The trend used to be that getting a small phone was better because all phones pretty much did the same thing, call people. However, in today’s world we seem to be reverting back to the larger, heavier phones. This is because phones do much more today than they used to. They can do the obvious things, such as call and text message people, but they can also do things such as using apps, connect to facebook or twitter, play music, watch videos on YouTube, go on the internet, etc. Some phones even have Windows Operating Systems and are basically small computers. These newer abilities are directly tied to the shape and size of cell phones. In order to only call and text message people, one would only need a small screen capable of displaying at least 11 numbers or a few words of text. However, one would need a much larger screen in order to see everything in videos, apps, or on facebook clearly.

This trend change is similar to the change from desktops to laptops as being the chief personal computer consumer product. Desktops and laptops now have almost the exact same functions though laptops are much more mobile than desktops. Now, cell phones seem to be starting to take over the job of a laptop as being the mobile device to bring and keep in contact on the internet. However, there are some laptops that are so big that they have consumer warnings on the bottom that say that the laptop should never be used on one’s lap. This basically defeats the purpose of a laptop if it can’t be used on your lap, right? What is the difference between a desktop and laptop if you can’t use a laptop on your lap? Other than the obvious fact that you can move a laptop easier to move than a desktop. This seems to be the same with cell phones now. A new cell phone a few years ago could be held up to your ear and work fine as a phone and no one thought that it looked strange or anything. Today’s newest cell phone model by Dell, called the Dell Streak, has a 5” screen that is about 6” by 3.1”. This is perfect for the internet and app use, but according to John D. Sutter’s article “When phones are too big for pockets,” there is much debate about if you would be able to fit this phone into most pockets. Some internet users don’t believe this is true.

Personal experience has shown that my pockets are sometimes too small to hold my cell phone along with other things at the same time. My cell phone is about half the size of the Streak and it can barely fit into my shorts’ pocket along with my iPod Touch and the usual pack of gum that I carry. I carry a tri-fold wallet in my other pocket so not much else can fit into that pocket either. If I had a phone twice as big, I don’t know how I would carry it, especially if I was wearing jeans because as we all know, jeans pockets are much tighter than pockets on a pair of shorts or sweatpants. I know I am perfectly fine with using my phone to mainly text, call, and sometimes go online for facebook. I don’t need a new big phone when I have a computer at home that I can use. What do you think? Would you sacrifice size for the new abilities available on the Dell Streak?