Mobile phone technology evolved only a few years before and are advancing very fast adding new feature and getting smarter day by day.They are smarter with the compact design, in-built camera ,video capture,SMS,Internet,One-Touch and FM radio which an ordinary land phone that didn't have.To the question 'Are the smart phone really smart'? ,Yes They truly Are!
A SMART PHONE
But these are some features I felt that the Smart Phone is lagging in and I wish it had
Call Diverting Code :
A call diverting is a useful feature that helps in diverting his/her important calls when busy or not available.But the mobile number to which the call is diverted should belong to him or his family .Sometimes he may land up diverting all calls to an unknown person who suffers the consequences.The solution will be having a unique code entered on the phones on which he will divert the calls.Example:
"x" husband diverting his calls to "Y",his wife mobile phone since he is an important meeting.While diverting he is asked for a unique code,which he enters"123".The code "123"is been registered before in "Y"mobile phone for acceptance of "X"calls.They match and the calls are diverted in.This will be a correct solution for the unwanted diversions of calls.
Automatic Turn off due to Over-Heating:
We have been are reading recently in new paper that in some places the mobile phone blows out due to overcharge or heating injuring people and sometimes being fatal.It will be useful that the Mobile phone automatically switches off when it in the verge of over-heating or senses something is wrong internally
Automatic Dictionary/ Language Translator:
A useful tool for all.A google translator inserted in the mails and SMS will add a new way we communicate with our family and friends.Yet, the google translator is only in the stage of transliteration for most of the Indian languages.For the person knowing that local language a transliteration is useful ,say you want to type in Tamil ,you can use features like google transliteration for mails and SMS.In case your don't know that local language a automatic language translator will be useful.
Automatic Voice Translator
After the data's,I come in for audio calls.A communication that will be very effective in connecting the whole world in a tiny circle.A voice recognition software that recognising the language and translates the same in voice in case the person who we are communicating with doesn't understand your language
Solar Powered Backup Battery:
In a country like India with abundant energy from sun and where the current goes on and off frequntly and with some phones having less battery life, a solar panel for powering up the a backup battery (a substitute for the main battery) will be useful in the long run
Parental Control
In this day even children going to school have cell phone in their hands.The popularity of MMS of Adult pictures and unknown porn SMS,mails is dangerous for their life .A parental control will at least put a full stop to some of these features
Finding Lost/Hidden phones In House/Office
This feature helps when kids in the house takes the mobile phone and forgets where it kept.Also the people in the house searches and feels hard to find that too when the battery goes off.In that case, if the mobile phone is felt unattented for days ,it lets a beep sound 2 times on the 3rd and 5th day after the battery goes off .It will help the people in keeping their mobile phone safe .
Turn On/Off for features :
We use to get messages from unknown advertisers to dial a number to activate a feature.Some persons and kids do it without knowing the incuring cost.Only when we get our bills high,we know that the certain feature is activated and we have to call the help centers for their help.That too going through voice calls ,some people find it difficult to contact them unless a much knowleged person comes in for help.In that case ,a Turn on /off feature like the Message,Contacts,will help in knowing what features they are currently in.If they feel they dont want it,turning off that particular feature without dialing that number will come in handy
The above post is written in response to Indiblogger's Share a Life Contest for TATA DOCOMO One Touch Phone
The feature I wish my smart phone had!
Mobile phone technology evolved only a few years before and are advancing very fast adding new feature and getting smarter day by day.They are smarter with the compact design, in-built camera ,video capture,SMS,Internet,One-Touch and FM radio which an ordinary land phone that didn't have.To the question 'Are the smart phone really smart'? ,Yes They truly Are!
A SMART PHONE
But these are some features I felt that the Smart Phone is lagging in and I wish it had
Call Diverting Code :
A call diverting is a useful feature that helps in diverting his/her important calls when busy or not available.But the mobile number to which the call is diverted should belong to him or his family .Sometimes he may land up diverting all calls to an unknown person who suffers the consequences.The solution will be having a unique code entered on the phones on which he will divert the calls.Example:
"x" husband diverting his calls to "Y",his wife mobile phone since he is an important meeting.While diverting he is asked for a unique code,which he enters"123".The code "123"is been registered before in "Y"mobile phone for acceptance of "X"calls.They match and the calls are diverted in.This will be a correct solution for the unwanted diversions of calls.
Automatic Turn off due to Over-Heating:
We have been are reading recently in new paper that in some places the mobile phone blows out due to overcharge or heating injuring people and sometimes being fatal.It will be useful that the Mobile phone automatically switches off when it in the verge of over-heating or senses something is wrong internally
Automatic Dictionary/ Language Translator:
A useful tool for all.A google translator inserted in the mails and SMS will add a new way we communicate with our family and friends.Yet, the google translator is only in the stage of transliteration for most of the Indian languages.For the person knowing that local language a transliteration is useful ,say you want to type in Tamil ,you can use features like google transliteration for mails and SMS.In case your don't know that local language a automatic language translator will be useful.
Automatic Voice Translator
After the data's,I come in for audio calls.A communication that will be very effective in connecting the whole world in a tiny circle.A voice recognition software that recognising the language and translates the same in voice in case the person who we are communicating with doesn't understand your language
Solar Powered Backup Battery:
In a country like India with abundant energy from sun and where the current goes on and off frequntly and with some phones having less battery life, a solar panel for powering up the a backup battery (a substitute for the main battery) will be useful in the long run
Parental Control
In this day even children going to school have cell phone in their hands.The popularity of MMS of Adult pictures and unknown porn SMS,mails is dangerous for their life .A parental control will at least put a full stop to some of these features
Finding Lost/Hidden phones In House/Office
This feature helps when kids in the house takes the mobile phone and forgets where it kept.Also the people in the house searches and feels hard to find that too when the battery goes off.In that case, if the mobile phone is felt unattented for days ,it lets a beep sound 2 times on the 3rd and 5th day after the battery goes off .It will help the people in keeping their mobile phone safe .
Turn On/Off for features :
We use to get messages from unknown advertisers to dial a number to activate a feature.Some persons and kids do it without knowing the incuring cost.Only when we get our bills high,we know that the certain feature is activated and we have to call the help centers for their help.That too going through voice calls ,some people find it difficult to contact them unless a much knowleged person comes in for help.In that case ,a Turn on /off feature like the Message,Contacts,will help in knowing what features they are currently in.If they feel they dont want it,turning off that particular feature without dialing that number will come in handy
The above post is written in response to Indiblogger's Share a Life Contest for TATA DOCOMO One Touch Phone
A SMART PHONE
But these are some features I felt that the Smart Phone is lagging in and I wish it had
Call Diverting Code :
A call diverting is a useful feature that helps in diverting his/her important calls when busy or not available.But the mobile number to which the call is diverted should belong to him or his family .Sometimes he may land up diverting all calls to an unknown person who suffers the consequences.The solution will be having a unique code entered on the phones on which he will divert the calls.Example:
"x" husband diverting his calls to "Y",his wife mobile phone since he is an important meeting.While diverting he is asked for a unique code,which he enters"123".The code "123"is been registered before in "Y"mobile phone for acceptance of "X"calls.They match and the calls are diverted in.This will be a correct solution for the unwanted diversions of calls.
Automatic Turn off due to Over-Heating:
We have been are reading recently in new paper that in some places the mobile phone blows out due to overcharge or heating injuring people and sometimes being fatal.It will be useful that the Mobile phone automatically switches off when it in the verge of over-heating or senses something is wrong internally
Automatic Dictionary/ Language Translator:
A useful tool for all.A google translator inserted in the mails and SMS will add a new way we communicate with our family and friends.Yet, the google translator is only in the stage of transliteration for most of the Indian languages.For the person knowing that local language a transliteration is useful ,say you want to type in Tamil ,you can use features like google transliteration for mails and SMS.In case your don't know that local language a automatic language translator will be useful.
Automatic Voice Translator
After the data's,I come in for audio calls.A communication that will be very effective in connecting the whole world in a tiny circle.A voice recognition software that recognising the language and translates the same in voice in case the person who we are communicating with doesn't understand your language
Solar Powered Backup Battery:
In a country like India with abundant energy from sun and where the current goes on and off frequntly and with some phones having less battery life, a solar panel for powering up the a backup battery (a substitute for the main battery) will be useful in the long run
Parental Control
In this day even children going to school have cell phone in their hands.The popularity of MMS of Adult pictures and unknown porn SMS,mails is dangerous for their life .A parental control will at least put a full stop to some of these features
Finding Lost/Hidden phones In House/Office
This feature helps when kids in the house takes the mobile phone and forgets where it kept.Also the people in the house searches and feels hard to find that too when the battery goes off.In that case, if the mobile phone is felt unattented for days ,it lets a beep sound 2 times on the 3rd and 5th day after the battery goes off .It will help the people in keeping their mobile phone safe .
Turn On/Off for features :
We use to get messages from unknown advertisers to dial a number to activate a feature.Some persons and kids do it without knowing the incuring cost.Only when we get our bills high,we know that the certain feature is activated and we have to call the help centers for their help.That too going through voice calls ,some people find it difficult to contact them unless a much knowleged person comes in for help.In that case ,a Turn on /off feature like the Message,Contacts,will help in knowing what features they are currently in.If they feel they dont want it,turning off that particular feature without dialing that number will come in handy
The above post is written in response to Indiblogger's Share a Life Contest for TATA DOCOMO One Touch Phone
My Mobile Journey
“‘I need a mobile phone,” I repeated for the third time to the L&M.
He was fiddling with his new gadget, the size of a decent sized brick and trying to punch some numbers on it. It was the initial days of the advent of the mobile phones in India and he had got one – a Siemens S3 model, if I remember right. Cost a packet too. One of the brats can confirm, knowing the L&M’s notorious memory.It cost an arm — no make it two arms and a leg – to make even local calls.
So his next question was logical: “Why do you need one?”
I found that one too absurd to merit a reply. Why didn’t I need one? I was a woman on the go – to the market, to the bank, to the temple, to the library, to a friend’s — and I needed to keep in touch, didn’t I? What if one of the brats wanted desperately to contact me? (‘Ma, where is my white T shirt?’) or the L&M might need to give some urgent instruction? (‘I have an upset tummy and will only eat khichdi tonight.’) Or what if my best friend had something of earthshaking importance to tell me? (‘There is a sale at Fabindia. Where are you?’)
I need not have worried though. The L&M is one of those guys who loves changing gadgets and appliances. It is like this. If he looks contemplatively at any one of the above said things for more than half a minute, one can safely assume that its days were numbered – in single digits. It could be any white good which normally has a decent life span.
And everyone knows that technical gizmos become obsolete faster than you can say ‘obsolete.’ True to his nature, I caught the L&M staring at his first mobile phone reflectively one day. I did a handstand and a cartwheel for good measure in the next room. I was going to get it now!
Sure enough, he spotted something smaller and sleeker and the brick found its way to me. Hand-me-down, but what the hell!
If looks could kill, my handset would have done it any day! It resembled the cordless handsets that we see today, complete with a small antenna and all. In fact, a slightly longer antenna would have made me look like a policewoman in plainclothes carrying a walkie-talkie! Its thickness was how much the size of many of the handsets of today– about two inches! The menu functions were a pain – you had to go through so much garbage before you reached what you wanted, for instance, to type a message. One thing was certain: even if its looks didn’t kill, it could still have done the job– with its sheer weight!
Still I carried it everywhere with me, my already heavy handbag weighing even more with the handset! In those initial days of the mobile phone not many people had one and so every time I took it out, (mostly to admire it and show it off than actually making or receiving a call), I had several bystanders gazing enviously at me. The problem was, I didn’t have too many contacts to send SMS to and so ended up sending them to the L&M. Never mind that I had to press the keys a zillion times to type a simple message, since predictable text had not made its debut.
So while I still bravely lugged my brick around using it more than before since the rates had reduced slightly, newer models flooded the market at a mindboggling rate. The yuppies and puppies were holding their palms against their ears and whispering sweet-nothings into their tiny handsets and here I was pulling out the brick and shouting into it (the battery probably had weakened). From eliciting envious looks I had been reduced to drawing amused and sometimes irritated glances from the above said audience.
The next handset was slightly smaller but still not so sleek. But at the rate new models kept flooding the market, I soon realised that barring the L&M going crazy and changing his handset every month, I would always be a several steps behind in the world of the Ys and Ps.
Still I managed to find new uses for the handset. And one of the things I discovered was games. Not for me the frenetic zapping and annihilating of sundry creatures. I loved the languorous ‘snake’ – still do in fact. I don’t believe in engaging all my digits maniacally in destroying things. Instead I use just the left thumb to make the snake eat its food languidly. It almost became a pet – I would suddenly wake up at night thinking that my snake must be hungry and start feeding it. It also made me feel very protective to prevent it from bumping into its own tail. The clicks would wake up the L&M and he would demand that I stop that very instant. Height of heartlessness, I tell you.
I think it is a very healthy game, one that fosters the nurturing instinct in the player. I can’t tell you what satisfaction it gives me to see the snake grow, much like I used to love watching the brats eat and grow into strapping young lads.
Coming back to the story, over the years the L&M also lost his penchant for new phones and so by inference I am stuck with an old handset.
Recently when the younger one saw me with an old handset, he decided to buy me a new one with many new features. He asked me my preference and I said, “I need Snake.”
“What?” he said, unable to believe that his old woman had finally flipped her lid. The salesman and the brat tried their best to convince me of the features of each funky new model. A desperate brat even tried to overshoot his budget and get me a one-touch phone. But I stood my ground. In disgust he had to hunt for the only model of Nokia that still had the game! And I am now happily feeding my pet all the food it wants, day or night!
I am told that one can download games in the latest phones. I wonder if the much praised OneTouch Net phone from Tata DOCOMO has this facility. Once I am satisfied that I can download the latest in Snake, I can start plotting of ways to make the L&M get interested in it.
I know you are thinking that it might be forever before I get it, considering it is so good. Pssst, let me tell you a secret about the L&M. He loves to own new mobile handsets but uses the same basic features that were there in his first Siemens! I am banking on his getting frustrated by its smartness.
And guess what I would do then? Well, I would offer to ‘take it off his hands!’ Ingenious, aren’t I?
Don’t go revealing my plan to him, will you, now?
He was fiddling with his new gadget, the size of a decent sized brick and trying to punch some numbers on it. It was the initial days of the advent of the mobile phones in India and he had got one – a Siemens S3 model, if I remember right. Cost a packet too. One of the brats can confirm, knowing the L&M’s notorious memory.It cost an arm — no make it two arms and a leg – to make even local calls.
So his next question was logical: “Why do you need one?”
I found that one too absurd to merit a reply. Why didn’t I need one? I was a woman on the go – to the market, to the bank, to the temple, to the library, to a friend’s — and I needed to keep in touch, didn’t I? What if one of the brats wanted desperately to contact me? (‘Ma, where is my white T shirt?’) or the L&M might need to give some urgent instruction? (‘I have an upset tummy and will only eat khichdi tonight.’) Or what if my best friend had something of earthshaking importance to tell me? (‘There is a sale at Fabindia. Where are you?’)
I need not have worried though. The L&M is one of those guys who loves changing gadgets and appliances. It is like this. If he looks contemplatively at any one of the above said things for more than half a minute, one can safely assume that its days were numbered – in single digits. It could be any white good which normally has a decent life span.
And everyone knows that technical gizmos become obsolete faster than you can say ‘obsolete.’ True to his nature, I caught the L&M staring at his first mobile phone reflectively one day. I did a handstand and a cartwheel for good measure in the next room. I was going to get it now!
Sure enough, he spotted something smaller and sleeker and the brick found its way to me. Hand-me-down, but what the hell!
If looks could kill, my handset would have done it any day! It resembled the cordless handsets that we see today, complete with a small antenna and all. In fact, a slightly longer antenna would have made me look like a policewoman in plainclothes carrying a walkie-talkie! Its thickness was how much the size of many of the handsets of today– about two inches! The menu functions were a pain – you had to go through so much garbage before you reached what you wanted, for instance, to type a message. One thing was certain: even if its looks didn’t kill, it could still have done the job– with its sheer weight!
Still I carried it everywhere with me, my already heavy handbag weighing even more with the handset! In those initial days of the mobile phone not many people had one and so every time I took it out, (mostly to admire it and show it off than actually making or receiving a call), I had several bystanders gazing enviously at me. The problem was, I didn’t have too many contacts to send SMS to and so ended up sending them to the L&M. Never mind that I had to press the keys a zillion times to type a simple message, since predictable text had not made its debut.
So while I still bravely lugged my brick around using it more than before since the rates had reduced slightly, newer models flooded the market at a mindboggling rate. The yuppies and puppies were holding their palms against their ears and whispering sweet-nothings into their tiny handsets and here I was pulling out the brick and shouting into it (the battery probably had weakened). From eliciting envious looks I had been reduced to drawing amused and sometimes irritated glances from the above said audience.
The next handset was slightly smaller but still not so sleek. But at the rate new models kept flooding the market, I soon realised that barring the L&M going crazy and changing his handset every month, I would always be a several steps behind in the world of the Ys and Ps.
Still I managed to find new uses for the handset. And one of the things I discovered was games. Not for me the frenetic zapping and annihilating of sundry creatures. I loved the languorous ‘snake’ – still do in fact. I don’t believe in engaging all my digits maniacally in destroying things. Instead I use just the left thumb to make the snake eat its food languidly. It almost became a pet – I would suddenly wake up at night thinking that my snake must be hungry and start feeding it. It also made me feel very protective to prevent it from bumping into its own tail. The clicks would wake up the L&M and he would demand that I stop that very instant. Height of heartlessness, I tell you.
I think it is a very healthy game, one that fosters the nurturing instinct in the player. I can’t tell you what satisfaction it gives me to see the snake grow, much like I used to love watching the brats eat and grow into strapping young lads.
Coming back to the story, over the years the L&M also lost his penchant for new phones and so by inference I am stuck with an old handset.
Recently when the younger one saw me with an old handset, he decided to buy me a new one with many new features. He asked me my preference and I said, “I need Snake.”
“What?” he said, unable to believe that his old woman had finally flipped her lid. The salesman and the brat tried their best to convince me of the features of each funky new model. A desperate brat even tried to overshoot his budget and get me a one-touch phone. But I stood my ground. In disgust he had to hunt for the only model of Nokia that still had the game! And I am now happily feeding my pet all the food it wants, day or night!
I am told that one can download games in the latest phones. I wonder if the much praised OneTouch Net phone from Tata DOCOMO has this facility. Once I am satisfied that I can download the latest in Snake, I can start plotting of ways to make the L&M get interested in it.
I know you are thinking that it might be forever before I get it, considering it is so good. Pssst, let me tell you a secret about the L&M. He loves to own new mobile handsets but uses the same basic features that were there in his first Siemens! I am banking on his getting frustrated by its smartness.
And guess what I would do then? Well, I would offer to ‘take it off his hands!’ Ingenious, aren’t I?
Don’t go revealing my plan to him, will you, now?
My Mobile Journey
“‘I need a mobile phone,” I repeated for the third time to the L&M.
He was fiddling with his new gadget, the size of a decent sized brick and trying to punch some numbers on it. It was the initial days of the advent of the mobile phones in India and he had got one – a Siemens S3 model, if I remember right. Cost a packet too. One of the brats can confirm, knowing the L&M’s notorious memory.It cost an arm — no make it two arms and a leg – to make even local calls.
So his next question was logical: “Why do you need one?”
I found that one too absurd to merit a reply. Why didn’t I need one? I was a woman on the go – to the market, to the bank, to the temple, to the library, to a friend’s — and I needed to keep in touch, didn’t I? What if one of the brats wanted desperately to contact me? (‘Ma, where is my white T shirt?’) or the L&M might need to give some urgent instruction? (‘I have an upset tummy and will only eat khichdi tonight.’) Or what if my best friend had something of earthshaking importance to tell me? (‘There is a sale at Fabindia. Where are you?’)
I need not have worried though. The L&M is one of those guys who loves changing gadgets and appliances. It is like this. If he looks contemplatively at any one of the above said things for more than half a minute, one can safely assume that its days were numbered – in single digits. It could be any white good which normally has a decent life span.
And everyone knows that technical gizmos become obsolete faster than you can say ‘obsolete.’ True to his nature, I caught the L&M staring at his first mobile phone reflectively one day. I did a handstand and a cartwheel for good measure in the next room. I was going to get it now!
Sure enough, he spotted something smaller and sleeker and the brick found its way to me. Hand-me-down, but what the hell!
If looks could kill, my handset would have done it any day! It resembled the cordless handsets that we see today, complete with a small antenna and all. In fact, a slightly longer antenna would have made me look like a policewoman in plainclothes carrying a walkie-talkie! Its thickness was how much the size of many of the handsets of today– about two inches! The menu functions were a pain – you had to go through so much garbage before you reached what you wanted, for instance, to type a message. One thing was certain: even if its looks didn’t kill, it could still have done the job– with its sheer weight!
Still I carried it everywhere with me, my already heavy handbag weighing even more with the handset! In those initial days of the mobile phone not many people had one and so every time I took it out, (mostly to admire it and show it off than actually making or receiving a call), I had several bystanders gazing enviously at me. The problem was, I didn’t have too many contacts to send SMS to and so ended up sending them to the L&M. Never mind that I had to press the keys a zillion times to type a simple message, since predictable text had not made its debut.
So while I still bravely lugged my brick around using it more than before since the rates had reduced slightly, newer models flooded the market at a mindboggling rate. The yuppies and puppies were holding their palms against their ears and whispering sweet-nothings into their tiny handsets and here I was pulling out the brick and shouting into it (the battery probably had weakened). From eliciting envious looks I had been reduced to drawing amused and sometimes irritated glances from the above said audience.
The next handset was slightly smaller but still not so sleek. But at the rate new models kept flooding the market, I soon realised that barring the L&M going crazy and changing his handset every month, I would always be a several steps behind in the world of the Ys and Ps.
Still I managed to find new uses for the handset. And one of the things I discovered was games. Not for me the frenetic zapping and annihilating of sundry creatures. I loved the languorous ‘snake’ – still do in fact. I don’t believe in engaging all my digits maniacally in destroying things. Instead I use just the left thumb to make the snake eat its food languidly. It almost became a pet – I would suddenly wake up at night thinking that my snake must be hungry and start feeding it. It also made me feel very protective to prevent it from bumping into its own tail. The clicks would wake up the L&M and he would demand that I stop that very instant. Height of heartlessness, I tell you.
I think it is a very healthy game, one that fosters the nurturing instinct in the player. I can’t tell you what satisfaction it gives me to see the snake grow, much like I used to love watching the brats eat and grow into strapping young lads.
Coming back to the story, over the years the L&M also lost his penchant for new phones and so by inference I am stuck with an old handset.
Recently when the younger one saw me with an old handset, he decided to buy me a new one with many new features. He asked me my preference and I said, “I need Snake.”
“What?” he said, unable to believe that his old woman had finally flipped her lid. The salesman and the brat tried their best to convince me of the features of each funky new model. A desperate brat even tried to overshoot his budget and get me a one-touch phone. But I stood my ground. In disgust he had to hunt for the only model of Nokia that still had the game! And I am now happily feeding my pet all the food it wants, day or night!
I am told that one can download games in the latest phones. I wonder if the much praised OneTouch Net phone from Tata DOCOMO has this facility. Once I am satisfied that I can download the latest in Snake, I can start plotting of ways to make the L&M get interested in it.
I know you are thinking that it might be forever before I get it, considering it is so good. Pssst, let me tell you a secret about the L&M. He loves to own new mobile handsets but uses the same basic features that were there in his first Siemens! I am banking on his getting frustrated by its smartness.
And guess what I would do then? Well, I would offer to ‘take it off his hands!’ Ingenious, aren’t I?
Don’t go revealing my plan to him, will you, now?
He was fiddling with his new gadget, the size of a decent sized brick and trying to punch some numbers on it. It was the initial days of the advent of the mobile phones in India and he had got one – a Siemens S3 model, if I remember right. Cost a packet too. One of the brats can confirm, knowing the L&M’s notorious memory.It cost an arm — no make it two arms and a leg – to make even local calls.
So his next question was logical: “Why do you need one?”
I found that one too absurd to merit a reply. Why didn’t I need one? I was a woman on the go – to the market, to the bank, to the temple, to the library, to a friend’s — and I needed to keep in touch, didn’t I? What if one of the brats wanted desperately to contact me? (‘Ma, where is my white T shirt?’) or the L&M might need to give some urgent instruction? (‘I have an upset tummy and will only eat khichdi tonight.’) Or what if my best friend had something of earthshaking importance to tell me? (‘There is a sale at Fabindia. Where are you?’)
I need not have worried though. The L&M is one of those guys who loves changing gadgets and appliances. It is like this. If he looks contemplatively at any one of the above said things for more than half a minute, one can safely assume that its days were numbered – in single digits. It could be any white good which normally has a decent life span.
And everyone knows that technical gizmos become obsolete faster than you can say ‘obsolete.’ True to his nature, I caught the L&M staring at his first mobile phone reflectively one day. I did a handstand and a cartwheel for good measure in the next room. I was going to get it now!
Sure enough, he spotted something smaller and sleeker and the brick found its way to me. Hand-me-down, but what the hell!
If looks could kill, my handset would have done it any day! It resembled the cordless handsets that we see today, complete with a small antenna and all. In fact, a slightly longer antenna would have made me look like a policewoman in plainclothes carrying a walkie-talkie! Its thickness was how much the size of many of the handsets of today– about two inches! The menu functions were a pain – you had to go through so much garbage before you reached what you wanted, for instance, to type a message. One thing was certain: even if its looks didn’t kill, it could still have done the job– with its sheer weight!
Still I carried it everywhere with me, my already heavy handbag weighing even more with the handset! In those initial days of the mobile phone not many people had one and so every time I took it out, (mostly to admire it and show it off than actually making or receiving a call), I had several bystanders gazing enviously at me. The problem was, I didn’t have too many contacts to send SMS to and so ended up sending them to the L&M. Never mind that I had to press the keys a zillion times to type a simple message, since predictable text had not made its debut.
So while I still bravely lugged my brick around using it more than before since the rates had reduced slightly, newer models flooded the market at a mindboggling rate. The yuppies and puppies were holding their palms against their ears and whispering sweet-nothings into their tiny handsets and here I was pulling out the brick and shouting into it (the battery probably had weakened). From eliciting envious looks I had been reduced to drawing amused and sometimes irritated glances from the above said audience.
The next handset was slightly smaller but still not so sleek. But at the rate new models kept flooding the market, I soon realised that barring the L&M going crazy and changing his handset every month, I would always be a several steps behind in the world of the Ys and Ps.
Still I managed to find new uses for the handset. And one of the things I discovered was games. Not for me the frenetic zapping and annihilating of sundry creatures. I loved the languorous ‘snake’ – still do in fact. I don’t believe in engaging all my digits maniacally in destroying things. Instead I use just the left thumb to make the snake eat its food languidly. It almost became a pet – I would suddenly wake up at night thinking that my snake must be hungry and start feeding it. It also made me feel very protective to prevent it from bumping into its own tail. The clicks would wake up the L&M and he would demand that I stop that very instant. Height of heartlessness, I tell you.
I think it is a very healthy game, one that fosters the nurturing instinct in the player. I can’t tell you what satisfaction it gives me to see the snake grow, much like I used to love watching the brats eat and grow into strapping young lads.
Coming back to the story, over the years the L&M also lost his penchant for new phones and so by inference I am stuck with an old handset.
Recently when the younger one saw me with an old handset, he decided to buy me a new one with many new features. He asked me my preference and I said, “I need Snake.”
“What?” he said, unable to believe that his old woman had finally flipped her lid. The salesman and the brat tried their best to convince me of the features of each funky new model. A desperate brat even tried to overshoot his budget and get me a one-touch phone. But I stood my ground. In disgust he had to hunt for the only model of Nokia that still had the game! And I am now happily feeding my pet all the food it wants, day or night!
I am told that one can download games in the latest phones. I wonder if the much praised OneTouch Net phone from Tata DOCOMO has this facility. Once I am satisfied that I can download the latest in Snake, I can start plotting of ways to make the L&M get interested in it.
I know you are thinking that it might be forever before I get it, considering it is so good. Pssst, let me tell you a secret about the L&M. He loves to own new mobile handsets but uses the same basic features that were there in his first Siemens! I am banking on his getting frustrated by its smartness.
And guess what I would do then? Well, I would offer to ‘take it off his hands!’ Ingenious, aren’t I?
Don’t go revealing my plan to him, will you, now?
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