Before I get started about phones and my niggles with them, let me blurt a little about the overuse of the prefix “smart” nowdays. It’s a clever advertising ploy because you can’t pin “smart” down to anything. But smart is sexy right? Because you’re clever and ahead of the pack with a “smart”-anything.
There is only loose agreement on what defines a smart device – something with a fully fledged operating system or with email capability, and it gets hazy from there. When we buyers get bored of “smart” – where do advertisers take us next to convince us of their product coolness? hmm..”eco” and “i” have already been used. I’m tipping “Me” or “Mi” to be the next frontrunner. Oh damn, Myspace grabbed that ages ago.
Last night I decided that the Samsung S800 phone I carry like a small lead-weight missile in my front right trouser pocket was not smart. I recently had a data plan activated on it so I could browse websites on the train, which works reasonably well, but I seem to be unable to upload a photo to Facebook or WordPress with it. I get mystery error messages that no Google search will identify. I am trying my hardest to not succumb to a truly clever phone and buy one with an Android OS until the battery life on these monsters goes beyond a day or two. I might be waiting awhile though. But maybe that’s smart also.