133: Black Magic

[Hugo Torres]

Black Magic

"The increasing popularity of BlackBerries and other internet-capable smartphones herald the coming of the mythic all-in-one device that combines every gadget into one convenient, portable form. BlackBerries can send and receive email, play music, play video files, read Word and PDF documents, take voice memos, and provide maps with location pinpointed by built-in GPS. Oh, and they also make phone calls."

Hugo Torres phones home from the future of smartphones.


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[FunkyJ]

even in a group of friends, out for a night on the town. They decide to go to a restaurant for dinner, but aren't familiar with the area. Smartphone in hand, one of them pulls up a list of nearby restaurants, checks the reviews, pulls up the address and directions, and makes a reservation.

I think people may do this before heading out - looking up the menu online, finding the location, and finding the number to make a reservation.

I have known people to TRY and do this 'on the go', (I do know lots of geeks after all but it never works out as easily as you have made it. Either the phone number is wrong, or the restaurant is no longer open, or it's full anyway so making a reservation there and then is impossible.

So what happens is you spend 15 minutes looking at a blackberry and then need to walk about for half an hour and then end up deciding to go to the least full and cheapest restaurant, which is something you would have done sans blackberry anyway... All you've done is wasted 15 minutes and become more hungry.

 

[Trulock]

Small devices with crappy screens won't pull me for now. It was the same for me with phones playing mp3's a few years back, the sound quality was so crap I would rather just go without it.

I think the moment they integrate them with glasses that can display the information and even overlay information over real life objects, that will be the day I will sit up and take notice.

 

[Arbre]

Ring me when there's a GeForce 8800 Ultra inside in the low end models.

Besides, nice heading art. I didn't even notice the subtle white background transparency until now.

 

[mynameisob3l]

Smartphones' effect on us can be seen everywhere, even in a group of friends, out for a night on the town. They decide to go to a restaurant for dinner, but aren't familiar with the area. Smartphone in hand, one of them pulls up a list of nearby restaurants, checks the reviews, pulls up the address and directions, and makes a reservation. Tardy friends are quickly contacted and emailed the pertinent details.

and this has actually happened, actually, in the actual world, when?

the concept is there, but honestly, we aren't there yet. first you'd have to connect to the internet on your phone ("charges will apply, are you sure you want to blah blah bah"). then you have to navigate to some webpage using 1-9 keys to type out some page. you're probably presented with a page that's broken on your phone's display. type type type (using 1-9) hoping to find restaurant reviews (no wait guys, hold on it's loading, oh crap, no wait, it's loading again, hold on guys, almost got it, wait, lemme go back to the last page, hold on), then step 8, then step 42, oh let's just get mcdonalds.

when i can hold my phone up to my ear and mouth (you know, like a PHONE) and ask it for the nearest sushi place that's open till midnight, then we will have achieved "smartphone".