Who needs a smartphone if you can use your flip phone smartly?

When talking to American youth about which media device they couldn’t live without we inevitably get the same answer – my cell phone. But what's in a mobile phone? It’s more than just talk. It’s also more than just text. It’s life management, it’s hot spotting, it’s a daily triage tool.

Of course many of the 20somethings we talk to do have smartphones (which they are mildly addicted to). But not all of them are toting around an iPhone, Crackberry, or Sidekick. It’s fascinating to see the many ingenious ways kids are using your average everyday moto razor. They check email, watch videos, send pictures, organize their social & professional lives (contacts, calendars), and keep on top of hot topics (news, sports, etc). You’d be amazed at all they can do on that simple flip phone.

Check out these self-shot clips - We asked them to send us a short video on their favorite gadget.

5 reasons to keep your phone handy

1. To save a damsel in distress: It was 3am and Nicole got locked out of her apartment. She had no choice but to call 911 for help. Five minutes later an NYPD policeman came with his most powerful weapon. No. Not a gun, but an iPhone. Excited to help a lady in trouble, he pulled out his versatile weapon and located a locksmith within 3 minutes. Number of casualties: 0. A happy ending? No doubt.

2. To avoid dirty looks: Alessandra was tired of getting dirty looks from her 13-year-old teenage daughter every time she surprised her with her latest find. The solution? She now takes pictures of every item she considers buying her fashion-forward teenage diva. The result: Extra credit for her and the title of coolest mom.

3. To give romance a chance: Christine has been divorced for 2 years. Raising 6-year-old Bianca and 8 year-old Gilda is more than a handful. But thanks to text messaging, she gets to squeeze a provocative exchange of messages with her newfound catch. Who knew a 40-year old could brim like a teenager all over again???

4. To turn car trips into a game of seduction: Simone and Enrico travel often for his job, and she happily joins him for the ride. Their preferred method: the car. They’re favorite past time: to one-up each other. Thanks to Internet access on their blackberries, they can argue, guess and bet one another on whatever issues crosses their way. The arbiter: Wikipedia.

5. For free publicity: Steven is a savvy car-racer, weekend DJ and self-promoter. His most successful method of publicity: the answering machine! “If you can get a person’s attention, don’t waste your time!” he says. Steven is a charming boy who gives out his number freely and gets many calls a day. Instead of stating the usual: leave your message after the beep, he prefers to inform callers of his latest appearances: “I will be DJ’ing at T35 tonight, hope to see you there...” Slick, but clever.

Truth: Cell phones have a way of creeping into our lives making it more eventful, surprising and, if we try hard enough, creative!

Live from...

The Event: Romania vs. Italy, Euro Cup 2008
The Place: Il Duomo in Milano
The Reporters: Anyone with a cell-phone...

On Friday the 13th, il Duomo in Milan became an extension of a soccer stadium for three hours thanks to the magic of Cannon, who broadcast the teeth-quenching match through a live size screen.

Not being a soccer fan myself (please don’t kill me), I was drawn to this soccer phenomenon, particularly to the language of hands: Clenched fists. Palms together in prayer. Nervous hands puffing away. A few covering faces in disbelief.

But my favorite hand gesture came in as soon as the commercials kicked in. All of a sudden, these everyday soccer fans became professionals press agents. In less than three seconds the unfailing reporters had cell-phones in hand, reporting in minute detail the events of the last 20 minutes. Absolutely priceless.

Truth: It doesn’t take a reporter to broadcast the news.

Opportunity: Democratize news reporting! Often we complain that our news sources are biased by politics and bureaucracy. Why not give people a chance to tell their own, personal story. It will, no doubt, be biased. Are we able to tell fact from opinion? Maybe not, but we will never know if we don't try.

Digital sheet music

Mark is a self-described music junkie. He always feels the need to be around some kind of music. When he steps out of the house in the morning, he is already plugged into his earphones. He carries music in 2 devices - a Walkman phone and an iPod touch. Each device has different music inside. 

Even when he's studying, he's doing it while listening to music. It's not a distraction at all. In fact, he says it helps him focus. He feels happier and the beats serve as a mnemonic to help him remember what he just read. 

He plays in a band too. He stores the band's practice material in his phone. In the studio, they listen to the songs together  so they can learn how to play it. He and his bandmates also send chord progression to each other through SMS. His phone is more than a music player, it's digital sheet music for the band.

He's never enjoyed music more than he has today. The combination of computers, the internet and mobile devices have exploded the possibilities for a music junkie like him. Downloads have changed how he discovers music while devices and software have changed how he learns to play and shares music. 

Killing boredom and new rules of etiquette

Audrey and Andrei, 18

Audrey and Andrei are friends from a local Junior College. Today, they've decided to go to a mall that's some distance from their school so they can get away for a moment. That's because their studies are an all-consuming presence in their lives. They describe their lives as "boring...just studying and more studying". Even in their free time, their studies are still lingering in the back of their minds (and so breaks like this one are much welcomed)

Beside the mall's fountain, it's interesting to see that Audrey and Andrei are chatting face to face with each other while SIMULTANEOUSLY holding a texting conversation with some other friends. They say it helps them feel more connected. And it's not rude or impolite at all for them to do so.

They both describe their phones as their best friend. They'd feel brokenhearted if they lost their phones because not only does it keep them connected, it's their weapon against boredom after a long day of studying. The one thing Audrey likes about her Sony Ericsson phone is that it's red. She doesn't like how it works but she loves it anyway because it's in the right shade of red. Andrei likes his Samsung phone because it's tough. He's dropped it so many times but it still works. Truly reliable, like a best friend. 

My phone has been my savior many times

"My phone has been my savior many times. It feels like my lifeline. My life saver."

-Tilden, 28

Tilden is energy personified. His mornings have more activity than many people have in an entire day - a 3K run, a morning dose of caffeine and work done over breakfast. Tilden is constantly moving. He is in a sales job, flies a lot, owns a Subway restaurant for a business and still makes time to play basketball regularly.

His mobile phone is like his lifeline. He doesn't chat much over the phone, yet he depends on it 24/7. His phone carries many important numbers - like clients, friends, travel agents, helplines and customer service hotlines. Without his phone, he'd feel helpless. Without it, he'd be stranded in airports, get lost, missed business opportunities and lost his girlfriend. No wonder he feels that every second of his life depends on it.

Even in his sleep, he's still thinking about his phone. He can't sleep without the phone beside him. It's the first thing he checks when he wakes up. It's the last thing he touches before bedtime - charging it, setting the alarm and placing it beside the bed.

Another picture of my ear...

Not sure whether to laugh or cry at this - I've lost count of the amount of accidental photos I've taken with my BlackBerry lately! It makes me feel as technophobic as my mum! But it's not me; it's my BB - it just doesn't work how I want it to.

Why should I have to learn how to use MY phone -- it should learn how to be mine!

Escapism

Work can get to you at times. And it’s when my mind seems strained to breaking point and my body feels lethargic from days of inactivity that I take out my Enfield. The first kick and the acquiescing roar of the engine satisfy every jarring nerve in my aching head. It’s hard to put in words the liberation a long ride gives me. I usually hound out the most secluded road possible. As the glacial traffic of the city yields to the open river like roads on the outskirts I feel all my anxiety being flushed out of my head.

And once the roads turn entirely desolate, I fish out my mobile phone , select my favorite rock and ride on. The GPS enabled on my phone tells me where I am and I remain untroubled by considerations of losing my way. I halt when I see a picturesque hill contrasted with vermillion sky. I sit down and watch the last rays of sunlight lose their battle to an ominous darkness.

If some worm crawls back into my skull and irks me regarding my work, I access the internet for a few brief moments through my phone and once the bug has been satiated I resume my visual meditation. As darkness settles I can see the lights of the city in the distance and the lava like stream of traffic flowing through. It is an intensely satisfying feeling to be so far away from all that has irritated me for a week and yet to carry it all.

If you come over to my apartment you’ll see innumerable pictures that have captured all these moments for me.

 I often wish I could embark on a longer trip. It takes a lot of planning and then leaving work behind always worries me. But then I reassure myself knowing that I can carry most of my work with me.

Maybe I'll take that long trip sometime soon, carry my work, my music and my map with me on that small device.

Opportunity: Help him get away without having to get on his bike. Bring beautiful worlds into his cubicle, his living room, his everyday life.

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep...”

When asked to describe himself Karthik used Frost’s famous words:

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep...”

Such ephemeral lines would usually conjure the image of a dreamer, lost in his own utopia, oblivious to the virulent and quick paced world around. An image is engendered of a man who enjoys leisure and wades through life indolently.

However as he elaborates on himself, you are drawn away from that drowsy image. Gradually the picture is punctured by karthik’s ambitions. He describes his aspiration as acquisition of vast quantities of wealth and his own corporation. This certainly seems far from the poetic penury that characterizes the dreamer. And then his coup de grace to the “dreamer” portrait comes when he describes his passion for technology.

Karthik wants a DSLR and love’s capturing the vivid and lush scenery his travels lead him to. He has captured innumerable pictures from most of his destinations and they are mesmerizing. One can almost see the wistful glint in his eye as he stares at the images, captured for him to live forever in almost life like quality He is at heart everything you would expect a romantic to be: drowned in poetry, tranquil in seclusion and yearning for journey. And in this romance, his gadgets provide him the facility of living his utopia.

For how else would Kathik stay in touch but with his Mobile phone a pertinent communication tool that helps him keep online “personally and professionally.”  When he encounters a sight particularly enchanting he draws out his phone and captures it, within the minutes the image has reached his envious friends, who are all still stuck at work and when his boss sends him an urgent message asking in a distraught manner for that crucial file, Karthik fishes out his phone again, accesses the internet and mails the attachment, grinning, thanking the almighty that he wasn’t in office to face the head’s wrath. He then plugs in his headphones and celebrates his seclusion with some soulful music.

Karthik is the embodiment of the modern dreamer, lost in his own world and yet connected to reality through technology. Indeed technology only serves to enhance his dream.

He enjoys the pleasure of both solitude and the feeling that his friends and work are right there waiting for him in his mobile phone. He can embark on for the most distant places, unburdened by worry for work and loved ones because he carries them both in his pocket, in his mobile phone.

Opportunity: Shift the paradigm from being a connectivity tool that keeps him in touch with people while he is away dreaming, to a creativity tool. Go from being a passive bridge to being an active enabler.

Put me in the driving seat

19-year old Akash is a GPS addict. He is heading for the airport when I speak with him, flying back to Mumbai after a month-long summer training program in Delhi. He does not know which terminal his flight departs from. So he plans to find his way to the correct one using GPS on his phone. His friends joke about how he probably uses GPS to navigate to the loo!

“You come to an unknown city. You don’t know anyone or anything. What are you supposed to do?” he asks. Enter his expensive $700 Nokia N95 phone with GPS. Except that he spends most of his time in Mumbai, his hometown which he knows rather well. And he tells me that he is not much of a traveller either. So what’s with the GPS fascination?

He tells me of this time that his dad and he were in a central market in Delhi, and his dad suddenly felt like digging into a burger. “So I just pulled out my phone and searched for burger joints, and sure enough, found one within a kilometre of where we were”. This apparently happens often back in Mumbai, when he is out with his friends. He is the official navigator, the ringleader who guides the fun to the closest happening restaurant or hangout with his GPS!

So why not just stop and ask for directions, I wonder… But for Akash, that is out of the question. He can barely even imagine such a scenario. It is the natural state of affairs for him to know his way around. Stopping, pausing, wondering, depending on cabbies, all out of the question. He wants to go where he wants to go, when he wants to go there. No pauses, no stops, no uncertainty, no hesitation. That is what technology does for him, is supposed to do for him. That is what his phone does for him. Make him feel like Mr.Cool, completely in charge of his fun, his life.

The most interesting part of the story suddenly emerges into the light. It is not about just the GPS either. The GPS represents this larger concept that he simply calls “Tech Savvy”. In addition to GPS, he also thrives on phone’s 8 gig memory storage, a 5 mp camera, 3G capabilities, HSDPA (the last two only enjoyed on holiday overseas, since India has not yet moved to 3G). He stores movies on it, and watches them by plugging the phone into a TV. He surfs the net through the phone, blogging and connecting with an astonishing number of communities on Orkut (nearly 100, he tells me).

He lets it out very casually, almost matter-of-factly, but with a quiet, unmistakable sense of pride - a GPS + 5 mp + 8 GB + blah blah phone in one pocket, a 20 GB pen drive (he has a 20 GIG pen drive!!!) in the other, an HP notebook in his backpack, and he feels “Tech Savvy”. His expression says it all: he feels Uber-cool, Empowered, Unstoppable, ‘With-it’.

Even as he has to rush off to catch his flight, he calls out, “oh, one thing I forgot to mention. I also use it as a pen drive. Transfer presentations quickly to my laptop.” This from a guy with a 20-gig pen drive in his pocket!

Opportunity: Put him in charge. Give him the controls. To fun. To life. To technology.

Post author: Sai Raghavan

Creating beautiful, interesting things

Swapna was born in a small time place near Bangalore. She is a dreamer. She married Vijay who is an architect and moved to London. Swapna had always been fascinated with the world of fashion. So when she moved to London with Vijay she had a good opportunity to explore and learn in the fashion industry. She chose to study fashion designing.

But all this was five years ago… now Swapna has designed many clothes and has even showcased it in many fashion shows. She is a very creative individual and she says creativity is the only fuel that keeps her going. Her journey from being a small time girl living in the suburbs to living in London is commendable. She says she had always been a dreamer and coming to London has only given her an opportunity to portray it.

She believes that creativity is the only thing that will never go out of fashion. And that being creative is the only trait you need to survive in any industry. She says that if creative individuals can harness the potential that the new technologies are offering, then it is going to create a new revolution. “The Technocreative revolution”. She defines herself as,“Creative, enthusiastic, innovative, and imaginative in my work. Choosy, moody, flexible, controlled, patient n forgiving to certain level. And I also believe that technology and creativity are the only saviors of mankind.”

She also feels that, the most exciting day of her life would be when she showcases the clothes designed by her in the London Fashion Week. And she has always dreamt about being able to design clothes for people like Amitabh Bachan, Jennifer Lopez, Oprah Winfrey, etc., The three things that she cannot think of living without are Laptop, my cell phone, my family. And she dreams of having the Ford Microsoft Sync music system for her car.

Her mobile phone is her only addiction which she cannot get over!

She also love taking pictures of her children and making home videos which she uploads on Youtube so that her family in India can view them.

Opportunity: Help her create more. Give her greater joy in creating beautiful, interesting things. Fill her life with wonderful new ideas that inspire her to create. 

Whole world in his hands

Once we got talking, Avinash wasn’t that stiff and dry a person I thought he was.

He walked into the cafeteria…hair unruly… with a bag on his shoulders…a little too big to be a college bag. And then that’s what I asked him first… “you going somewhere…is it?” and he said “no…” puzzled thinking what made me say that” …and then read the look on my face and said “oh!...the bag??… I like to carry what I love with me all the time” …and “what’s that? ” I said … my books and music. And he shared with me some amazing books on design…and a really interesting looking diary in which I saw some of his sketches and writings. That bag was like a sneak peak into him.

While we were chatting his cell must’ve rung a million times, and we started talking about how cell phones can get so bugging sometimes…

And after all that cribbing he say’s …“but honestly I feel somewhat incomplete without it” …“may be because I stay on my own here.”  Cell phone is the only way he can keep in touch with his parents and sister back home. And then he snapped out of that emotional state he’d slipped into and started telling me about his miserable bus ride to work without his phone which has all his music…he feels he gets pushed around more…people stink extra bad…feels hotter than usual the day he for some reason doesn’t have his phone. He say’s “it’s strange how I find no problem in going through all that with my headphones plugged in”

He then starts talking about how he totally loves SMSing …and talks about this girl in office he likes and since he doesn’t want to make it obvious to people… so every time he steps out of office and wants her to join…he sends her an SMS. 

He finds it much easier to express with SMSs. 

“If I’ve had a bad day at work and im  feeling low… I like to just scroll through some of the old msgs….pictures…helps me pull myself together”

He tells me how he’s not a gizmo freak at all… he checks his mail once a while on his cell… but mostly he likes to have fun with his phone… he likes his fav music to be on it....sets different ring tones for people(Especially a funny one for his boss).

As we were sipping the last sip of our second cup of coffee,,, this tall, ‘not so serious eyed guy’ anymore

Wrapped up the conversation saying “…then it’s important for me to send ‘her’ a gnite msg also right ! “

He was a real fun person to talk to …not like what id thought he would be when he walked in…shook hands and said a cold ‘hi!’

Opportunity: The mobile phone is the youngster’s lifeline. He carries (or wants to carry) his whole life in this little device. He turns to it for relaxation, connectivity, entertainment, casual fun, emotional strength even. How many more worlds can we help him pack in there?

Post author: Vinaina Suri

Centre of the universe

When I met Sameera she was busy listening to her favourite band “Jal” on her Nokia 6300. She is 23, working with UTVi production dept. She loves her phone because she got it 3 months back from her own first salary.

She showed me her photo gallery which had more than 100 pics. All these pics were mostly hers. She says laughingly, “I am just obsessed about clicking myself with different people and places like with my friends and colleagues at my office or my college from where I did my grads or if I am traveling.” She adds, “I just love clicking pics and thus my cell is always with me.”

Music keeps her going. It’s like her companion wherever she is.  One interesting fact that she shared is that she almost uploads new songs every week to keep her music gallery updated.

Before saying bye to me, I saw this girl’s obsession. She clicked a pic of us together, plugged her earphones and said bye to me.

Opportunity: To bring to mobile telephony what several online entities brought to the web with user-generated-content. To give the power to the user, let her be the center of the mobile universe.

Post author: Anindita Roy

Beyond your imagination

Rohan, a happy-go-lucky chap, can be always found having a chat on high tech gizmo’s and events with his friends. This twenty four year old guy loves to click pics where ever he goes, always ready for that Kodak moment. He uses his phone to pin point star maps, also using it as a tuner to tune his guitar, but the pic collection is what he adores.

The phone he uses as a digicam which enables him to be able to capture anything interesting at any given point of time. Hence the collection boasts of an amazing variety of shots encompassing all aspects of life from a mother feeding a child to a dog running after his own tail.

One interesting incident he told me was “I took a picture of a shit pot and attached the pic to the phone numbers of certain people in my phonebook, so every time these people call just by looking at my phone from far I know it’s no one important so I can avoid picking up that call.”

Besides all this, he is crazy about music and has a metal band. “Music” one can easily say is of prime importance in his life with his guitar being his first love. The camera on the phone gives him a chance to record practices which can be used to point out mistakes.

The phone recorder function helps him to remember his tunes, record his self- compositions, which can then be transferred to other phones and shared over the net hence enabling bandmates to share pieces and be able to work together even with physical distances.

This is what this tech-savy guy has to do with his Nokia N95.

Opportunity: Youngsters use technology very creatively. They play with it as they please, bend it to their ends, find meanings and uses for it that are imaginative beyond even the manufacturer’s vision. The opportunity lies in finding a way to best partner them in this creative, exploratory, imaginative play with technology.

Post author: Anindita Roy

In the thick of things

Atul doesn’t strike you as the adventurous sorts at first glance. But the mild mannered 20-year old has quite a colourful side to him.

He hails from the eastern state of Orissa, which is filled with forests. He tells us of how his love for all things adventurous comes from growing up hunting in the forests with his family, and later, his friends. The gang thrives on occasionally taking off into the forests with nothing but some knives and their wits, and stays in the wild, camping, foraging for food, living on the edge for a good week to 10 days. Atul loves the sense of adventure that this gives him. He sees life as a monotonous stretch of boredom, if devoid of heightened adventures.

He is also quite the sportsman. Till 2 years ago, he actively played cricket for a leading cricketing academy run by a well known cricketer who played several internationals for the India cricket team. He (Atul, that is) continues to be an active cricketer, and also loves playing rugby and football.

So where does his phone come in? I expect him to be another GPS maniac like Akash, navigating to newer adventures with his phone. Or maybe a shutterbug, capturing and sharing the adrenaline rushes. But he is quite the contrast.

He uses his phone as a relaxation point in his high adrenaline life. He has a SE phone, and can’t stop going on about its great music quality and music storage capabilities. It is not that he loves music greatly. Music is, for him, a relaxant. And he uses his phone actively to break the thrilling adrenaline moments with calming, refreshing ones. Listening to music in the breaks during his match allows him to go back to the game refreshed. When his coach is yelling at him for playing a bad shot, he likes to turn the stress out with great music from his phone. Even on a regular day when he is just another college kid, he uses the music from his phone to relax and refresh himself, between classes or on the hectic commute to college.

He uses his phone to keep going on, to keep living his exciting, adventurous life.

Opportunity: Be an enabler, a companion, not just in the “in-between” times of his life, but in the thick of things.

Post author: Sai Raghavan

Work, Life and the Mobile Phone

Academic research has always assumed that mobile devices lead to an overflow from work into private life. In consequence life becomes more like work and is frenetically planned. However recent research by Professor Judy Wajcman and colleagues has shown that this is not the case. In this Australian study they explored how people use their mobile phones. What their found was astonishing: most people used their mobile phones to stay in touch with family and friends while at work. Instead of letting work into their private life, people seem to bring their private life to work. Many of the problems people face at work are related to that they cannot express part of their personality at work and have to be someone they do not want to be. This is particularly an issue for women. Technology - be it a mobile phone or Facebook - might change that and might make the boundaries between work and life more fluid.

Nokia’s E65 and the ugly sister

Consider two siblings: One of them is beautiful and receives lavish affection. She is universally adored. The other left with only her wits and natural abilities to survive in a tough competitive world.

Nokia N95 and E65

The first child is artistic and is encouraged from an early age. She is famous for her talent and ability to entertain. Meanwhile the second finds it difficult to compete. She struggles to live up with to her more successful sister’s fame and reputation.

The first receives constant acclaim from a legion of adoring fans, while the other is dismissed as a cynical copycat, or worse an impostor riding on the coat-tails of the more talented and interesting older sibling. Such is the relationship between Nokia’s popular N-Series phones and it’s relatively unknown sibling the E-Series.

Nokia N95 and E65

Nokia sent me the E65 to review. It’s positioned as an alternative to the Blackberry (which I use as my main business phone). It’s Nokia’s attempt to capture a slice of the ‘Business Professional’ market place.

I was anticipating something sleek, beautiful and stylish. Something as classy as the forthcoming N96. What I got was a wannabe phone: sturdy, ugly and quite plasticly. It came in a standard cardboard package, and the un-boxing was free of drama or excitement. It’s almost impossible to believe that this product is an offspring of the same family that bore the N95 and it’s glamorous successor the N96.

Compared to the Nokia N95, the interface is small with buttons placed ever so slightly too close together for hurried fingers. It’s saving grace is the navigation - its intuitive and simple and you don’t have to read the manual to do basic things such as send messages, take pictures and videos and access the web. Nokia have evolved their phone interface over almost a decade and anybody who has used a Nokia phone during that time will find it instantly familiar and comfortable.

Underneath the serious packaging the E65 is essentially the same sort of thing as the N95 - they both run exact same Symbian operating system however Nokia have decided to distinguish the two product lines by having slightly different initial configurations. For example, the N95 comes with a podcasting application, a selection of games and a great media player. The E65 comes with… well I’m not sure what. There seemed to be a bunch of links to download ‘business software’ but there was nothing actually loaded onto the phone that the similarly priced N95 didn’t have.

The operating system may be virtually indistinguishable, but the hardware is dramatically different. The E65 is like a cut-down N95. Take away the N95’s GPS, the 2-way slider (with extra media buttons), the stereo speakers and the dual-cameras, the support for advanced Bluethooth Profiles and the handy Stereo Headphone socket and you would be left with something with approximately the same feature-set as the E65…

… Almost because the N95 has the uncanny ability to connect to almost anything while no amount of network-trickery and calls to tech support enabled me to make a reliable WiFi connection on the E65.

The model’s position is ‘Style with Substance.’ I showed some of my Lady Geek friends and interestingly before they even spoke about the functions of the phone, the conventional design had put them off. One Lady Geek felt it was very masculine. She wanted her phone to be something she could show off - the E65 is not a phone that Lady Geeks will want to show off.

If Nokia want to capture the female audience, the first thing they need to do is not think of them as ‘business professionals.’ Women’s personal and corporate lives are merging -most people use their mobile phones to stay in touch with family and friends while at work. Instead of letting work into their private life, people seem to bring their private life to work. See previous post by Elisabeth for more detail.

Nokia need to find insights about their audience; they must see beyond “business user” cliche and get to the truth of how women feel about their mobile phones.

The second thing they need to think about is packaging. The packaging should feel like a box of delights. A luxurious item. If you are asking women to choose between a pair of Jimmy Choos or the E65, you need to think about every aspect of the experience: right from the product through to the packaging. The choice of the E65 or a pair of Jimmy Choos- I know which one I would choose!

The E65 is not a bad phone, it’s merely disappointing compared with Nokia’s flagship products. All it takes is some imagination to show how the N series is probably a more appropriate business communicator than anything in E-Series (with the notable exception of the E61i).

I think Nokia are also making the big mistake of under-selling the business potential of their more well-received N-series phones. While primarily designed for fun and entertainment these more powerful phones have all the processing clout required to accomplish mundane business tasks. Why not mention this fact in their advertising?

The Nokia E65 and the Second Phone Syndrome

I thought I am overdoing it a bit by carrying around two phones. One smart phone, in my case a BlackBerry 8820 which I got from work, and my private phone. However I do not seem to be such a minority as I thought. A report by Rubicon Consulting shows that 36.4% of iPhone users have a second phone with them. Reading the comments of a review which looked at this phenomenon, it seems that many people carry two phones. Most of them are just like me because they have one for work use and one for personal use.

The workphone is usually a smart phone like a Blackberry. Like Belinda, I was sent a Nokia E65 for review purposes. Like her I am a bit disappointed by the device. While the N-Series got a lot of coverage including a blog, the E-Series is still uncharted territory. The E-Series is marketed as a Nokia for business needs. It is seen as a phone where substance meets style. It comes in a range of colours such as white (what I was given), red, pink, mocca, purple and black.

How does the E65 do in relation to my BlackBerry 8800? The E65 is a slider and although overall smaller it appears rather bulky and heavy. The overall appearance is almost a bit tacky in contrast to my BlackBerry. The 8800 is larger but slimmer and I really appreciate the qwerty keyboard which makes answering emails and messages much easier. The E65 is a bit of a let down in this respect as a smart phone without qwerty seems to defeat the objective. At least for me. However my BlackBerry lacks a camera and I was really impressed by the quality of the two mega pixel camera the E65 has. Overall, I prefer my BlackBerry due to ease of use with typing and also it takes less space in my handbag.

So the E65 maybe as a second phone? For most people it would probably be a good second phone and a good entry point into the smart phone area. However I am less convinced by this because the E65 feels quiet heavy. It also does not look very stylish and if you have a private phone you want to have something that is a good accessory.

Although the E65 is not a bad phone, it does not fit into my lifestyle. Neither as a business phone nor as a private phone. A true innovation would be to make the two phone syndrome obsolete. Given that lots of people fill their pockets with phones and despite of the fact that big handbags are in fashion for women, it seems like a waste to carry around two phones and other electronic gadgets like an iPod. Convergence might mean that future smart phones are truly smart and include different profiles for the same user such as one for work and one for private use. At least it would de-clutter handbags.

Mummy, please can I have a… BlackBerry?

I was chatting to Dominic Mcvey,the guy famous for becoming a millionaire at 15 selling scooters, and he recounted me a story of his friend’s son who is 10 years old and asked his mum for a Blackberry.  I was astonished that a ten-year old child child was even aware of what a Blackberry is.  A DS lite- yes.  A Xbox 360 naturally.  High School Musical…of course.  But a Blackberry? I’d never considered that the brand appealed strongly to the ‘tweenie demographic.

I spoke to some of my Lady Geeks who have children of a similar age - astonishingly the story was the same: all the kids love Blackberry.  For them, a Blackberry equals money which equals success. This is a reflection of what our society values.  It’s all about money and the desire to be wealthy… and the Blackberry is the tangible symbol of this desire, even for pre-teens.

This is a great for Blackberry: Their strategy has consistently been to target the ‘business professionals’ and they have not been tempted to diversify.  As Napoleon said, the essence of strategy is sacrifice. By remaining conspicuosly dis-interested in any audience other than their core they have created strong desirability outside of that audience.

Whilst it may leave me sad that that this is the reality of the world we live in, it’s really not so bad: When I was ten years old, the objects I desired were crappy imported toys of limited fun and value. Perhaps armed with the awesome communications power of the BB we will see a new generation of hyper-achieving mini Dominic McVey’s… come to think of it, now I know what to get my son for his 2nd birthday.

Power in my Pocket

“It’s awesome! See that, the 3 little signal lines, that means she’s on the phone,”

James explained as he pointed to his blackberry.

“I can tell if she’s received and if she’s read it.”

We’ve heard before that texting is the new calling, and James intends on mastering the text. With his blackberry messenger, he has the ability, or as he puts it, “the power”, to know when a girl has read the message, and more importantly, he can see how long it takes her to respond.




“I’m a wealth of useless information,” Josh said, “in fact, I pride myself on my know-it-all ability.”

Josh is one of those guys who's always dropping facts and little bits of info into conversations and arguments.

“There used to be the few things that I didn’t know, but now with this guy,” he pulled his sleek, beloved iPhone out of his pocket, “I’m unstoppable.”

Truth: James and Josh use their phones to up their game, up their power, ultimately, up their confidence.

Opportunity: Give them Game.

Addicted to Play

John always has the latest thing first. He's a bona fide techie. Yet even he realizes there's something strange going on when it comes to his iPhone.

"I have two screens full of applications. This phone just invites me to try new things - I never did all this stuff on my blackberry.. It's fun to use, I think it's that simple."

His applications allow him to see flickr photos, or view twitters from people in the same area as him. Sometimes people 'tweet' about a cool event or store in the area, and if he's walking by he'll check it out.

"The really interesting thing is that when I meet other people who have an iPhone they share ideas and tips... I haven't seen that happen with a device since the Palm."

And if we took it away from him for a day?

"I would have a constant knee-jerk reaction to look something up."

Truth: Form and Function are obviously important, but Fun is the secret ingredient that turns a device into a lifestyle. Smart phones help people control and co-ordinate their lives, but in the end that's not enough if there's no joy in the process.

Opportunity: Play with Your Life.

Cell Phone Love In Mexico

Rodrigo visited Toronto, Canada last year. He went with his friends. This was the first time in Toronto for every one, so they thought a funny and quick way to get to know the city; He and his friends invented a game: to guess the place where each one of them was, by use of their cell phone.

Their cell phones had a camera. Every one selected a route. While on their way, they had to take pictures, as traces. Finally, they got to know the city quickly and they made a big album. Of course, they had a wonderful experience.



Victor remembers: 20 years ago the stadiums used to be illuminated thanks to the lighters, while today they are thanks to the cell phones. 10 years ago only few people had a cell phone but nowadays somebody without one is being seen as strange! I think that cell phones change our lives. Now I can call my girlfriend during a concert and have a special moment between us, as the day when Robbie Williams was here in Mexico when I was able to let her listen to our love song.



Lillian has an accomplice: her cell phone. When she wants to listen to the voice of her secret love, she calls him and then she tells him that it was a mistake. Nobody needs to know it. She just wants to hear his voice.



Alejandro tells us: “last weekend I watched an 80’s movie. Harrison Ford acted in it, and the story was about a kidnapped wife of in Paris. In some moment, I felt the movie was very strange, a couple of minutes after I understood why: how can a spy’s thriller exist without cell phones!!! They need it in order to resolve the case! During the whole movie I was thinking about a lot of situations that would be easier if there were cell phones. You should watch the movie!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGen_PSjmsg


Posts by Annabel and Armando

Smart Phones for Mum - Herald Tribune Article

Lina Caputo, a part-time teacher from Waterloo, said her husband, who runs a networking company that is not connected to RIM, gave her a second-hand BlackBerry a year ago so they could better manage their two sons' schedules.

"It was a nightmare with the four of us," Caputo said, ticking off a list of her sons' after-school activities, including soccer, hockey and swim practices. "My sons have about 10 hours of sports. It got to be too much. It was confusing."

Caputo said she and her husband regularly sync their calendars. She uses the phone to send e-mail to her husband when she gets home safely from a snowy trip, and to keep in touch with close friends who regularly gather at a local coffee shop. When six of them went to Las Vegas for a "girls' weekend" in February, five of them brought their BlackBerrys so they could keep track of one another and their children back home.

Caputo is no longer using her husband's hand-me-downs. On Mother's Day he bought her a new BlackBerry Pearl, one of the company's best-selling phones. "I don't equate it to getting a vacuum or a blender," she said, when asked if she would have rather received flowers or chocolate. "Besides, my girlfriend got a red one for Valentine's Day."

Technology: a politically correct addiction?

London

I was sitting in a restaurant and I felt agitated. Nervous. Jittery. Stressed. It took me a while to figure out what was wrong. And then I realised. I hadn't checked my emails for over 30 minutes. I looked around at the table next to mine - half of it's occupants were staring into their smart-phones or tablet PC's.

Admittedly we were a geeky crowd but this was a fancy French restaurant in an upscale part of the city, not some a nerd-fest in a Seattle coffee bar. As Hamlesh noted, the 'Crackberry' has replaced smoking. Whilst it was once considered OK to smoke, now its not. It is acceptable however, to check your Blackberry every five minutes. If they remade Mad Men for today's advertising world, would they be checking their phone for emails rather than lighting up another cigarette?

Have we become so dependent on technology that it is no longer an empower and enabler but the root of an addiction society? A replacement for the cigarette?

One of my Lady Geek contacts admitted to me that she checks her Blackberry at traffic lights. Another told me what without her phone she feels like there is no oxygen in the room. Another wakes up and has to check Facebook before she has her breakfast. I have to admit I check my phone every half an hour when I am with my children, which I feel guilty about. According to a recent You Gov poll, 90% of Blackberry users describe their Blackberry is a lifesaver.

Technology is a lifeline for many of us and brings many benefits..it connects us to our friends and families and many women talk about their phone as the modern day rape alarm. Its a security device. The reality is that if someone is to attack you then your phone is not going to be of any use. But it provides many women with reassurance and peace of mind.

But not being able to live without technology, is that really good for society? I remember that scene from Sex in the City when Miranda comes home and Tivo hasn't recorded her favourite programmes and she behaves like a demented neurotic. I feel like that when my PVR doesn't record "The Apprentice".

Surely 'balance' in all aspects of our lives is what we should be striving for? And if we are always 'connected' how do we switch off? We need to make sure technology serves as an enabler, as a facilitator to someone or something we love doing. Now let me just go and check my mail....

A solitary moment for two

London

As a techno-utopian, I believe technology brings people together rather than disconnecting them.

Received wisdom would have us believe that technology breeds isolation: I've lost count of the number of hysterical Daily Mail articles that warn us that computer-games are turning kids violent. As a child I was told that sitting too close to the TV would "make you go blind". There's a great deal of nonsense spoken about technology, and it's often believed because many people consider technological progress to be the root evil of society.

When I think about how technology is used in my household, the HD TV is like a digital campfire which brings the whole family together to watch films, the Wii is a short burst of fun for my husband and I when the kids are in bed, Facebook connects me to a wider circle of friends that I wouldn't have the time to see, and my mum and I listen to Woman's Hour together on our new Wi Fi radio.

Not only is technology physically bringing people together through new shared experiences, its creating a new way of sharing an emotional experience albeit in some cases on different platforms and different devices. The reactions and the emotions of the people with whom you are sharing the experience with is whats important.

This becomes ever more apparent with the shift towards mobile content sharing devices. As Jan Chipchase shows with this photo of two Tokyoites - on the right of the photo engaged in the same task watching the same television program on their mobile phone each using their own device, with comments passed back and forth. Whereas one screen can compromise the viewing experience, the same content can be shared and hence the same experience.

As technology evolves and content becomes ever more mobile (or 'time shifting'), there are so many opportunities for companies to position technology less as something about individual glory and status but more as a shared emotional experience. Its these kind of positioning that will capture the female heart as well as the female pound.

Are you worth discovering?

Hong Kong

Joanna Wang is one example of such. A Taiwanese singer who was discovered on Youtube, has now hit it big. My friend Karry explained how she was captivated by Joanna’s ‘raw and totally unique’ singing style. Her unassuming, self-made music videos on YouTube traveled the Facebook Funwall circuit and created a cult following among 20-something Hong Kong-ers.

Now that Joanna has signed a record deal and has an MTV video she’s removed most of her old videos. Still her fans search YouTube for her old songs and write to her hoping she will re-post more of her former, less-commercial music.

In a similar vein, here’s someone who, at age 43, has just re-discovered his favorite bands from the 80s on Youtube. “Honestly, it’s all here… you can find EVERYTHING on Youtube. Let me show you this band’s show from 1985…”

When it comes to going digital, there is still a lot of talk about ‘driving traffic’ and ‘click through rates….’

The opportunity: rather than trying to drive traffic to your door, become worth searching for and worthy of being found. Question for our brands: Are you worth being discovered… and re-discovered over and over again?

Dependency or real companionship?

Hong Kong

Every evening it’s the same ritual, sitting in front of the TV together. Under one hand she keeps her cat, under the other is her computer. Kate would do anything for her kitty and she’d do almost anything to save her computer… she still has the old one in a drawer in her desk…unable to part with it long after it’s titanium shell has gone cold. “I’ve lost my memory for all these years! All my photos from before 2006 were on that hard drive. It just went dead one day but I just can’t throw it away. I’m hoping someday it will recover or be resurrected.”

One tends not to think about it until it happens, but the time spent with our digital companions is limited… the relationship might end suddenly, without warning, it might succumbed to a virus or accident, it might experience a slow, heart-wrenching demise. Either way it can be emotionally devastating.

Truth: …it doesn’t have to have a heartbeat to build a deep connection and forge an irreplaceable relationship. Our digital companions at their best are loyal and rewarding… you give/it gives back, it understands your habits and responds to your idiosyncrasies. Probably more like a friend than pet, it can even become a chronicle of your experiences and even a surrogate memory.

A Virtual Room of One’s Own

Hong Kong

Karry is a young, native Hong Kong-er with an old soul. We were talking about her facebook page, her favorite discoveries on the internet, how she feels about her online relationships, when she mentioned a quote she had read recently: “The internet is God; it knows everything.”

It does seem to know a lot…especially about Karry. Online is the place where she goes to write about her inner most feelings, thoughts, frustrations, observations and stories. She explained that she posts her ‘very private’ blog, even a book she’s done, on the internet. The subject matter is so sensitive, she has told only a few of her closest friends about the sites. It might seem strange that something so private should be put into such a public space.

I was surprised to find out that she’d be happy for everyone, even other friends, to ‘find’ her work and to read her blogs. “I am not comfortable going '–hey read this,' to my family or co-workers because if it makes them uncomfortable or offended I have to deal with it. But if you’re searching online and find my blog ‘out there’ that’s ok. And if you don’t like it….that’s your problem. I didn’t ask you to read it.”

I never thought about my role and responsibility as a reader: sometimes I’m invited to admire, even participate, sometimes I’m simply a voyeur peering-in at my own risk.

Online is a liberating, accessible place to think, write, create… but it’s also a quiet sanctuary for bold self-expression: a place to speak one’s mind without second-guessing, without feeling burdened or responsible for someone’s negative reaction. This also implies that it’s an amazing platform for powerful connections…

The Truth: whether you’re a blog or a brand, the key to connecting is being not afraid to take a stand and have a genuine point of view.