All In One

Are all-in-one devices really such a good thing? For example, when you look at the BlackBerry, you have a piece of hardware that can make phone calls; text friends; play music; play movies; make movies; view and take photos; allow you to use instant messengers, or even BlackBerry’s own messenger service; you can play games; you have an alarm clock; you can surf the internet; download applications, with a whole wide variety of uses, such as Twitter and Facebook, and predicting the weather; they can be used as a GPS; to view your emails; and more.

All of these aspects are contained in one model, which is completely revolutionary and convenient, for certain; something that would have been impossible 10 years ago. Now, suddenly, all of these concepts can be rolled into one package, when before you’d have to have buy a piece of hardware for each of these things individually, or that only contain one or two of the capabilities listed above. This is obviously down to the Japanese mentality of economical electronics, the smaller the better and it’s quite surreal to think that you can fit 16gb on a tiny chip that can power these phones, when back in the 70’s, the same amount of memory could only be fit on a computer about the size of a four bedroom house.

Of course, this begs the question: are all of those aspects really working to their full potential? Surely, when you’re combining all of these factors into one, something is going to suffer. So while the camera may be 5 mega pixels and top of the range, the GPS is only sub-par and only knows a limited amount of routes. Something will have to suffer somehow and it's down to individual priorities as to what is going to be best for you.

And how about when the model is being asked to do too much and it caves under the pressure? It’s difficult for people to realise that such a small piece of technology being used for all these things isn’t going to be as powerful as a laptop or desktop computer, even though it may feel as if you can do exactly the same things on the move as you can at home. It’s so easy to go past the threshold of the model and really try to test it to see what it's capable of, which isn’t necessarily a good thing as that’s when the lag sets in!

Then you’ll notice how quickly battery life just gets zonked because of all of these data intensive applications. Suddenly, you’re having a device that, if it’s used pretty extensively (which is certainly easy to do when you’re combining all of these factors into one), is going to expire in a days worth of usage. This is a natural progression and will certainly be improved as technology moves on, but, for now, it’s quite easy to keep playing with your smartphone until it gasps its last breath and then it randomly conks out in the bus station and suddenly you’re unable to be contacted.

And what about if it packs in? What if the software corrupts or the phone overheats? Suddenly, I lose all of the features that I’ve structured my life around and it’s like I’m missing a third arm or a vital organ. My software recently corrupted on my BlackBerry and I’ve never felt so empty without a piece of technology dying since my Xbox RRODED back last year! I felt completely lost when I didn’t have it to refer to, as I’m regularly sending emails to friends and people I work with on This Is My Joystick, and frequenting the staff forums on the site to keep up to date, or I’m on BBM with my girlfriend or I’m reading Twitter and typing up my daily ramblings. I’ve always got something on the go.

Of course, it's not just the BlackBerry that is capable of multitudes of features; you’ve also got the brand new iPhone 4, which uses all of those features I’ve mentioned above and has its own operating system. Then you’ve got the Google Android, completely driven by applications and again capable of a good majority of all of the aforementioned, as well as the Windows Phone which uses a variation of Windows, complete with all the software you’d expect from Microsoft’s leading OS and connects to your Xbox Live account!

I adore my BlackBerry and can hardly imagine my life now without it, or without a phone capable of similar things, but I am finding myself increasingly frustrated with how quickly I need to charge it, which definitely can’t be good for the model at frequent intervals and will surely lead to a shorter shelf life down the line. Also how much my phone struggles to respond to me when I take advantage of the multi-tasking promoted to me on the tin. Perhaps I over-exert this new technology, perhaps I’m impatient or I expect too much, but, to me, the technology we desire and the technology that is currently available on the market still haven't come together in complete harmony.

Do you think technology has caught up with the rest of the World just yet and enables us to have the convenience we crave?

How we say hello

Perhaps it’s just me, but just the other day I observed how much the text message and instant messaging has taken over the telephone call as the favoured means of communication. Generally, I people watch whenever I’m on the bus, by day or by night, and, more often than not, I notice people furiously tapping away at the keypads on their phones much more than they’re talking into a plastic brick next to their ear.

Perhaps it’s because people like to keep things more personal and there’s less chance of their business being exploited when someone can’t earwig a conversation; perhaps people are more conscious that a phone call could disturb someone at a time less convenient for them, whereas a text message can be answered at any time; or maybe it's because a text message is quicker and they don't want to be stuck on a long conversation.

It could also be down to the growing concerns of the use of mobile phones. While nobody has been able to link health concerns to mobile phone usage completely, a recent study carried out by Dr Tony Jewell advised people to use a hands-free kit where possible and to keep conversations brief. The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) said two bilingual leaflets are available online that offer advice on mobile phone use and have been devised with the combined efforts of health professionals and children. With all of these growing health concerns, it makes me wonder whether some people afraid to use their phone for anything apart from texting?

Whatever the case may be, it’s certainly food for thought.

Texting wasn’t even going to be part of today’s line-up of mobile phones and was used as more of a communication tool between authorities and agencies when mobiles were in their infancy. Nowadays, however, it seems almost impossible to imagine a handset without some means of texting and would probably result in the handset being marched back to the shop, receipt in hand, demanding money back. Even instant messaging has joined texting on mobile phones and enables people to access GChat, MSN, Blackberry Messanger and more when on the move, at the touch of a button.

Generally, I’ve noticed that those who tend to actually make phone calls are older people who have probably been brought up with only the home telephone, and not mobile phones, and are still unsure of how this ‘texting malarchy’ actually works. I'm not necessarily suggesting all old people make phone calls and never text, but, in my experience, they seem to be in the minority.

I must confess I’m a texting man. When I was much younger I used to talk to a school friend on the telephone for two hours at a time on a regular basis, even though I would have seen him at school the same day and would have been talking to him there as well. Now, if I tried to do that, I’d complain my ear was hurting too much and I’d be itching to play a game, watch a DVD or do some writing.

The last time I used the phone extensively was nearly two years ago, when I was first dating my girlfriend and we were in the ‘getting to know you’ stage where we would stay up late, talk about our likes and dislikes, throw a flirt in here or there and generally have some fun. Nowadays, I’m lucky if a phone conversation lasts more than a minute and, if it does, it’s usually if I’m on hold with a company or I’m taking a marketing survey! It’s not unusual to me though, as I always found I could articulate myself better with the written, rather than the spoken, word. Yet some would argue it takes a lot longer to type something you could simply say in a second.

In has been said that people are writing less these days, but that’s not entirely true. People may not be structuring articulate sentences filled with flair and pizzazz, but they are still writing, even if it is in a much more condensed and confined way.

Where do you stand? Are you a texter or a caller?

Old faces, new tricks

An interesting thought occurred to me while I was playing the remastered version of Monkey Island 2 over the weekend; why, in an age where technology seemingly knows no bounds, are we reverting to vintage stories to showcase the potential? Monkey Island 2, while I’m extraordinarily happy that it's made a comeback, is nearly 20 years old and was initially released on the Amiga 500, proudly pronouncing its pixels to pirate-loving audiences Worldwide. Yet, despite its age, major gaming companies are touting it as a high profile release for their summer launch line up this year.

This certainly isn’t something exclusive to the video games industry either, as evidenced by the growing trend in Hollywood blockbuster remakes over the last few years. For example, this year sees the return of Predator, the A-Team, The Karate Kid and Nightmare on Elm Street. They're all being brought back to the big screen; all being updated for the modern day cinema-goer, who may or may not have had previous experience with the franchises.

Are we seeing such an influx of old stories so that the original creators can finally realise the full potential of their original, intended product? Even though we watched these films and television programmes time and time again, and stayed up night on end to play these computer games in the 80’s, are we only now, in 2010, seeing the definitive version?

Perhaps major gaming developers and Hollywood directors genuinely feel that we, the consumer, need to have these stories given back to us every now and again, to remind us that they exist, even though we could freely pick up the originals on DVD, blu-ray or through specialist websites that digitally distribute them for a small fee.

Perhaps it is because a conclave of fans of a particular product have been lined up for the top dollar jobs in their industry of choice and are in a position of power to see their dreams come true, their favourite stories redesigned from the ground up.

Perhaps the insatiable lure of money has completely eradicated the lust for experimentation.

Or perhaps it is because the well of ideas really has started to run dry and directors and developers the World over are coming full circle with storytelling, unsure of where else to turn but to something already established.

It’s remarkable when you consider the entertainment industry is pushing boundaries with IMAX 3D cinemas, with booming surround sound and enlargened screens, and in the video games industry having motion controls replacing gamepads and games fully controlled by a camera and voice recognition. Yet, the stories that primarily drive this revolutionary technology are remakes and sequels.

Do you feel this is how things should be or should designers be pushing new, fresh experiences like James Cameron did with Avatar, like Christopher Nolan is pushing with Inception and how 3D intends to structure all of our entertainment purposes in the months and years to come?