I Farted

Rating:

I, like all of you, have a cell phone.  However, I, unlike most of you, only use it for making calls.  Of course, I am perfectly aware of the stuff a phone can do.  Outside of basic calling and texting, you can surf the web, download music, send pictures and video, watch television…  what was once a way to stay connected is now an all in one multimedia device. 

Still, I saw an ad the other day that made me take pause.  AT&T has a service it calls AT&T Mobile TV (my mind wants to create a more clever acronym to the tune of AT&TV, but it just doesn’t sound right), where, as the name implies, you can watch TV on your cell phone.  Now, the idea of watching TV on a device that fits in the palm of your hand is nothing new, although challenging for long periods of time.  That’s why most programming for cell phones are bite sized…  your not going to watch the Star Wars trilogy any time soon.  With that said, let me get back to AT&T.  If you purchase, or already have, their Mobile TV service, then you get complete access to all the NCAA March Madness games…  huh?

Okay, I know I have been overly negative about a lot of things in the past, but come on… really?  Taken aside the times where you are at work, or away from a television, how many here can honestly say they’d watch an entire basketball game on a phone?  As a social experiment, I want all of you to invite your buddies over for a game one Sunday.  Have Robert bring the refreshments, Dave the chips and dip, Sally and Meg can decorate…  then surprise them when they walk into your place by having the game on your Blackberry, which you’ve propped up on the coffee table next to some old Highlights magazines, which you subscribe to solely for the “Can You Find All The Things Wrong With This Picture” on the back cover.

My point here is, have phone companies, and us, the phone using public, lost sight of what a cell phone is supposed to do?  A buddy of mine has a phone that does everything, but when he calls me, I can’t understand a damn thing.  Call me a fuddy duddy, but I miss my big grey monolith Nokia phone… man that sucker could make some calls… and nothing else.  Oh, and can someone explain to me the usefulness of the walkie talkie?  Toss some monkey in the comments section and let us know what you think.