My Blackberry is my best friend now. Although it has only been in my life for less than a year, I’ve already forgotten how my previous N73 functions and how it even looked like. Alright, I’m exaggerating but when someone comes up with the topic about which mobile phones we use to own I seriously cannot remember. Since the Internet has been around, I’ve always been the type of person who used the mobile only to make and receive calls, and to text my friends, family or colleagues. Other than that, I preferred to be disconnected from the world. If someone had something important to say, they could always text me or leave a message.
And then came the evolution, the convergence of media where smartphones like the iPhone and Blackberry was created. As Paul Levinson (2009) believed, “ With the iPhone, for the first time, we had a technology specifically designed to enable not just new media but new new media literally at the user’s disposable, any place the user happened to be.” Now, everything that I relied my laptop for could be done with my Blackberry. I don’t have to wait until get home to access the Internet anymore!
Not only am I enjoying the freedom of being able to communicate and engage in the online community, but there are just so many other things I can do with my Blackberry. From online banking, to downloading songs and movies, and then listening to music or watching these downloaded movies on my mobile. The applications also allow us to take pictures and then instantly upload it on Facebook. We save time and money on outgoing calls but more importantly, we stay in touch with the people we once couldn’t contact when we were in another country.
We now come to the question, “Will the mobile phone screen become the dominant screen of the 21st century? Do we really need another screen to view movies, take photos, design art and access the Internet?” This was something I had to ponder on and finally came up with both the answers, yes and no. In my opinion, just like how new media facilitates old media rather than replace it, the mobile phone screen too is just another alternative for laptops.
For instance, the mobile doesn’t have the same storage capacity that the laptop has, making it less efficient. It is impossible to utilise softwares such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop on our mobile the same way it is used on the laptop. Another thing is that although, the iPhone has applications that allow us to take photos and edit them, the quality or effect will not appear as dynamic as the result we get from Photoshop. Also, as the mobile is designed to enhance portability, the screens are too small to watch movies, making it less enjoyable.
On the other hand, media convergence has been recognised for decades as an important principle of new media evolution. (Levinson P, 2009) Fast-growing technology has allowed development on these mobile devices since they were first introduced. It started out as these big, chunky objects, and over the years, improved in size, range, and usability. Today, we even have the iPad. It is possible that ten years from now, the mobile will able to completely replace the laptop. Until then, if I had to choose between my laptop and my Blackberry, my laptop would definitely win, any day.
Tomorrow's iPad
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