A decade is just about to end, and a minute before we close 2009, here's the MobileSpoon's list of 10 greatest mobile technologies that emerged during of the decade!
10 things that made mobility so great.
The Great Mobile Technologies Parade!
GPS:
Even though GPS technology was already successfully tested in 1960, it still feels like it made the biggest breakthrough in the past 10 years or so.
I love location based services and GPS navigators, but when I really need to get somewhere I just call my wife.
It's faster, doesn't require any typing, gives better support for parking issues, and react better to unexpected obstacles on the way...
Phone Camera:
True, it sucks. All of them suck. They are slow, they don't work well at nights, but can you imagine yourself without a handy camera exactly when situations such as this one are happening?
3G
The first commercial launch of 3G happened in Japan on 1 October 2001, it took some time until we all enjoyed it, but can you imagine our world today without it? (Actually I can: less radiation...)
WiFi
Introduced back in the 80's, WiFi is today a 'must have' in any smartphone, and of course: everywhere.
Think how boring it can be without WiFi:
Waiting for your next flight... sitting in a coffee shop... dating a hot girl... all of those - without a decent wireless network?
Nope. I don't think so. We love WiFi.
Palm Treo
OK, this one is here because it's my article, which means I get to pick the items in the list, Even if I'm the only one thinking like that...
For me, the Palm Treo 750 was and still is - my all time favorite smartphone. It had great stability and speed, I actually liked that bulky design, the keyboard, everything.
The Treo line was Palm's way of combining PDAs features with single hand navigation and cell-phones features, creating the perfect smartphone (leading the way for many others).
Unfortunately, It was also Palm's heroic way to say goodbye to the mobile world...
Rest in peace dearest Palm... We all wanted the Pre to succeed, it's just that... it's just that it's not a good phone.
T9:
It's true that I'm not using it that much anymore, and there are people who get annoyed by it, but you have to admit it's a great invention, and does improve your typing speed most of the times.
BlackBerry
What a great thing is is: The BlackBerry.
Sure, the UI looks more like notepad on steroids, the browser suck and the push email functionality is addictive.
But what a great addiction! (I mean: when it's working...)
That endless online chat, dressed up as business emails is just the greatest thing around. I absolutely love finding out that my red light is blinking! I'm not alone! Someone out there loves me! Or at least needs my help with something!
Give me some of that red light! Give me... I need it now!
Oh, and there's that great Iron-Man style trackball - The Mobile Spoon loves that one!
SMS
The SMS was invented back in the 80's (notice how all the great stuff was invented during the 80's: WiFi, SMS, Boy George...).
One of the best ways to communicate, whether you are in meetings, toilets, riding a horse, whatever...
iPhone
Well well well, another one that is going to put me in troubles.
Say what you want: no multi threading, no keyboard, irreplaceable battery, I don't care.
When the iPhone just arrived it looked like it came from another world. It was not just great, it started a revolution.
No more stylus, so long D-Pad, tons of innovative ideas, best design in town.
This is the real thing. No matter how big are the limitations.
End/Send buttons
And speaking of iPhone's limitations, how about adding 2 hardware buttons?
I recently noticed that every wireless phone at my parents house (and for some reason they have a lot) has a different layout and location for the 'Send', 'Open', 'OK' and 'Cancel' buttons.
And I'm asking: why?
I'm not a phone manufacturer and even I know the secret: You put the 'End' on the right side, the 'Send' on the left side and that's it!
Still, we have to appreciate the fact that at least with the cellular phones and smartphones this is now a standard.
Nice. Are you having fun? Did we miss something really important?
Before we continue, check out our best stories collection for 2009.
And now, what about some criticism? After all, this decade was not perfect, right?
Here are 5 overrated mobile technologies from this decade:
Beginning.... NOW!Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a great technology. Too bad relying on it usually makes you very frustrated;
You've got Bluetooth car kits that are great if you want to really piss off your friends when you call them from your car and they can barely understand what you are saying...
You've got Bluetooth headsets that will cook your brains, and there's always the same old test of trying to send files between devices - something that never really works...
We at the MobileSpoon hate Bluetooth. We think it's overrated.
Widgets:
I'm not against having a nice widgets bar somewhere in the right side of your window, but wasting an entire smartphone shell on widgets? I rather have some UI experts optimizing my screen and creating a professional consistent user interface.
Propriety cradles:
Do I even need to explain? It's 2010 now, let's hope Samsung and all the others finally replace their proprietary cradles with the miniUSB cable... Dha...
iTunes
Strong, efficient, works like hell, but what about the user experience? Does anyone know how to really work with that thing?
Is that Apple's great usability?
(I don't like the iTunes, Am I allowed to say that? Will apple ban me? Will I be banned by Apple's freaks of nature? Will they take away my iPhone?)
OK, for all my twitter followers - please don't read this one...
Come on... Twitter? Is that for real???
It's a feature in facebook! One feature out of hundreds!
Still, I must give credit to the Twitter folks, they already earn money while facebook is only gaining popularity...
The main reason I've included Twitter in this side of the list (the bad guys) is that it's too simple, too small, too basic, too boring to get so much attention by the smartphones manufacturers who embed it inside their main screens.
What's wrong with a simple twitter client?
(is that the time to invite you all to follow me on twitter?)
Well, that's it for this one.
Hope you enjoyed our little technologies parade - I know I did!
Let us know your thoughts about it.
What are your favorite mobile technologies of the decade?
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