The Diminishing Feature Phones

It was around this time last year that I thought if feature phones will stay alive with the giant monster known as smart phones on their tale. Well it seems as though I was correct: the variety of feature phones have been declining ever since then.

January of 2010 was when I first received a phone. I was in 7th grade, I think I deserved one. So I got myself a Motorola Rival, a small, QWERTY, messaging feature phone that did the job until a few problems pushed me to my next phone. At that time of purchasing the Rival, I had a wide variety of feature phones for my choosing. Ranging from LG to Samsung, there were at least 15 feature phones I could have chosen from. 

August of 2010. After 2 replacements of the Rival, I was done. I purchased a Samsung Reality, which at the time was considered to be in Verizon's 3G Multimedia category. This category allowed some Internet access and more options than a feature phone, but less options than smart phones. At this time as well, I could have stuck to another feature phone as there were the same amount of feature phones, if not more. But I still had this feeling that there was a change on the way. 

It is May of 2011. Now I have been through 2 more devices and currently own a Verizon iPhone. A recent trip to the Verizon store showed me the decline in the feature phones and no sign at all of the 3G Multimedia category of phones either. The store was basically divided into two sections: the smart phones (which took up 95% of the store), and the feature phones. The feature phones just had 2 QWERTY style phones and the rest were the cheap flip-phones. The rest of the store was filled with Blackberry's, iPhones, and Androids. 

Why?

When Android and iPhone was released to the public was when the feature phones knew their downfall was coming soon. As more and more people began to buy these type of smart phones, more competitors joined in to develop these. The more smart phones that were released, the less space there was for the feature phones. It was a continuing cycle until finally, the amount of feature phones decreased into a small corner of the store. Based on these statistics, feature phones will be completely gone by early to mid 2012. 

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WHO Says Cell Phones Cause Cancer?

The World Health Organization yesterday added radio frequency electromagnetic fields (what cell phones emit) to the list of "possible carcinogenic" agents. This got a lot of press with headlines like, "Mobile Phone Radiation Leads to Brain Cancer!" I for one am not concerned. First, cell phone radiation is non-ionizing meaning its completely different than nuclear or X-rays. Second, the list of "possibly carcinogenic" agents includes things like coffee. Given his addiction to Wawa, the Creative One himself must not be too concerned about "possible" agents. That said, given the dramatic rise in cell phone usage over the past decade I think its likely there will be a increase in brain cancer over the next 20 to 30 years. While not worried, I wouldn't hold my iPhone to my head eight hours a day for 20 years and think no biggie. For those that do use a cell phone a lot, a headset is a smart idea. Sadly, I am quite confident Apple will one day face lawsuits similar to the cigarette industry. I mean there marketing is so great how could one resist using the iPhone. Only in America!

Verizon Wireless 4G: Are You Ready?

Verizon Wireless is preparing to switch to its "4G" Long Term Evolution (LTE) network this coming weekend. Despite the small amount of coverage available at this time, it is officially being released to consumers December 5. The test market is going to be available in 38 different markets and 60 airports. Although there are no current Verizon phones that support the 4G coverage, they will offer a 4G USB stick to be able to surf the web with your PC (Mac OS not currently supported). Future 4G phones will be released in the coming months. 

So what can you expect? 10 times the speed of the current 3G network. Customers are looking at download speeds around 10Mbps and upload speeds around 5Mbps. Verizon is reporting that their LTE network will feel as if you are using your home Wi-Fi connection. They are also reporting that the transition from 3G to 4G is fairly seamless. If your device fails to connect to the 4G network it will fall back to EVDO 3G. Unfortunately, the transition from 3G to 4G is not happening as fast as consumers would like. Never-the-less, 4G is coming to your area hopefully soon. Are you ready?

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Samsung Impression Review

Here is a review of a feature phone, which means non-smart phone. The phone has a great Touch-Wiz interface. The phone also starts at a very low cost of $149.99 on a 2 year contract. It also features a full qwerty keyboard. It’s a great phone for kids. I actually own the device myself and I thought this was a great review by my co-worker Marco, who is a reviewer and writer for our YouTube channel Gadget Experts. We hope you enjoy this video and the post was helpful to you.

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