Cell Phones after 50-

My wife would probably be upset if I stated her age. The times of our respective births were rather near to one another, and I am 56 years old. Since I would not, in any way, wish to imply that my wife is old, or not young, or whatever state it is she finds offensive to point out or mention in any way, I shall simply say that she feels that the cell phone is probably the most significant invention in this century.

Granted, the cell phone was invented in the previous century. It has, however, become a very significant part of modern life during these early years of the 21st. century. She perceives the connectedness as a positive thing.

I tend to agree with her.

I carry an LG Vu at present. I just upgraded to that phone last week. I sought a few features in particular in the upgrade. The most important, of course, was free. Next to that was a better camera. In this case, a 2 megapixel camera to provide a reasonable quality photo. I did not think I would use the camera much in my prior phone, and so did not procure a good one. Then I went on to take a surprising number of photos. This time around I planned on using the phone as a camera, and research indicated that a 2 meg was adequate.

Texting. Early on in my cell phone career I did not understand the texting explosion in this country. I understood it overseas, where the cost of texting was significantly lower than voice communication. Here, however, it did not make sense. So many people texting, texting, texting.

Over time my opinion of texting changed. I found that a quick text can require less time than a phone call. A voice call requires certain polite interchanges that don't seem to be required in texting. Now that I have an easier to use keyboard on my touch screen phone I can text easily enough to dash off notes faster than the same communication by voice. Not only that, I can actually blog from my phone.

I don't Tweet, at least not yet. I just don't have the fan base that would require me to advise them every time I went to the bathroom, how it went, and how much paper it required. However, I have learned my lesson in phone cameras and texting. I may yet find it needful to Tweet on Twitter, or do whatever the next thing to come along might require.

My present phone takes videos. I have discovered that these videos are not particularly good unless viewed on the tiny screen of a phone. In fact, the look best on a small part of my phone screen. They are particularly bad if blown up to fit a full computer screen. That part of this cell phone thing is still developing. I won't say, "I don't see the need for cell phone video. I can do fine without it." Somehow, I think that my next phone will have to have some kick-ass video capability.

That's just the way these things go.

I value having my calendar in my phone. If it could coordinate with Google calendars it would be very nice, indeed. Come to think of it, I haven't explored that. I wonder if they can be made to work together. Hmmm.

What might the future of the cell phone be? I have a vision of breaking a capsule and inhaling the contents through the nose. The nano-tech phone takes up residence somewhere in there, and you are in constant communication. Just snort your periodic upgrades to stay current.