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Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Cell Talk: What are you sending, kids?
By Max Limpag
NO MORE NUMERICAL NAMES. Nokia announced last week that it will give new phones names rather than just numbers. The move, according to Reuters report, follows the success of models of rival brands with names, like Razr.
Almost all mobile phones come with alpha-numeric names, like N90, 6600 or K750i, and Motorola’s decision to name later models as Razr or Rokr may have scored a marketing coup that other manufacturers are looking to follow it.
An analyst interviewed by Reuters said, “Nobody remembers numbers” because people “want to speak about phones using names.”
Expect to see more phones sporting names instead of just their alpha-numeric phone model soon. I’m surprised they didn’t think of this earlier. Would the iPod, for example, have gained such a huge word-of-mouth buzz had it been introduced as the J734 MP3 player?
ADJUSTING DISPLAYS. Samsung announced last week that it has developed a display that can monitor the amount of ambient light and adjust the image so that viewers can easily see what’s shown on the display.
This type of display will be a lot of help for mobile phone users. Today, you can barely decipher what’s on display in your mobile phone under the glare of the sun. You’d have to find shade in order to read a text message or send one.
With Samsung’s display, it will be easier to use your phone outdoors. According to the Associated Press, the display dims the backlight indoors to save power. Expect this display to be in phones in the coming years.
SMART PROMO. Smart is offering its subscribers 100 text messages within the Smart network for one day for P20 in its SMARTLoad All Text 20 promotion. The promo runs from Sept. 9 to Oct. 10.
The SMARTLoad All Text 20, according to a company statement, also comes with a P1 airtime load.
“Subscribers have to maintain at least P1 airtime load to use the SMS. Both the 100 SMS and P1 airtime load will be valid for one day.”
Dan Ibarra, marketing group head at Smart, said they came up with the promo because majority of subscribers who avail themselves of the company’s unlimited messaging offers “send around 100 text messages per day.” The P20 for 100 SMS offer, he said, makes it one of the most affordable pricing in the market-—at 20 centavos per text.
I cannot imagine being able to send 100 SMS in one day without having to use a computer keyboard. Seriously. What are kids sending through text nowadays? Maybe it’s a generational thing and it’s something someone like me, who sends text messages using complete words, can’t comprehend.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (September 12, 2006 issue)
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