Why the Nokia 1208 is the anti-iPhone
Adam Turner went to buy a new battery for his wife's old phone and walked away with a new phone for the same price.
A new battery for my wife's ageing Optus pre-paid Nokia 1110 was going to cost $59.95, but for a flat $59 I got a new pre-paid Nokia 1208 - basically the same phone but with a colour screen.
According to the spec sheet it also has a slightly longer battery life than her old 1110, which is good news because her two basic requirements are ease of use and a long battery life.
Why lo-fi phones are a good thing
My taste in phones is obviously a little more expensive, but the entry-level Nokias are the perfect phone for someone who wants a phone that "just works". No email, no web browsing, no camera and no MP3 player. No risk of nasty excess data charges.
Just a simple phone - something you'd buy for your grandmother. At $59 a throw, it's not the end of the world if you leave it on the bus or accidentally put it through the wash.
Lo-fi verses the iPhone
At the moment I'm happy with my iPhone 2G, although I might eventually upgrade to an iPhone 3G when the pricing improves and Apple irons out all the bugs. The way it's going, I might be better off holding out for the iPhone 4G.
Anyway, the day I do retire my first-gen iPhone, my wife is obviously first in line to inherit it - if she wants it. That's a big if.
The iPhone - great for the Web and email
Not that she can't see the appeal of the iPhone. The ability to surf the web and send a few emails during her painful daily commute would be great.
Lo-fi - reliable, trustworthy
It's just that she's very fond of owning a lo-fi phone. She lives in a house full of hi-tech gadgetry which regularly fails to perform as advertised.
Her lowly Nokia is the one piece of tech she can rely on to work when all else fails. I can't give her the same guarantee when it comes to the iPhone.
With functionality comes complexity, and complexity is the mortal enemy of reliability. Even if my wife decides she wants my old iPhone, I suspect she'll only use it as an internet device and keep her trusty Nokia for making calls.
As someone who spends his day banging his head against a wall, trying to get bleeding edge technology to work, I don't blame her.
At the end of the day it's comforting to turn to a lo-fi solution that just works - which is why I think TiVo will take off and why media centres will never go mainstream.
Sometimes it's nice to own at least one thing that "just works".
Check out the Nokia 1208.
Other Blog Entries written by Adam Turner:
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
Comments: 2
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midbear
Aug 29, 2008 7:26 PM
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Here Here to that.... currently my list of "broken tech" includes my new vista machine (must post a rant about that latter...), WHS server, my wifes iphone 3g, several of the ageing xp pc's, HP printer, fuji xerox printer, and my wifes almost new Toshiba laptop... the age of technology is soooo mcuh fun!!! |
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ozofriendly
Sep 2, 2008 11:59 AM
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Seconded. I have been cut too often and too deeply by the failure of products and services to live up to their hype in the real world. It's especially disappointing when you promote the latest tech to friends and rellies, only to see their confusion and disillusionment when unexpected complexity or sophistication defeats them or worse, when their basic expectations are not met. A fridge will never need a built-in web browser - however cool that sounds. :-) |