38 | The Lion King
M
y excitement knew no
bounds when I bought
the newly released
Samsung Galaxy S II in 2011. No
sooner had I got the hang of
my ‘latest’ hi-tech gadget than
newer and more sophisticated
models got released in quick
successions making my beloved
gizmo old-fashioned in a jiffy.
A lot of people go through the
same ordeal as mobile phones
continuously evolve. The iPhone5
is a complete departure from
the iPhone4s which was released
less than a year earlier. Numer-
ous Blackberry phones have
metamorphosed so fast; the
latest debuts being the Z10 and
Q10 models that are completely
different from previous produc-
tions released by the company,
among others.
In the early 2000s, Motorola’s
StarTAC was a very popular cell
phone. The phone was small,
had monochrome graphics,
monophonic ringtones and
could fit into your pocket with-
out a noticeable bulge. It was a
hip and trendy flip phone. I felt
pretty cool when I got one in
2002 (and it didn’t come cheap
then). Did I mention that though
I couldn’t afford two phones, the
equally monophonic Nokia 3310
with its iconic ‘Snake’ game and
interchangeable covers was on
my wish list too?
Six months later, monophonic
ringtones and monochrome
displays were no longer the
in-thing. Phones had full col-
our displays, in-built cameras,
mp3 playback capability and
expanded memory. You could
use that popular song on radio
as your ringtone; take pictures
with your phone and playback
videos. That was the new defini-
tion of hip!
By 2004, it wasn’t just okay to
own a mobile phone; your mo-
bile phone had to boast of the
latest trends in mobile phone
technology. The super-slim and
sleek Motorola RAZR V3 was in a
class of its own with dual screen
(TFT 250k colour display), email
and instant messaging, VGA
Camera and lots of other excit-
ing features. Having a phone
like that, the Nokia 6230 or the
Samsung SGH-D500 with its big
screen and suave slide-style
would certainly get you noticed.
When Sony unveiled the Walk-
man phone in 2005, built for
delivering great music with
dedicated buttons for music
playback, mobile phones were
beginning to play a new role as
an accessory to mark the per-
sonality of the owner and make
a statement of one’s taste.
In 2007, phones were smart
and smart people used smart
phones. Apple’s touch-screen
iPhone had ‘apps’ that ran on
an operating system. Owning
such a phone was definitely
prestigious and classy! Phones
started adopting ‘QWERTY’
keypads, large screens and
Android operating systems.
They did not come cheap either
but with some extra cash, one
could easily trade-in an ‘old’
phone for the latest gadget on
the block.
Between 2008 and 2012, phones
could practically do almost
anything you would need a
laptop for and more. Anything
from video conferencing to ad-
vanced 3D gaming and social
media; it became a common
sight to see people everywhere
engaged in one form of activity
or the other with their phones as
people became more attached
to their mobile phones. Some
phones even came with in-built
cameras that could produce
photos of professional quality.
Today, keeping up with mobile
phone trends has become ex-
tremely difficult as new tech-
nologies continue to evolve and
phone manufacturers compete
to outdo each other in a market
that is saturated with options
that are all the same. Though
having the latest and most
expensive gadgets is regarded
as a status symbol these days, it
is often needless to keep chang-
ing your phones as newer mod-
els get released in their numbers
by the day. But, if you must keep
up with the trends, be sure to do
your research before digging
into your pocket, because the
next model may be released a
few months down the line with
greater features that will make
you wish you hadn’t made that
spend.
LK Gadgets
Mobile Phone Trends
By Nonso Nduanya
Keeping up With
