Just a Phone, Please

Convergence is so over-rated.

I've been reading the buzz on Apple's most recent "BIG" announcement - the Motorola Rokr phone that plays iTunes.

Horrible idea. The whole reason I listen to music is to disconnect from my information-overloaded world. My fellow commuters wearing familiar white earbuds are probably thinking the same thing. For a brief 20-30 minutes while the train takes them to work, they get a little repose from electronic bombardment; not to mention enough distraction to make you forget you are being squished into a metal subway car like a sardine.

Why must my mobile phone play music, take pictures, play games, send email, or browse the web? What is so wrong with Just a phone!

While there certainly is a market for people who want the everything device - not me. I want my phone to be a good phone. I want good reception, a nice address book, a simple interface with buttons I don't have to sharpen my nails into a fine point to push.

I like my iPod because it is a music player and no more. I can change songs, change the volume, pause so easily I don't even need to look at it. It is an ergonomic pleasure.

My phone by contrast, is a convergence nightmare. It does not have a camera (I hunted high and low for this "feature" - in my professional environment, people do not take to kindly to handheld cameras; so if your phone has a camera you are asking to check it at the door of every building you walk into.) It does however have infinite possibilities to play games, ring tones, change the wallpaper, browse the internet, and who knows what else. I spent endless hours trying to configure this thing to hide all that and make it easy to do the only three things I want my phone to do - answer calls, look-up addresses, and check voicemail. These days, you can hardly find a phone that doesn't also do these other functions (this is why they are now "Mobile Devices").

But in honesty, all I want is my old Motorola StarTac back. It doesn't play Bananrama's greatest hits; it doesn't have to. It was just a really good mobile phone.