Monday, March 31, 2008

Are smartphones really smart?

Part of <A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/mar/29/mobilephones.blackberry">theproblem with smartphones is the term "smartphone."</A> There is no getting around the fact that the things sound demoralisingly nerdy. To the lay consumer, what "smart" means is "horribly complicated, unnecessarily over-specified, dominated by features no sane person will ever use, liable to do ruinously expensive things to your data tariff without your realising until too late, and weirdly bad at everyday stuff like, you know, making phone calls."

The manufacturers have got wise to this. They try not to call them smartphones any more, for a start. They're also trying to market them in a way that makes smartphones seem less techie.

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