"Advances in computing power and connectivity will lead to the creation of virtual cities: micro versions of the real world built out of data streams and algorithms instead of bricks and concrete." -- David Gelernter.
Although it seems a little far-fetched, phones that you could take anywhere in the world once also seemed like something out of a dream; however, after experiencing a record growth in sales, the cell phone industry was worth more than $76.5 billion last year.
A majority of recent releases focus on teens by having high resolution color screens, mp3 and streaming video capabilities, *Bluetooth and Java, built-in digital cameras, mp3 players, and up to 256MB of memory. You can program the new Sony Ericsson T681 to receive mail from your POP3 account and assign color photos to each person in your phone book, with a battery life of 4 days!.
For more of a professional phone the new Orange SPV has the business world in mind, having all of the regular functions of a PDA, a digital camera, MP3 capability, and the familiar Microsoft look.
While some of the technological advances seem useless to the average user, some new features are completely practical; one being the new Motorola Wind-Up phone charger, which, after 45 seconds of winding, you"ll have 4 to 5 minutes talk time or hours on standby, and if you just want a phone that can stand the test of time the Nokia 5210 is water resistant and can be dropped without falling to pieces.
*Bluetooth- developed about nine years ago by Ericsson, it was designed as a means of transmitting small bits of data over short distances, but there is a frequency conflict with the more popular 802.11b wireless standard.