Is a phone really a phone?

[Marc Baldry]

I was out having a few drinks with mates the other night when I pulled out my Lumia 1320 to 'check in' with the wife. Straight away I got berated for the size of my 'phone'. "Why have you brought your laptop out?", "Is that a Tablet/TV?". yadda yadda yadda. So I pointed out that its not really a phone at all, its not even a phablet or a tablet, and its not even a laptop. Its actually all of them. I also pointed out that the iPhone my mate was using was in the same naming predicament.

Phones nowadays are not really phones. They are consumption devices, productivity devices and the actual telephone part is almost secondary to surfing the web, using facebook, checking emails, watching films etc. I cant remember the last time I saw my wife make a phone call with her Orange Lumia 930. If she messages me its using Whatsapp which is more akin to the old desktop messenger than it is to traditional SMS, or she messages me on Facebook which up until a few years ago was reserved for laptops/desktops.

So if a phone isnt really a phone anymore, but is also a tablet, and a laptop, what should they now be called?

 

[gpobernardo]

For me, a phone is a phone if it has the features and capabilities of a phone, which is basically being able to make calls, whether through GSM or data - I consider SMS a bonus feature. Audio calls are the traditional definition of "calling", but now we've got Video calls, too. So if a device is capable of at least any of these two types of calls, then it must be a phone - the same reason why a Rolls Royce Phantom, despite having custom leather seats, a customized sound system, GPS navigation system, etc., is still a car.

But I agree with your proposition: with the added features a phone is not really "just" a phone anymore. I think this is why Microsoft is omitting "Phone" in Windows Phone 10. Once you hold a device running Windows 10, that is Windows 10 - the experience, the interface, the design, the family of features, all of which integrate into a whole that would be known as "Windows 10". So I guess our phones should be known and identified by what the experience of using it and the brand brings us: Is it an Android, iPhone or Windows 10?* Is it something else less known?

But if we need a new word for "phone" and "device", we might need another Shakespeare to invent the word for us. "Devone"? "Phovice"? "Dephinstrument"?

*- I'm was tempted to make this question more descriptive, but I won't like provoking Android and iPhone loyalists.:wink:

 

[mark233]

Nowadays I just call them mobile devices.

 

[Mithun Janardhanan]

It's not a phone it's a smartphone

 

[Charles Brown8]

Personally that's why I thought the terms cell phone changed to smartphone.. Lol

 

[nTrud3r]

It's a phone because it has the ability to place and receive calls and text messages over a cellular network (10/10 for technical )
But it's an inch smaller than an HP Stream 7

 

[Laura Knotek]

The phone feature is an afterthought for me. It's the feature I use the least.

Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013) using Tapatalk

 

[tgp]

The phone feature is an afterthought for me. It's the feature I use the least.

Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013) using Tapatalk

Same here. Calling is the feature I use the least, and it's also the first one I'd give up.

Sent from whatever device I happen to be using today using Tapatalk

 

[rhapdog]

Phone is the most used feature for me, followed by SMS texting, followed by Internet Sharing Hotspot for my Laptop.

However, with Windows 10 Continuum for Phones, it truly won't be just a phone any longer. It will be the living room multimedia PC, it will be a desktop, it will be a laptop, tablet, phone, hotspot, gaming console, Office PC, Home PC, GPS in your car, MP3 player, Camera, Voice recorder to take notes in meetings, Video recorder for life's memories, credit card payment system, after hours banking teller, your own personal assistant (with Cortana), and whatever else you need it to be.

Since USB-OTG will be available as well, I don't see why it can't be docked to a hub to take advantage of external monitor, keyboard, mouse, external SSD/HDD, external DVD/Blu-Ray burner, external SD Card reader/writer, external Surround Speakers, or whatever else. Oh, wait! Gamepads! Got to have the Xbox One Gamepad compatibility! Yeah, I'll give it a couple of years or three for all this to be perfected a bit more and I'm going to get something really high end that will last me a good number of years, replace my desktop/laptop/tablet/phone all at once, and with one device. Looking forward to that.

 

[Marc Baldry]

With USB OTG, it really will be so much more than a phone. A smartphone is called that because it does phoney things and then some extras on top, but the phone was still the main aspect of the device. As we are now surpassing that with USB OTG, full office touch packages, games etc (and for me personally everything else takes priority over the phone aspect) why should they still be called phones at all? Why should the word 'phone' even factor into the name anymore? Windows 10 for phones is getting there, but its still admitting that the most used feature of the phone is the phone itself. Hmmmmm.......what a quandry......

 

[LockOnTech]

Not sure how I can answer this; especially if this phone is one of the earlier model Porsche Boxster with a sim card tray. Perhaps a phone is a phone... Even if it is a mid-engined german sports car.

 

[prasath1234]

I use my wp for browsing WhatsApp nd call not games or movies.That is why I like phone size smaller than 5 inches.Though many may prefer 6 inch monsters.It would be great if MS provides great integration between phones nd PC or laptop.That would be great than so called apps.I may be different only app I use most is wp central nd MSN news.

 

[snowmutt]

And here is the poor old snowmutt, alone again....

I still use the phone... like a lot. It kills me because my BlackBerry Curve had better audio then any smartphone from the last 4-5 years has. It is for any small business owner, any professional, or anybody who just doesn't like texting that much. I understand why it is the last thing being improved upon these days by OEMs, but dang it- I would KILL for better call quality.

Yes, it is really a phone... although Mobile Device is a much better description like Mark233 said. But I wouldn't give a device without calling capability a second look.

 

[mskoch123]

I like "mobile handset"