I was at work. I was bored, so I wrote what was on my mind. Cell phones and how much they have changed in recent years was the topic. Read and comment if you want

Ahem.

Cell phones, in their current state, are the 21st century equivalent to the Swiss Army Knife. Think about it…10 years ago cell phones could do little more than dial a number and store maybe 20, all on a monochrome dot-matrix display. And you did have a choice of ringtones, but no more than what you can count on one hand.

Now think about THIS. Today’* cell phone, even the basic “freebie” ones that come with a plan attached, have color screens, mp3 players (and subsequently capable of playing mp3 clips as ringtones), cameras, and games built right into them. These, among other key features, enable the cell phone of today to replace many things common to a persons life not even half a decade ago. Today, a cell phone can act as a:

1) Phone. Well, duh. That IS its primary purpose, right?
2) Black book. How else can one fill up the entire 200+ phonebook? And who really does have 200 friends and family?
3) Computer. Though somewhat limited, one can still log onto the internet, check and receive emails, catch up on news, weather, and sports, and even keep tabs on ebay auctions. Not to mention act as a calculator, currency converter, and in some cases, a modem for a laptop computer.
4) Personal music player. In the 80’*, it was the Walkman. In the 90’*, you had to have a compact disk player in your backpack in order to be considered cool. And though stand-alone mp3 players are the kings in today’* world, a cell phone that also plays uploaded music ranks among them.
5) Arcade. Just in case someone actually gets bored with the internet and music, they can just click on the games that came with the phone, or for a few extra dollars, download a new game from their service provider.
6) Camera. Most new cell phones now have a built-in camera. This means almost anyone now can be an amateur photographer, and whenever a news story breaks, surely someone will be there to take a picture of the event.
7) Photo album. Take enough pictures and sure enough, you’re going to have an album on your hands. Even if you don’t snap them with your phone, you can upload pictures from your computer, and show them off anywhere you go.
8.) Voice Recorder. Because you never know when you need to take down some important information, like what was on that bulletin board in that Chinese restaurant.
9) Alarm clock. Yup, almost every phone now has an alarm on it of some kind. Some phones even have 5 or more separate alarms. And most phones self synchronize themselves to the time that is on their network. So no more excuses for being late to work because you woke up late. My personal phone even has a world clock on it. So now I know what time to NOT wake my Russian friends…if I had any Russian friends.

I am sure there are more features out there that I did not touch on. And I am even more sure that new features are being thought of for the next generation of cell phones (which in true electronics fashion, happens to be once a year) that will make our lives as humans much easier and/or enjoyable. Now, if you pardon me, I need to figure out how much I owe my waiter. Good thing my cell phone can tell me that, I would never have been able to figure it out on my own.