ever since i’ve landed in the USA, i’ve been on the lookout for the ubiquitous cellphone. we all know the importance of the generic gadget in my life :) having been the owner of the nokia n70 (and still regretting the flash of love that made me bequeth it to my sis); obviously, i was on the lookout for the next possible upgrade.

yeah. big mistake. big.

see, cellphones in the US followed a very different chronology of evolution. and this is my theory after looking at the excuses they have available.

the rest of the world went from the grandaddy of cellphones towards more features, cameras, mini-PDAs, mp3 players. colour screens, bluetooth, speaker phones, some kind of camera – these are almost taken as a given in any one of the latest models. from the bottom up. and this is true of india and europe. or rather, europe and india – given the lag in launching of phones in india.

the USA, as always, went a different path.

they too, went from the grandaddy of cellphones towards colour screens. but thats about it. the PDA had a far greater impact. and so, the kind of features you see on the PDA rival a small computer. the pure cellphone languished. people wanted small, functional peices.. if not complete palmtop solutions. function over technology. the best-selling phone here has a simple colour screen, bluetooth and speaker phone. thats it. no megapixel camera, no mp3 player, no mini-PDAs – in short none of the stuff that gadget-lovers take for granted today. i have literally to go down a step in evolution – from the n70, to a samsung d807. even the nokia 6682 is getting outmoded.

having been in the UK, where today’s phone is probably second-string in a coupla months, this is kind of gadget hell – where you are asked: “what is use of all that in a phone ?” i don’t think i’ll ever see the n80, the k800i, or any of the future super-cellphones. no, here.. i’ll have to settle for form over factor.

and as this story tells us, due to this lack of evolution – they’re over a year [via digg] away from asia generally. i like to believe that the much vaunted tech-edge america might be having is basically hype. when the consumer has no idea what feature-packed cellphones can be, he’ll never ask for it. high-end internet maybe the only advancement that people here will ever see. the cellphone becoming the all-in-one solution to all your gadget wants… will never happen here. the industry gains :)
which is just sad.