As we evolve, technology evolves too. From what used to be only a handful of (rich) people owning a mobile phone back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, to what we see today where even kids in pre-school have a smartphone in their pocket. Time changes everything indeed.
I remember owning my first mobile phone back in 1995 or was it 1996. It was an Ericsson phone. It was one of the smallest phones at the time but it was bigger than the famous Nokia 3310. It only has one line of text displayed in monochrome LCD, not suitable for SMS. Now, who needs SMS when we have WhatsApp?
Having said that, most of the things we used to have back then are going to disappear soon, or already gone. Maybe. After reading an article in a recent Mobile World magazine issue about things that are going obsolete, I too have a few things to add in that particular subject. I will also list the things that are mentioned in the magazine, just to share with you but with more elaborate details. Here goes…
1. Television
Well, I’m not talking about Astro here. But then maybe I am. Who needs a TV when you can watch Astro on-the-go on your smartphones? How about YouTube and NetFlix? How about downloading your favourite TV shows on your smartphones using Torrent? We are soon abandoning our TV sets because of these streaming medias. All thanks to the Internet speed that is getting faster and faster (Malaysia still have to catch up tho).
2. Text Messages (SMS)
The only time we receive an SMS is when the Telcos are sending us updates on their services. Would you send SMSes everyday to chat with your friends like we used to? Not when we have WhatsApp, WeChat, BBM, KakaoTalk, Line, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangout, KiK, Viber,…etc.
3. Physical Mouse & Keyboard
Somehow these two things are still needed. Good for them. I for one still use these two items during my day to day working hours. But, touchscreens are getting popular nowadays. You don’t have to point with your mouse anymore, you just have to touch it. Keyboards are being replaced with on-screen keyboards, sometimes we can use voice recognition to “type” the words for us. Yep, we’re going all Star Trek soon.
4. Removable Media/Storage
This goes for CDs, DVDs and flash drives. These are still in use of course. But there’s one thing that is gaining popularity. It’s called the “Cloud”. Here we have Dropbox, Box, Mega, OneDrive, Google Drive…all named differently but having the same function, that is Cloud storage.
5. Standalone GPS
The normal standalone GPS devices are no longer in demand. Today, devices that has a GPS function comes in many shapes and sizes. One obvious device is what we carry with us everyday, which is our smartphone. Nokia has the best navigation app on a smartphone so far, the Nokia Drive. But iPhone and Android users are able to download many other GPS apps on their phones, depending on their preferences. We have apps like Papago, Garmin, Waze, Cygic and even Google’s famous navigation software, the popular Google Maps.
6. Point and Shoot Camera
How many of you think that your smartphones take better quality pictures than a cheap point and shoot camera? And if it’s better, our smartphones can make it even better with so many free camera apps. You can even apply some cool effects to your pictures. So who needs a P&S camera nowadays?
7. Keys
Keys? Oh…this is for the new upcoming technology which is known as keyless entry. No wait, this has been around for many years already. Many hotels don’t use keys anymore. They use cards to enter the rooms. Even cars too. One of it for example, is the Aston Martin which uses a watch made by Jaeger-LeCoultre that can unlock the car by pressing a button. Keys in the ignition? No need. Thanks to the Push Start button, we don’t need keys. Of course, the car owners would have to key in a password or do a thumb print scan to activate the Push Start button as a security measure.
8. Music/Movie CDs and DVDs
Still in use but let me ask you this. Do you actually buy a CD at Rock Corner? Or do you go there to look at the new selection, list out the names and then go home to download them? Same method applies for movies too. And then we have these things called iTunes, YouTube, Pandora and other online radio streaming where we can also record and save it in our computer.
9. Scanner/Fax Machine
I have done this before. I took a picture of a document with my smartphone and “scan” it using an app and save it in my phone for later use. We also have CamScanner and other scanner apps to scan any documents and save it into PDF. And then what? Need to send it as fax? No problem. There’s an app for that too. It’s available for free and some are paid. Available for iPhone and Android. How about that?
10. Laptops/Notebooks
This is last on my list because I think we still need a laptop to be carried around in our bags if we’re working outside the office, or for mobile offices. But soon it may be replaced by tablets. You name it, iPad, Galaxy Tab and Windows Tablets are getting popular. Who wouldn’t want a tablet? It’s lighter than a laptop, easy to carry around and nice to play games on it. Believe it or not, the current specifications inside the tablet is far more superior than a high-end PC back in the early 2000. And it’s cheaper too.
So there you go. I don’t know if I miss having the good old retro devices and using them on day to day basis. I can’t really feel it yet. Perhaps we can only feel it once it’s totally gone, like Game & Watch.
There, I’m done with my list of “10 Tech Things Going Obsolete”. I know there are many other tech things and gadgets out there that people are abandoning. I can’t think of it all at the moment. If any of you readers know of any other things that we used to have and are going obsolete, do share with us in the comment section.
Thank you for reading.
