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“There are 1.5 billion mobile phones in the world today. Already you can use them to browse the Web, take pictures, send e-mail and play games. Soon they could make your PC obsolete”.

“Today’s most sophisticated phones have the processing power of a mid-1990s PC while consuming 100 times less electricity”

“Mobile phones are so integral to our lives that it’s difficult to remember how the heck we ever got on without them”.

Read Brad Stone’s article on Newsweek (link posted below).

Brad mentions that Newsweek had asked Frog Design about the future of PC like mobile phones. A few years ago they came up with a product concept named “petfrog“. Their take was that the phone’s touch screen should be able to display any graphic interface and that sliding “thin cards/cartridges” would add customization and additional capabilities as needed, e.g. high-res screens, keyboards, additional memory and file storage, etc. Harmut Esslinger, Frog founder, is quoted saying: “This phone will be your alter ego”.

Rewinding back to the early 90s, my “Cosm” concept was also based on a portable multimedia design with interchangeable modules. The initial driver was mostly about envisioning a new kind of communication and educational aid, a “PC Phone” by today’s standards.

Intel World Ahead Program involves the Classmate PC, leveraging WiMAX broadband and reaching communities that suffered from the so-called “digital divide“. The news about the OLPC, One Laptop Per Child program, triggered a debate on whether, instead of just providing affordable $100 laptops, the mobile phone could be added to the mix to become the kids gateway to a new educational experience.

The rationale behind that statement is based on the fact that mobile phones have become the most ubiquitous computing device, even in developing economies, now delivering the mobile Internet and access to a wealth of information and experiences.

It should be noted that phones can interwork with other devices in the classroom or wherever else they might be on “the network” for that matter. If interested, see my blog on using a phone as a 3G modem, and this other one where I share my notes on how to get remote PC access from my phone (scroll to Picture #31).

I just came across Jeff Van Drimmelen’s blog about 8 ways to use camera phones in education, e.g. by taking pictures of:

1. the whiteboard/blackboard for the class’ wiki
2. handwritten notes, making the phone double as a handheld scanner
3. things that can be used as reminders and subject of class discussion
4. students faces and group pictures
5. security/liability type of situations
6. documenting class assignments
7. mobile blogging
8. class memories

José de Francisco López Chicago, 09 July 07

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This blog’s Long Tail:

• Ergofuturo: Project Cosm

References:

• Your Next Computer on MSNBC
• 8 Ways to use camera phones in education
• One Laptop Per Child
• Intel’s Classmate PC

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