Doing One Thing Only

The web was abuzz yesterday and the day before with the latest product announcement from Motorola: The MOTOFONE. It’s sleek, sexy looks have no doubt won the aesthetic hearts of many but more importantly and as pointed out by Greg Storey, “Finally, a cell phone that’s a phone.”

If you’ve known me for a while, you’ll know that I was reluctant about having a cell phone. For a while I fought against having one, preferring the solid connection of a land line and the privacy that came with not being able to be reached anywhere and anytime. A few years ago, I had a cell phone, gave it up for a year and then got one again, which I’ve had ever since. There are quite a few reasons why I’ve come round to it, some of which are obvious and others not so.

But that’s a whole other story. What I hate most about devices is the idea that a product has to be an “all-in-one” or a multi-tasking device. I appreciate a product when it’s built for just one thing, does just one thing and does that one thing with some panache, style and utmost certainty.

The MOTOFONE is the phone I’‘ve been waiting and wanting for ages. When I got my first cell phone, a cheap free Motorola affair, I appreciated it’s simple black and white (and backlit in the dark) display, offering only the basic options I needed. It was a basic phone and it did what it needed to do decently but it didn’t have any panache.

After discovering flip phones, I was a convert: give me the small form factor, back-jean-pocket-test approval (fits nicely in my back pocket without bulging or discomfort — I can even sit on my phone with no damage), decent looks and the fact that it folds out to give you a large area of contact when you’‘re doing what you need to do with it: talk to someone.

However, the very first phone that gave me phone envy was the Nokia 8210. It was tiny, smaller than a pack of cigarettes and it just looked so well designed. If I cared enough about cell phones then (and had the money), I probably would have picked one up.

Since then, a few phones here and there have looked tempting but like hi-fi stereos, I find that silver spoils the look of electronics. It makes them look cheap. Black or white on the other hand? Great.

I’m looking forward to this phone. A phone that actually has both form and function and belongs to the less is more credo is a phone I just have to have.

And it comes in black.