Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

More to a phone

Mobiles with added features attract youth

Ask a youngster about the one thing that is indispensable to his life. Probably, you will get `mobile phone' for an answer. For a majority, the day begins and ends with a call or an SMS.

But these days it is not just about having a phone, but what kind of phone. Youngsters don't want to settle for a phone that just performs the basic functions. With new higher-end versions hitting the market, they want to make the best use of technological innovations, the price tag notwithstanding.

Storing timetables

Nishant Kumar, 19, a B.Com student, loves flaunting his Sony Ericsson 910i, which he bought for Rs. 24,000.

"You can call this a smart phone. I store my daily schedules, timetable, exam schedule and even my project submission date on it. As for entertainment value, it supports MP3 and MP4 format and, with a memory of about 2 GB, I can watch a full-fledged movie."

Sandeep Poluseni, who's doing production engineering, carries a Nokia 9300 communicator that cost him Rs. 21,000.

"I can create documents in it. Its wide screen and QWERT keyboard are comfortable. With GPRS, I can use my laptop to connect to Internet through the phone," he says.

Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) is another gizmo that's catching the fancy of students. Vijay Rakesh, a second-year engineering student, is a proud owner of O2, a PDA.

Mini-computer

"My dad gifted it to me. You can call it a mini-computer. It has Internet Explorer, camera and both video and audio recording. It also has the regular features of a phone," says Vijay.

Though there are many who haven't activated their GPRS because of the cost factor, technologies like Infrared and Bluetooth have become part and parcel of their routine.

"Right from sending ringtones to photos or clipart, I prefer to switch on my bluetooth. It's an easy way of transferring data and costs nothing," says Parul Malhotra, a B.Sc. final year student, who owns a Nokia 3250.

MANGALA RAMAMOORTHY

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail