Depressed about the state of the mobile industry

k800
Originally uploaded by smstextnews.

I dunno, now and again. Geez. It all gets a little bit… limited.

There’s only so much annoyance that I can take, before I just have to switch off and stare at the wall to calm down.

And today, this evening, my annoyance reached it’s zenith.

I am beyond annoyed, beyond wound up, beyond recovery, at least this evening.

First let me tip my hat to Olav at eSato for his K800 review — I was hunting around for a good picture and found it there.

Here’s the issue.

I was on the train back to Billericay this evening. It was packed full of people because of another glorious ‘woops’ by One Railway, our local and occasionally inept railway company.

I was standing in the doorway, leaning against the partition and across from me was a chap, who, sensibly, had sat down against the opposite partition by the door.

He had his headphones in. I recognised them as Sony Ericsson ones.

I followed the wire down and saw he was using an K800.

Interesting.

He was properly using it. It’s always nice to see folk properly using their technology. He was texting away, bit of internet, and listening to his music the whole journey.

So, I was pleased.

But then my eye moved to his headphones and the flippin’ great lump of plastic plugged into the bottom of his phone.

And that’s when I had enough.

See this picture above? See the headset, bottom right? That’s what I’m talking about.

Ugly.

Plugged into the K800, it’s massively ugly.

In fact, it increases the size of the phone by about, what, 15%?

And it meant the guy couldn’t easily lean the phone anywhere. The increased length also meant that, in this chap’s case, he couldn’t easily fit it into his pocket.

Stupid.

Absolutely stupid.

This is where I just lost it in my mind. What mobile company, what MUSIC related mobile company releases such trash?

What company releases a MUSIC PHONE, whose strategy is almost ENTIRELY ABOUT MUSIC in the context of the huge range of Walkman phones…… gaah.

No I can’t even be bothered to write. It really does wind me up.

Why is there no normal headphone jack?

Don’t give me the rubbish about it being difficult to fit into the specification. Or there being a size problem.

If you are looking for proof of just how STUPID the mobile phone industry is at times, there you go.

Of course, it’s not just Sony Ericsson.

What muppet. What ABSOLUTE MUPPET of a designer allows a handset out the factory gate that apparently PLAYS MUSIC but doesn’t allow you to LISTEN TO MUSIC with normal headphones?

I’m not at home to arguments about ‘well, the handsfree kit needs..’ or anything like that.

If there’s a problem about getting a microphone feed in through the headphone jack, innovate and make it work.

If you’re trying to make your devices into music players, why are you shipping them with SHIT headphones and with MASSIVE add-ons.

I got an adapter for my Nokia E61 a while ago, so I could use normal headphones on it and listen to my MP3s.

You know what? I used it twice.

Why?

Embarrassment.

It increased the total size of my device and looked COMPLETELY UGLY.

Now. Don’t give me the ugliness argument, ‘it’s functional’. It’s obviously all about style, or we’d all be walking around with Nokia 3300s.

Somebody who knows more than me, please explain the logic behind shipping expensive handsets PURPOSE BUILT to play music that EVEN HAVE BUTTONS ON’EM FOR PLAY, PAUSE, AND SO ON — why are they shipped with huge plugs?

Or worse: Why do you have to go and buy a STUPID adapter that is HUGE?

It’s ridiculous.

I’ve had enough of it.

I really have.

Years ago, when you had to buy headphones as an additional purchase, fine. Fine. That’s fine for them to look rubbish — like an after thought, designed by the tea boy.

But now: When music is a core service, a core offering, why is the planet still offered total dross?

It was REALLY annoying seeing the Apple iPhone with a normal headphone jack. I’m looking at it and going, ‘wow, that’s cool’. Like a caveman being shown a lighter.

It ain’t rocket science. And whatever the arguments, whatever the apparent justifications from the manufacturers, whatever the strategies, they’re wrong.

I’m beyond annoyance with it all.

Ok. And

…….

Breathe…………………….

WOOOOOOSAHHHH

WOOOOOOOSAAAAAAAAAAHHH