M's New Devices

So the folks at Wired are having a bit of a giggle about
Mcrosoft's 'just don't call it a phone' foldable, (available
next year). Here's the thing, (and I should know): you're being
senile in cutching to a static definition of what a phone is.
Heck, I remember the 50s when men were men and phones were black
dial contraptions for having conversations. No answering machines,
and at the cottage we shared a line, and only answered one long,
two shorts. While my father warned my mother not to gossip
too long because there could be emergencies.

And heavy phone books that changed every year. With operators
for calling long distance.

So a phone with apps, that takes pictures and allows text exchanges
is something else. Because young people love apps, the mass phone
became all about the apps. This is where Microsoft might be remiss
in producing an Android device. The apps may be fun, but the short-
lived Windows phone worked like a reliable computer, certainly usefull
for even high school students.

So this is the hub of it. My daughter in her 20s won't wear any outfit
that doesn't have a pocket for her phone. She manages her life from it.
Submits university papers, applies for jobs, consults her doctor, shops for
show tickets, records herself singing, navigates, shares activities with others.

My pocket friend (actually a purse buddy) doesn't even have a make
a phone call function. But I wouln't survive Montreal without it, finding
stores in the underground, maps, checking the weather and so forth.

Security is all very nice, but we live in bureaucracy. What's my social Insurance
number, my health card expiation date, the code on my bicycle chain from
last summer, my Revenu Canada access code, my darn Fitness Pal password.
We need information all the time.

So indeed, Microsoft is quite correct in working the possible uses and
interactions of those two screens. And this is not a haphasard question,
but a vital one for its various populations of users. We are not addicted
to our machines, we are wired to them, and that big machine called the
Cloud.

https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-surface-duo-neo-phone/