Some thought that MMS would make texting obsolete. MMS, which was very much hyped before and during its launch, can basically be understood as texting with some multimedia with it – such as a picture or even a video clip. Years ago, the prospect appeared to be really enticing – remember the Globe commercial featuring Donita Rose and had the catch word “Proof!”?
In the first seen, a pair of apparently conyo guys were chatting, with one saying to the other (more or less), “Hey, x is in Hong Kong (or is it Singapore?) right? Guess who he met?” Then he shows his phone, where apparently the text of their friend x was displayed – that x had met Donita Rose. The conyo guys laughed out loud. Then Globe shows a MMS with Donita hugging x and the word “Proof!” is flashed. It was an amusing concept, and in that particular instance it was actually put to some use. It seemed that MMS would be the next wave of the future.
Fast forward to the future and, well, Donita has a kid and is married and MMS hasn’t really caught up fire. Not that people didn’t use it – some actually did. It was a major selling point of the newer generation of higher priced phones – MMS enabled used to be the critical element. But since it was originally priced at 30 plus Pesos a message, only a few could afford it. It also posed a problem regarding compatibility, as not everyone had a compatible phone and, however fashionable it was to have the top of the line phone, it sure was lonely for some people. MMS is not a total failure, but to say that it’s a success in the Philippines would be stretching it.
Meanwhile, texting has not slowed down. It has gotten bigger. People from other countries have also noted that we like to text. It seems that there’s a certain appeal to twiddling our thumbs on those tiny keyboards – with perfect muscle memory. You can notice it most when you use another person’s phone or you yourself changes to a new one – your fingers seem to know how many times to press. As such, when you switch to a different brand (say from Nokia which is regarded as having the most user-friendly interface, to Sony Ericsson, which has more characters assigned to buttons) you find your fingers stopping from typing even though what is displayed in the screen is a different character (meaning that your mind/finger has memorized how many taps it needs to get to a character – that’s why some people can text even while doing something or looking at something else).
Lately, they have offered text messages with different font colors. It sounds amusing, and since a lot of people do have phones with colored screens, it might actually be compatible. Whether or not it catches fire, we will know in the future.
-by Stanley Cabrera
In the first seen, a pair of apparently conyo guys were chatting, with one saying to the other (more or less), “Hey, x is in Hong Kong (or is it Singapore?) right? Guess who he met?” Then he shows his phone, where apparently the text of their friend x was displayed – that x had met Donita Rose. The conyo guys laughed out loud. Then Globe shows a MMS with Donita hugging x and the word “Proof!” is flashed. It was an amusing concept, and in that particular instance it was actually put to some use. It seemed that MMS would be the next wave of the future.
Fast forward to the future and, well, Donita has a kid and is married and MMS hasn’t really caught up fire. Not that people didn’t use it – some actually did. It was a major selling point of the newer generation of higher priced phones – MMS enabled used to be the critical element. But since it was originally priced at 30 plus Pesos a message, only a few could afford it. It also posed a problem regarding compatibility, as not everyone had a compatible phone and, however fashionable it was to have the top of the line phone, it sure was lonely for some people. MMS is not a total failure, but to say that it’s a success in the Philippines would be stretching it.
Meanwhile, texting has not slowed down. It has gotten bigger. People from other countries have also noted that we like to text. It seems that there’s a certain appeal to twiddling our thumbs on those tiny keyboards – with perfect muscle memory. You can notice it most when you use another person’s phone or you yourself changes to a new one – your fingers seem to know how many times to press. As such, when you switch to a different brand (say from Nokia which is regarded as having the most user-friendly interface, to Sony Ericsson, which has more characters assigned to buttons) you find your fingers stopping from typing even though what is displayed in the screen is a different character (meaning that your mind/finger has memorized how many taps it needs to get to a character – that’s why some people can text even while doing something or looking at something else).
Lately, they have offered text messages with different font colors. It sounds amusing, and since a lot of people do have phones with colored screens, it might actually be compatible. Whether or not it catches fire, we will know in the future.
-by Stanley Cabrera
No comments:
Post a Comment