I was interviewing a guy intimately involved in the mobile phone industry the other day. We were comparing the various features of our sophisticated smartphones, and he was struggling through the myriad sub-menus of his state-of-the-art device to show me something particularly noteworthy, when he suddenly leaned over and said, ""Off the record, but this is my favorite phone."" And he showed me one of the most basic cellphones in the business: the Nokia 1100.
The Nokia 1100, according to Wikipedia, is the world's best selling handset, having shifted 200 million units. It seems to cost about $20, often less, and has a battery life of about 400 hours.
And, crucially for my friend, sports two important features: It makes and receives calls and SMS. More than this, in the words of Bryan Ferry, there's nothing. (Well, actually there's WAP, but who uses that?) The 1100 is the kind of cellphone we all had about 10 years ago. A basic, no-nonsense, no-frills, gets-the-job-done device. The Sunday league of the cellphone world.
The point about the Nokia 1100 is that it's a phone. It doesn't pretend to be anything else (except a flashlight, if you press and hold the ""c"" key down -- presumably ""c"" stands for torCh or flasChlight or ""come into the light where I can see you, Mildred"". I have friends who bought it for this one feature).
It's designed for conditions in developing countries -- dustproof keyboard, non-slip sides -- but for many of us that could describe an ordinary day in the office (dusty, slippery, in need of illumination).
""For email,"" my interviewee said, ""I use this,"" waving a fancy Nokia BlackBerry clone. ""For phoning and SMS, I use my 1100.""
What he loves about it is not only its ruggedness, but its simplicity. The Nokia interface for these kinds of simple phones is second to none: intuitive and robust (how many times have you had to reboot your smartphone because it crashed/hung/started hissing at you, just when you needed to make a call? When did we get to the point we even realized that cellphones needed to be rebooted like our computers?)
Clearly my interviewee friend is not alone. A glance at Mobile Phones UK's page on the model indicates the phone has a sizable fan club, with comments from Romania, Pakistan, Iran, the Philippines, Argentina, UK, Zaire and Tanzania. (Typical comment: ""I needed a simple, sharp looking, long life phone. I got it. I love it!"") Of course, there are some who aren't happy, but with 200 million units out there, that's not surprising.
It's not a particularly startling insight, and not a particularly new one, but it's worth making from time to time: If all you want are the basics,settle for more. It's not easy to find a simple phone these days, certainly not in those countries where your cellphone comes as part of a subscription package, but it's worth remembering that at least Nokia, and a few other companies, still make simple, rugged, cheap phones.
Perhaps it's worth considering, as my interviewee friend does, taking a step back: Instead of trying to pack all your functions -- phone, SMS, email, music, photography, maps, spreadsheets, Word documents, etc -- into one device, keep the vital bit -- a phone you can answer or call on easily - in a separate device.
You'll have to carry two devices, but maybe that's a price worth paying if you know you can receive a call without contorting your fingers, or rebooting, or locating the ""phone"" button on a device that seems to have forgotten it's a phone.
Jeremy Wagstaff can be found online at www.loosewireblog.com or via e-mail at jeremy@loose-wire.com.
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