Tech Tuesday: The WH backs unlocking phones

The White House has stated they are looking into approving consumers unlocking their phones after receiving a 100,000 signed petition. (http://bgr.com/2013/03/04/smartphone-unlocking-white-house-359495/#more-359495)  The White House on Monday came out in support of the petition, noting that consumers ought to be allowed to unlock their devices if they so choose. What I loved was the following statement “In addition to supporting legislation, the Administration plans to encourage mobile providers to take steps to ensure that their customers can “fully reap the benefits and features they expect when purchasing their devices.”

I bought a Nokia 9500 Communicator unlocked directly from Nokia years ago that had so many features, it was unreal.  When I signed on for a cell service, they locked almost every single feature.  The only way to fully utilize all the features that were naturally organic on the phone, was to pay the carrier an additional fee for each feature.  Talk about price gouging! That was 5-8 years ago and the smartphones today can do much more, if you’re willing to pay for the data, to activate features and so on.

It is especially gratifying that the White House will put a stop to these practices.  Now they need to stop data caps or update the Nation’s Internet for a reasonable price.

An additional post today caught my eye. What would your fantasy phone be:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/01/tech/mobile/smartphone-features-storify-you/index.html

As 65,000 people assembled at Mobile World Congress this week to reveal the cutting-edge advances coming soon to the world of smartphones, we asked you what features you’re desperate to see on the phones of the future.

Flashy displays — bendable, expandable, projected, 3D and holographic alike — got imaginations racing this year. It wasn’t long ago that users were content with a miniature, pixellated screen that just about displayed a legible text message — but readers now tell us they want to look at something bigger, brighter, bolder and with a touch more je ne se quois than their existing 5-inch smartphone…

Personally, my fantasy phone would have to be the Nokia Morph!

http://research.nokia.com/morph

It was in Research and Development before Nokia’s big downfall and almost folded into Microsoft.  The Morph was a cutting edge computer device, that could: unfold, bend, self-clean, connect to the internet.

Morph concept technologies might create fantastic opportunities for mobile devices:

• Newly-enabled flexible and transparent materials blend more seamlessly with the way we live
• Devices become self-cleaning and self-preserving
• Transparent electronics offering an entirely new aesthetic dimension
• Built-in solar absorption might charge a device, whilst batteries become smaller, longer lasting and faster to charge
• Integrated sensors might allow us to learn more about the environment around us, empowering us to make better choices

But, alas, when Nokia folded, their R&D was scrapped.  They have stated that the Morph had design flaws and separate features may be used in future phones.