Captured on camera phones

                                                    

Camera phone

I don’t own a digital camera, neither do I have a camcorder to record spontaneous candid camera moments. Instead, I often use my mobile phone to take photographs and to even record video. The powerful portable nature of the mobile phone makes it easier to capture events faster and even often in real-time with the use of services such as Facebook, Twitter, weblogs, Qik and many more. This is changing how we share and show photographs.

Photographs and videos from the recent weekend or from yesterday’s family braai or even that fashion show that happened just an hour ago can now be uploaded on these services, to share those moments with family, friends and even people worldwide. These photographs can further be re-distributed with the use of MMS (multimedia messaging service) and Bluetooth, for example.

Photographs can be re-tweeted on Twitter or emailed to your contacts, used in blogs and links can be provided to enable others to click the link sending them directly to the desired photograph. The same photograph or video can be accessed on various sites on the web.

The never ending search

The Samsung Jet and the Samsung Corby

After I decided to put my mobile phone to rest, I started the search for a brand new one to enter into a fresh partnership, a relationship that will be different to the last. As a journalist studying new media, I want a mobile phone that would be a useful tool for journalism, a phone with a decent camera, recording functions, a reasonably fast web browser and a keypad easy to use.

I thought ending my relationship with my last mobile phone was the hard part but I was soon mistaken. A search that I believed would take five minutes took what felt like a life time, slowly eating away at my bandwidth. I was more confused than ever with the variety of mobile phones to choose from, ranging from Motorolas to Nokias and Samsungs to Iphones. It was like trying to choose between a Jenni Button suit and a Gucci bag, you want them both. It was overwhelming but my search did not end there.

I then stumbled across journalist, Galen Schultz's blog, Witness This, which provided more than just a list of the mobile phones functions but also his personal opinion on each mobile phone he describes. It drew my attention to two mobile phones in particular, the Samsung Jet and the Samsung Corby.

‘Til death do us part

                               

                                   

The mobile phone has come a long way since the humble telephone. For many, the mobile phone is an extension of their lives and few, including me, would not leave home without it.

It is the mobile phone’s portability and additional capabilities that make it much more than just a telephone. With satellite communication and ‘international roaming’, it is now possible for mobile phone users to communicate with people virtually anywhere in the world either by phoning them, text messaging them. People can even access the internet and send a message via e-mail or a social network service such as Facebook or Twitter.

There are many more applications which make the mobile phone a must-have item in today’s world. Your mobile phone can provide you with a handy camera or a music player, a radio or GPS, not to mention a calculator, diary, alarm clock and a source of endless information via Google. It is also a valuable source of entertainment as mobile users can download games and play for as long as their battery lasts.