I have a sneaking suspicion that the more technology advances, the more simple tasks become increasingly complicated to carry out. A fine example of this was my attempt to record Star Wars Episode II yesterday with a VCR. Years ago, it was a simple thing to achieve, simply choose the channel and time and press record; you could even watch a programme on one channel whilst recording a programme on another. Not any longer. Whilst I became ever more tangled in scart leads and aerial wires, time was ticking away and the location of a suitable AV channel was nowhere to be found. I admitted defeat and went to the pub for an ale, which thankfully is still a simple procedure. Whilst appreciating the simple things in life, such as pints of fermented grain, I attempted to perform yet another simple task and make a phone call. This is something that I have always managed to achieve successfully, simply hold handset, press numbers, et voila! A phone call is made. Oh no, not any longer. Having borrowed someone else\'s phone, which appeared to have the fundamental features lacking i.e. the numbers 0 to 9, I was a little flummoxed by its functions. I managed to successfully, albeit accidentally take a photograph and connect to the internet simultaneously, but not actually make a call without some assistance. Where is the sense in that? What do these things really do? I decided to read a mobile phone review or two to catch up with what appears to be technology going mad. One of the first reviews I came across was of an Android powered phone. Not wishing to come across as a techno-dunce, I did actually consider that this device must be powered by some organic/electronic hybrid. Well, why not, it\'s not really any more strange than being able to use a telephone to make home movies. Apparently Android powered means that the phone has a software platform that is written in Java script and can be run in a similar way to Linux. Oh, I can feel the haze of confusion shifting already! Whatever it is, it is the latest thing and is meant to be very good. With that cleared up, I move on to my next stunning revelation courtesy of a different mobile phone review - there is such a thing as a disposable mobile phone! I was under the impression that all phones now functioned as an MP3 player, a GPS, movie player, internet browser, video camera, stills camera and personal micro PC. In fact, there has been a craze for phones that don\'t do anything except... wait for it, make phone calls! These disposable phones are cheap, cheerful and come in lots of crazy designs. Made of cardboard, with no LCD screen, they are the closest thing we\'ve had to a proper phone in years. You can\'t even text on them. The trend for these mobiles is apparent in the mobile phone reviews in Japan. Without all the sophisticated technology to run seventeen million other applications, the mobile phones are cheap and cheerful, and are therefore particularly suited to the fashion conscious Japanese youth culture. This makes such a refreshing change, having technology go back to its simplified roots, and heavily endorsed by one of the most technologically crazy cultures in the world! I was starting to think that each new mobile phone concept was hatched by a child walking round a house gluing various electrical items together. Sellotape the phone to the television, add a bit of Uhu glue to stick the camera on, staple on a street map and sew on the coffee grinder just in case. Actually, that could be a useful application, plus a Swiss army knife... practical. Watch this space, mobile phone reviews could be coming to you hosting a whole plethora of survival add-ons; beer mat not included.
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