When was the last time you heard a Tring..Tring…! The genuine sound (ringtone as we say today) of a TELEPHONE ringing (TELEPHONE as in Alexander Graham Bell). Long time I guess.. 3 years… more ?

Communication technology in the past 100 years has come a long way, gone far beyond a common man's expectations giving or gifting him the toys to communicate on the move. Be it laptops, palmtops, mobile phones, satellite phones and the wireless internet. What else can we expect in the next 100 years of existence? Hard to imagine, harder to believe. Whoever believed in a mobile phone 20-25 years back?

Well, the gizmos have arrived and are here to stay. We'd better get used to them before we are left far behind in the past. In order to stay abreast of mobile technologies and mobile gadgets one needs a simple basic know how of using a telephone. Believe it or not, despite all advertisements and promos (with feature lists) that we see everyday for mobile phones, they are very, very easy and simple to use. The fun lies here.

Apart from being a basic telephone, the mobile phone has evolved into a personal accessory which speaks a lot about the person who carries it. Thereby, it also carries a snob value, because of which a person always tends to have the latest, with the best features despite the cost of procuring or replacement.

Once a mobile phone has evolved into a personal accessory, a lot of customization goes into it. Therefore the need for software and content viz. ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers, logos, games, themes, headsets, facia, software, comes to the fore. Thank god we've always had a resource called the "Internet", the source of all information, be it the basic phones or the content or the software.

Customization of a mobile phone to suit your personal tastes is not the work for an engineer. You can do it yourself, if you fiddle around with one for a couple of days or so. Every mobile phone model is different in itself as far as looks, features, menus etc go, but basically the same. It only takes some getting used to.

A mobile phone's future is that it wants to grow to be a computer. Well, pretty much so when we see PDA's evolving from mobile phones and computers shrinking to Palm tops. You know where you are headed, just use a little compu-sense when you use your mobile, you will get off to a flying start.

Let's get on a little "What is" on these features…

Wallpaper: A background picture that you see when you look at the LCD of your mobile phone.

Ringtones: The sound that is played by your mobile phone when someone calls you.

Games: Gaming software that you can load into your mobile phone to play when you are free.

Themes: Wallpaper, ringtone, logo, color schemes etc all rolled into one so that you don't have to set them individually.

WAP: Internet access settings for your mobile phone, these have to be set manually as per your service operator specifications.

Software: Miscellaneous stuff viz. games etc. Other software to lock, unlock your phones, diagnosing problems etc.

A mobile phone now-a-days comes with a lot of features like a built in camera, an MP3 player, a voice recorder etc…. You can use all the features, or you can learn to use all the features, alternatively decide on what features you need and make a buying decision. Believe it or not, many people want to say that their mobile phone has a camera, many people use it regularly, and most people who have a mobile phone with a camera hardly use it after the first week. Imagine that they must have spent at least £50 - $100 extra for the camera…why? It is primarily the decision of the user, what phone he/she wants, but keep in mind the primary use of a mobile phone is to be connected on the move.

All I have done is given you a fair picture of a mobile phone and highlighted the pros and cons to help you make the right decision while buying one. As far as accessories, content and software are concerned, I will strongly suggest you that you check out http://www.mobilebuz.com

NOTE: This article may be freely reprinted in your ezines, ebooks, off-line publications, or on your websites. We only require that the entire article - including the clickable links, and the resource box "about the author" at the bottom of each article remain unchanged.

Articles Source - Free Articles
About the Author

Wayne Brown, Webmaster, is the co-owner and webmaster of http://www.mobilebuz.com which is a resource site for mobile phones.