Technology & MSG

My primary phone is a Motorola StarTAC (ST7868W). This fact gets me the mocking admiration of my peers.

“That phone is so old,” most will say with disdain. So what’s wrong with old?

New isn’t necessarily better these days, despite what popular culture and the mass media would like us to believe. In fact, newer — these days — tends to suck. Aside from phones, new computer software tends to be bloated with adware, spyware, and other malware add-ons. Another area where newer isn’t better is the quality of computer components. Systems from the 90’s are still running solid — albeit with slow processor speeds — without any hardware failures. These days you’re lucky if a power supply lasts you a few years, much less a decade. It seems that products aren’t designed or constructed to last anymore.

The StarTAC was cutting edge technology with it was first unveiled to the public. In 1996 the Integrated Electronics Engineering Center (IEEC) tore it apart and found that the phone “is a clean design that was well executed during assembly” as well as the smallest cellular phone on the market. The phone was rather expensive when first released, but it caught on in Hollywood in a big way. Apparently the StarTAC was also the cellular phone of choice for drug dealers back in the mid-90’s, either due to the small size or (more likely) that they had more money than they knew what to do with. I’m sure that Motorola would love that bit of trivia. Some of my friends of mine still refer to it as the “drug dealer phone.”

So why do I use a phone that has been around a decade? It’s simple and it isn’t because I’m suffering from retrophilia. It’s the only cell phone I’ve ever owned and I don’t see the benefit of “upgrading” to something worse. It does everything that I want it to. It’s my phone. It’s only a phone. It doesn’t need to do anything else. And guess what, it’s really good at its function.

“But my phone has a camera built in!” Yes, and it takes incredibly grainy pictures. I have a digital camera — also showing its age, but I digress — that takes far superior pictures than the latest camera phones.

“Does it do calendaring?” No, but that’s what my Day Planner is for.

“But the alarm clock functionality…” Whoa there. I have an alarm clock too. Several, actually… ones that I can’t easily pick up and throw across the room.

I feel that the vendors of phones are shoving more features down our throats at the expense of quality. Vendors try to cram so many functions into cell phones that they usually end up doing a worse job of it. What options are there for people who don’t want all those features? There are a lot of people who aren’t allowed to have camera phones at their workplace (to prevent industrial espionage), but try seeing what phones are available without a camera these days. The pickings are getting more and more slim.

History aside, call clarity is my primary concern when it comes to phones. I’ve yet to use another phone that handled calls with the clarity that the StarTAC does, even pitted against the latest technology. The casing has proven itself after years of being dropped and tossed around. The LCD is still as bright as it was when I first got it. The phone has survived exposure to extended temperature extremes and several major falls. Why would I trade up to a cheap piece of plastic?

As it turns out, people are moving back to older phones:

• A co-worker of mine recently purchased a used StarTAC off of eBay for a few dollars and had it re-activated after getting fed up with his LG.

• The support staff at Verizon Wireless are always shocked to hear that I’ve still got my StarTAC, but I’ve been told that they are seeing more and more people reactivate them.

• Another Verizon employee that I met at a Fools & Horses show told me that she had customers inquiring where they could purchase one, having gotten rid of one years ago and not been satisfied with their newer phone.

I know that there are others like me out there, people who prefer older solutions so long as they work. The people who utilize OldVersion.com, the people that prefer to listen to the radio instead of XM, the people that still have and use a StarTAC phone, the people who don’t care about having the “latest and greatest.” I’d love to hear from you, especially if you’re still using your StarTAC.

Send comments/suggestions to contact@moundalexis.com.

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