Meghann Rise

To many students, it is a well-known fact that the world of technology is fast-paced and always changing.

It was just 30 years ago that the first cell phone was released, weighing in at a whopping 30 ounces (nearly two pounds). After raiding the fridge, 30 ounces is nearly the equivalent of a liter of pop. Today, the lightest cell phone in the world weighs in at 1.5 ounces, which is the weight of less than half a stick of deodorant.

Not only the appearance of cell phones have changed in the last 30 years. Many phones are now loaded with different options. Aside from being a medium for communication, phones today are capable of capturing pictures and video, Internet access, downloading music and can even be used to watch TV. There are phones with touch screens, high definition capability, smart phones and tons of other applications and features that set them apart from their 30-years-ago counterparts.

Nowadays, customers have the choice of simplicity with a phone like the Jitterbug, or a more complex phone like the LG enV Touch, which recently achieved the first spot on wirefly.com’s top 10 list for best video phone.

Wirefly.com is a Web site committed to allowing users to compare similar phones and see which one best suits them. Recently, the Web site posted a top 10 list of the best video cell phones.

In 10th place was the HTC Touch Pro from Sprint. This phone has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a memory card slot, TouchFLO 3D interface, Windows Mobile Pro, a 3.2-MP camera and WiFi. A lot of these features seem to come standard on many phones now, whereas a few years ago, most people just had the basics.

At number nine was the Samsung Eternity from AT&T. This phone has many of the same features as the HTC Touch, but has a high-quality camera and built-in GPS radio.

The winner of the eighth spot was the LG Xenon from AT&T.

Number seven was the Blackberry Curve, which has many of the same features as the Eternity: built-in GPS, WiFi and a three-megapixel camera.

In sixth place was the Samsung Behold, which has features like a 5-megapixel camera, expandable memory, and voice-controlled menus.

Number five was the Samsung Omnia, which is a touch screen smart phone. It also features Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro, a full HTML Web browser, 5-megapixel camera, FM radio and 8GB of internal memory, among other things.

Fourth was the Samsung Memoir. The Memoir is the nation’s first device to boast an 8-megapixel camera with a Xenon flash, auto-focus, 16x digital zoom, shutter modes and editing tools, which makes it a good video phone.

Number three was the LG DARE, which has a touch screen. It also has a 3.2-megapixel camera, music player and GPS. Miranda Carmon, a senior business economics major, owns an LG DARE.

“It took a lot of getting used to, but after a while, I loved my phone,” Carmon said. “When I look for a phone, I look at cameras. I don’t really use any other applications and I don’t like full keyboards.”

Number two was the Apple iPhone 3GS. Unlike previous generations of the iPhone, it has a camcorder. Video clips can be uploaded directly to YouTube.

Finally, the number one videophone that Wirefly selected was the LG enV Touch. It comes with advanced multimedia capabilities; an HTML web browser, an enhanced music player, a 3.2-megapixel camera, as well as a 3″ external touch screen display with a twin non-touch internal screen and full QWERTY keyboard.

When it comes to videophones, senior advertising major Kyle Halgerson doesn’t care.

“I hate smart phones,” Halgerson said. “I just want it to make calls and do that reliably. None of the extra features will push me into a different phone.”

Senior media production major Ryan Flemming prefers a simple phone.

“When picking out a phone, I first make sure it’s not a Razr,” Flemming said. “Video isn’t really important. Also, I always go with Verizon, and I try to get LG phones, because they make good phones.”

Overall, most students surveyed did not seem to care about video, but wanted a phone that was reliable. Still, having the ability to capture your friend’s silly antics on video right from your cell phone is one of the major conveniences of today’s cell phones. Technology may be moving quickly, but most students are able to keep up with it just fine.