I was recently watching a TV spot for the OneTouch UltraMini – a blood glucose monitoring system. The difference with this one is that it comes in four trendy colours and looks like an iPod. It reminded me of a story I read about a diabetes sufferer writing an open letter to Apple regarding the design features of the iPod vs insulin pumps. She was asking them to to help jumpstart a little creativity in the medical space. Fortunately, Adaptive Path took her up on her plea.
The thing that got to me about both of these cases is how much the iPod has influenced modern-day design. It and it’s telephone sibling the iPhone have become the gold standard for sleek, functional design. And they have pushed the boundaries on what one should expect from their “universal mobile device”, or UMD.
My current UMD of choice is the blackberry 8830. It is a phone, calendar, email device, MP3 player and personal handheld GPS unit. It doesn’t have a camera like the Curve, but until a UMD has an 8 megapixel sensor I am not interested.
But that got me thinking about how a Universal Mobile Device is different things to different people. Maybe as a diabetes suffer I want one device which has a phone, music player and insulin pump. An avid TV watcher may want a remote control incorporated in their UMD. Someone who presents a lot a laser pointer as well as phone. Someone with a six-o-clock shadow a shaver phone (not to be confused with a Razr).
So in the future I see a machine a bit like the iPod Vending Machine, but where you pick the functions for your UMD. The fewer functions, the cheaper. Just phone? $25. Phone, email and MP3? $100. Add in GPS? $150. A camera? Hey, I don’t want the camera function because I carry around my Digital SLR anyway – so why select and as a consequence pay for that feature?. I do want a compass though, because I could use that sailing. $175. Oh, and don’t forget that nasal hair trimmer feature. I would happily pay an addional $50 for that …
I am one of your photo fans. I like your perspective, your angles, your clarity. I am a passionate amateur photographer. Totally amateur though i’ve sold some pictures with my articles to varous magazines. And I’ve gotten away with using digital only.
It’s time to graduate to a digital SLR and I just want to know, if you’ll share, what you recommend. I realize that certain people want certain attributes. I have to date been a SONY and a NIKON fan but what do you use and like?
My only requirement so far: that the camera feels good in my hand.
Thanks for any info/opinion.
Beldy
Thanks for the kind comment. I currently use a Nikon D80 with a variety of lenses – fast 50mm prime, 60mm macro, 10-20 wide angle and 18-200 zoom. I also spend a lot of time in Photoshop making sure the picture is post-processed properly. The camera feels good in my hand, although I am considering a battery grip as well – even though it will be bigger it apparently balances the camera well. Another good investment I found was the Nikon eBook (google it).
If money were no object I would probably go for an SLR with a full frame sensor like the Canon 5D.