Last weekend I was trying to quickly organize dinner with some friends. I decided to try calling them. When no one answered, I realized how embarrassed I was to leave a voicemail. I'm not alone on this feeling that phone calls are jarring to daily life, but it makes me wonder something else... will we eventually come around to a new type of super-connected gadget that can do everything except make phone calls?
Minus the SMS-only (Motorola) and Outlook-only (Blackberry) devices from years ago, the only one I can think of that might have been is the prototype Danger Hiptop. When they originally pitched the Hiptop to T-Mobile it had all the same functionality but it wasn't a phone, and I don't think they wanted it to be. From what I'm aware of, T-Mobile made them have a phone in it in order to seal the deal of what became the T-Mobile Sidekick. Maybe it's time to try that again.
posted by Aaron at 1:50 PM on May 12, 2008 
I guess the iPod Touch is also coming at it from a similar perspective (but with WiFi).
posted by Rex at 1:57 PM on May 12, 2008
Good point.
posted by Aaron at 2:05 PM on May 12, 2008
But everyone wants Skype on their iPod Touch, right?
Also: did visual voicemail just break the record for "shortest lifespan of a killer app"? Unexpected? Not so much, no.
posted by dav3 at 2:29 PM on May 12, 2008
People who still use the phone:
Parents who want to sign up their kids for summer debate camp. I had 60 voicemail messages after 1 weekend.
I wish there was caller-id that would associate a email address so I could email people back based on their phone number.
posted by bietz at 9:00 PM on May 12, 2008
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