This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/magazine/6252991.stm
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| From iPhone to iGroan | From iPhone to iGroan |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| No Google Maps functionality? Not a difficultyA new mobile phone has been launched amid much fanfare and hype. But, as a survey reveals half of adults feel overwhelmed by technology, not everyone's jumping up and down. | No Google Maps functionality? Not a difficultyA new mobile phone has been launched amid much fanfare and hype. But, as a survey reveals half of adults feel overwhelmed by technology, not everyone's jumping up and down. |
| Prancing around the stage at this year's Macworld conference, Apple boss Steve Jobs described his latest gizmo as "magical", history in the making and a "revolution". Some of those in the audience he was addressing had queued all night to witness the object of his superlatives. And it was... a phone. | Prancing around the stage at this year's Macworld conference, Apple boss Steve Jobs described his latest gizmo as "magical", history in the making and a "revolution". Some of those in the audience he was addressing had queued all night to witness the object of his superlatives. And it was... a phone. |
| OK, it's a sophisticated phone which also combines the functions of an iPod and an internet device, and not forgetting Google Maps, but it's not the first and not everyone has been cast under Jobs' spell. | OK, it's a sophisticated phone which also combines the functions of an iPod and an internet device, and not forgetting Google Maps, but it's not the first and not everyone has been cast under Jobs' spell. |
| I have a mobile phone and keep it in the car Edward Enfield href="/1/hi/technology/6247803.stm" class="">Beneath the iPhone bonnet href="/1/hi/business/6248603.stm" class="">Can Apple upset the mobile cart? | |
| "The iPhone? I haven't read carefully enough to know what it does except I do know it seems to do everything," says Edward Enfield, 77, columnist for The Oldie magazine. | "The iPhone? I haven't read carefully enough to know what it does except I do know it seems to do everything," says Edward Enfield, 77, columnist for The Oldie magazine. |
| "But I don't want this thing in the least. I rather like not wanting one. Presumably it's a phone and you can get music off it, but I like silence. | "But I don't want this thing in the least. I rather like not wanting one. Presumably it's a phone and you can get music off it, but I like silence. |
| "I don't want to walk around listening to music. I don't have an iPod, I just read about them." | "I don't want to walk around listening to music. I don't have an iPod, I just read about them." |
| After taming his fax machine, which is peppering the phone line with bleeps, forcing him to briefly abandon the conversation, he returns to the subject. | After taming his fax machine, which is peppering the phone line with bleeps, forcing him to briefly abandon the conversation, he returns to the subject. |
| "My worry is that people will not be able to communicate without such things, but they can always ring up or send a fax. I have a mobile phone and keep it in the car and I ring up to say 'I'm on the two minutes past three' and my wife says 'I'll meet you'. We don't chat on it. | "My worry is that people will not be able to communicate without such things, but they can always ring up or send a fax. I have a mobile phone and keep it in the car and I ring up to say 'I'm on the two minutes past three' and my wife says 'I'll meet you'. We don't chat on it. |
| "I don't know how to text message. Our children have tried to text us occasionally but we keep it in the car and it's off. But we're still perfectly accessible, they just have to ring us up." | "I don't know how to text message. Our children have tried to text us occasionally but we keep it in the car and it's off. But we're still perfectly accessible, they just have to ring us up." |
| Blissful ignorance | Blissful ignorance |
| And Mr Enfield is not alone. A survey for Computing Which? Magazine reveals that half of British adults feel overwhelmed by new technology and struggle to understand new jargon. | And Mr Enfield is not alone. A survey for Computing Which? Magazine reveals that half of British adults feel overwhelmed by new technology and struggle to understand new jargon. |
| Although 71% of households in the UK have a personal computer, many adults have difficulty understanding the associated technical terms.It's a phone... a p-h-o-n-e | Although 71% of households in the UK have a personal computer, many adults have difficulty understanding the associated technical terms.It's a phone... a p-h-o-n-e |
| But for many adults like Mr Enfield it is not that they don't understand but that they choose not to be interested, when they feel like they are being told they should. | But for many adults like Mr Enfield it is not that they don't understand but that they choose not to be interested, when they feel like they are being told they should. |
| Writer Will Self is well-versed in modern technology but chooses not to get broadband, sat-nav or the latest mobile phones. And he takes pleasure in how outdated his equipment is. | Writer Will Self is well-versed in modern technology but chooses not to get broadband, sat-nav or the latest mobile phones. And he takes pleasure in how outdated his equipment is. |
| "I believe - perhaps erroneously - that in my own small way I'm putting a brake on the hurtling wheels of technical innovation and especially the relentless infiltration of the internet into every corner of our lives," he wrote recently... his point only marginally undermined by the fact his comments were written for an AOL discussion page. | "I believe - perhaps erroneously - that in my own small way I'm putting a brake on the hurtling wheels of technical innovation and especially the relentless infiltration of the internet into every corner of our lives," he wrote recently... his point only marginally undermined by the fact his comments were written for an AOL discussion page. |
| And even for those fond of their gadgets, like Nick Parker, editor of Bling, Blogs & Bluetooth: Modern Living for Oldies, this iPhone business has all got a bit out of hand. | And even for those fond of their gadgets, like Nick Parker, editor of Bling, Blogs & Bluetooth: Modern Living for Oldies, this iPhone business has all got a bit out of hand. |
| "I don't need my mobile to show movies and take my photo, it's amazing enough as it is," he says. | "I don't need my mobile to show movies and take my photo, it's amazing enough as it is," he says. |
| The launch of a new phone may have been heralded as something to change our lives, but clearly there are some who just don't feel the magic. | The launch of a new phone may have been heralded as something to change our lives, but clearly there are some who just don't feel the magic. |
Add your comments on this story, using the form below. | Add your comments on this story, using the form below. |