Is+Smaller+Really+Better?+(Kristen+Bousquet)

 Overview
Pretty much since its inception, mobile technology has been on an ultra super mega slimfast diet. The first cell phone was a two pound monster whose battery could only handle half an hour of talk time. Now, the lightest cell phone is the Modu phone, which weights a paltry 43 grams. The first laptop, or true portable computer. weighed a hefty twenty four pounds and had a five inch screen. The lightest laptop available now is a member of the Sony VAIO X series and weighs less than two pounds. It's obvious that mobile technology has been trending towards the small. Today, if it is to be even considered mobile, it has to fit in a bag, pocket, envelope, or all of the above. When Apple first released the MacBook Air, Steve Jobs presented the computer by removing it from a manilla envelope. With the release of devices such as the iPad and phones such as the HTC Evo, however, this trend may be on its way out. In a world obsessed with non-verbal communication such as text messaging, a smaller device means a cramped keyboard on a touch screen or an awkward physical keyboard. As a result, mobile technology consumers are trending towards what is more practical. The iPhone 4 weighs 4.8 ounces and has a 3.5 inch screen, which millions of consumers and iPhone users have decided is an acceptable screen size and device weight. However, in 2006 Cingular released the Pantech C300, which was billed as the world's smallest camera flip phone. This phone was 2.5 inches tall (when opened) and weighed 2.5 ounces. In the five years since the release of the C300, phones have lost their hinges, gained touch screens, and are becoming more and more usable. Consumers are trending towards devices that "do it all" and, as a result, are ok with a little more girth. Before you disagree or not, ask yourself "which would you prefer?"

**History**
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**Future Trends?**
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