It’s a phone – it’s a camera – it’s Superphonecam!

Let me warn you at the outset that your columnist is technically challenged, but also extremely fascinated by the manner in which our devices work and assist us in the execution of our daily lives. Be assured, I have no idea about the intricacies of each of the devices we use daily or hourly or by the minute, but I do enjoy their use and the results of the input.

Originally, the technocrats from the communications giants gave us a machine which operated via a series of cellular relays, allowing us to communicate via voice with one another from almost anywhere at any time. It was not so long ago that we used a thing called a telephone to speak to one another electronically from within a building (home or office). There were wires of a variety of types which caused these heavy, bulky machines to join us together. These wires had other rubberized or plastic coverings wrapped around them, and at times they were curly, making for all sorts of challenges during the operation thereof. Our scientific community then blessed us with units devoid of connections to a wall or to one another which flipped open and closed with a dialing setup (called a keypad, I believe) built into this relatively small piece of equipment. I may have skipped an invention or two between wall phone and cellphone, but a historian I am not. Oh yes, something called the internet happened which was to greatly influence the devices we were using as mere means of chatting with one another. We accessed this phenomenon by means of a computer which we could place on our laps.

During the use of our very efficient flip phones, the communication elves were busy developing an even better wheel, as it were. This rectangular piece of electronics was flat and did not flip open. Moreover, the brainiacs had gone ahead and paired it with the internet, and (wait for it) added a camera. Thousands of us held firm to our flip phones which we had acquired kicking and screaming from our neighborhood AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon store. It took some serious persuasion from the offspring, members of the next generation (“That will not work anymore, Daddy.”), to force us to rid ourselves of our dear and cherished flip phones. Our friends at the cellular retail outlets would not even grant us the courtesy of a trade-in or other compensation for relinquishing our now relic-like calling device. The inevitable occurred, and we procured the new device named for the technology which triggers and operates these units, and, by the way, paid the higher prices for it. We also learned about a thing called an app, or some of us became a bit acquainted with these multiple sites to assist us in traversing this internet thing. Among these apps is the camera; imagine that I can talk and snap a photograph using the same instrument. Furthermore, I can talk to someone and see that person, with permission, simultaneously. Have I neglected to mention that music of our choice can be emitted from these magic rectangles?

For me, the most exciting aspect of this phone business is the retrieval of the hundreds of photographs many of us have taken and stored on our phones, and transferred to a thing called the cloud. In the course of a given conversation, a person is prone to refer to his/her phone to substantiate a statement with a photo which bears witness to the particular situation or person. It is here where I must commend the user for the skill with which s/he scrolls through the hundreds of images and eventually finds the shot in question. It appears close to miraculous how the phone owner can access that one picture in question among so many. I enjoy watching the scrolling process, especially if a pet is involved, or when the user is going back several years to find the grandchild’s newborn hospital photo. I take joy in observing the owner’s facial expressions as s/he passes some photos not to be shared with another mere acquaintance.

This mini handheld microcomputer does it all, including the sharing of memories.

Such did not exist 40 years ago in the so-called (by some) good old days. We certainly did not possess the phonecam with the great big S which is now forever in our hands and our pockets/purses. It was probably still on the planet Krypton with Jor-El.