Still Remember These Tech Items?

Things come and go; the new replaces the old. This trend is so prevalent, and it’s just but normal. There will come a time when something else will turn another outdated. Simply, it’s how things are supposed to be. Especially now in the digital age, technology revamps itself in just a blink of an eye. Take the iPhone 5 for example; it just seems like some time when it was released, but now, it was already discontinued and replaced by its successors, the 5S and the 5C. If you are to take a look back, you’ll realize that this wasn’t the case in the past. Back then, things seem to last for quite a long time, and these are just some of the old-school technologies that became a mainstay in our lives.

Typewriter.

A typewriter is once an author’s best friend. The mere simplicity of the contraption makes it seem like an empty vessel for ideas and inspiration to come around. However, ever since computers came into the picture with their keyboards, the limelight was stolen from the renowned typewriters. But they are still quite fun to collect though.

Floppy Disks.

Now, there’s cloud, but before that, there were external hard drives, SD cards, CDs, and not to mention, floppy disks. Back in the days, I remember that we were required to secure our own floppy disk drive to save our works on computer class. Just place the sticker to the label, write your name on it, and you’re done. Whatever you’re working on will be stored in that thin plastic material. But as it turns out, people yearned for something smaller that can contain more data, and so the floppy disk slowly lost its luster.

Polaroid Camera.

I still recall that I always wanted to have a Polaroid camera, but it never have come true. I always wanted to have a device that can do everything from the actual snapping of the photo, developing, and ultimately, to the printing of an instant picture in just a matter of seconds. Although it had reigned as a mainstay gadget for almost 50 years, I never had a chance to get one of those.

Cassette players and tapes.

Before CDs encroached the music industry, cassette tapes were the preferred medium to store music. The quality of music then was good enough; you get to hear everything unadulterated. But now, it’s all about the digital enhancements and whatnot. Ah, it’s nice to recall the good times.

Beepers.

With the ubiquitous smartphones being the essential devices of the century, it’s such a wonder why other people still hang on to beepers. Before, pagers are thought to be seen as a status symbol. If you have one, you’re probably a super important person like surgeon or a CEO. As of now, there are still a number of people who carry a beeper with them to stay connected to the world wherever they are.

Technology is really something, eh? Now, what’s in your hands may be the best in the world, and tomorrow, it will just be an old, useless piece of plastic and metal. Well, we have to face it; life and all that has to do with it is already fast-paced. Though sometimes, it’s fun to look back and be reminded of the technologies that we all loved for old times’ sake.

Bendable Screen Brought to You by Samsung

Just this early September, Apple has launched its newest addition to its collection of iPhones, the 5s and the 5c. The 5c is considered—for some reasons—the replacement of its predecessor, the iPhone 5. Apparently, the cost for producing a phone covered in colorful polycarbonate plastic is cheaper than opting for a lighter, aluminum casing, which exudes elegance.

Meanwhile, the 5s has replaced the iPhone 5 as Apple’s flagship phone. The newer handset is packed with a number of innovative features, with the fingerprint sensor being the breakthrough cream of the crop feature. Bluntly, the truth of the matter is, the fingerprint scanning technology is not the “latest” technology there is. It already existed decades ago in some known and widely used biometric systems. What consumers are really waiting and yearning for is a novel technology that has the wow factor.

Last January of this year, Samsung has showed off its prototype products with a flexible screen and a display that extends from the side of a device. It’s just a matter of time till the tech giant makes the innovative technology available on the market. According to D.J. Lee, Samsung’s mobile business head of strategic marketing, “We plan to introduce a smartphone with a curved display in South Korea in October.”

However, although the new-found technology is promising, mass producing the parts cheaply will seem to take more time as the tech firms that will support the flexible display technology have yet to figure out how to lower its production cost. Furthermore, there are still a bit more developments to be done in order to produce display panels that can be as thin as a sheet and highly resistant from heat.

We may see the bendable screen as a cutting edge technology for handheld devices today, but perhaps some of us may wonder, “What is it really for?” Well, for starters, once the flexible screen is fully materialized, it will be virtually “unbreakable.” Additionally, the lighter, thinner plastic-based display is presumed to utilize less energy than the current displays. This could serve as a supplementary yet temporary solution to the complaints of mobile consumers regarding a short battery life of their handheld devices.

A more potential development of the bendable technology might just be beneficial for the next generation of gadgets—the wearable devices. Because of the display’s flexible nature, it can be wrapped around a person’s wrist. Also, the relatively thin make of the display will allow for more space to add in other components to produce a more powerful device. Anyway, October is fast approaching; let us just wait and see if the talked-about flexible display will really come into reality on commercially-available smartphones as said. With technology, the possibilities are endless.