Today, virtually everyone owns at least one mobile phone. Some own even more, with a different phone for work and for family. As the needs people have for phones have increased and more and more are being purchased, mobile sellers have looked to gain profits by developing new technologies. Some of these technologies include capacitive touch screen abilities, which detect the way in which sensors on the phone are being pushed, and FTIR multi touch, which can easily read varying amounts of pressure over a large space. These technological developments generate a lot of buzz with what the future holds for mobile phone technology, and could change the way we communicate in the future.

It’s been surprising to see over these last years that mobile phones have been subject to changes in style and fashion, just as clothes have. While a bit over a decade ago any mobile phone was seen as a sign of status, the large “brick” look that the first phones had quickly went out of fashion, and cheaper and smaller phones began to be developed. Today, color screens are a virtual requirement, and screens that take up the whole screen are now used by those who try to stay with the latest trends.

What actual enhancements to the phone does this latest trend provide? As there is no keypad to these new phones, it’s meant touch screens are now used. This doesn’t just involve users pressing buttons that appear onscreen. The user can actually have seemingly physical contact with the software they are working with. Pages can be flipped through, websites can be scanned down and programs can be opened in finger movements that recall real word activities.

Not only are these technological improvements attractive to the buyer, they’re necessary to get people to keep buying mobile phones even when the one they have works perfectly fine. This is known as “perceived obsolescence” and generally means the same thing as fashion. Many impressionable children and fashion-conscious adults feel a twinge of embarrassment when exposing that the phone they own is a model over a couple of years old, and does not have all the latest features of something like the iPhone. The developers of the latest developments of course encourage these notions of being left behind, as this means their customer base will increase in size.

Perceived obsolescence has an unintended positive side effect. Poorer countries depend on what the first world throws away, in order to get these products at a reduced price. This means they are able to have clothes that look fine that went out of style in the West a few years ago. If you ever go to Africa, you’ll also see the phones of a couple of years ago being sold, as the Western customers have gone on to the next big thing and are uninterested in buying the old phones. This means that in Uganda, where people make in a month what a Western person makes in a day, these disadvantaged people are able to own quite functional phones, with mp3 playing abilities and camera capabilities.

The use of mobiles around the world has drastically changed due to people’s self-consciousness over fashion. It’s better to purchase phones based on the technological options they provide, rather than worrying about the style of the phone you buy.