My friend held out his new smartphone and made a very good point that all handset makers should take note of.
“Where’s the forward option for messages?” he asked me?
The device in question is a shiny new Samsung Galaxy S, but this is more of a comment on the current obsession with software and applications than a criticism of the Korean vendor.
He was, of course, right. On my own – ageing – Sony Ericsson W800i, ‘forward’ is the second option in the list when you click on the ‘more’ button while reading an SMS. Pressing the ‘more’ button on the Samsung, however, gave a plethora of options, but no ability to forward the message.
While we were toying only with a simple text message, my friend is convinced the same option will be lacking on other messages like e-mail. It’s a reasonable assumption given all messages now appear as ‘conversations’ on the screens of most smartphones, rather than the individual messages found on older devices.
No doubt someone will tell me the ‘forward’ option is actually just a couple of clicks away, but my point is this. In the world where there’s an app for everything, let’s not lose sight of the basic function of a mobile phone – communications.
There has to be something wrong when a six year old phone offers more usability than a modern, high-end, smartphone. It might not track stock prices or feature a slick high-resolution touch screen, but it allows you to make phone calls and – crucially – forward messages straight out the box.