Despite a sceptical greeting and a slow start in the 80s, mobile phones have had one of the largest changes on society of any recent gadget. Initially mocked as a status symbol for yuppies and stock brokers, cheap production swiftly moved them from flashy status symbol, to must have gadget, to commonplace appliance.
As mobile phones became smaller, less expensive, and easier to use, more and more people started to buy them. Even as they became every day items, carried with us as an essential along with our house keys and purse, the tiny computers inside them become more and more .
These massive increases in computing power enabled the manufacturers and carriers to begin offering customisation options, allowing owners to customise their own phones with clip on covers, wallpaper images to display on screen – and downloadable polyphonic ringtones.
Initially only basic cheap ringtones were offered, using a limited range of sounds to play the sort of tacky tune you’d expect to hear as hold music. However, manufacturers soon realised how popular cheap ringtones were, and so started to add more complex audio hardware to their phones.
Mobile phones can now play complete CD quality tunes and sound effects, and be modified to play a specific tune for a group of people, as well as when recieving an SMS message or other alert. The once bulky and flashy status symbols have now changed into desirable hand held computers, combining PDA and mobile sound system.
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