MadMode

Smartphones let you carry a phone, a PDA, GPS, music, photos and lots more all in one device. But remember when you could call your sweetie just by picking up your phone and holding down the 2 key?    If I pick up my Samsung Vibrant Android Phone, first of all there is no 2 key, but if there were, it might just add to an email draft or pick the second photo from a list or any number of other things, depending on what I asked my phone to do when I last used it.

And yet I wear the thing practically everywhere; the only things it hasn't (yet!) replaced are my watch, wallet, and keys.

It's going to take a whole madmode series to explore the list of things it has replaced, or at least competes with:

• PDA (which, of course, replaced a paper calendar, todo list, and address book)
• cellphone
• ipod (portable CD player, CD collection)
• camera
• videocamera
• barcode reader
• GPS (map, compass)
• wallet photos
• stopwatch
• alarm clock
• book
• laptop

I wonder how long until I can retire my wallet. I gather the Japanese have pretty much done it. I hoped for QR codes on recepts... I think there's a place for paper... but it looks like we'll leapfrog that and go right to NFC for mobile payments.