This post’s title is a bit misleading–there probably will never be a phone distributed only for Filipinos, there is no such phone as an MC1(yet), and the phone I will be showing here is just my own design. In any case the MC1 will have the specifications of the newest cellphone models like the 16 million color display, support for external memory(up to 8GB), 5 Megapixel Camera with 16x digital zoom, 640 x 480 video resolution, Music Player, Internet Browser, ALL Networking Support(Infrared, WLan, Bluetooth, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, HSDPA, 3G), and an 8GB internal memory–the whole shebang. What separates it though from the competition is this one little feature of a button which definitely makes it the first device designed with the Filipino in mind.
Ever wondered why all the phones we have been using are all designed in Finland, Korea, the US and other countries besides our own? It is well-known that the Philippines is the texting capital of the world, and probably the only thing cellphone manufacturers did for us due to that fact is to increase twice or thrice the 160 character limit sending per text message, which I think shouldn’t count because our network providers charge us twice or thrice per mesage sent anyway depending on the message length. Every feature of a current unit finds its use in the Philippine setting, from people relying on their phones to wake them up in the morning (by doubling it as an alarm clock), to using their phone’s camera to shoot parties, concerts, and even scandals. This phenomenon leaves me thinking how we can let ourselves adapt to a cellphone’s capabilities without us letting the manufacturers know what additional simple features might be of more benefit to us than having more megapixels and megabytes.
What am I talking about? I introduce to you MC1–the first cellphone with Miss Calling capability.
I got the idea from a friend who recently won the 2007 Sawikaan: Salita ng Taon conference (held in UP Diliman last August 2-3, 2007) for his essay on MISKOL, a word which has now become truly Filipino. To quote from his own blog post:
Ateneo de Naga professor Adrian Remodo, miskol paper presenter, said the missed call practice among Filipinos is a world away from the New York usage. While the latter is nothing more than a missed business talk, miskol is enmeshed in the paramdam psychology of Filipinos. That split second ring on one’s phone connotes “Buhay pa ako. Magparamdam ka naman.” (I am still alive. Please get in touch soon.)
Akin to last year’s “lobat”, miskol is borne out of the Filipinos’ going gaga over cell phone communication. But we claimed the technology and put it to uses peculiar to us. Language plays an important role in this cultural hijacking. We also say ” Miskulin mo ako” to register a new cell number, find a misplaced phone, or simply to brag about a newly downloaded ringtone.
Very well said. No doubt my friend won the said contest.
The design would probably appear ridiculous to some people at first glance (especially for the wealthy ones who never do a miskol) but I implore you–have you ever had that awkward moment when you place your hand in between your phone and your face just to be able to cancel that call? Or how about that time you cursed at your boyfriend or even your own mother for answering a call which they are supposed to miss? With an MC button you don’t even have to put your phone against your ear and you would never have to worry about your load going down the drain for an “interrupted” miss-calling.
The MC1 could also use these features for its miskol ability:
- set how many seconds the ringing on the called cellphone should go on
- miskol scheduling (say an automatic call every morning to your girlfriend telling her she’s already late for work)
- miskol enabled phones would detect that their phone is receiving a miskol, as such that call cannot be answered
The feature would probably work against Telecom providers (because we would be basically using their networks for free) but would be very beneficial to the average Filipino who probably does 2-5 miskols everyday. I can only hope that the major cellphone manufacturers like Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and even Apple would take notice of this article and would dare implement it on their phone’s design. Would I rake in commissions with every miskol enabled phone sold? That would be really neat. I promise to give most everything back to charity.
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If you like this article and you think the writer is a genius(or totally weird) then you should check out one of his websites, URL www.guitartutee.com, proudly Filipino, whose Youtube account is currently #52 on the most subscribed list(this month) for Musicians. For mobile phone companies who would like to talk to him regarding this article you can send him an e-mail at guitar.tutee(at)gmail.com .
Mabuhay ang Pilipino!
Note: The image is a modified N95, soon to be released, and was used mainly for illustration purposes. It was not intended to be the actual design of an MC1 phone.