Monday, July 17, 2006

Samsung's Stroke of Genius (or is it?)


The fabled British press have been scratching around in recent weeks to fill the inevitable news gap that appears whenever the sun is shining. Never mind the whole world going to hell in a handbag: the summer demands silly stories, and probably the silliest so far was the news that Samsung had developed a revolutionary new mobile phone (the LP4100) which has a built in breathalyser to prevent those oh so regrettable 3am phonecalls to the ex/next partner.

We've all been there - a Saturday morning, bleary eyes, sore head... you reach for the phone and find a text message in the inbox saying something along the lines of "you are a dublini appe". What could have brought on such rudeness?

Then it dawns... you look at your call register and find something like "3:00 am Ex". Always bad news, because you haven't a clue what was said (but can guarantee it wasn't good).

I was in Ibiza last week, and, at around five in the morning, was inches away from sending some inappropriate text messages to both the ex and a good friend. Luckily, my fumbling fingers and short attention span took care of that little situation. If I'd had the LP4100 to hand, I suspect it would have automatically called 112 and made the San Antonio police come and get me!

Unfortunately, as you may expect, the press reports of this new phone were a bit wayward. The phone is produced by LG, not Samsung, and doesn't actually stop you from making those damned calls, it just lets you know that you are doing wrong. This 'concerned friend' behaviour is all well and good, but, much like real friends in the same situation, the advice is likely to be ignored.

And the phone isn't very attractive either. Oh well...

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