xkcd Phone
xkcd Phone
[An image of a smartphone standing up with a small dot on the side and a single button at the bottom. Many labels are pointing to different parts of it. Clockwise from the top left they read:] Runs custom blend of Android and iOS Simulates alternative speed of light (default: 100 miles per hour) and adjusts clock as phone accelerates Wireless Accelerometer detects when phone is in free fall and makes it scream When exposed to light, phone says "Hi!" FlightAware partnership: Makes airplane noise when flights pass overhead Realistic case Clear screen Side-facing camera
Introducing The xkcd Phone Your mobile world just went digital®

This comic is a parody of a multitude of mobile-technology related issues that, when brought together, create a general satire of smartphone advertising. It was the first entry in the ongoing xkcd Phone series with the next 1465: xkcd Phone 2 released about nine months later.
The advertised features here either make previously useful capabilities useless or add features nobody wants. Except for "your mobile world (going) digital", which is old news.
The first generation of cell phones (introduced in the early 1980s) used analog radio signals to send voice traffic - and this was the standard used by the first ever smartphone, the IBM Simon. But the second generation (2G) standards, introduced from 1991 onwards, were digital, and analog services had been phased out by 2010 in most countries, long before this comic was published in 2014.
To market something as "going digital" implies that the corporation has found a way to integrate computers and/or the internet into a market that previously existed without them; the market for mobile phones has always involved computers, [ citation needed ] making the xkcd phone's marketing feel dated and clueless.
From the top, going clockwise:
The ominous warnings and disclaimers in the title text are probably a reference to the Saturday Night Live parody ad for Happy Fun Ball ( watch on YouTube ).
[An image of a smartphone standing up with a small dot on the side and a single button at the bottom. Many labels are pointing to different parts of it. Clockwise from the top left they read:] Runs custom blend of Android and iOS Simulates alternative speed of light (default: 100 miles per hour) and adjusts clock as phone accelerates Wireless Accelerometer detects when phone is in free fall and makes it scream When exposed to light, phone says "Hi!" FlightAware partnership: Makes airplane noise when flights pass overhead Realistic case Clear screen Side-facing camera
Introducing The xkcd Phone Your mobile world just went digital®
