Low-tech use for high-tech phones

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Low-tech use for high-tech phones

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News and Observer
By JONATHAN B. COX, Raleigh News and Observer
Published Wednesday, September 17th, 2003


(NEWS AND OBSERVER) - Just when cellular phones, with their video games, mini cameras and customized ring tones, seemed incapable of doing much more, comes one that might make its users more attractive.
The latest in high-tech gadgetry from Samsung and Cingular Wireless has a decidedly low-tech feature: a mirror. The external screen on the phone has a reflective coating perfect for women applying makeup or men fine-tuning a coif.

"It's great for putting on lipstick after lunch or if you need a touch-up," said Susan Bach, a senior vice president with Guaranty Title, a Raleigh, N.C., affiliate of Fonville Morisey Realty.

"Your phone is always with you, and it's a whole lot easier to find than a compact," said Bach, who admits to gazing into her phone four times a day.

Around the Triangle, consumers are discovering the beauty-enhancing benefit. Cingular, the only wireless company that sells the Samsung S307 model, said it can't quantify how many people use the mirror feature, but says the phone is one of its most popular - among both men and women.

"We first heard about it when a customer was with some friends and pulled out her phone and used it to put on her lipstick," said Pam Temple, Cingular's sales director for the Raleigh region. "That's what generates the buzz."

She's pretty sure Samsung didn't intend the screen to be used for such purposes. Nowhere in the marketing materials does it mention the mirror, and Temple said her sales representatives haven't touted that aspect to customers.

Bach said she just stumbled upon it after buying the phone a couple months ago. She snapped the phone shut and when the screen went blank she saw herself.

"I was like, 'Ooh, this is great,'" said Bach, who has used cell phones since about 1986. "They certainly have come a long way."

Cingular, the nation's second-largest mobile phone company, hasn't quite cornered the market for mirrored cell phones. AT&T Wireless offers the Panasonic GU87, a camera phone with a silver area near the lens to aid in taking self-portraits. It is, however, smaller than the caller-ID screen on the Samsung model.

Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless said they had nothing to compare, adding, of course, that they have many super-fancy phones with diverse appeal.

For sure, Cingular's chirping, Web surfing phone-turned-mirror isn't for everybody. The current retail price is $249.99, with a two-year service contract.