Funny Stuff is all around

Despite a sceptical greeting and a slow acceptance in the 80s, mobile phones have had one of the largest changes on society of any recent technology. Initially mocked as a status symbol for yuppies and city traders, large scale production swiftly moved them from flashy status symbol, to must have gadget, to commonplace appliance.

As mobile phones became smaller, cheaper, and simpler to use, more and more people began to buy them. Even as they became every day objects, carried with us as an essential along with our house keys and purse, the tiny computers inside them become more and more .

These huge increases in computing power allowed the manufacturers and carriers to start offering customisation options, allowing users to customise their own phones with clip on covers, wallpaper pictures to display on screen - and cheap ringtones.

Initially only basic GSM ringtones were available, using a limited range of sounds to play the sort of tacky music you’d expect to hear as hold music. However, carriers soon realised how popular GSM ringtones were, and so started to add more complex music functions to their phones.

Mobile phones can now play complete CD quality songs and sound effects, and be configured to play a specific sound for a group of people, as well as when recieving an SMS message or other alert. The once bulky and ostentatious status symbols have now grown into powerful hand held computers, combining PDA and portable sound system.

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