Phoney Girls!

As I work on the mobile internet space, I'm always on the lookout for new ideas which will help me in designing better mobile experiences. I talk to people about how they use their phone, what all they use it for other than making calls and sms, what all do they expect from a phone etc etc.

When my wife was planning to buy a new phone I had suggested to buy a Nokia E51 (I have one) as I think it comes with all the latest useful features at a less price. But she rejected it outright as she thought it was a very common phone as she saw it with many people. She wanted her phone to be something special although she was not clear about what feature would make it so... a qwerty keyboard perhaps. She looked at many options but the moment she saw the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, she made up her mind that the special element she was looking for was a cool touch screen. Every other feature came next to that. Once she started using the phone a lot of things surprised me

• She thinks using stylus is cool and refuses to use finger touch. I think she is gonna hate iphone.


• She hates the accelerometer. Has switched it off.


• She wanted to re install Nokia PC Suite on my computer coz she thought the PC Suite CD which came with the phone was cute.


• She wanted to join Facebook coz she wanted to use the Facebook icon that came preloaded with the phone.

All these things completely bowled me over coz these were valuable data which would help me immensly. I decided to ask more girls about their mobile phone preferences and the answers I got were even more interesting.

I like windows mobile more than Nokia coz win mobile allows me to put Calvin and Hobbes animation on the home screen

I bought my Sony Erricson coz I thought the package was super cute

I think some day I will become a mobile anthropologist.

Remember the milk carton

I use Nestle milk's Tetrapak carton which I think is not very user friendly. Its coz I have to cut open the corner of the brick shaped carton to make a hole which not only makes the milk leak and overflow but also forced to be stored in an opened condition. The same is the case with Amul Taaza milk. Nandini Good Life milk pack comes in a very basic Tetra Fino package and hence cant be kept upright. I wonder why cant Indian milk cartons be made like the typical gable top milk cartons like we get abroad.

A gable top milk carton is a peak shaped smart packaging design marvel which can be pulled from one side of the tip to make a pout kind of opening. This not only helps pouring the milk properly without overflowing or leaking but also can be retracted back to close and store. Tetra Pak has an advanced version of this with a cap called the Tetra Rex.

Is it a cost cutting technique thats making the companies get milk packed in a simple Tetra Brik package and not a gable top milk carton? A more expensive Amul Lite comes in brick shape but has a flip open top which is again not as usable as the gable top carton. I think the people who go for carton milk wouldn't mind paying a little extra for it to be a little more usable. Or atleast make it like the Tropicana juice pack (Indian) which is brick shaped but with a capped opening. Are Nestle/Amul/Nandini listening?