Reflections from a Samsung Mob!ler

This will be my last official post as a Samsung Mob!ler 2010 and I am taking the opportunity to reflect on the experience and share some of my thoughts.... who knows if I'll return in 2011..!

Confused curiosity

I was pleasantly surprised and equally curious as to why I had been chosen to be a Samsung Mob!ler. My understanding was that I would be given some high end Samsung mobile phones and would be asked to write about various aspects of them. With considerable money invested into the program I wondered Why me?’ Granted I have a keen interest in Mobile Phones and a wide social network base but I wasn’t a techno expert, far from it. When we were given tasks from writing about the operating software to testing out the Camera, this curiosity turned into a little confusion; just what was in it for Samsung?

Seeking Purpose

Prior to starting our Mob!iler missions I sought to clarify just how our posts should be framed. Were we to be critical of Samsung? Who was reading our posts? Was the idea to promote Samsung products? Were the Mob!lers an extension of the Samsung marketing wing? Or were we more Research and Development? It seemed the ball was really in our court to shape the missions as we like; to be as critical or as promotional as we’d like to be. Whilst I accepted this, I guess I was seeking a sense of purpose which seemed to be missing somewhat throughout.

Mission (is)Possible

Over the weeks we were given various ‘missions’ where we were asked to review (writing or video blogging) features of the latest Samsung Mobile Phones as well as the newly released Samsung Galaxy Tab. The missions were quite general and presented to us fairly informally, with little instruction; thus there was a lot of variety in the quality and length of each of the Mob!ilers posts. For many of the missions (such as reviewing “Google Android” or “Samsung Bada” operating software) I felt that there was sufficient information already online, both technical and layperson orientated. So again I wondered what was the real point of us writing these reviews? I thus tried to give my blog posts a degree of uniqueness, giving my own personal perspectives and throwing a bit of humour in for good measure.

Saving the Best till last

Of all the missions we were given, the best for me was the last. We were asked to write about what sort of applications we would like to see produced on the Galaxy Tab or for smartphones in general. Finally I thought! My ideas and thoughts would be heard on a senior level, and maybe even shape the future development of applications offered by Samsung. This would be an almost dream job for me; offering creative direction. It plays to my strengths; I probably put most effort into that last mission by doing a lot of research/planning/posting onto other forums. What would be even more rewarding would be to see some of the Mob!lers ideas, not necessarily my own, be taken on board. I guess I liked this task best because I had a clear objective/aim and an audience (at least in my head) that I was writing to.


Future

It’s a shame that the Mob!iler journey is coming to an end. I’ve enjoyed approaching the technology with a critical mind and have built up a little online bubble of people following my posts online. I would have hoped to have met more people from the Samsung team and exchange some thoughts and ideas in person. I would definitely be interested in future collaboration and hope that this is not entirely the end of the road for the Samsung Mob!lers! I guess we’ll see one way or another!

All in all I am grateful to Samsung for providing me with this great opportunity. I’ve met some cool people, am the new owner of some really cool gadgets and who knows may even get the opportunity to visit a really cool part of the world!

Signing out, yours truly
Bilal                                                     

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