If Smartphones were Star Wars Characters

I just saw The Force Awakens (don’t worry, no spoilers), and I really enjoyed the movie.   In the days leading up to the movie I had Star Wars on the brain; I also had smart phones on the brain, which created a convergence in the force.   What came out of that convergence is this post.

Not all smartphones can be Star Wars Characters and not all Star wars Characters can be smartphones.  Other times the connections are so clear, that you can’t deny it.  Have a look at the connections that I made and let me know your thoughts.  Do you agree with my selections?  If you have other thoughts please share them.   Below are my connections.

ONE PLUS 2 – Han Solo

 

In most people’s minds the One Plus started the “best bang for your buck” smart phone revolution.   Personally I think that the 2013 Nexus 5 should be wearing that badge of honour but hey, that is not what this post is about.  The one thing that I think we can all agree on is that the one plus is a rebel of a phone and so are those that carry it.  I have yet to see a One Plus 2 live, and I have only seen a OnePlus 1 twice but both times when I said “Wow, is that the One Plus 1?” The reply was not just yes or some other affirmative.  The first person replied with “yes and it is running Oxygen OS.”  The second person replied with “CM 12.1 nightly and he quoted the date.”  Who the heck actually knows the date of the last nightly they downloaded? That is bad ass!

One plus is still a relatively niche company with a non-conformist appeal.   In a sea of Galaxies and iPhones the OnePlus 2 has some roguish charm to help it stand out.  Even the company One Plus reminds me of Han with its crazy social media campaigns and invite system.   Plans never work out like they are meant to but somehow Han manages to keep things together only to fall into another mess, usually of his own making……. just like OnePlus

 

 

Droid Turbo 2 – Chewbacca

Star Wars had its fair share of tough guys but only one of them would rip off your arms if they started to lose at a Dejarik (Holo Chess).  Chewbacca is known for his strength and endurance, so is the Droid Turbo 2.   With a 21MP camera, a 3760 mAh battery and shatterproof screen this is a rough and tumble phone ready for anything.  Half of Han Solo’s charm came from the fact that his best friend was there through everything and would never let Han down.  Like Chewy, this phone is something to keep by your side through all of your daily adventures, something that will never let you down, even if you drop it into a trash compactor.    Motorola even calls the backing material Ballistic Nylon!   That just sounds cool to me.

The Droid Turbo 2 is not the smallest or prettiest of phones, but neither was Chewbacca.  The phone is definitely a man’s best friend or something that a princess would use to help her rescue her prince charming from carbonate status.

 

 

 

BlackBerry – Yoda

 

For eight hundred years has BlackBerry trained people to type with their thumbs, its own council will it keep on the use of physical keyboards.   Just like Yoda the BlackBerry can look old to young eyes but my fellow Canadians have been making phones and pages since 1984.  Before google existed and while Apple was planning to fire Steve Jobs, this company came up with the idea of seeing an email on your pager.  One thing led to another and the smartphone was born.

Yoda has been around for a long time and so has BlackBerry.  With hundreds of years training Jedi, Yoda’s influence can be felt throughout the force.   So too can the BlackBerry’s influence be felt thoughout the smart phone world.  Dependent on your age you may see the BlackBerry Passport as something irrelevant but market share matters not!  BlackBerrys are the phones that created the smart phone revolution and brought email on a phone to the world.  If you are close in age to me you can remember a time when texting was billed by the characters and you only had a number pad to type with.  Those were dark times, indeed. BB may not be doing much now, kind of like Yoda sitting in a swamp waiting for something to happen, but their genius can still be seen today in modern phones.  Have a look at the operating system of a BlackBerry from the 90’s and you can still see their influence on iOS and android even today.

These phones should have lasted forever, strong were they with the force, but not that strong.

 

 

iPhone – Emperor Palpatine

 

This was perhaps the easiest connection.   Emperor Palpatine led the Galactic Empire through fear, fear of this battle station (Deathstar).   Apple leads in profit through fear, fear keeping up with the Jones’.   The empire was not an equal opportunity employer.   They used the Wookies and other species as slaves to build what the empire referred to as the ultimate power in the universe.   Replace wookies with Foxcomm employees and you can keep the arrogance of believing their creation to be the ultimate power in the universe.  Much like the Emperor, the iPhone’s overconfidence is its weakness.

There is no contradicting the fact that the Emperor was powerful, so is the iPhone.  The Emperor’s reach stretched across the better part of the Galaxy and the iphone’s reach stretches across most of North America and Europe.   The empire brought conformity to the galaxy and seemed unstoppable but rebellion comes to us in many forms.  With companies like Xiaomi, Obi, Wiley Fox, Microsoft, Nextbit,  OnePlus, and Nokia all looking to make their mark, or reclaim lost ground, there is a new hope!

 

I hope that you have enjoyed this fun little article.  If you have a few connections of your own, please leave them below.  I would enjoy hearing from others on this one.

 

Until next time…..

Episode Tuesday