This clip appeared on YouTube about a month or so ago, being a loyal fan of David Lynch I tend to agree with his point of view. If you watch a movie on your telephone, you’re really just watching it, you’re not experiencing it. It’s not possible for a little touch screen to compete with the big screen theater, the phone completely negates the cinematic experience. News, video podcasts, a music video, maybe… but to try and experience a feature film on your phone is completely ridiculous.
In what ways can mobile devices actually enhance our real world experiences? Some mobile applications, for example the Google Maps iPhone app, enrich my real world on a daily basis. It enhances my reality by adding an instantly relevant layer of location information based on where I am. Its great, simple and useful. Currently there are very few mobile applications that successfully enhance real world experiences. I look forward to the days when augmented reality concepts like this become commonplace… but until then, if I want an enhanced real world experience, I’ll stick to the big screen.
Related Clips:
“Futuregazing” 4G augmented reality concept 
David Lynch on product placement.
I one sense I agree with Lynch. But the iPhone is just an iteration as we advance to a greater personal user experience. Think of all the iterations between the Nickelodeon and the iMax.
The iPhone, and products like it, are just another advancement toward immersion technology. Image in the not to distant future watching a movie on HD micro screens that cover the entire periphery, coupled with multi point audio head sets that allow sound to be manipulated so it seems to come from different locations and distances. Add vibration technology and someday olfactory technology and you have one heck of a user experience. Small screen or not the experience would move well beyond what a movie can give us today. If you take that view of movies on mobile devices, it has a very exciting feel.
I disagree. I’ve watched a ton of movies and tv shows on my iPhone, and I have to say that they were just asa good as watching my big screen TV at home. The distance between me and the iPhone screen is shorter than the distance between me and my TV screen, but they seem about the same size, relative to my field of vision. With headphones, I get great stereo sound. I’ve been startled and surprised by movie moments on my iPhone and have laughed and cried with them, too. Plus, I was able to do this on an airplane! Mobile video is a big part of my daily experience.
Please. According to Mr. Lynch’s standards, we should all have home theaters instead of televisions. Did he ever stop to consider that maybe there are users like me who properly experience a film in a theater the first time, own the DVD, and maybe want to pass the time watching it again while on the subway rather than twiddle my thumbs?