Products & Services

The smart way to have some fun

By James on 29 January 2009

ESPOO, Finland – Smart phones are fundamentally, well, smart. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun with them. Audio Smileys might be designed for kids to have a bit of a laugh with their devices (it’s available on S40 and S60) but I have an inkling that this could take the place of the office whoppee cushion. Well, why not? The latest release from the Beta Labs team, Audio Smileys offers an easy way to turn your keypad into a festival of laughter – simply assign your own choice of funny sounds or tunes to each key, and you can irritate and cajole colleagues, friends or even enemies at the click of a button.

It makes you wonder if these guys have anything better to do, coming out with something like Audio Smilies. However, the app was “born as an unofficial side project” which we take to mean someone there did it in their lunch hour. And why not? We all need a laugh every now and again, don’t we?

In the video below, Beta Lab’s Ilkka Peltola introduces it as “a silly little application” but he does raise a very valid point, asking in the video whether Beta Labs should continue publishing this kind of app, or whether it should focus on more serious stuff? It’s a good puzzler.

For me, I think this stuff is important. Why not use our devices to have some fun and if the guys in Beta Labs don’t help make that happen, who will? Of course, it can’t and perhaps shouldn’t be to the detriment of more serious apps, but that doesn’t mean the two can’t co-exist. Now, what do you think? The Beta Labs boys need some feedback on this so be sure to let your thoughts be known.

Check out Audio Smilies on Beta Labs