My 3 year-old Sony Ericsson was spoilt, so i checked out for information about the latest mobile phone and discovered that so many things had happened to mobile phone technology, it is really attracting! What mobile phone are you using? Do you need MMS, internet, camera, polyphonic ringtone etc......?
I'm using a 6y old Siemens s35 and I need it to be able to be a phone and not waste battery life on coloured screens or low-quality cameras, etc. Alas, I'm not against progress Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! , and if I bought a new phone I'd see for it to be able to play mp3 and connect to internet, so I can check my email and post in my blog if needed, and maybe a USB storage space for some of my documents. But till this phone I have functions well I won't buy a new one, there is no need. And as it is a sturdy piece of equipment, it I think it could well run for another 6 years. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
The main reason is they annoy me with their constant ringing! Also, I don't like the idea of anyone being able to bother me anytime they choose to. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
hah! You can put it in vibration only mode, or no notification mode at all. My always has a disabled sound, thus it doesn't bother, or bothers only when I want.
me....seeing everyone with one stuck to their ear....having to listen to peoples conversations 100 yards away....it adds to the alieantation from natrual environment. cause it involves chitter chatty, keeping the persn in semantic reality......semantic reality is the chit chat. notice now the manufaturers are wanting us to be glued to TV, and ADS of course. already people are obsessed with telittle beautities. have a friend wose ALWAYS playin with his....always fidgity ohhhhh, so many things
I'm with you Avatar, my 6yo Nokia 5185i (came free w/ service). it's solid construction and external antenna allows me to often get a good signal while camping along the Appalachian Trail . I’d love a OQO/cell phone combo, like the newer nokia communicators (QWERTY keyboard + cell), but Verizon’s phone selection sucks, so I stick with what works. It ain't pretty, but it works.
I use a Nokia 6100, it's kinda old (by mobile standards) and used to belong to my step-mother. I love it. It recieves texts and I can make calls (sometimes, the speaker is on the fritz).
My god, I one of those as my first mobile phone, about eight years ago. Good battery life though. I still have it somewhere. I now have; http://www.myqtek.com/europe/products/9090.aspx Which is great, because I have to commute a fair bit, so can look up train times via the WWW, carry documents, .mp3s and movies (got a 1Gb SD card in it), and take pictures and videos. Will upgrade to a 9000 on 3G for faster data (UMTS) soon.
I was looking at that one, phlogistician; having the wifi option rocks; you can web-browse freely when you're near wifi, and switch over to $$-3G cell data when you're not.
Yes, that looks very tasty Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! :m: But I prefer a more rough technology, because I like hiking and messing around with my taekwondo buddies. That qtek looks very delicate and... breakable.
I do have to admit, my geek lust is triggered by this: http://www.motorola.com/motoinfo/product/details/0,,86,00.html although the sturdiness issue comes into play. Plus, again, it's not available through Verizon.
oh, sorry, yeah, Verizon was one of the Baby Bells from the 80's telco breakup (a US company, Bell Telephone nicknamed "Ma Bell", was convicted of being an illegal monopoly, and was broken up by the US courts into a bunch of smaller companies; the concept being that they would then compete against each other. It worked for a while, but then changes in laws during the 90's allowed for them to start merging back together, and now there is really only a couple left.) that has since bought up a bunch of other telco's across the US, and is now one of the largest phone/DSL/cell phone service providers in the country (though mostly centered on the east coast). Their signal strength is great, because they bought a ton of towers, but their customer service sucks, they have a horrible phone selection, and the phones they do have are often hobbled. For example, the "V" (LG 9800 IIRC) has bluetooth included. Normally, this would allow for wireless earpeices and for file transmisison to a computer. Verizon's version of the phone is knee-capped in software so that files can't be transfered over bluetooth; presumably so that you have a harder time making your MP3's into ringtones, and instead pay Verizon $1.99 per song clip for that purpose. I hate them, but that have the best signal coverage by FAR. -------------------- on topic, cells phones have cameras, mp3 players, video cameras, speaker phones, voice dialing, text msg'ing, web browsing, video downloads (TV, etc), video games, etc,etc. In the US, most of those items cost extra, and IMO, most aren't very appealing. In many cases (such as above), the phones are being limited so that you can't install what you want on them anymore (like free software from the internet), forcing you to either do without or buy direct from the cell company. The kicker is that you pay $5 for the program, and then pay for the cell minutes it takes to download the game, too! Double hit. As Avatar said above "I need my phone to be a phone".
Can't you just buy a phone seperately and put a Verizon pin card in it? In this country telcos do provide standart mobile phones at a discount that are tied to their contracts, but it's only optional and the phones are not crippled in the ways you describe.
No. in the US, the phone companies have managed to create a crazy situation where your phone is locked to the service. If you switch carriers, you have to buy a new phone. There are a couple situations where you can get a generic phone to work on any network, but the companies will be less than courtious when it comes time to activate the handset. The cell phone situation in the US is pretty bad. I was in Japan in 1999, and they had better phones/service than we have today.
