# Mobile Phones - Am I missing the point?



## Terry Smart (20 Sep 2004)

Somewhere on this illustrious site is a picture of me talking on a mobile phone, the irony of which is that I'd had to borrow the phone as mine had chosen that weekend to pack up.

So, I went out to buy a new one. The display in the shop was impressive and the choice quite considerable, so I thought I'd check out the specs on them. What was the battery life, was it Bluetooth compatible, did it allow voice dialling, stuff like that.
All I could find out was how many ringtones it had and what games you could play. When I asked one of the assistants for some information on one of them she told me the phone was too new and they don't know how that feature works. No effort was made to find out for me.

All I really want is a small phone that I can make and take phone calls on! I don't care about polyphonic ringtones, cameras, playing games or even looking at the internet on a one inch screen!

Is this just a ploy by phone manufacturers to make phones a fashion accessory rather than a functional thing so that they can sell more of them? 

In summary, if you're one of the few people in the world who has my mobile number, don't bother calling me at the moment, it don't work!


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## devonwoody (20 Sep 2004)

I'm a pensioner and I hve never needed a mobile phone, I've been lucky all of the time during my working life never been bothered with the phone ringing. 
So I think it would be a good thing to have all those gimmicks on a mobile, I could have sat in the layby and played with (the thing) it all day


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## Noel (20 Sep 2004)

Terry,

My business is dependent on being able to be contacted and if you're looking for a simple business phone check out the Nokia 6310i. It's not too small that it becomes hard to use or easily lost, superb battery life, phone book with 1,500 lines of numbers, addresses etc. Easy menu, no camera or other nonsense, monotone screen, bluetooth etc. Think I'm on my 5th or 6th one and I've another sitting in a box ready to go. For me mobiles are for talking and communicating.

Noel


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## woodshavings (20 Sep 2004)

Hi Terry - you are right, mobiles are now a fashion item!

Because I travel, I needed a multi band phone, and I use bluetooth for my in car kit ( no flaffing about, leave the phone in the brief case). Also Bluetooth is great for sych with the pc, again no cables and the phone can be left in my case.

The sales promotion focused on polyphonic ring tones, interchangble covers, screen savers, java (I thought that waas coffee!) ..nothing about sensitivity, standby and talk time. Oh well.

I ended up buying a Motorola V600 - I'm very pleased with it but no thanks to the sales blurb!
John


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## Anonymous (20 Sep 2004)

Terry Smart":3dqsd25o said:


> Is this just a ploy by phone manufacturers to make phones a fashion accessory rather than a functional thing so that they can sell more of them?


Yes. They're after the 'yoof' market, where fashion consciousness is king, and it really matters what your phone looks like.



Noely":3dqsd25o said:


> Think I'm on my 5th or 6th one and I've another sitting in a box ready to go


That's a recommendation?? What's wrong with it that you've had to get through 5 or 6 of the things?

I work in the telecoms industry (although I hate phones, ironically) - my current phone is now 5 years old, and still going strong - it is a Nokia, but a model before the Nokia quality started to go down hill, which it has in recent years. The screens, in particular, have a habit of failing pretty quickly.


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## Anonymous (20 Sep 2004)

Don't get me started :twisted: 

I hate mobile phones. It seems that since they became popular, nobody can stand their own company any more. Just watch people walking down the street, stadning at a bus stop or even DRIVING :shock: :shock: they will be on those bloody mobile phones.

As for 'texting' &$%£^^%"%%"^^^$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do have one. It cost £25 and is pre pay. I find that £10 credit lasts for about 4 months as I only use it to phone the child minder or my wife if I am going to be late. Only 4 people actually know the number :lol:

OK. I will admit that they are useful for a business.


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## Noel (20 Sep 2004)

Esp St wrote "That's a recommendation?? What's wrong with it that you've had to get through 5 or 6 of the things? "
I renew every year, drop the thing on concrete/tarmac on a regular basis (and no, not intentionally), lies in my pocket getting scratched by keys/coins etc. A disposable tool that helps me make a living.

Rgds

Noel


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## chiba (20 Sep 2004)

Could be worse. Here in Japan the mobile phone market is driven by high school girls, so my company issue phone's powder blue with a "cute" animated chicken character.


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## Terry Smart (20 Sep 2004)

thanks guys...

can a chicken be cute?

And I think you have a good plan there Noely, with free upgrades (or replacements in your case) it's not a bad plan to renew them on an annual basis to prevent the *frustration *(said through gritted teeth!) of being away from base for the first time in ages and not being able to make the simplest of calls!

Tony should also be commended on his self-control; I once heard something that sums up mobile phone usage... 
You get one for emergencies. At first this means 'I have a flat tyre', after a while it degrades to 'I'm going to be an hour late' until finally you're using it in the supermarket to find out whether to get salted or unsalted butter!


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## cambournepete (20 Sep 2004)

I work for a company that makes the software and hardware that goes in the bloody things - TTPCom. We sell to silicon and handset manufacturers among others and they all demand more and more features to go in smaller and smaller handsets so they can tick more boxes in their features list. If we can't provide the features they'll go elsewhere. I've seen one article that says 80% of people only use 20% of the features but I've idea how accurate that is. Personally as long as it makes calls with good quality audio I'm reasonably happy (although an engaging game can be useful at times).

Java - it's just another programming language but there are versions that use small amounts of memory so are suitable for mobile phones. In fact the RIM Blackberry uses mostly (if not all) our stuff up to the MMI, with that being written entirely in Java.

Oh yeah - colour displays tend to be completely unreadable in bright sunlight (or even in the shade on a bright sunny day) - monochrome is much clearer.

Now you see why I'm not in sales !

Pete


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## devonwoody (20 Sep 2004)

My £10 credit is almost unused after 4 years.


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## Alf (20 Sep 2004)

Don't own one *at all*. Never have. I hate all telephones with a passion - ghastly way to try and conduct a conversation. (If someone will just jump-start my time machine, I'll get back to 1890 where I belong... :wink: )

Cheers, Alf


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## dedee (20 Sep 2004)

Necessity used to be the mother of invention. With most "hi-tec" products these days some egg head invents something that nobody needs and then the marketing whizz-kids invents the need. All a bit buttocks about face but the well being of millions around the world these days depends on it.

eg did a group of car drivers really sit down and decide that the next "must have" should be lights that come on automatically.......on second thoughts with one hand on the wheel and the other on a mobile maybe this is not quite such a stupid idea.

The 80% of people use 20% of the features rule could well apply to nearly every electronic product available.


Andy


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## ike (20 Sep 2004)

A mobile...what on EARTH is a "mobile"?. Is it a kind of telephonic apparatus or something of that sort? 

Maj. J.R. Grumblefart (retd)


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## Terry Smart (20 Sep 2004)

lol!

Although I must confess I was confused at first when I went to Germany a couple of years ago and they asked me if I had my 'handy' with me...

I'll leave you to work it out, remembering the topic line here!

oh... and 80% of people possibly only _want _20% of the features! The rest could be left out and I for one would be happy!


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## thomaskennedy (20 Sep 2004)

I have the Nokia N-gage, it's great 'cos i can play games at school when i'm bored and when i'm in the workshop i can use it to listen to all my favourite music !  

I feel naked  if i dont have my mobile on me :shock: :lol: 

Although i LOVE my phones, i see no point in those video phones :roll: pointless if you ask me, i mean, when do you _really_ need to see who you are talking to :roll: 

There are alot of great phones out there, such as the Samsung E800, Motorola V80, Siemens M65 (rugged for the workshop :shock: ),Nokia 3200 and the new Siemens SL65 looks good too  

Many more out there but these are great small phones 

A good camera phone is the Nokia 7610!

Just a few suggestions  :roll: 

Ta

Tom


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## Alf (20 Sep 2004)

thomaskennedy":1p1mni5g said:


> i mean, when do you _really_ need to see who you are talking to :roll:


Ah, it's an old fashioned habit we old fogies have got into, harking back to the days when you only tended to speak to the person who was actually in the _same room_ as you. Facial expression used to be considered quite a helpful pointer IIRC... :roll: :lol: 

Cheers, Alf


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## Aragorn (20 Sep 2004)

90% of communication is non-verbal!


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## Midnight (20 Sep 2004)

> 90% of communication is non-verbal



text has grown *that big*.....???????????????????

damn I feeel auldddddd......

speaking as someone who retired their mobile after it was sat on...


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## Aragorn (20 Sep 2004)

No! I mean when you talk to someone, you communicate in many ways, of which only 10% is what you say. The other 90% is made up of your gestures, postures, voice tone and source, facial movements, eye movements, emotional interaction etc etc etc.
Why is talking on the phone so souless and unsatisfying...? ...It's barely communicating at all! (well, 10% at least).


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## mudman (21 Sep 2004)

Alf":2dmpmwsn said:


> thomaskennedy":2dmpmwsn said:
> 
> 
> > i mean, when do you _really_ need to see who you are talking to :roll:
> ...



Trouble is with the video phones is that the quality is so bad that the expression could mean anything at all and if you still get that that jumpy out-of-synch effect then the person could have said "I'm reall upset" but have gone from total depression to wild exuberance by the time the pictures have caught up.


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## mudman (21 Sep 2004)

But do you know what really annoys me about the things?
When I'm trying to contact my wife about some dire emergency and it keeps ringing and ringing and going to answer phone because it's in her handbag and can't be heard. :evil: So you keep ringing thinking that she may hear it next time, but she won't hear it because she has some daft pretentious polyphonic ringtone from some opera or other (hey look at me, I like opera) that is so quiet that no one can hear it to be impressed anyway.

It was so much better when you thought, "Blast, she won't be home for another hour so I guess there's nothing I can do until then".

It was so much more simple then!


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## dedee (21 Sep 2004)

Alf Facial expression used to be considered quite a helpful pointer [/quote said:


> Yes and it removed the need for those blessed emoticons    :shock: 8) :lol: :x    :evil: :twisted: :roll: :arrow: :idea: :?: :!:


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## Bean (21 Sep 2004)

He He He He He He He  


Bean


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## Alf (21 Sep 2004)

dedee":7gtyhhnu said:


> Alf":7gtyhhnu said:
> 
> 
> > Facial expression used to be considered quite a helpful pointer
> ...


Too true. Although I never could get those last four right. Wrong kind of face or something... :| 

Cheers, Alf


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## Anonymous (21 Sep 2004)

aragorn wrote


> 90% of communication is non-verbal!


it is i my house 1 look from my other half,and i know i'm in the brown stuff without a word from her lips :roll:


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## Midnight (21 Sep 2004)

> without a word from her lips



ya know... it's comments like this that remind me how fortunate I am to be single....


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## Aragorn (21 Sep 2004)

anobium punctatum":1u030pf0 said:


> it is i my house 1 look from my other half,and i know i'm in the brown stuff without a word from her lips :roll:


Yep - I find it's best to apologise first thing in the morning when you wake up, then first thing as soon as you come in from work. :wink:


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## Anonymous (21 Sep 2004)

Aragorn that does not work for me anymore i get the you don't even know why ure saying sorry look then :shock: enough to make any man turn to the hard stuff :lol: 
midnight you got the right idea m8 atleast you dont have to say £10 everytime your asked how much did that tool cost then remember to hijack the postman when the bank statement arrives :lol:


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## Bean (22 Sep 2004)

Its alright for you AP the postie does not arrive until after I've gone to work and mine being a teacher of mathematics, has the unfortunate ability to add up :shock: 


Bean


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## PitBull (1 Oct 2004)

Terry,

If you haven't bought one yet, I would recommend to you the Nokia 6310i.

It's an older model (I've had mine a couple of years) - no camera, no polyphonic ringtones, but has tri-band (for USA), has bluetooth, has a very long battery life, and is very robust.

Nokia have sold millions of these to business people and private individuals because they are solid, the battery lasts forever, and they do all you want a mobile to do without having lots of useless features. I'm about to get a new one when I sign up with Orange Switzerland next week, and I'll keep the existing one as a spare.


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## Noel (1 Oct 2004)

Didn't I read this somewhere before...

Noel, cousin of the Invisible Man


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## PitBull (1 Oct 2004)

Not from me you didn't since I just wrote it.


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## Chris Knight (1 Oct 2004)

Noely":1l6y1rri said:


> Didn't I read this somewhere before...



I did too but can't find it now!


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## Alf (1 Oct 2004)

Noely said:


> Terry,
> 
> My business is dependent on being able to be contacted and if you're looking for a simple business phone check out the Nokia 6310i. It's not too small that it becomes hard to use or easily lost, superb battery life, phone book with 1,500 lines of numbers, addresses etc. Easy menu, no camera or other nonsense, monotone screen, bluetooth etc. Think I'm on my 5th or 6th one and I've another sitting in a box ready to go. For me mobiles are for talking and communicating.
> 
> Noel


Noel, if I had a pound for every time that happened to me I'd have <pauses to caculate> about £27. :lol: You just have to look upon that feeling of superiority as its own reward. :wink: 

Cheers, Alf


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## PitBull (1 Oct 2004)

I guess it's just a case of "great minds think alike".


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## Bean (1 Oct 2004)

Why you got £27 as well then Pitbull

Bean 

Who has proberly lost the plot :?


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## Waka (2 Oct 2004)

OK, here's an oldy showing his ignorance, what's bluetooth?

Waka


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## devonwoody (2 Oct 2004)

To Waka 

Someone who needs to make an urgent appointment with the dentist.

((is it wireless connection of sorts)


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## Newbie_Neil (2 Oct 2004)

Hi Waka



Waka":31b410t8 said:


> OK, here's an oldy showing his ignorance, what's bluetooth?



Bluetooth is what makes the mobile phone salesperson say, "Ah, you'll need one of these earpieces sir a snip at 99.99." :roll: 

It is the new standard for wirelessly connecting phones, computers and almost anything else you can think.

Cheers
Neil


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## PitBull (2 Oct 2004)

Bluetooth is hardly new, and it's not making anywhere near as much impact as the manufacturers hoped and expected - in fact wifi (802.11 in its various guises) will probably kill off bluetooth even though it was not specifically designed with bluetooth-type transmission ranges in mind.


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## Waka (2 Oct 2004)

Now I'm really confused, I thought wifi was one's other half

Waka


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## Noel (2 Oct 2004)

Where's me money then....?
Friday was a bad day at the end a bad week. So Terry, concensus is 6310i. Need a new TV, VCR, Lawnmower....?

Rgds

Noel


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## Adam (2 Oct 2004)

PitBull":2u3h6acb said:


> Bluetooth is hardly new, and it's not making anywhere near as much impact as the manufacturers hoped and expected - in fact wifi (802.11 in its various guises) will probably kill off bluetooth even though it was not specifically designed with bluetooth-type transmission ranges in mind.



I have to disagree, Bluetooth shipments are ranging around 3million/week at the moment, up from 2 million/week. So are still going through a signficant growth stage. 

USB is a good example of how you need to have a technology in place, and many devices sold before it becomes widely accepted.

Bluetooth is following the same trend.

And sorry to dissapoint you, but after Bluetooth is ZigBee, although this is in a very early stage at the moment (so you probably haven't heard of it at all yet - although lots of people still don't know what Bluetooth is.....)

Adam


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## woodshavings (2 Oct 2004)

Hi Asleitch !
I thought Zigbee was mainly a home automation network, primarily designed to harmonise remote controllers for tv. hi fi, recorders, remote lighting, sensors etc. Is it really designed to replace Bluetooth & Wi Fi ?

I've not been following events recently so I,m a bit out of touch.'
John


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## Martin Brown (2 Oct 2004)

Blue tooth is wonderful. Computer and phone in perfect harmony. One minute a day. 

Terry is it time to use a business phone supplier not Gap (Get a phone). Ours is a superstar and has clever young people to solve all data issues.

I only surf UKW on my mobile, the laptop makes my legs hot in the toilet.

Martin


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## Adam (3 Oct 2004)

woodshavings":upet0bil said:


> Hi Asleitch !
> Is it really designed to replace Bluetooth & Wi Fi ?
> John



No but phones will probably get it, along with NFC (near field communications) - certainly some of th ebig phones companies, - Nokia and Samsung are about to go live with NFC, ZigBee, is as you state, for "home control" mainly - but people will soon want to control their house from their Phone/PDA.

Adam


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## woodshavings (3 Oct 2004)

Hi Adam ... it sounds interesting ....anything to reduce the number of remotes has got to be good! (I see that Metabo now have a remote to unlock some of their power tools - ugh!)
John


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## PitBull (3 Oct 2004)

Adam,

Bluetooth shipping 3 million/week !!! I guess the vast majority of those are phones (*rest are PDAs and computer keyboards/mice - but how many people are actually using bluetooth on their phones - I suspect the number is very very small.


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## Adam (3 Oct 2004)

PitBull":1modyxk1 said:


> Adam,
> 
> Bluetooth shipping 3 million/week !!! I guess the vast majority of those are phones (*rest are PDAs and computer keyboards/mice - but how many people are actually using bluetooth on their phones - I suspect the number is very very small.



Like I said, you need to get it a certain amount, in order to get it accepted, you only need to watch kids using Bluetooth to see it will get going eventually. For me, I like using a Bluetooth USB dongle on my PC, and then using a blutooth to transfer Text messages - update calendar/contacts list - it's very convenient. Sure I could do it with a cable - but I already got the bluetooth on the PC, so it's easy to use.

Also SWMBO's PDA has bluetooth now also.

Adam


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