> I'm with you. I want a basic phone that works reliably. Better coverage is > far more important than gimmicks. I lose calls regularly driving along I-280 > past Menlo Park and Palo Alto, CA. This is the heart of Silicon Valley. I > know part of the problem is antennas, but not all of it. > > I miss my 5W cell brick. Now *that* could reach out and touch someone. > > If I want music, I've got an iPod. If I want a camera I have a Sony S20. If > I want a phone I've got ... Something that does a bit of everything poorly > rather than one thing - communicate - well.
< new response > I think it's boardering on the old PDA can do it all approach. The fact that Apple limited the phone to 100 songs is somewhat self-defeating. Also, with their new Ipod, having two devices isn't that big of a deal. The whole concept is bogged down with too many people trying to squeeze $ out of the business model and it shows by the marginal-ness of the product. As for the StarTAC, I concur. And, I still have one. I refuse to buy any of Verizon's latest and greatest phones...until the Razr comes out. < new response > > I think it's downright rediculous. I expect my phone to have the keypad > and the basic navigation buttons, a speaker, a microphone, and enough > of a display so I can see what I typed in. I don't even know what model > Nokia I have but it's a base model and was 'free' with the service. I > don't pay for phones and never intend to. This one has a color display > which I could care less about and supposedly can let me > pay/download/play games and other tripe. Where phones fail > spectacularly is in their ability to download/reload contact lists. > Would it be so hard to have an IR LED on them so I could xfer the > phonebook to another phone? I shouldn't need cables and I shouldn't > need an intermediary PC or some vendor's lame software. A phonebook > format doesn't get any simpler. Ok, maybe Bluetooth is a more 'correct' > technology but IRDA's been around for decades. > > I recently replaced my Palm IIIxe with a $130 Palm 32 that came with a > free 128mb MP3 player kit. I could care less about the color screen on > the new Palm but the xe was getting a little long in the tooth, plus it > was worth $50 if I send it in. And with swappable SD cards I can carry > as many 64kbit (I don't scan music at high rates, what's the point?) > songs as I have a mind too and whatever other stuff I put on the Palm. > I could (and might) use the Palm as my thumbdrive but I doubt it. The > thumbdrive doesn't need any cables. < new response > As someone who has to stay on top of this, I hate them. I don't need some that loads all the options in their. I am an extreme geek and usually buy the latest and greatest, but this is one item I just want to use for receiving and making calls. It is crazy for us to even put cameras, mp3's, and any other assorted items in their. The cell phone companies cant even keep my calls from dropping, now I know that battery life is going to be an issue. None of this is the opinion of my employers, just mine. I do love my LG phone w/ bluetooth for the headset, now that is something else. < new response > > Maybe I'm just too old and stodgy, but nothing about mp3s playing on > cell phones (or wallpaper on cell phones, or movies on cell phones, or video > games on cell phones) moves me in any way, except perhaps to the toilet. > What I want from my cell phone is for the call to go through. In fact, that > used to be Bell Atlantic's main focus in their old ad campaigns (years > before "Verizon"). James Earl Jones would talk about how "none of the fancy > things matter, unless the call goes through." > > Sound quality is another gripe; and I'm with Dvorak on this one. Older > analog phones simply sounded better. Newer (and ever-teensier) models just > don't match that sound quality. Granted, many people now use head sets > (myself included) but the sound quality with head sets is another gripe > entirely. > > I am far less impressed with silly things like playing Tomb Raider on a > cell phone (please, if I want a GameBoy, I'll bring my damn GameBoy and > that'll be that) than I am with the overall look and feel of the thing. It > needs to first, feel like a phone. I don't care so much about the actual > form factor (candy bar vs. flip vs. slide) as long as it's a proper fit. Ear > meets ear, mic needs to be near where the voice comes out to it. > > Lest anyone think I'm a Luddite, I /do/ find some use in text messaging. > Even if it's not the most reliable form of communication (sometimes text > messages seem to get "lost"), it's useful and I like it. I'll also say that > camera phones can certainly come in handy -- many news organizations are > offering money for spontaneous camera shots that can be taken by the public > when something happens, where a news media crew would take too much time to > respond. Camera phones, when used properly, can make for good photo > evidence. This can be both a good thing, and a not so good thing... You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org for list information or to unsubscribe. This message may be redistributed freely in its entirety. Any and all copyrights appearing in list messages are maintained by their respective owners.
