Tech: Cell Phones

Subject: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 07:43 PM

I want to upgrade my old cell phone, and all I want is something that's small and light, can receive and make calls, and can browse my web-based email when we're traveling.

My current old thing is a Nokia 5160, and I'm ready to upgrade. I really don't need all the bells and whistles and downloadable ringtones and cameras and calendars and whatnot. I just need a phone that can also check email on a pay-per-use basis when necessary. And I don't feel like reading a 500-page manual just to figure out how to use the thing! Is this possible? Any advice and info would be greatly appreciated, because I'm rapidly getting overwhelmed with the choices.

No music content here, unless you recommend downloadable ring-tone capability...

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 07:52 PM

I am using a Motorola A768i which can send and recieve e-mail and is a tri-band phone which means I can use it almost anywhere in the world including the US, Japan and Korea which for reasons unto themselves do not use GSM.

It is very intuiive in its operation and I have only had ro revert to the manual when I first got it.

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 01:27 AM

Currently the Nokia 3315 is being offered fairly cheaply in Australia by Optus - 2 for $99 or $65 for 1 (on the prepaid plans) - it's a plain simple small nearly obsolete mdoel (phone calls & SMS and some games and address book & reminders), but no fancy stuff like cameras, MP3 players, Bluetooth, email, etc. I and several friends have one (each!).

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 04:29 AM

Genuine and non-provocative question - why do our colonial friends call it a 'cell phone'? My boss is a Texan and she drives me nuts constantly calling her mobile phone a 'cell phone'.
S:0)

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 04:31 AM

Mind you, I prefer 'cell phone' to 'mobull' (LOL)!

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 05:21 AM

I've got a Sony Ericsson Z600, clam shell so no accidentally dialled numbers, Bluetooth so it can connect with my laptop, is tri-band for tavel use, and has a built in camera if that's what turns you on,I'm very happy with it. I always used to have Nokias, but they chenged the connectors so all the gadgets like earphones and car charger leads that I'd kept through two changes of phone wouldn't fit anymore, so I dumped them, and I wish I'd done it earlier.
Giok

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Mr Red
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 08:35 AM

Cells phones - because they're always trying to cell you the latest model.........

Or is it that the transmitting masts are arrayed in the best places to cover the whole country (alledged) and phones only communicate via the one transmitter. The area (volume in truth) covered by any one transmitter can vary with weather and buildings, cranes, aeroplanes, dirigibles etc. However for the purposes of locking onto phones and handover to the next transmitter when you are moving the sphere of capture is called a .........

sorry - out of range (no cell)

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 11:56 AM

I think they started out calling them mobile phones here, but the connections were based on cellular webs as explained by Mr Red above. The younger generation began to acquire these phones and dubbed them "cell" phones, and the name stuck, here at least.

So my problem is this: I want a phone that will let me check email on the road. I initially was given a phone for Christmas that supposedly had internet access but not email. How is that possible, if I have web-based mail (e.g. on Yahoo)?? In order to get email, they claim I need a phone with pop3 built in. Isn't that just to download the email that you would need pop3? To just read it on the web, isn't internet access enough?

Another problem is this: the next phone I was given, after returning the first one, has all kinds of features like a built-in still and video camera, blue tooth, games, calendar, etc. etc. What the heck is blue tooth? And what can you do with photos that you take on your phone? I'm dreading reading the thick manual that came with the thing...

Bah, user-unfriendly technology.

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: GUEST,baertfamily
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 04:23 PM

Barbara, saw your lyrics to There is A God post from 1998. Just posted to it with another verse if you're still interested...

Thanks for the other verse, we did not know that one!

God Bless You.

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 05:30 PM

I like the broken cell phones the best.

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 29 Dec 04 - 04:58 PM

Aaaaaaaaahh! Et maintenant, je comprend! Thanks guys. Still like 'mobile' better (as long as it's pronounced properly) (LOL)
S:0)

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 29 Dec 04 - 07:24 PM

My first "cell" phone was a bag phone about the size of a briefcase, which I kept in my car for emergencies. Then came the mobile phones that were installed in automobiles, referred to as car phones. But, the cellular phones now are becoming much more than phones, and I wonder what the next name for them will be.

After doing some homework, I found out that cell phones can only look at certain web sites set up for the "mobile web" rather than ordinary html sites. Thus, the need for pop software to download mail and thus the inability to go out and look at yahoo or hotmail sites for web-based mail. I also found out that photos taken with your cell phone camera can be sent to other phones with multimedia capability or to an email address. And bluetooth enables you to connect your phone wirelessly to your pc, presumably to upload photos and email messages.

This is all still theory, since I haven't gone down to the store to activate my new albatross yet.

(Thanks, baertfamily, for the new verse!)

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 29 Dec 04 - 10:01 PM

Fantastic! But why would you want to do all of those things? I go out to get away from all that office bullshite - I only need my mobile to call Mrs. Johnny to check what time tea's ready! That's how I keep my mobile phone bill below £3 a month.
Johnny The Neo-Luddite. S:0)

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Dec 04 - 10:24 PM

Every day I experience the joy of having no cell phone... :-)

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Amos
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 06:09 PM

A recent study has revealed NO correlation between the statistics of cellphone use and the statistics of traffic accidents, which flies in the face of a lot of "intuitive" conclusions and presumptive law-making.

Details on the paper are here.

A

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 06:53 PM

mmmmm...well. Perhaps so. I do know that only quick reflexes kept ME from being hit by a woman who tried to make a left turn with one hand while holding a phone with the other.

I will not be happy until they make hands-free gadgets manditory.

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Micca
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 07:23 PM

Barbara, remember it is not yours until it has fallen into the toilet at least once

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Becca72
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 07:50 PM

I agree with you 100% Bill. I have had many close calls (pun intended) myself thanks to people more interested in their phone conversation than in watching the road.

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 08:00 PM

...the jump in call volume just after 9 p.m. on weekdays should have translated into a jump in the number of crashes, too.

Why? We used to have a cell phone plan with free off-peak calls and, yes, we took advantage of it, but almost all those calls were made from home. Most people with a frugal enough nature to care about waiting for off-peak rates aren't the type to be burning up $3.00 per gallon gasoline running the roads after 9 p.m. They're making those free calls from the sofa, and even the most reckless of cell phone users can't cause an accident unless he's actually in a car.

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: open mike
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 02:20 AM

some people cannot access a cell signal at their home
and can only use it when away from home or on the road.

i have to drive 2-3 miles in either direction to reach
a place where i can use my wireless/mobile phone.

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 02:28 AM

Bee-dubya, I'm afraid I have to disagree with your last statement. Cell phone (or mobile in the UK) users can cause accidents when not in a car. I've had a couple of near misses with various pedestrians who have stepped off a kerb in front of me, with their phones glued to one ear, iPod wedged in the other and eyes anywhere but where they're going - all after 10.00pm and all of them under the age of 30.

The volume of crashes after 9.00pm won't jump because there simply isn't the amount of traffic on the roads then. The crucial part of that study is 'weekday evenings'. I don't know about other places, but around here (London, central and east), the amount of traffic on the road drops drastically between 8.00pm and 11.00pm, the very time these studies are targetting. A road that is nose to tail at 6.00pm can be like a ghost town by 9.00 unless there is a specific event happening there. Junctions that are impossible to get through in less than 3 light changes at 7.00pm are clear by 9.00. Statistics will only work if they are taken in context. By all means show that there are fewer accidents between certain times, but you also need to show if the amount of traffic on the road is consistent across 24 hours or if it fluctuates, like the accident rates.

I'm sorry, but when you get recordings played in court of a drivers' mobile phone conversation where he actually says 'oh shit, I've just hit something', there is only one place the blame can be laid - at the feet of the inattentive driver using his phone whilst driving (at a high speed on a motorway at that!)

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 08:09 AM

Interesting to see this old thread resurrected and to see my now anachronistic comments!

Turns out my web-capable phone was actually able to read my web-based mail, but the sales person didn't know it. He convinced my son to buy the more costly phone (as a gift to me) that included pop3 download ability. Feathers flew on that one when I found out... I have since moved on to another phone with even more bells and whistles that I rarely (as opposed to never, before) use.

In Connecticut where I live, it is now illegal to drive while holding a cell phone, but the law is rarely enforced.

I did cave in to the lure of downloadable ringtones, and now my ringtone is "Uncle Pen" by Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys! That fiddle has startled people in some unusual places! Still haven't read the thick manual, but the technology has become so commonplace that it's unnecessary. Good thing. Have you tried reading one of those manuals lately?

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 06:56 PM

Clear English it certainly being isn't.

LTS

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Bernard
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 07:38 PM

The warning on the packaging of a memory card read: 'Do not bend or crust'...!

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 08:24 PM

I watched a mother with a baby, a toddler and a small child in the parking lot of a McDonald's this morning. She should have been keeping her eye on the kids in traffic as she unloaded them from the SUV (I saw them and went by very slow--I was tempted to honk and wag my finger at her). She was chatting away on the cell phone instead. Finish the call, then unload the kids. Or better yet, don't make the call. The way users ignore the people they're with to chat with someone on the cell phone is not only rude, it sends the message that being here with you isn't as important as talking on this toy. And when you have such a great opportunity to talk one-on-one with a child in the cart in front of you, but instead you're on the phone--again--it's a crying shame these people don't have any sense as to what the real message is that they're delivering. "You Don't Matter."

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: EBarnacle
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 09:57 AM

Liz, try a non-parametric comparison [Chi squared] of accidents after 9 PM now and several years ago. This comparison can be used to tie accidents per miles driven to expected accidents. I have no idea what the results would be but they might be interesting.

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Rowan
Date: 24 Aug 07 - 12:14 AM

Use of mobile (pronounced "moh bile" in Oz) phones while driving in Oz is currrently illegal unless you're using a 'hands-free" system. Even then, the research indicates that using one while driving has the same detrimental effect on driving-reaction time as a blood-alcohol level of 0.05, the (upper) legal limit for drivers in Oz. They don't work where I live and in most of the places where I drive and one of the delights of fieldwork is the ability to legitimately be out of reach of unwanted communications.

The only ringtones I'd be interested in is one with my daughters saying, in unison, "Dad, answer the phone!" for when they're trying to contact me, and another with the call of the banjo frog (Limnodynastes dorsalis) which calls with a deep (and deeply satisfying), one-note call, "Bonk!"

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Midchuck
Date: 24 Aug 07 - 01:10 PM

A recent study has revealed NO correlation between the statistics of cellphone use and the statistics of traffic accidents, which flies in the face of a lot of "intuitive" conclusions and presumptive law-making.

How much did the cell phone manufacturers pay for the study, and what was the extra charge for making it come out the way they wanted?

I've not yet been hit by a driver using a phone while driving...but I think that's 'cause when I see one, I get out of the way, fast.

Peter.

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: EBarnacle
Date: 24 Aug 07 - 01:28 PM

Rowan, you can create your own ringtones to be downloaded to your phone. RTFM

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Bernard
Date: 24 Aug 07 - 03:03 PM

There have been quite a few successful prosecutions here in the UK where use of a mobile phone has been proved to be the cause of an 'accident' - sometimes with fatal consequences, and sometimes where the guilty party was sending a text message...

Mind you, I'm just as concerned by people who seem to be incapable of chatting with their passenger unless they are staring at them instead of the road. I usually beep and flash my headlights if I'm behind them (as long as there's nothing in front of them)... okay, they usually can't understand why, but at least it interrupts their conversation for a few seconds!

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Bernard
Date: 24 Aug 07 - 03:07 PM

Sorry - maybe I should re-phrase that - "use of a mobile phone has been proved to be the cause of an 'accident'...", I did, of course, mean that the accident was proved to have happened whilst a mobile was being used...

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: GUEST,the psychic boychik
Date: 24 Aug 07 - 03:40 PM

The I Phone has been cracked by a 17 year old who is about to attend RIT this fall.
Now any service proveder is compatible with the i phone - if you have an hour and good soldering skills.
The process is now on YOU TUBE

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 24 Aug 07 - 04:45 PM

Ebarnacle, I would like very much to know how to create my own ringtones to be downloaded to my phone. I tried in vain with my last cell phone --spoke to Motorola, Cingular, techie son, even read the manual -- to no avail. Can you share this information with us? I know how to make short sound samples, but how do I get them to my phone?

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Rowan
Date: 25 Aug 07 - 03:14 AM

Thanks Ebarnacle, I actually do RTM, routinely, but there was precious little about transferring bought ring tones from suppliers and nothing about creating one's own; I suspect RTFM will provide the same result.

I suspect that, when I stir myself sufficiently to learn how to create MP3 files from a field-recording (courtesy of the daughters' interests in music I can get access to a Zoom H4, which should do the trick), I shall then be in a good position to work out how to transfer such a file to the phone, providing I have the required cables. And, while you might be able to give good advice on such matters, I suspect you're north of the equator and on a different system. In rural Oz, GSM doesn't have a good reputation although it works OK in the major cities; where I am, even the (supposedly superior for rural coverage) CDMA system doesn't function and CDMA phones don't have the nice removeab;e SIM and memory cards that GSM phones use.

But I'm sure Barbara could use your advice and I'd find it interesting.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Tech: Cell Phones
From: Rowan
Date: 25 Aug 07 - 11:16 PM

It occurred to me that some recent mobile phones have the ability to record short bits of audio and Ebarnacle (from his comment about the manual) might have had some experience of such a phone. Mine doesn't have such a facility (Barbara's might) and without it, one would either have to purchase ringtones or create one's own versions via MP3 files; the latter course would require computer connections, as far as I can tell.

Cheers, Rowan