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| 5 DEC 2006 at 4:09am |
MarkGuild Master
Posts : 3803
Joined: 10 OCT 2002
Location: US, Georgia
Status : Offline | I need/want a new cell phone. A BIG, plain one with absolutely no frills: no games, Text Messaging, Internet access, picture-taking capability, etc.
I want it to be able to dial out, call Long Distance, perhaps have Caller I.D. built-in, and - in the instance where I am busy - it will ring over to my digital butler - VoiceMail.
I want something large and heavy. I'm am so sick and tired of holding "wafers". My hands are too large to hold these tiny devices without cramping and my fingers are too big to dial numbers correctly.
I have no need for the capacity to store 1,000 numbers for "Speed Dialing" or also do not want to have to wear Bluetooth/headset/earbud devices. First, I have to dial a lot of different and new numbers, so I don't need for than maybe 10 numbers in Speed Dial.
Secondly, I am not going to run around in public wearing cans (i.e., "cans" is slang for headphones and/or headsets in the music, film, and broadcasting industry) and I have to wear cans in studios for hours on end.
Maybe some people think it's cool to look like Britney, Madonna, an ESPN broadcaster, or the Pope, but I don't. It hurts after wearing things attached to my head and ears for many hours in a recording or post-production studio, so I don't want to continue to flatten my ears and head needlessly.
Does anyone here remember reading an article (possibly in The New York Times?) about a "new" line of cell phones? The article, humourously titled "The New Cell Phones: They're Actually Made For Talking" (or something like that) showcased two or three cell phones that had very few features: no Text Messaging, Internet access, a camera, a library of ringtones, etc.
These "no-frill" cell phones featured only the basic necessities: a ringer, a solitary "Mute" button (to easily turn the ringer on & off. I've used cell phones that make you go through *five* key presses to turn the damn ringer off), a Touch-Tone keypad (with large, backlit buttons), a large backlit LCD display with large fonts, and a jack for the recharger (and a headset output if one really wants to use a headset).
Now, some of these new "bare-bones" cell phones could upload and download MPEG-3 & MPEG-4 audio and video files via a 1394 and/or a USB port from a computer, other storage devices or the Internet, and some could even take snapshots - but here we go...again. More junky features.
The main things I like about these "simple" phones are...the features are all larger. The keypad keys are larger. The display is larger. The fonts are larger. When opened, the cell phone takes on the shape, heft, feel, and comfortability of a really nice old standard desk phone.
Just in case you think I'm so dang old I can't see those fab features...well, you're right. I am getting old. But my eyesight is just fine. I can even read that microscopic fine print on game boxes without spectacles. You know, the print on game boxes that some game companies don't want you to be able to read, like, "NOTES ABOUT COPY PROTECTION: CONTAINS STARFORCE". I can still read that just fine.
See, the giant game corporations make the print tiny for a reason: so you'll buy the game, take it home, open it up, install it, and...it won't run. HA! The joke's on you. You can't take it back. You've already opened it. Tough. It's similar to food labels. Of course a food company isn't going to blast out in huge Pt. 48 font: "May contain small traces of arsenic and rat hairs. Maybe even a booger or two. (If you're lucky! Whee!)"
A very simple, comfortable (when open, the handset would reach from your ear to your mouth), large backlit keypad keys, large backlit display with large print, and a single-step Mute button for the ringer. All the rest of the stuff is completely unnecessary for my personal use. I want small children to laugh and teenagers to disown me when I pull out my big-ass Fisher-Price cell phone.
Come to think of it: if cell phones could only do these basic things, maybe there would less automobile accidents.
Anyone know of such a no-fun product? Streamlined technology is great for most things - but it isn't what I want in a cell phone. Why do you think laptops were invented?
Talkin' to a hotel pillow mint just ain't my style. Makes my head look too big.
EDITED: Because I couldn't make a clean delete
Please proofread your posts carefully to see if you any words out.
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| 5 DEC 2006 at 4:45am |
| Deleted User | I'm in the midst of all this new cell phone technology, and frankly, I don't understand the need for storing GBs of data on a phone or streaming video on a 2" screen. In fact, I'm in front of computers in my day enough already that I just don't need a data plan for email, web browsing and all that.
But some of the things I need for business. I get WAY too much email to have on the phone, but I need my calendar and contacts there, so it's a Windows Mobile for me. I don't do a lot of text messaging, but I want a QWERTY keyboard when I do, so it's a largish (but not larger than shirt pocket) Smartphone next for me (I have a non-QWERTY smart phone now and it's too cumbersome to send a text).
It's also a high-value for some people to be able to tether their laptops to the phone. That allows them to connect to systems over their phone and use their laptop for all of the necessary connectivity (email, etc). I realize that value, but don't require it myself.
I have a wireless bluetooth headset, but I still have a bit of the stand-off position that you have in regards to people who walk around all day with the thing always attached to their head. I have one that goes behind the ear and with my long hair, you barely see it. What's more, I don't walk around with it on all the time--I only use it for hands-free conversations when I need it (yes, that means driving, but I recognize that I'm one of the few that can do this and still remain cognizant that I'm driving a 2-ton vehicle in urban traffic). I use mine so seldom, that they sometimes run out of power long enough to lose their partnership to the phone and have to go through the re-discovery thing.
Sorry Mark, my post is really of no help to you I guess. I'm just trying to explain that between you and the uber-mobile punks that have a cell glued to their head all day, that there are some of use that use some of it in restraint.
'Scuze me, I've got a call.
Speck
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| 5 DEC 2006 at 7:57am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | My husband's mobile phone is like a mini computer. It's shaped like a laptop that fits in your hand. It has a little screen that swivels. It takes not only pictures but movies.... It connects to his computer in work and chimes every time he receives an email on his work computer. This includes spam and so he keeps it in the dining room at night because it chimes 24/7....
Just like caring for a Tamogochi, he checks it at home to delete the poop.
Talking into it is the strangest thing - it's square and blocky and doesn't feel like a phone. And he left it with me one day but I couldn't use it because he neglected to tell me the password.....
I'm waiting until they have them the size of wrist-watches before I carry one. Bloody stupid things.
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| 5 DEC 2006 at 8:43am |
| Deleted User | The onslaught of new features is probably tied in with the very rapid development of storage media with increasingly large capacities within a small volume. This development is currently much faster than the development of faster microprocessors. More storage means more media features, like now even full movies, will fit on a cellphone.
But I always figured there should be a big market for people like you as well Mark. Back to basics, with ease of use in focus. Such phones could now be made incredibly cheap and probably sell even with a price tag that made it even more profitable than the advanced phones.
Personally, I have never owned a cellphone, which is becoming viewed as rather an odd thing. It's sort of like having to explain yourself every time you choose not to drink alchohol at parties.
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| 5 DEC 2006 at 9:44am |
JanieIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 48
Joined: 2 DEC 2006
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Mark (5 DEC 2006 4:09am)
I need/want a new cell phone
No you don't. You just want to be like a teenager again, wanting everything, NOW!! LIFE goes on without a mobile phone, even for really, really old people who are probably the ones who need one (apart from teenagers who need a parent to collect them after a party.)
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| 5 DEC 2006 at 11:15am |
alkis21Schattenjger
Posts : 2112
Joined: 23 OCT 2002
Location: GR
Status : Offline | I know exactly which model will be perfect for you, Mark:
[img]http://www.resolex.com/_inline/414/cans_and_string.jpg[/img]
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| 5 DEC 2006 at 12:20pm |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | LOL
Alkis, Close, but no cigar....
Your suggestion fits the first requirement..
I want something large and heavy.
and definitely the second...
I have no need for the capacity to store 1,000 numbers for "Speed Dialing
but, sadly, you fall down badly for not reading his criteria properly. Mark said:
I am not going to run around in public wearing cans.
Fussy old bugger, ain't he? [smiley=devil_smiley_grintail.gif]
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| 5 DEC 2006 at 12:25pm |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | How about this one? It's even smiling for you.
[img]http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/2966/fisherpricephonerx4.jpg[/img]
Then there's the fancy coloured version that Alkis favours...
[img]http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3149/phonesformarkmelbrooksef7.jpg[/img]
This is probably Mark: Hello? Phone company? I specifically demanded a heavy phone.... this isn't heavy enough [panic rising] .... I won't look macho enough if it's not at least 15lbs.... It has to pull my pants down when I carry it in the pocket.... It has to be so big it needs two hand to hold it, one to operate the 10ft aerial and the other to wind up the dirty great clockwork key....
[img]http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/9642/phonesformark3tv1.jpg[/img]
The portable camping wind up phone. Pity the generator is the size of a small car....
[img]http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/449/phonesformark4fw3.jpg[/img]
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| 5 DEC 2006 at 12:26pm |
MarkGuild Master
Posts : 3803
Joined: 10 OCT 2002
Location: US, Georgia
Status : Offline |
Many thanks to those of you offering to help me find a simple cellular phone with modest features, big keypad buttons, and a large read-out. Much obliged.
Please proofread your posts carefully to see if you any words out.
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| 5 DEC 2006 at 7:33pm |
alkis21Schattenjger
Posts : 2112
Joined: 23 OCT 2002
Location: GR
Status : Offline | OK seriously now, first of all I'd like to congratulate you on being one of the few people who actually want to use their cell phone to make calls (I'm not).
I don't think there is a new phone that has the features you're after. I suggest you search e-bay for a used, pre-2000 model.
You're unlucky because I threw away my old Siemens C11 just last week. It was in mint condition, and I would have gladly sent it to you for free.
[img]http://www.mobilenews.ru/unitsimg/img_377913_291.jpg[/img]
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| 5 DEC 2006 at 9:56pm |
sennebecGuild Master
Posts : 3334
Joined: 15 NOV 2004
Location: US, maine
Status : Offline | i, too, am new to cell phones...
last august i finally had the guts to drop my land line and go cellular and it's working out great!
it costs me the same as the old phone, as i was paying for both a local tele company and also a seperate long distance company.
my land line had no frills, no caller ID, just my radio shack phone with an answering machine.
now i have caller ID and the thrill : of being mobile for the same cost... being mobile is coming in handy as i'm a solo-self-employed landscaper... now i can receive important calls when i'm on the job which has saved me from alot of extra running around.
since i was a new cellular customer, i got a great deal on the motorola RAZOR phone...
yeah, yeah, i realize that this is not what you're looking for as it has all the fancy-schmancy bells and whistles, many of which i have no use for, but...
the beauty of the newer phones is better reception!
my boyfriend and i have the same cell phone provider, but he has an older phone... i regularly get better reception in the near-to-dead-zone areas than he does.
to caroline: can't your hubby simply turn the sound off for the evening?
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| 5 DEC 2006 at 10:42pm |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Mark
The old analogue phones were certainly bigger and less fancy than the new digital ones we have now. Even a 2000 phone wouldn't work anymore. Well, in Australia at any rate. I have no idea what system America uses.
Senne
You need a pilot's license to understand his new phone. All his staff's phones have trackers in them so at any time he can look up on his little screen and see where they are. So, if they're meant to be visiting in one district and they're really sitting at home..... watch out! LOL
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| 5 DEC 2006 at 11:14pm |
| Deleted User | Never throw away your cellphones! There's so much personal information about you in there that it's not funny. It's much worse than giving someone access to a computer with a hard drive that you used. If you want to protect your integrity, keep your old cellphones indefinitely!
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| 5 DEC 2006 at 11:25pm |
Jenny100Guild Master
Posts : 3510
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | Here you go Mark.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290056604665
Good price too.
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| 5 DEC 2006 at 11:45pm |
MarkGuild Master
Posts : 3803
Joined: 10 OCT 2002
Location: US, Georgia
Status : Offline | Found The New York Times article I was looking for: Some Phones Are Just, Well, Phones.
I really like the looks of the "Jitterbug", but I don't need an "operator" (which takes five minutes off of your pre-paid minutes) and the monthly fee is rather steep.
Please read this article (especially about the Jitterbug), and let us know what you think.
The Motorola takes seven steps to turn off the ringer. That sucks.
Please proofread your posts carefully to see if you any words out.
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| 6 DEC 2006 at 2:37am |
anthonyJourneyman
Posts : 1270
Joined: 11 JUN 2003
Status : Offline | Get a blackberry, Mark. Send text messages to people instead of disturbing everyone by having the person speak to you.
And when that thing is in your front pants pocket and starts vibrating, you'll need a cigarette afterwards.
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| 6 DEC 2006 at 4:29am |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By Petter_Holmberg (5 DEC 2006 11:13pm)
Never throw away your cellphones! There's so much personal information about you in there that it's not funny. It's much worse than giving someone access to a computer with a hard drive that you used. If you want to protect your integrity, keep your old cellphones indefinitely!
A hard reset usually dumps all the personal info.
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| 6 DEC 2006 at 4:32am |
LspaceIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 55
Joined: 10 OCT 2002
Status : Online | Hi Mark,
Check out this link for a simple large size cell phones.
http://www.jitterbug.com/promotions/101106_landing.asp
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| 6 DEC 2006 at 4:42am |
| Deleted User | The Jitterbug looks good Mark. The only thing that gives me pause is this:
In fact, GreatCall won’t even say who provides its service, and there’s no coverage map at its Web site.
Followed by this:
The pricing is steep — $40 a month for 300 minutes, for example
They're probably reselling minutes from whatever carrier is available, which is more expensive for you.
If you're okay with that, fine. $40 isn't the end of the world, especially if 300 minutes for the whole week is enough.
My advice if you want a better/cheaper plan with more minutes (300-500 daytime minutes plus unlimited night-time and weekend minutes for the same price)? Ask around what carrier is good in your area for service (Cingular works great for me here in Seattle, but totally sucked in Phoenix), then go into their store to see if they have a phone with big enough display and buttons for a good price, and don't worry about the fact that it has a camera or tip calculator! Those things come on a free phone these days.
Phones are like digital cameras--you only need to learn the 10% of the features you need and you can forget the rest. A phone with good user design will leave the details to a deep menu that you can either configure once, or not bother with in the first place.
Chris
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| 6 DEC 2006 at 5:17am |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By Not A Speck Of Cereal (6 DEC 2006 4:29am)
A hard reset usually dumps all the personal info.
Ok, so the casual user may not be able to access that info afterwards, but don't believe it's gone. There's a famous legal case here in Sweden where year old SMS messages, long deleted from the phone, were successfully restored by the police and used as evidence. I saw an expert on digital information retrieval on television recently make this advice. He would sell his old computers to strangers but wouldn't part with an old mobile phone of his for a million years. According to him, a modern cellphone stores data at multiple locations and there's so much space that it's able to keep loads and loads of old information. Like with a typical hard drive, nothing gets physically deleted but just overwritten when the space is eventually reused later. And you need special software to actually get it deleted, which is something not built-in to the phone.
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| 6 DEC 2006 at 9:41am |
MarkGuild Master
Posts : 3803
Joined: 10 OCT 2002
Location: US, Georgia
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By anthony (6 DEC 2006 2:37am)
Get a blackberry, Mark.[...]And when that thing is in your front pants pocket and starts vibrating, you'll need a cigarette afterwards.
I always carry a pocket square just for those special moments, Anthony.
Please proofread your posts carefully to see if you any words out.
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| 6 DEC 2006 at 5:45pm |
Peter DoyleIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 86
Joined: 28 MAR 2006
Status : Online | Mark,
When I was shopping for a cell phone, I had much the same criteria as you do: Large buttons, minimal extraneous features, and ease of use. I found enumerating these criteria to most people to be a waste of time, as most people always see "more" as "better" and can't fathom that cell phones are first and foremost telephones, not portable studies in electronic oneupsmanship.
What I wound up going with was a Nokia 1100 TracFone. It's buttons aren't huge, but they're decent-sized and have a slight clicking feel when they're properly pressed. It has a few features I didn't want, but they're easily ignored. It is quite easy to use and has remarkably long battery life. It's signal strength is very good: I have made and recieved calls while quite literally in the middle of the desert. Since it is a TracFone, I buy minutes as I need them and have no monthly cell phone bill to pay, plus this particular model has a convenient "airtime left" display on it's default screen. It cost me all of $20 to buy this phone at my local Wal-Mart.
For $20 plus the cost of airtime, why not pick up one of these and try it yourself for a while? If you hate it, you're not out much and can always stop buying airtime without having to worry about getting out of any contracts.
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| 7 DEC 2006 at 12:20am |
Jenny100Guild Master
Posts : 3510
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | Might want to check the review at Amazon about the zip code problem on the Tracfone
http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-1100-Prepaid-Phone-Tracfone/dp/B000BF4406
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| 7 DEC 2006 at 2:30am |
anthonyJourneyman
Posts : 1270
Joined: 11 JUN 2003
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Mark (6 DEC 2006 9:41am)
I always carry a pocket square just for those special moments, Anthony.
The older we get, Mark, the more special those moments become. Like watching Maria Sharapova bend over to pick up a tennis ball at the US Open.
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| 7 DEC 2006 at 4:27am |
Peter DoyleIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 86
Joined: 28 MAR 2006
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Keeper of the Evil Broccoli (7 DEC 2006 12:20am)
Might want to check the review at Amazon about the zip code problem on the Tracfone
http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-1100-Prepaid-Phone-Tracfone/dp/B000BF4406
I suspect that one bad review may have had other causes. I've almost never used my TracFone within my own zip code (and why would I? If I'm in my own zip code I can always drop by my house and use a real phone), but my minutes still last for, well...a minute each.
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