POLL: The Great Cellphone Poll

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My previous phone survived for 3 years. I take care of my stuff

 

You had the same phone for *three* years?

Having the same phone for three years would drive me crazy. I regularly need change in every aspect my life. Except for woman. Stable relationship is good.

 

You know, I was younger, had less money, no work only school. Changes came with time.
And I too think stable relationship is good

 

Heh, I hear you, Undertaker. I counted every single penny when I bought my Nokia 3590. That was quite a hit in the budget, especially since my friend gave me his old Panasonic TDMA a week or so after

 

Okay; despite trying to avoid peeking into this thread, curiousity overcame caution...

I said "other" for both, since I don't have and likely will never have a cell/mobile. Three years working for Robbers as cust.svc. has somewhat jaded me, at least on the 'postpaid'/monthly-plan side of things.

(I agree with DotW - GO PREPAID; contracts/ commitments are *EVIL*!!! And this is speaking as someone from the OTHER side of the 800# )

But I'm glad to see you're passing on that wonderful story, Dotw!

*I'm* the Rep who took the call; the woman's 5165 actually had HALF the LCD still functionning despite the crack(?!?) And even though the model had been discontinued almost a year before, and I was offering her that 3595 for $25 instead of the 5165 for $50, her mind was made up. I didn't argue with her

(wow, I've been immortalized in folklore, technically )

And in my time taking customer calls for Robbers Wireless, I've determined that Nokia '51xx' series is the most long-lived models out there - regularly had people with the same hardware active on their account for four-five years, and out of curiousity found their phones were still working fine. That series will eventually start dying out as it gets harder to find replacement batteries for them (newer phones are about the same size at the battery )

But regarding your comment about 'crippling' phones, DotW - GSM isn't immune. Here's an example:

Motorola's current GSM/GPRS phones have, in addition to WAP browsers, SMS, cameras (usually) and actual phone functionality (imagine that!), actual email capability. Not SMS - full-fledged email...if the carrier has the funtionality built into its network.

Robbers does not have this in their GSM/GPRS network, so they ask Motorola to disable this function on the phones they purchase from Moto. It's everywhere, to some extent...

In more general terms, I've found that *every* carrier has something going for it, otherwise it'd be out of business by now. Different things work for different people.

Just my $0.02

 

SE t610 since October last year. Most of my SP album pictures (almost all, in fact) have been made with it. Before, I had a giant Motorola brick for a couple of years.

 

I can't believe this has gone on for 3 pages. As I have said before, I don't have a cell phone and I hold an intense hatred for phones in general. I like playing with the flip covers of my friends' phones. I pretend I'm calling Scotty and then they take my toy away. Bad friends.

 

@apathic: Heh, I was wondering when you would pop up in the thread...

Yeah, I heard that GSM isn't immune to crippling... though it is far less worst than CDMA phones. Verizon probably are the worst phone cripplers. Like I said, they disabled the MP3 player in the VX-8100, and then they change their mind, and they offer the upgrade that enables it. They also bar downloading from the wireless browser, so if you want ringtones or wallpapers, you have to get them through the Get It Now service. Same thing for Telus. I tried plugging my VX-3200 to a comp, and it did NOTHING. Why? They say this "feature has been disabled to provide safe contenents". Bastards. As soon as my airtime runs out, I'm buying a BlackBerry on eBay and send Telus to hell.

 

Good for you. I wish I was allowed to not have one.

 

Aye, HB - that's mostly my motivation: I'm almost ne...no, I'm NEVER away from urban/suburban areas so a quarter will get me a call to someone, so I don't need a cell for that, and when I'm out and about I don't want to be 'reachable' by others.

And before you say "well, just turn the cell off", I counter with "Why then, do I have this thing if I'm not going to use it?"

This reminds me of an old sitcom (gawd, now I feel old) Mad About You, and one scene where the married couple is getting double-team guilted by BOTH sets of parents about where they're going for xmas, thanks to call-waiting.

He: Yeah, we need this feature "What if someone's trying to get us?" you said. "What if someone's trying to get us?" Well they got us, honey!

 

@apathic: One thing I like about Telus is the "Do Not Disturb" function. When activated (the phone remains powered up), it sends all voice calls to mailbox, but allows incoming email and text messages. Handy. Plus, you get the usual voicemail alert.

 

@AE:
Some people use their cell phone for "outgoing only", which means it's off all the time unless they want to call someone.

 

You make a good point, Big Cat.

 

I'm the opposite. I use mine for INCOMING only. I never call anybody because that would cost me money and there's nobody I'm that desperate to call that I can't wait until I get home. I only have it so people can't complain that they can't get hold of me.

 

@Fel:
I dealt with this already - if ever I leave home, I'm always travelling in areas where a pay phone is always at hand. Carrying a quarter in my hatband is much more convenient than lugging around ANOTHER thing to misplace (and if it's too big for me to leave behind by mistake, it'll be a nuisance for me to carry)

So

@DotW:
Sounds great, man. But I don't WANT to be alerted to ANYTHING.

@HB:
Heh, I never hear the complaints no one can reach me...BECAUSE no one can reach me!

Let's just leave it at this - there's MANY different kinds of people in the world. Some will actually have neither any practical justification for a cell phone nor any desire for same.

I'm not gonna say I'm better than you 'wired-in, leashed sheep' but going the other way, QUIT TRYING TO CONVERT ME!!!

Anywho - I'll note one more nugget of wisdom from having worked in the industry: unless you like gambling, don't get a 'brand-new' Motorola model. That company seems to have taken the 'bah, we'll fix it later in a patch - rush it out before the competition" mentality from the software industry Based on the poll's results, t'would seem that BoM already had taken this to heart...

 

@apathic: Heh, alright, I will stop preaching the virtues of mobile phones

 

On to the subject of mobile phone gamming.

Nokia has it's N-Gage as do a few other manufacturers. But so far, they are still phones to begin with, I'm wondering when Nentindo will make a Game Boy with a built-in phone!

But until that day comes, Bejeweled is the best game for cell phones!

 

Wonder why they haven't realized it yet and put those engagy things into every mobile they build. This way they would have a vast market in their disposal and could start actually competiting with GB.

 

I have a Sony Ericsson T630 and I'm quite happy with it. The battery is quite good, although the pictures taken with the built-in camera are quite crappy looking. Then again, if I wanted quality photos, I'd buy a proper camera.

@chev: I guessed you had a T610 or a T630 after checking the pictures you took in the MSN group.

 

You make a very good point, Kitrax.

Despite the reviews the N-Gage QD got, it is a good phone, and a good console, too. One of my friends had this one, and he just loved it.

I agree with Wirhe about an untapped potential for a new Phone-Gaming hybrid. When will one of the big honchos finally wake up and realize this?

Oh, and dmc, you have a BlackBerry? Which model do you have? I wanted to buy one of those thingies, but I really don't know on which model to settle.