posted
One reason that I hardly ever use my cell phone is because I don't have any numbers programmed into it. In an age where any device containing a computer processor can be linked to any other such device, I find the chore of typing in family and friends' names via a numeric key pad to be annoyingly time-consuming.
What I want is a phone. A basic, simple phone, with the sole key feature of being able to connect to my computer so I can transfer my address book (with data entered in via a fully keyboard, thank you very much) to the phone for easy reference.
I don't want to send text messages. I don't want to browse the Web from my phone. I don't want to have fancy ringtones. I don't want to take pictures on my phone. I don't want to play music on my phone.
Alternatively, what I could use would be something along the lines of a Treo, but if we're talking about a "smart phone", even then all I need is something that can perform the basic functions of a (non-web-connected) PDA and can sync with my computer.
So no, I don't want to spend $100 on a new phone. I don't want to buy a $450 phone and then have to pay another $40/month (on top of the existing phone plan) for an Internet connection that I'll never use.
Am I being too old-fashioned and closed-minded about the uses of new technology? I'm not anti-social, but I really don't see the need for many of the features that the phone companies seem hell-bent on shoving in our collective faces these days. My computer is the device that is my "digital hub", through which all my personal data flows. Can't I get that connected, but only as far as I need, and no further?
Or am I really asking too much?
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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Alternatively, I don't think its possible to get a cell phone that can be connected to a computer that doesn't have a camera in it or custom ringtone capability. Simply because to the average user, there's no reason to connect a cell phone to a computer without those features.
-------------------- I haul cardboard and cardboard accessories
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I don't even have a cellphone, and have no plans to get one anytime soon. Although, of all the people in my immediate circle of friends, my job (newspapering) is the only one that might possibly require occasional 24 hour accessibility, but my role is so minor that I've only needed to come in, after my regular hours, once in the past two years. And for one of those years, not only did I not have a cellphone, but I had no regular phone number at all, living as I did most of the time in a friend's living room, and driving back to my father's home every weekend to do laundry. (And circumvent the "no random bums living in your apartment" rule.)
So, I mean, how much connectivity does anyone really need? There were people who could get in touch with me if they really needed to.
Also, I am a grungy and cranky hermit.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
You can usually buy a serial cable, but those cost $30-$40. Bluetooth, but that's one more gadget. The simplest PDA/phone I'm aware of is the Tungsten|W, but I don't think it was well-received. Treo 600/650 might be your best bet, even if it does have a bunch of features you don't want. At least it synchs your contacts from the charging cradle. Doesn't get much simpler.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Not a comment about cell phones per-se, but feature-packed tech...
I work in the aerospace industry, and sometimes I need to work in a very secure area, which means no cell phones, no memory sticks, no text messaging. Basically, I can't bring in anything that stores or transmits data. So when my wife first got pregnant 6 years ago, I had to get a receive-only pager so that she could get in touch with me if necessary. That wasn't a problem then, but if this thing ever breaks, I'm not sure I'll be able to replace it. I can just imagine the blank stare of the salesperson when I tell them I don't want *any* options, and it has to be receive-only.
posted
Things seem to have got to the point over here where people are starting to not bother getting a land line, reasoning that if they have a mobile where people can contact them anywhere then why have a phone where they can only be contacted on if they are in one place?
If you get anything other than the absolute cheapest contract, you're going to get a phone with bluetooth on it. Then you'd need to buy a bluetooth dongle or something for your computer. You could always look for an offer somewhere where they throw the bluetooth adapter in for free (there were a couple of offers like that when I got a new phone a few months ago). But you'd still need software to transfer the numbers from Outlook (or whatever) on your phone, and I'm not sure if that would be the responsibility of outlook or your phone software.
Which reminds me; I got a CD with my phone that I've never looked at. I wonder what's on there.
(Pointless extra: The most important thing amoung one of my housemates when they last got a phone was that it had a memory card in it. Because I've got a card reader, and that meant that they could use the Undertaker's Entrance music as a ring tone. I use Also Sprach Zarathustra, so I'm pretty sure I win.)
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Bluetooth isn't quite so prevalant around here. And sometimes crippled, besides. But yeah, worth a shot.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Samsung's tend to have the best Bluetooth set. Especially the D500. Plus it's slidey and "oooh" looking.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I haven't had a landline to use for phone purposes in over 3 years... don't see a need for one since my cell phone never leaves my side!
Good luck though with the whole finding a phone with no features thing... that just doesn't seem to be the way the technology is heading now
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I talked to a couple of friends at work this morning, and it seems that one is not required to purchase the Internet connection plan when you get one of those "smart" phones. So I can buy a Treo 600, use that as my PDA and my phone, but not worry about having to spend much more for any unnecessary service plans. (Plus I found a $50 discount on a Treo 600 from PalmOne...)
So, I said I didn't want to spend a lot of money for a phone, but I wouldn't mind spending more money for a PDA/phone -- because for me, that's a whole lot more useful!
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
T-Mobile allows you, at least with phone that I have, to input phone numbers on their website. They are then uploaded to the phone and stored in your phonebook.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I was extremely happy the day I told Bellsouth (the local land-line monopoly) to go fuck themselves. Wih all the local extra fees they slapped on and state taxes, I was paying $80 a month for a line with no out of state long distance at all.
I now only have a cell phone- the phone cost only $50 (after rebate) and is only $45 a month for 400 minutes with long distance and such thrown in.
I never use more that 300 minutes or so each month anyway.
Aside from remote locations or needing a fax line, I dont forsee the ol' phone companies staying afloat for much longer.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
This actually brings to mind that old anecdote about the space-pen that the Americans spent all those millions developing. While the Russians used pencils.....
I like the way you think, Minutae.
-------------------- "Brave men are vertebrates: they have their softness on the outside, and their toughness in the middle" -Lewis Carrol
Registered: Jan 2005
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-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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