Re: My BBM is down, WHAT THE FUCKKK. I'm staying HOME I can't be the only one here who fucks around on their phone to avoid talking to strangers. While eating lunch. Which I am certainly not doing right now. I guess that makes me a hypocrite because people who constantly text during real social interactions piss me off. It is an ego thing -- if you are more interested in texting than making conversation with the people you are physically with it shows how much you value them. If you would rather rapid fire text than talk to me you can kindly go fuck yourself. I solve this problem by not associating with dudes who have the phone habits of 16-year-old girls. It takes very little social awareness to not be a jackass with your phone. It doesn't help that this started bugging me while dating in high school, yeesh.
I worry that I'm turning myself into the biggest technological neophyte out there. I carried a cell phone from the time I was 18 onwards (go Nokia 3210!), and upgraded every year that my contract expired, always getting the latest and greatest model. When I went round the world, I had an unlocked Razr and I used to just pop a different SIM card in it, depending on where I was.* When I came home, in 2008, I thought, "Fuck it." I was angry that Canada does not have the freedom in their wireless companies that EVERY SINGLE OTHER COUNTRY does. You can't just buy a SIM card here and pop it in; you have to have a contract, or you have to spend just as much on pay-as-you-go because the minutes don't roll over unless you top them up; the coverage sucks; etc. I was pissed off that the amount of money I spent on phones in no way approached how much I use them. Now, if you need to talk to me call, and leave a message on my land line. Or call me at work, if it's important. Otherwise there's no reason to be in contact 24/7 (I always was terrible at remembering to charge my cell, anyway). As technology progresses, though, I'm left in the dust. I have no clue how to operate an iphone or a Blackberry or whatever. When people hand me theirs and ask me to do something, I invariably stand there lost not knowing how to make the screen turn on. Funny thing, though. I'm seriously considering getting rid of the satellite and internet in my house. I feel the urge to have quiet, and no electronic media around. Plus I could get great gym memberships with the money saved. We'll see if I actually have the balls to go that far. *I also had an international SIM card, based out of a U.K. company. Holy SHIT. If you ever doubt that coverage is a conspiracy, get one of those. When I popped that sucker into my phone, I had five bars in the London Tubes, five bars in the Atlas Mountains, and five bars everywhere else. Stupid expensive; stupid good coverage.
I have a fairly basic phone. I can surf the web with it if I really need to, but it's pretty damn slow. The camera quality isn't great, but it's serviceable, which is already more than I need. All I need a phone for is to call and text, and everything else is just unnecessary bullshit. I guess having GPS on your phone would be convenient at times, and certain jobs can benefit from high quality phones. However, none of that applies to me. I know a lot of people who send 100+ text messages a day, and I can't understand why that would be necessary. If you have that much to say just fucking call me. I send ten a day, and maybe 15-20 on the weekends. Having internet on your phone is nice if you need to verify or check something real quick, but add me to the list of people who are annoyed when they see someone spending more time surfing the web at a bar than enjoying face to face conversation. It's just sad. Could I live without my phone? Yes, but it would be a pain in the ass on weekends.
I have a BlackBerry Curve. I think the least that RIM could've done was e-mail their customers and let them know about the outage, not wait for it to be picked up by the media (inevitable, since there's always one journalist with a BB). I was still getting e-mails and text messages, but no internet or IMs (Whatsapp, BBM, GTalk, etc.). FOCUS and ALT. FOCUS: I've always been pretty lazy about checking up on e-mails, so I find my BlackBerry gets put to good use because that often irritating red light doesn't go away until you open the e-mail. I also dislike calling people (I sometimes stutter badly) so the IM'ing is essential for me to not sound like a buffoon 50% of the time... However, I'll only be whipping out the phone if I'm at a bar by myself, or if I receive a message I've been expecting - I'm FAR more likely to be distracted by whatever sport is showing on the TV set. I've always felt it's rude to just whip your phone out, unless you've got a picture of someone everyone in the group you're with knows that's done something stupid - that is always hilarious. A lot of you seem to mention text messages... do you mean an actual text message (known as SMS here - Short Message Service), or an IM?
The only thing fancy about my phone is that it has a slide-out qwerty keyboard, which is pretty nice for texting. I'm going to get a blackberry, but I'm waiting for the new generation to come out. I am ordinarily not one of those people to demand the latest and greatest, but rumour has it that the next generation will have access to the android app store, which would really boost the phone's usability. If they put that ability onto the current model of the Bold, I'd be sold instantly.
I've had a cell phone since I was 21. I didn't want to get it, but my then-wife forced me to get it so she could keep track of me. I don't like having a cell phone, and I usually dodge calls unless I think it might be about my son or something else important; he's the only reason why I still have it. That, and I like having a camera with me at all times, and now I no longer need a watch. These days I have an LG Lotus that I got for free when renewing my contract a couple of years ago. I supposedly have internet access with it, but I never use it because I have a computer. I would never get a "smart" phone because I'm terrible with touch screens.
I'm convinced that people who bash smart phones are people who have never owned one. I talked a lot of shit when I still had my LG slider phone. Then I bought an iPhone strictly for it music ability so that I wouldn't have to carry around an mp3 player. After living with high speed internet access at my fingertips for the past 3 years, there is no way I could do without it. How much can I spend at the bar tonight? Check my bank account in 10 seconds. Who was the actor in The Machinist? End that argument with the IMDB app. Missed an exit on the highway? Instant GPS correction. I wish I had GPS on my phone when I was a delivery driver. Easily would have paid for itself in gas I saved. You also don't need a separate and will always have a GPS with you, even when you're on foot (ever get lost walking home from a bar?). I find it interesting that a much high percentage of people who own an Android say they COULD live without it vs iPhone owners than those who own an iPhone and say they COULDN'T vs Android owners. If you bought an iPhone, you would understand why people are so much more loyal to it. The OS is just so much faster and cleaner than Android
I was on the fence about buying a smartphone for a while, and the debate came down to an iPhone or a Droid X. I ended up with the Droid X due to the GPS capability (Verizon) and memory/screen size. After owning one, I can say that I can live without it. After the update to Gingerbread OS, it's annoyingly unresponsive and frequently freezes. I'm trying to sell it to get iPhone 4 with no luck.
I picked up the HTC Evo about four months ago and am liking it a lot so far. Although, to be fair, I had some Samsung dinosaur for about six years so virtually anything would be an improvement. I haven't really delved much into applications or software or anything like that. The GPS/Navigation function is marvelous. Especially if you are lost in downtown Cleveland and are trying to find your way back to your friend's apartment after leaving a strip club at 2am. ............Or so I've heard. *ahem*
I have a Nokia 6120 classic. It has a hole in the screen with cracks. The back cover is taped onto the battery and the data card cover is missing. Most of the panels are struggling to stay attached and it's battery skips out occasionally. Still more reliable than any other phone I've had. I briefly had a smartphone that died 3 times in 6 months so I said fuck this and went back to the nokia. Society has definitely turned a luxury into an addiction.
This is a good time for this thread topic. I should be getting my iPhone 4s in the mail tomorrow. I've had a first generation Droid since January of 2010. I really loved it. All the features it had and the speed. It was my first smartphone. But now, it feels like a Windows PC after owning it for a few years. Slow as shit. Glitchy. Freezes. None of my friends with iPhones ever had any of these problems. The phone still works well enough to do what it needs to, but the lag in loading times and the fact that so many apps just force close on me is becoming very frustrating. I was considering getting the Droid Bionic, but I haven't heard very many good things about it. Some complaints were about screen resolution in some areas. Another one being the camera takes nearly 4 seconds to shoot a picture. Granted, these sound like whiny first world problems, which they are, but if I am going to drop $300 on a new phone, I expect it to work the way it should. I also want to see how nice and streamlined the new iOS is. I'm ready for the switch.
I have a Nokia 2730 that I've been quite happy with for texting, calls etc. I have been thinking of taking up an offer on a free Samsung Galaxy S on the same cost per month to my current plan. The Samsung Galaxy S, desipte getting good reviews looks like its over twice the size of my Nokia. I think I'd probably put it in my back jeans pocket, sit on the thing and snap it in half. Might take up the Samsung offer though and just sell it off.
Focus: I find it convenient to use a cell phone to take care of obligatory phone calls while commuting to/from work, and for coordinating plans with friends - a mobile phone gives you a lot more room for error, so if you get lost or stuck in traffic or pulled out of your car by the police and given a cavity search, you can let people know what's up. That being said, every time my phone battery "runs out" (or I just turn the damn thing off) I smile a little. Because, really, I fucking hate phones. Alt Focus: It's all incredibly convenient, but every time someone starts texting or searching facebook or whatever in the middle of a conversation, I want to punch the fucker in the face.