Friday, June 06, 2008
Phoning It In
Well, it's time again for me to upgrade the old cell phone. I know we all have those "can you believe it?" conversations about technology and our increasing reliance on it, but hey, I've always liked cool little gizmos. Granted, I rarely can operate cool little gizmos, but cell phones for some reason have always been something I'm pretty good at.
I'm currently carrying around the Motorola Razr V3, which I've actually really enjoyed having. Battery life isn't very good but I don't think any phones are anymore since they're all getting slimmer and slimmer, thus reducing battery size and, apparently, capacity. My Razr locks up like a bad Windows application from time to time, but overall I like it because of how slim and light it is. I can slip it into any pocket -- even my really tight Jordache jeans that show off my ass -- and it's never in the way the way my Blackberry often is.
So I was looking for something to mimic that convenience while being a little bit newer technology. And since I'm up for my bi-annual $100 credit, it was the time. So I perused the selection and I decided on the Samsung Alias SCH u740. Not sure why it needs all those qualifiers in the name but it does. It's actually slightly less "tall" and a bit narrower than the Razr, which I find amazing. It's fractionally deeper, but only like by a couple tenths of an inch. And it has a neat-o feature where it's a clamshell phone but also has the full "qwerty" keyboard.
Here is is:
I'm currently carrying around the Motorola Razr V3, which I've actually really enjoyed having. Battery life isn't very good but I don't think any phones are anymore since they're all getting slimmer and slimmer, thus reducing battery size and, apparently, capacity. My Razr locks up like a bad Windows application from time to time, but overall I like it because of how slim and light it is. I can slip it into any pocket -- even my really tight Jordache jeans that show off my ass -- and it's never in the way the way my Blackberry often is.
So I was looking for something to mimic that convenience while being a little bit newer technology. And since I'm up for my bi-annual $100 credit, it was the time. So I perused the selection and I decided on the Samsung Alias SCH u740. Not sure why it needs all those qualifiers in the name but it does. It's actually slightly less "tall" and a bit narrower than the Razr, which I find amazing. It's fractionally deeper, but only like by a couple tenths of an inch. And it has a neat-o feature where it's a clamshell phone but also has the full "qwerty" keyboard.
Here is is:
I also love the fact that the clock on the outside is analog. We've gone away from analog clocks in the past couple of decades and they're definitely coming back now and getting popular again. And having one on the cell phone just looks classy to me. Sure, when you open it it looks like a jubilee of buttons, but you only use the traditional phone buttons when you're using it as a phone... when it's a message center, etc., then you turn it and it all looks normal.
So that's my technology update. I do feel like a dumbass having a cell phone from Verizon and an AT&T blackberry with cell phone service, but these are the requirements of being in the professional BSer world I am in.
Labels: ATT blows, cell phones piss me off, Verizon blows
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Airborne Virus
It's amazing to me that a survey was needed to know that people don't want to listen to self-important a-holes yammer on their cell phones during plane rides. Frankly, I'm amazed that the number (74%) of people who don't want to hear phone-talking wasn't even higher. Anyone who has traveled on any form of transportation knows how damn annoying this is. And I know I've always feared the day when we would be able to talk on airplanes, too.It's awful when you ride a bus or train with someone who does this. I always wonder, when I'm on a super-early train or bus, "Who is this self-important asshole talking to?" I mean, seriously, you're doing business at 6:30 AM? Or are you on a social call? Because if one of my friends called to chat at some ungodly hour of the morning, they would cease to A) be my friend, and B) live, if they were within driving distance to go and strangle.
I guess it's cool that several airlines are rolling out wireless features that limit talking. Texting, email and gaming will likely be allowed very soon. And that's fine. But I also think it will make us wistful once again for the simpler times when we couldn't check email on an airplane. Actually, airplanes are the one remaining sanctuary where we're not "connected." You have to turn off your cell phone and your blackberry and your computer can't (or shouldn't) pick up wireless signals so your only email obsession-feeding is via your archived mail.
You often hear people make comments like, "What did we do before cell phones?" It won't be long before it's, "What did we do before we had wireless access on airplanes? We had wait until we got where we were going! Imagine!"
And what irritates me to to no end is the phone calls that do happen once you're able to turn your phone back on, twelve seconds after your plane is on the ground. Listen to those around you who can barely wait to get their phone back on and stuck to their ear -- the conversations are all exactly the same.
"Hey, it's me. We landed."
"Still on the plane."
"I said, we're STILL ON THE PLANE!"
"Okay. Well, I gotta go to baggage claim. Okay. I'll see you then. Bye."
Was that necessary? Or could we all agree to just meet at baggage claim ahead of time? Like we used to.
Fine, so I'm becoming a grumpy old man.
Also? Get off my lawn.
Labels: a-holes, air travel, cell phones piss me off, obnoxious, things that just shouldn't be
