Best Handset...rant

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Kompete

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After my Jasjar packed up in Dec 07, I have acquired a new phone. Since this acquisition I have been ridiculed by everyone, and although I can pretty much afford any phone on the market, I cannot get myself to do so... as I have grown accustomed to the following specs:

  • Standby time : more than 2 weeks
  • Talk-time : pretty much a full working day
  • Charging time : 10 min (I kid you not!)
  • Response rate : Instantaneous (i.e. every time I press a button the response is immediate)
  • Durability : extremely durable (I have dropped it, by accident, +/- 8 times on concrete at heights of 1-3 metres, and besides 1 or 2 scratches it's 100% functional)
  • Reliability : 100% (It has never...ever...ever failed to function as its designers intended it to)
  • Size : 70g and fits into my shirt pocket (next to my pen)
  • Cost : Ridiculously cheap

Yes, I had to give up a lot of other benefits (like GPS, internet, email, etc) but I have other devices that do those things just brilliantly.

start Rant/ So I have decided, until such time as a handset comes along that provide the above specs as a standard and then improves on additional functionality, I refuse to upgrade.

Is this too much to ask for? Does BMW whenever they upgrade a model, forget to meet the basic standards of the previous model? BMW: "Yes sir...the steering response now resembles that of a donkey cart, but we are now giving you head-up display"...NO!

I have been an early adopter (phones/PDA's) for far too long and have always, always been dissapointed by what I get. Thats why I'm sticking to my trusted and very reliable Nokia 1200! /end Rant
 
This is actually very true. Most phones these days (all the really trendy ones, at least), have terrible battery life (compared to the trendy phones of days of old), are super fragile and are very slow!

One might argue that they are like this BECAUSE of all the added features; i.e. running extra features lowers battery life and slows the OS, while all the extra bits to provide the extra functionality is quite fragile.

If you can afford a phone AND a GPS AND a PDA AND a shirt with a big enough pocket to fit it all, then what you have described is the way to go!
 
Ivan... said:
I know quite a few people who have started using old phones (Nokia 3210, 6210, etc) because they use up faaar less battery power.

Buuut I kinda like taking the internet/emails/pornography in divx format with me wherever I go..
Click to expand...
Hahahaha!! :D
 
Ivan... said:
I know quite a few people who have started using old phones (Nokia 3210, 6210, etc) because they use up faaar less battery power.

Buuut I kinda like taking the internet/emails/pornography in divx format with me wherever I go..
Click to expand...

ROFLMFAO!
 
sn3rd said:
This is actually very true. Most phones these days (all the really trendy ones, at least), have terrible battery life (compared to the trendy phones of days of old), are super fragile and are very slow!

One might argue that they are like this BECAUSE of all the added features; i.e. running extra features lowers battery life and slows the OS, while all the extra bits to provide the extra functionality is quite fragile.

If you can afford a phone AND a GPS AND a PDA AND a shirt with a big enough pocket to fit it all, then what you have described is the way to go!
Click to expand...

I had a Nokia 5110 and the battery life on that was shocking too, so not sure about claims of all phone's of old having good battery life. I think our memories fail us. When these phones came out less than a day of battery time was standard on top of having no features and a terrible LCD display in today's terms!

I also often hear the argument of why bother having a 5mp camera phone when you have a 7mp digital camera? But how often do I have both with me when that perfect shot comes along... like that hottie you have been perving at for weeks slips into her bikini at a work function!! :) Also how often do you have a mini radio with you when you are at the live cricket and want to listen to the commentary? Or when you have been given directions somewhere and you end up getting horribly lost and wished you had a GPS at hand? Or how about when you are in a remote part of the country and a client asks you to please email them a document you have in your briefcase, how useful will something like comobo be then? I bet that all in one cell phone will come in handy then.

Yes, talk times are low but then should you really be using a cell phone as your principal communication device in business? Financially the answer should be no due to the costs of these calls. The idea is that you can be contacted in an emergency and can make a call if required.

I am all for the all in one cellphone... sorry hand held device! :)
 
LancelotSA said:
I had a Nokia 5110 and the battery life on that was shocking too, so not sure about claims of all phone's of old having good battery life. I think our memories fail us. When these phones came out less than a day of battery time was standard on top of having no features and a terrible LCD display in today's terms!

I also often hear the argument of why bother having a 5mp camera phone when you have a 7mp digital camera? But how often do I have both with me when that perfect shot comes along... like that hottie you have been perving at for weeks slips into her bikini at a work function!! :) Also how often do you have a mini radio with you when you are at the live cricket and want to listen to the commentary? Or when you have been given directions somewhere and you end up getting horribly lost and wished you had a GPS at hand? Or how about when you are in a remote part of the country and a client asks you to please email them a document you have in your briefcase, how useful will something like comobo be then? I bet that all in one cell phone will come in handy then.

Yes, talk times are low but then should you really be using a cell phone as your principal communication device in business? Financially the answer should be no due to the costs of these calls. The idea is that you can be contacted in an emergency and can make a call if required.

I am all for the all in one cellphone... sorry hand held device! :)
Click to expand...

Very good points, except that my Nokia 5110 (the one with the changeable covers, right?) gave me pretty decent standby: minimum 7 days.

But the arguments for the cellphone as a communicator are valid too.

One thing I will say, is that in this day and age, as long as the battery lasts me a full day of heavy use, I'm satisfied. The reason being that I can charge it at night and it's not a real effort to do so. I think the problem is that there have been very few advances in cellphone battery technology in the last few years, while cellphones have been receiving numerous feature upgrades.

Don't get me wrong, I love my all-in-one, but I sympathise with Kompete. I know how difficult it is to find a phone that fits all your needs. 99.9% of the time, you have to make a compromise and sacrifice one or two features that you would have wanted, and in this case, Kompete has prioritised what he needs and put that ahead of multimedia/connectivity.
 
woot for the "good old phones".

could go to war with those and it will outlast most op the people :p
 
sn3rd said:
Don't get me wrong, I love my all-in-one, but I sympathise with Kompete. I know how difficult it is to find a phone that fits all your needs. 99.9% of the time, you have to make a compromise and sacrifice one or two features that you would have wanted, and in this case, Kompete has prioritised what he needs and put that ahead of multimedia/connectivity.
Click to expand...

Yes, its been a painful choice...and I am forever drooling over the latest HTC, but jislaaik I just have to think back at the number of dropped calls, unresponsiveness, blank screens, hanging apps, etc etc... then all my pains are gone.

I am just sick and tired of phone manufacturers prioritising the number of functions on a phone above all things, including quality, longevity and reliability. There seems to be a complete disconnect between hardware and software engineers; no wonder NASA still uses the old and trusted 386 cpu's and DOS on the Mars rovers and certain satellites
 
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