I have a common Sony cellphone. I use a bluetooth earpiece so I can talk on my phone while driving.

I am interested in using my phone to talk. Make and recieve phone conversation.

I like that the phone has memory and saves names and numbers.

I don't like that it has a stupid color graphic display that you can't see in the sun.

I don't like that it has hundreds of functions that I am not interested in using.

I don't like that they use a bunch of stupid little icons that an non-intuitive.

I don't like that you almost have to turn yourself into a techno-freak to figure out all these thing about your phone only to discover that they are functions you don't even want.


So, my ideal phone would be one that has a black faced display with white letters, (or black on white,) so that you could read it in the sun.

English, not icons.

Allows you to make phone calls.

Allows you to receive phone calls.

A wireless earpiece so it can be used while your hands are otherwise occupied.

Allows you to keep a phonebook of names and phone numbers.

Has an understandable keypad with a clearly marked space key and delete key.

No freaking games, internet, email, camera or any of the other frilly stuff.

So, my question is, am I just strange or does everyone else use all the superficial funcions of their phones?

 

you and I want the same phone

 

as far as the phone company's are concerned, a cell phone that only makes and receives calls is useless, cause they can not make any money off the extras it don't have.

the last phone i got, the salesman asked me what i wanted. i looked at him, and said" duh, a phone"
he started spouting all the crap each phone had. text, web, music, navigation, blah,blah,blah.

i said "i want a phone. you know, it goes ring, ring, i open it and say hello?? and talk to people on it. if i want to go on the internet, i will go home and turn my computer on."

for some reason, the salesman got real pissey with me.

 

Cell phones are like vehicles, you can get one loaded or one stripped. All cell phone companies offer basic, no-frill phones. Get one and be happy................

 

i like the same fone.

my wife and i use the fone for one thing, talking, nothing else. my wife uses it also to send an sms overseas to her family every other day to stay in touch.

as far as the fancy doodads, i could care less.

but, the companies being such great marketers as they are (which i can't blame them) they have marketed to the most wasteful group out there, teenagers and early 20 somethings. they turned a cell fone into a must have fad with a level of competition on who has the most useless features.

but it is still the adult parents who buy the crap for them.

i got a simple nokia prepaid, costs me $30. it works great.

 

Sorry Buck, but the answer to that is "Not around here they don't."

 

i have never seen a basic cell fone, not at least since the motorola i had in 1995. even the cheap one i have now has little icons, a color screen, games, this and that, internet hook up and probably a host of other things i have not looked at or care about.

 

I've been wondering for a while now bf250...Why do you always spell phone fone???

Tim

 

I used to have a plain Nokia cell phone (my first one) where the screen was black and white (not color, but sort of like a digital watch), and had a phone book where you could store numbers, made/received calls, and had the Snake game on it. That was pretty much it.

A few years ago I switched providers a [nd had to switch phones too, those bastages, so I ended up with an LG (life is good?) phone that is thankfully just what you describe, and what I also want in a phone. I don't want a camera or internet or email or games or videos or pictures or a million menus.

I can't find the model number on mine, but I'll describe it for you. It's a flip open phone with a fixed antenna. It has a Send, End, and Clear buttons, plus the keypad and a little "D-pad" to move around the menu. It has a contacts list to store names/phone numbers, has an alarm feature that I use every day to wake up by, text messaging capable, calculator, notepad and voice memo and calendar the three of which I rarely if every use).

Maybe you can look around the LG site for this type... but trust me, it's out there. I just use mine to make/receive calls, text once in a while, calculator to figure my mileage when I fill up, alarm clock, and store phone numbers. Oh, and you can plug in an ear piece if you like... I just use the built-in speaker phone which works well if I don't want to hold the thing up to my head. I hate cell phones, because I don't like to be on a leash, but they can be convenient.

edit - F350 6 makes a great point... the buttons on mine are thankfully spaced enough that I rarely hit the wrong key. I've handled other people's phones and they're so small that I have to hold them in my finger tips and feel like I'll drop them easily. Mine also has an actual RING sound that's quite piercingly loud so I can hear it well. Can't stand the cheezy little ringtones and junk on most phones nowadays.

 

As long as you're designing a phone, what about having buttons big enough and far enough apart you can push them without fear of hitting the number next to it.

I also like a ringer that sounds like a phone, but my daughter downloaded a ring tone for me that fixed that problem.

 

there is a very easy way to get off that leash.
if i go into a store, doctors office, house, deli, diner, or any place i don't want to hear a phone ringing, i leave it in the truck.
if someone calls and i miss it, the phone will tell me when i come out.

i screen my calls anyway, and most of the time do not answer it even if it does ring. i will look to see who is calling, and unless it is my doctor, or my 80+year old parents, i don't answer the phone . and i don't answer it at all if i am driving.

 

Oh I definitely do that, most of the time in fact. Going into a restaurant, movie, church, etc... it stays in the truck. I tend to only carry it in somewhere if I think I'll need to call someone. If someone calls and I don't have the phone on me at the time... they know I'll get back to them eventually.

Still, I don't even like having it there in the truck when I get back, where it might say missed call. Some days I feel like canceling the thing and getting rid of it, because any of the normal calls I make or receive could all be handled other ways, be it in person or from land lines, email, etc. What really keeps me having one is for the rare chance that I might break down or get lost or something like that. Handy in those situations.

And I'll tell you what bugs me the most about cell phones, is when people walk around with their little bluetooth things plugged into their ears, like a Borg implant. They look like cyborgs walking around talking to themselves, in their own little worlds, sort of oblivious. I guess most people talking on the phone while they drive are like that anyway, but these are just funnier since it seems like they're having animated conversations with themselves, until they turn their heads and you see their implant.

 

The bluetooth thing is good for me.

My left ear is completely deaf. Zero hearing. So I have to hold the phone to my right ear only, and I am right handed. So if I want to write and talk it gets very tiresome and uncomfortable holding the phone to my right ear with my left hand and trying to write. If you watch, people commonly switch their phone position quite often simply for reasons of comfort.

Also it is common for me to get calls while I'm driving and so the bluetooth "implant" allows hands free and comfortable phone use that I wouldn't otherwise have.

I'm not anti-technology, I'm just anti-unnecessary. What's unnecessary for me may be necessary for others and I was just trying to find out how others feel about all those extra functions on phones.

So that "implant" has been a great thing for me and somewhat necessary.

 

habit from the Navy, messages are short as possible so when referencing a "phone" call, you just type fone instead.

its only on here or other non formal typing occasions i do it. i don't even think about it doing it, i also have a strange way of typing due to how the equipment was laid out.

 

My Motorola V262 is used as a regular phone. It does have a colour screen. But it doesn't have a camera. It is pretty slick though. Not the top of the line by any means, a far cry from a RAZR. It has a calendar, alarm clock, voice dialing, voice memo, speaker phone, and a plug in for a corded earpiece. And the contact list. Very user friendly.

My wife has a Palm Treo 700. Camera, mp3 player, email, internet, picture messaging, speaker phone, a whole bunch of stuff. Windows based too. And it can charge through a USB port.