I fucking HATE cell phones!!

[Sleazer]

I have 37.2 gig on my iPod but need to add more CDs to my iTunes.

[anarky]

I'm debating just canceling mine. I can't for a few months without getting reamed, but I can't stand the damn thing. I still can't convince people to not call for worthless shit, and, if I don't answer because I know something is worthless, I get an earful. ("Don't you ever pick up your phone?" "No, I generally leave it on the other side of the building and ignore it when it rings. I figure if it's important, you'll leave a message.")

I'd like to find a diplomatic way to cancel Mrs A's. She talks to her fucking mom more than she does to me now. I can actually be in mid-conversation with her, and she suddenly dials her mom or sister without me seeing, and I don't notice until suddenly she's talking to someone else.

I just don't need to have everyone think I'm at their beck and call. It's damned irritating.

[vynsane]

She talks to her fucking mom more than she does to me now. I can actually be in mid-conversation with her, and she suddenly dials her mom or sister without me seeing, and I don't notice until suddenly she's talking to someone else.

oh, shit... i would NOT stand for that...

[anarky]

Okay, she hasn't done that in a while.

We got new phones today. New "dumb phones." We also added a line (long story short, her mom needs cell service and had it through her sister, but she doesn't pay the bill sometimes, so the phone is cut off, leaving her mom without a phone for several days).

I log on to the account info online (via the computer) and notice a few things screwy. First, all the features for the new phone are listed differently in the profile. I have to manually check and make sure things like "unlimited nights and weekends" and "free mobile-to-mobile" are included. Somehow, the block on all messaging and downloads on my phone (but not my wife's) has been removed. I knew I was going to have to call tomorrow to get shit blocked on the new phone (because her mom won't know how to use it, anyway, and folks might text her without her even having any idea how to check them), but now I've got to get it blocked on mine. Plus, the phones have a new (and shitty, judging from reviews) GPS that can easily be activated on accident, which we have to block via a phone call as well, since they don't let you block much online.

We'd blocked everything a while ago. And then found out the first rep had only blocked it on my phone when we got billed for an Eminem download on her phone. The service rep I talked to wanted to argue that we had, indeed, downloaded it, despite it not being on the phone nor the phone having any record of having downloaded anything, but was willing to remove the charge "just this once" and put the block on her phone as well.

But I noticed a mysterious 11KB "data transfer" on her phone this billing cycle, which gives me no details whatsoever. This is frustrating.

[jjreason]

Cell phones are the devil. I don't feel comfortable with Jodi not having one for emergencies, but it's horrible & may or may not work as intended under the pressure of such a situation. The good news is it's "pay as you go", meaning we spend less than having a good phone. I'm humming and hawing over upgrading the hardware to something more dependable, but I'm not even sure if we could get her simcard to work in another company's phone or not.

[anarky]

We went with Verizon because pretty much all of both families have them, so it's free to call. When things are going well, great. But it's a pain in the butt to fix them.

I called this morning, and got the text block put on the new phone and reinstated on my phone. Turns out, data block had been removed from my wife's phone. We suspect it's when the dude at Costco tried to import our contacts before finding out the old phones were so old that the software was incompatible. So the data block got put back onto that one. But I log in their site to verify, and text block has been removed from her phone now! (We really both suspect that total text blocks are so rare that even the CSR's don't know that doing other things, like adding a block for picture messages, removes it.) So I have to call again and get that put on. Wack.

Why do we have a text block? Because I object to being charged $0.20 per text message received. I put a stamp on a letter when I send it; the recipient doesn't have to put a stamp on it when they receive it as well. It's double-dipping in a form that would shock Hasbro. Some folks we know simply couldn't get "we don't like getting charged a quarter because you want to send the word 'hey.'" And, given the basic characteristics of plain text and the character limit, a text message would be measured in the very low kilobytes at most; even a second of speech would dwarf a text in terms of size and bandwidth usage, so why aren't they free to begin with?

Even if they just stopped charging for the received ones, I could live with it. I wouldn't mind having it, but I just don't like paying for things I don't use. I'm thinking something ideal would be along the lines of "received messages free, sent messages $0.10." Even $0.20 for just sent messages, I could live with.

I always feel weird--I consider myself rather tech-savvy, but I like my phone simple. Even with the internet, it's a waste. Sure, it's cool. I won't deny that at all. But if I'm somewhere for more than a few hours, I have my laptop. Starbucks and McDonald's, along with several other companies, offer free wi-fi. If I absolutely have to check something online, free beats the insane $1.99/MB rates the cell phone carriers charge. I rather like not being connected at times.

[Rollo Tomassi]

My sister sends me those uber short texts, and they show up in my messaging list, I can tell they're short and just delete them, having got the gist of her short text by reading the first couple of words. Deleting it "unread" saves me from having that as one of my 500 monthly texts sent or received.

[anarky]

Who's your carrier? I've been told by Verizon that our received texts count even if they're not opened.

And, since you responded, it reminded me to mention that there are situations where texting would be handy--like the crowded floor of Comic-Con.

[jjreason]

(some smart alecky comment about Chux texting "faster, more intense" to rollo, who's banging him in the bum, and rollo deleting it unread so it doesn't count toward his monthly bill)

[Snigtad Flornbi]

MY UNKLE , NOT RODGER BUT ANTHENEY, TEXTED HIS DING DONG 2 A LADY. SHE OPEND IT + THEIR WAS HIS DICK RIGHT IN HER MAUTH. HE GOT A SPANKING. SOME DUED NAMED BARNY FRANKLIN SPANKED HIM WITH HIS NUTZ.

[anarky]

For Christmas, I gave my wife the present of unlimited texting, including photo messages. I must admit, this is somewhat handy. Thankfully, all the people who texted us all the fucking time way back when still think we don't have it (not that it matters, since we wouldn't be charged).

Anywho, she wants new phones. The old ones do have a pretty annoying habit of taking (and saving) multiple pictures when in a pocket or purse because of the bad design of the camera button. Other than that, they work pretty well. She just wants GPS (not sure why, because I do practically all the driving). I suspect she wants to play Candy Crush all the damn time, but have no evidence. I've agreed to go ahead and get new ones (or at least one new one; I really don't see an actual need for any of it and am more worried I'd wind up wasting time like all the brain-dead morons I see everywhere who can't even walk a straight line because they're playing with the phones... but the difference between adding data for one phone and two is almost negligible) because she otherwise wants a new compact digital camera and I figure this kills two birds with one stone (and gets better photos).

So, um, any recommendations? I'm not big on having a super top of the line phone that I have to replace ever time the manufacturer releases a new color or some bullshit. And, though she's not too concerned one way or the other, I'm not at all a fan of the iPhone since I firmly believe everything non-computer that Apple has released since the old model iPod is flashy, overpriced shit that doesn't live up to the hype. Not too keen on a Windows phone either, to be honest. I'm looking for the best I can get for a reasonable price (fuck that $300 noise; I've already got to pay out the nose for the fucking data plan).

Any thoughts on IOS (yeah, I could possibly maybe be almost convinced that Apple isn't all bullshit), Windows, Android, or Blackberry. (I've got to say, the Blackberry Z10 looks pretty promising, especially since it's a penny at Costco, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit concerned about Blackberry's potential longevity overall.)

[Tom Foolery]

I upgraded from my Blackberry to an iphone4 about 3 years ago. I realize that's about 15 upgrades behind the curve, but it's never given me problems.
I think I like the fact that the OS and the hardware are the same company.
Whenever my computer would futz, the computer hotline would blame the software and/or Internet provider. The software hotline would blame the hardware and or service provider. And the Internet hotline would blame the computer and OS guys. It'd be like a hot potato, but the only thing they were absolutely sure of was that it wasn't THEIR fault.
But that's moot since I've never had a problem with my apple product. Other than the fact starving Chinese babies built it.

[vynsane]

i'm very satisfied with my Droid Bionic - it's one of the motorola droid phones. i don't know if they even sell it anymore, i got mine for $10 with a new 2-year contract like a year ago. i think one of the Droid RAZR models is now a special offer discount.

having both the bionic and an ipad (through work) i have to say i like the customizability better on android than iOS. there are complete 'home' replacement apps that's like a completely different desktop environment. i use Holo Launcher but am thinking of switching to Smart Launcher. the beauty is i have both installed and can switch back and forth as i please. in fact i think i have five different launchers installed, but those are the front-runners for me.

oh, also, the policies regarding apps is not nearly as draconian on android, and there are multiple sources.

EDIT: all that said, i'm really intrigued by Firefox OS and hope to see it come to our market - they're starting out in emerging markets.

[anarky]

Based on what you've said and speaking with a good friend who used to sell smartphones, I'm heavily leaning toward the RAZR M. (Nothing against your opinion, Foolery, as I value the input as much as I would that from anyone here except for Bizarro the Grin, because I really don't want to wind up with a phone that doesn't even make calls but tries to sodomize me every night, but I've had one person who knows all the OS's bash the iPhone, a Mac guy here who prefers Android, and I haven't been super impressed with other peoples' iPhones when I've used them.)

I particularly like the open source nature and the lack of Apple dictating what apps I can and can't use.

[vynsane]

honestly, i'm no apple fanboy, i just enjoy technology that works well. mac OS works better than windows. the same can not be said for iOS vs. android. the funny thing is how the tables have turned - apple, once the upstart, is now the lumbering giant who forces their browser on everyone, even MORE restrictively than when microsoft was sued for antitrust. you could still install a different browser on windows 95, but it came bundled with IE5. you can't even install a different browser on iOS! oh, wait, you say you have google chrome installed, do you? think again, it's just safari rebranded by google that's designed to use google's products!

to expand on my "websites shouldn't be apps and apps shouldn't be websites" comment on the facebox, most websites don't DO things, they just ARE. it's mainly pages and pages of information that requires little to no user interaction other than navigating from here to there. if there is a specific function of the site that requires a lot of user interaction, that could be viewed as a candidate for an app, since it's easier to repackage/rebrand a subset of the over-all functionality into a lightweight app that uses the native device architecture/framework for its heavy lifting. obviously things like twitter and facebook are all about user interaction, so they have native apps that do almost everything their websites do. the apps in this instance will be a little faster and a little more 'slick' because they're using the full extent of the device's capabilities. via a web browser they can only do what the browser allows.

that said, as HTML5 gains momentum we'll see a lot more browser capabilities, and that's what Firefox OS is banking on - they won't have a proprietary framework, they're basing everything on HTML5 web apps, which are essentially websites that do specific things the same way a natively installed app would. the lines get blurry here and it becomes a semantics game. but think of it this way - google.com is a web site, docs.google.com is a web app. i would consider dropbox a web app. office365 is a web app.