The Growing and Shrinking and Growing of Cell Phones

[Ben]

Short pictorial of cell phones over the years. I thought it kinda funny based on my own experiences. As a teenager I remember my sister's ex-husband, who considered himself a player in the business world, with one of the DynaTAC car phones in his Mercedes. I also remember not a lot of calls went through. My first cell phone was the MicroTAC. After that, the race was on for "smallest cell phone". A former boss kept trading his in everytime a smaller one came out until he hit the wall with one of the Motorolas (can't remember the model) that was so small, he spent 70% of his time misdialing or not being able to hit whatever menu key he needed. That's around the time flip phones started going from trying to be smallest overall, to a little bigger, but thinnest.

And now of course I carry a phone with a nearly 5" screen on it and a bajllion features. Funny, just the other day I was getting pissed off at an app and thinking to myself that maybe I wouldn't mind to going back to whatever flip phone I had right before smart phones came out. Wonder if we'll see any slide of people going back to "just plain phone" like we've seen with big to small to big again? Might depend on what they do with tablets. If I had a flexible tablet that I could roll up or fold up, I'd consider carrying that around for the bigger screen for app use and be happy with a small, ruggedized just plain phone.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/slideshow/2013/04/18/supersize-me-how-cell-phones-went-from-giant-to-tiny-to-giant-again/?intcmp=features#slide=1

[mtnbkr]

Frankly, I prefer an older style flip or bar phone for making phone calls.  My HTC smartphone's voice clarity sucks and the form factor makes it difficult to align the "earpiece" with my ear.  A bluetooth earpiece makes things better, but it's yet another piece of kit to carry around. 

If not for needing it as a work phone, I wouldn't have it and would rely on my flipphone and a PDA (Ipod Touch) or smaller tablet instead.  There's enough free wifi out there to not *need* 24/7 4g connectivity.

That said, I do appreciate the apps and internet connectivity, I just can't stand the form factor when used as a phone.

Chris

[AZRedhawk44]

My first was a Nokia 5110 as pictured in that article.

Extra thickness in the handset makes it easier to cradle the phone with my hand and hold it next to my ear, but it's a PITA when in a pocket or belt holster.  I have a bluetooth dongle at home that charges all the time and when a longer conversation seems to be happening, I go grab it real quick and sync it to the phone mid-conversation.  No one seems to notice I do that, pretty seamless.

[Ben]

That said, I do appreciate the apps and internet connectivity, I just can't stand the form factor when used as a phone.

Chris

I'm right there with ya. I didn't get a smart phone until well after they were out because I just didn't (don't) like making calls off a mini-tablet. It's just not ergonomic to me, and yeah, a regular cell seems much better for calls. Work issue smart phones are iPhones that are so locked down they are pretty much dumb phones, so I have kept my work flip phone and usually forward it to my personal EVO so I have one less phone to carry. But if I have to be on a long cell call, I much prefer the flip phone for clarity and ease of holding it to my ear.

That said, the smart phone, besides practically being a necessity with my work expecting me to be email accessible all the freakin' time, does come in handy for quick nav chores or looking things up. In retirement though, I might be more inclined to the option I mentioned in my first post - some type of very portable tablet when they come out, and a small dumb phone.

[mtnbkr]

I have a bluetooth dongle at home that charges all the time and when a longer conversation seems to be happening, I go grab it real quick and sync it to the phone mid-conversation.  No one seems to notice I do that, pretty seamless.

I do that frequently as well.  If I'm not on the phone a lot, I don't have my earpiece in, but if I get a call and it looks like it's going to be a while, I'll switch over.  Nobody notices.

I still have my dumbphone, but it forwards to my work phone. 

I need my company phone mainly for email and international calls.  I'm not paying for an international calling plan for my private phone, even if I can expense it, when I can get a "free" work phone that allows those calls.

Chris

[Perd Hapley]

Frankly, I prefer an older style flip or bar phone for making phone calls.  My HTC smartphone's voice clarity sucks and the form factor makes it difficult to align the "earpiece" with my ear.  A bluetooth earpiece makes things better, but it's yet another piece of kit to carry around. 

If not for needing it as a work phone, I wouldn't have it and would rely on my flipphone and a PDA (Ipod Touch) or smaller tablet instead.  There's enough free wifi out there to not *need* 24/7 4g connectivity.

That said, I do appreciate the apps and internet connectivity, I just can't stand the form factor when used as a phone.

Chris

The problem isn't the form factor. It's that necessary evil we refer to as a "phone call." If you can get people to quit calling you, you can use your phone for more enjoyable tasks.

[Tallpine]

We're still using the cheap pre-paid phone that we got about six years ago. 

It doesn't work at home, so we only use it in town or for travel.  Keep having to add minutes every few months so it gets really stacked up, then when I'm on a business trip I use up most of the minutes calling home.

I hate the home phones bad enough.  Don't care to be bothered elsewhere, so it's mostly turned off unless I want to make a call.

[Boomhauer]

The problem isn't the form factor. It's that necessary evil we refer to as a "phone call." If you can get people to quit calling you, you can use your phone for more enjoyable tasks.

Indeed. I dont tolerate bullshit phone calls so people dont bother me. Its nice

[K Frame]

"the form factor makes it difficult to align the "earpiece" with my ear."

That's something that I've had problems with with my Droid.

My friend Dave has problems with keeping it aligned with his mouth. I'll be talking with him, and his voice keeps getting fainter and fainter as he swivels it farther and farther around.




"Nobody notices."

Uhm... Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Mr. talking to me from the bottom of a shallow well in the middle of the interstate...

[mtnbkr]

Indeed. I dont tolerate bullshit phone calls so people dont bother me. Its nice

Phone calls probably aren't a common occurrence when your entire extended family live in the same hollar or trailer park.  

For the rest of us, when the phone calls become bothersome, there's always the option to ignore the incoming call.

Chris

[Hawkmoon]

What is this "cell phone" of which you speak?

[MechAg94]

I've found that when I have to use my cell phone for a long conference call, plain old wired earbuds for an mp3 player work much better than a speaker phone.  I still need to talk into it, but I can hear much better. 

I have a gallaxy II I got for my home phone when I got rid of the land line.  I don't think I installed anything on it beyond email. 

[HForrest]

I'm glad to see many of you share my reservations about making phone calls with one of these newfangled touchscreen devices the kids are all using. I'm 100% devoted to the concept of a traditional phone. I'm happy to have a pocket touchscreen device to do other things, such as data communication, web browsing, music storage, etc. But I need a real phone so I can call people when I'm focused on something else like driving. With actual buttons that give tactile feedback, I can dial and make a call without really taking my eyes off the road or what I'm doing. It's really a pain in the ass and dangerous to try to use one of these smartphones while you're driving a car, IME.

I can't be having to gracefully slide some bar or draw a connect-the-dots puzzle every time I want to do a simple task- the clamshell flip phone design just makes so much more sense for almost everything I use a phone for, but I guess that speaks to my old age (23). I come from a simpler, more quaint time when text messages were short and to the point, and were used for situations where phone calls were not practical. Not for everyday conversation like the kids do these days.

My first was a Nokia 5110 as pictured in that article.

Yes, I quite fondly remember my Nokia 5190 (variant of the 5110), so much so that I use a picture of one as my internet avatar these days. I do prefer flip phones or else I'd probably still be using a 5190. The durability of those things was incredible and long lost in today's consumer electronics.  

[Gewehr98]

One of my co-workers has a Samsung Galaxy Note, which I call a face tablet.

We bought him one of these, because it looked so funny having him plaster that tablet to the side of his skull each time he received a call:

[MillCreek]

Due to HIPAA requirements, all of our smartphones were recently encrypted.  Now I have to enter a 4 digit passcode to unencrypt the phone, and another 4 digit passcode (a different code) to actually open and use the phone.  No more pattern lock to unlock the phone.  The phone only rings four times before going to voice mail, so sometimes I cannot get things open in time to answer it.  But our patient's privacy is secure if a smartphone gets stolen!

[Fitz]

What MDM software and encryption are you using?

App wrapping for the app in question, I presume?

[freakazoid]

One of my co-workers has a Samsung Galaxy Note, which I call a face tablet.

We bought him one of these, because it looked so funny having him plaster that tablet to the side of his skull each time he received a call:

I must know where you can get that!

[TechMan]

Here is another good add on for your smart phone:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/edd5/?srp=14





or go really retro
http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/f286/

[TechMan]

I must know where you can get that!

They have Black, Blue, Green, Pink, Red and Purple.

http://www.amazon.com/Native-Union-MM01HMoshi-Handset-Blackberry/dp/B003DKL4KE

[SteveS]

Yes, I quite fondly remember my Nokia 5190 (variant of the 5110), so much so that I use a picture of one as my internet avatar these days. I do prefer flip phones or else I'd probably still be using a 5190. The durability of those things was incredible and long lost in today's consumer electronics.  

I found my Nokia 5110 when I was going through a box of junk from the basement.  My 10 year old wants a cell phone.  I am thinking of giving this to her to use.

[lupinus]

I hate some of the larger phones. The newer Galaxy S4 is a perfect example of this, the size of that thing thing is asinine.

It's one of the reasons my next phone just might be an ipone. Seems like all of the better android phones are getting insane, while the iphone maintains a reasonable size with features that are all about on par.

[230RN]

http://www.mccscouting.org/Portals/0/Images/Apache/SmokeSignals3.jpg
http://www.copper.org/consumers/copperhome/HomePlan/images/smoke_puffs.jpg

[BlueStarLizzard]

I tend to take advantage of speaker phone more on my Droid then I did with my flip phone, but either phone, my cheekbone hits the phone when I talk and I end up beeping to whoever I'm talking too.
The only thing that really bothers me is unlocking the screen to answer a call when driving. I don't make calls when driving, period, so not being able to feel the buttons isn't as much a factor.
On the plus side, the only person that regularly calls and wants to chat is my one boss, so it's not an issue most the time.

[Perd Hapley]

What is with phones requiring one to unlock a screen, to answer an incoming call? My Motoral Droid only requires me to press the "Answer" button.

[230RN]

It's a prgramming bug feature.