Techonology is great...

[beavereater]

Yesterday, I made a new purchase, a new cell phone.

http://foma.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/term/900i/p/index.html

There are some perks to living in this country!!!

[gmatov]

Wow, we've been buying cellphones here for years. Hell, they even give them away, if you sign up for a 1 or 2 year contract.

Razor and blade, here, new adopter, there.

And, just because you can wave it at a can of beans and read the nutrition lable, doesn't mean the damn thing will work when you need it.

Make the SOBs work everywhere, then try to sell me a new one.

How's your girl? Any better news?

Cheers,

George

[beavereater]

They are pretty good with cell phones here in Japan. It's more like an accessory than anything else. My phone does video conferencing and stuff...and because it's a little chip that holds all the data I can just switch between my old and new phone when I want. My old phone takes video whichs is pretty cool.

As for my girl, she's left work for a while and gonna relax. Things seem to be a bit better. Hopefully things can get cleared up in the next little while.

[Hardcoreruss]

What on earth would you want a bloody bar code reader for ?

[Craig Tucker]

What on earth would you want a bloody bar code reader for ?

Shopping in Tescos ?

Presumably you can use the phone to scan all your items which will then retrieve the prices online and add up the bill as you go. Just guessing here.

[Hardcoreruss]

What on earth would you want a bloody bar code reader for ?

Shopping in Tescos ?

Presumably you can use the phone to scan all your items which will then retrieve the prices online and add up the bill as you go. Just guessing here.

Sounds sensible, your probably right.

[Cobra]

It would need to be linked into Tesco's stock control system. A barcode is a reference for the till or a handheld computer (watch the staff next time you're shopping and you'll see them) to retrieve a record from a database about a particular product. Barcodes aren't universal, and don't in themselves code about the product.

Still, that's a damn fine idea. Why don't the supermarkets try to introduce a little technology into shopping?

Waitrose already have a system when customers use these handheld guns to go round the store, scanning everything they put into the trolley. They reach the end, pay into the card reader and leave. Apparently, it's done on trust, but they check one in ten people or so. I imagine it's easy for people to "miss" the code on a bottle of whisky...

Cobra

[Hardcoreruss]

If that was done my way there would be a trolley full of scotch covered up in 10p bags of crisps.

[Will Hay]

Am I losing my mind?
Where did the bar code thoughts come from?
Will

[bugster]

I got myself one of these

[Will Hay]

I never understood the fascination and urgency to have the latest mobile phone.
Will

[Craig Tucker]

I never understood the fascination and urgency to have the latest mobile phone.
Will

I have a Sony Ericsson P900 and the PDA functionality of the phone is extremely usefull, saves me having to carry a diary around with me.

[Craig Tucker]

Am I losing my mind?
Where did the bar code thoughts come from?
Will

In the specs of beavereater original link.

[Conquest10]

New Rule: I don't care that your phone takes pictures. It's a phone, not a Swiss Army knife.

[pacmania_2001]

Like I say to my friends, your phone may have all these games and be able to record videos but I can still make calls and send text messages plus I saved $400 bucks over yours.

If you want to look at a cell phone/mobile phone crazy nation just look at Australia. Every man and his dog has one and is constantly using it. I believe Australia has the second highest uptake of mobiles in the world behind Norway or Sweden (one of them???).

Just sit in on one of my uni classes, you constantly hear them going off and you know its just some stupid 17 y/o girl getting a message from her friend across the room about where they are going shopping later that day. I have multiple friends that will regularly get bills of $100/month and upwards because they are addicted to their phones despite not having a single good reason for owning one.

[Capmaster]

Like I say to my friends, your phone may have all these games and be able to record videos but I can still make calls and send text messages plus I saved $400 bucks over yours.

If you want to look at a cell phone/mobile phone crazy nation just look at Australia. Every man and his dog has one and is constantly using it. I believe Australia has the second highest uptake of mobiles in the world behind Norway or Sweden (one of them???).

Just sit in on one of my uni classes, you constantly hear them going off and you know its just some stupid 17 y/o girl getting a message from her friend across the room about where they are going shopping later that day. I have multiple friends that will regularly get bills of $100/month and upwards because they are addicted to their phones despite not having a single good reason for owning one.

When cell phones were just taking off I used to get amused by these folks who would be talking while they're driving, or wandering down a supermarket aisle with a phone stuck to their ear. My theory: they were listening to "correct time and temp" or a busy signal from their own number and were just pretending to talk business so people around them would think they're important and indispensible :P I always wanted to snatch one out of their hand and listen to see if I was right

[gmatov]

Has my comment gone over all youe heads?

You don't needa barcode reader, well, maybe it would be nice at Tesco's, whatever the hell that is, you need a phone that works, as a phone.

Forget the gimmicks, if you can't make a call, or it drops calls, or it sounds like talking in a tunnel, it's a piece of shit.

Make the phones work, or expand the system so you can use the phone anywhere, before you perfect the camera function, or the PDA function.

My own Motorola, with Nextel service dies 100 feet from my house and stays dead for 2 miles North, and 1/2 mile South.

It dies for good at 60 miles north of me and is useless for the next 100 miles. Throw it in the glovebox, sure not going to use it, 911 call or anything else.

Patch the system, and get everybody on the same page. Make the friggin' phones work, then put on all the frills you want.

Can you hear me now?

Cheers,

George

[bugster]

Has my comment gone over all youe heads?

You don't needa barcode reader, well, maybe it would be nice at Tesco's, whatever the hell that is, you need a phone that works, as a phone.


George

It is not the phones that are your problem, its the network. This is one are where Europe is ahead of the US. Mobile phone coverage is excellent in most of europe even out of town. Sure there are dead spots but all networks use the same standard (GSM) and I can take my phone anywhere in Europe and it will work fine. The US has a number of different network types that don't inter operate well if at all and makes roaming between different networks difficult and in some cases impossible.

Moan to your network service providers, not the handset manufacturers.

[Capmaster]

It is not the phones that are your problem, its the network. This is one are where Europe is ahead of the US. Mobile phone coverage is excellent in most of europe even out of town.

Things are way, way closer together there too. We have lots of space in the US where there is just no coverage whatsoever (northern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, etc.). It doesn't cost as much per person for the towers and infrastructure when you have that many people shoved together.

[bugster]

Things are way, way closer together there too. We have lots of space in the US where there is just no coverage whatsoever (northern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, etc.). It doesn't cost as much per person for the towers and infrastructure when you have that many people shoved together.

Very true, but the fact that you often can't take your phone from one city to the next in the US because the local operators use different standards and technologies doesn't help the situation either!

[pacmania_2001]

Australia has a very good mobile phone network and it has the same remoteness in places that America has.

I think the key was our major telco is still 51% owned by the Australian government so to apease rural voters a good network has been put in place.

[bugster]

Australia has a very good mobile phone network and it has the same remoteness in places that America has.

I think the key was our major telco is still 51% owned by the Australian government so to apease rural voters a good network has been put in place.

Its also one standard all across Australia

[shoozleboy]

Very true, but the fact that you often can't take your phone from one city to the next in the US because the local operators use different standards and technologies doesn't help the situation either!

Not so. I travel from east to west coast and a lot of places north, south, and in between in the US and I have never found a city that my phone has not worked in.... There are so many freaking towers all over the place now that it's hard to be near a populated area and not have service no matter who your provider is. (I'm sure there are dead spots in the rural areas, at least that's what the 'coverage charts' from the carriers show)

At one point or another, I've had Cingular, Tracfone, Nextel, AT&T, and a couple of smaller, less well known carriers in the last 10 to 12 years... In that time, I've never found an area that my phone did not work in.

There may be different types of phone systems here, but either they have a way that they can cross over and utilize one another or there are so many towers up now that it doesn't matter.... who knows?

I like that Austrailia has better coverage in the rural areas, too bad that will never happen here in the US in my lifetime...

[Craig Tucker]

The main networks in the UK boast coverage for 99% of the UK population and approximately 90% of the land mass.

[Roundabout]

I just dumped my Sprint PCS service this week - had it since 1998. Where I live now, I'm in SoCal and the signal is weak in my area (60 mi. E. of Los Angeles). This is not a rural area, there's thousands of homes and businesses here, but the cell phone coverage is spotty. At my home, the signal is never over 2 bars, and calls were dropped like crazy. Have to go out to the middle of the street to make a call, unacceptable. Near the freeway, they have lots of cell towers, but just 3 or so miles away, the signal is so weak that it's virtually useless. I gave up and cancelled my service, but I'm keeping my Nokia 6185.

Apparently, you can make a 911 call regardless if you have service or not, so I'm leaving the phone in the car in case of emergency. At least I can contact someone, even without having service or paying any fees. That's the best thing about it - since I don't really need it anyway for anything except a real emergency. They give you thousands of minutes and charge $40.00 a month, when most people can't use that many minutes anyway. I'd rather pay $10 or $20 a month and have, say, 250 minutes to use. They don't have a plan like that - they'll give you 20 Minutes a month for $20.00 - too high and not worth it.

So the phone goes in the glovebox for emergencies and that's it. I'll better use the money for something more important than calling the wife at home and finding out when dinner's going to be ready.

[bugster]

There may be different types of phone systems here, but either they have a way that they can cross over and utilize one another or there are so many towers up now that it doesn't matter.... who knows?

It seems to me you have been lucky in your handset and carrier choice. You can get some multi-standard handsets.
Some of the standards in use in the USA.

GSM 900
GSM 1800
GSM 1900
GSM 800
TDMA
CDMA
CDMA 2000
D-TDMA
and others...

It appears that the various faklvours of GSM and CDMA 2000 are taking over and the others are dying out so the situation is improving.

you can make a 911 call regardless if you have service or not, so I'm leaving the phone in the car in case of emergency

If you are in a coverage are of course. No signal means no call no matter what you do!

[Capmaster]

Not so. I travel from east to west coast and a lot of places north, south, and in between in the US and I have never found a city that my phone has not worked in.... There are so many freaking towers all over the place now that it's hard to be near a populated area and not have service no matter who your provider is.

That's been my experience too, although I am using a multi-network phone. There seems to be lots of coverage in cities and along major highways here. It's just damned expensive to pay the roaming charges unless your plan includes it. I think my plan charges 65 cents a minute for roaming outside of my home area. On the other hand I get free domestic long distance so that's OK.

[shoozleboy]

I just dumped my Sprint PCS service this week

It sucks here in PA as well... I think that's their (Sprint) standard across the US.. I have a few coworkers that have it and hate it. They would dump it now if it wasn't for those 2 year service agreements they signed!



Yeah, when I have shopped for providers and equipment, I always ask about it's use in other regional areas across the US. I never know where I might be visiting next and the most important feature I can ask for is a phone that works when I turn it on! My wife uses Cingular and I actually use a Tracfone now... I have very little need for unlimited minutes. I use it as an initial contact mechanism and then make my calls from a business phone (when visiting our other facilities) or from the hotel... so my minutes requirement is less than 60 minutes a month... I'd go on with more detail, but then I would sound like a commercial... :P

[flaninacupboard]

do you have a pay as you talk or pay as you go system over there? basically pay for minutes/texts in advance with no monthly fee.

I'm on Orange at the minute but don't get great reception. i think i'll switch over to O2, housemate has great reception here.

[Capmaster]

do you have a pay as you talk or pay as you go system over there? basically pay for minutes/texts in advance with no monthly fee.

I'm on Orange at the minute but don't get great reception. i think i'll switch over to O2, housemate has great reception here.

We have pretty much everything depending on the provider. Some plans have varying monthly minutes - more money for more minutes. Some plans give you unlimited anytime minutes for a higher monthly fee. Some limit the free minutes to weekends and evenings and the fee is less. Then there's the plan I like to call the "teeny-bopper" plan - prepaid minutes. Once they run out you have to purchase extra minutes, kind of a "pay as you go" plan. It's far better than giving a 13-year-old the family cell phone. The extra charges if you go over the allotted monthly minutes is usually insanely expensive ...I've heard of $600 monthly wireless bills because the limit was exceeded. If you're wanting a phone only for emergencies there's an outfit that makes and sells these cheap cell phones with no extra features. We have a law over here that no cell phone provider can refuse a 911 call, so you buy this cheap cell phone for $15 (or whatever) and pop it into your glove compartment, or put it upstairs in the nightstand. No plan to buy, no monthly fee, but you have that link if you need it.