5 posts tagged “cell phone”
So you can't get the iPhone because it's not June and you don't want Cingular to be your carrier. Never fear, there's a community out there trying to help.
This is a 100% open source phone, from the hardware to the linux based OS.
Of course this is kind of advanced for someone like me to try to build. Maybe I'll get my feet wet with the open source MP3 player first...
While I dislike my cell provider (darn 2 year contract...), I think I liked my Samsung T509 more than any other phone I had ever owned. It wasn't the most powerful of phones, but it did everything I needed it to do and more.
And then this morning it fell off my hip while I was scraping the ice off of my car. I didn't even notice it was gone until I was on my way home from dropping my wife off at the dialysis center. There it was, sitting atop a small snow drift as small bits of ice rained down out of the sky.
Fortunately, no water seems to have gotten into the phone itself. Unfortunately, the changes in temperature seem to have put some significant cracks in the LCD screen.
Ever sit on a calculator in elementary school? Yeah, it's that bad.
The phone is still more or less functional. I can receive calls, make calls, and even check my voicemail (but only because I remember the menu for that ... for now). Alas, if anyone sends me a text message or I have to look up a phone number, my little Samsung is more or less useless.
I'm willing to bet that the cost of repairing the handset would be more than the price of getting a new (unsubsidized) phone, but the point is moot since I can't afford either.
Feh.
[UPDATE:] I may be getting an in warranty replacement. We'll see what happens.
... ok, I admit I'd love to have an iPhone that didn't require me to switch to Cingular. That being said, iRiver's w10 (via Wired) looks pretty slick. It's too bad that this summer I'll only be halfway through my 2 year contract with T-mobile.
No smart phone for me, I guess. I can't afford it.
My goodness, this is funny: A company that manufactures blenders has created a series of video segments where they throw random stuff into a blender and show what happens. If I tried this with my own blender I'd burn out the motor, but their blenders cost several hundred dollars at least so in each case you end up with confetti.
Here are my favorite clips:
This just in, cell phones that you can keep when you switch providers are actually a bad thing! No, really! You have to believe us! You need to buy a new phone every year or two or the cell phone companies will go broke!
... OK, I know that this doesn't mater if you're the kind of person who gets a "free" phone with every 2-year contract and likes it, but the last time I signed a two year deal I got burned, and now I have to wait over a year still before I can switch carriers. If you bring your own phone to the table there's no $200 credit applied to the price of a phone, and therefore no reason to sign a contract in the first place.
But that's mostly the mean, spiteful side of me talking. I used to sell cell phones, and in my experience it's the provider who will mess with the customer before the hardware does. (And my wife's current cell phone hardware problems wouldn't be as exasperating if it wasn't for the policies of the provider.)
Just sayin' ...
