[geeks] a cell phone that doesn't suck

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

On Fri, Nov 23, 2007 at 03:32:21AM -0500, Shannon Hendrix wrote:
	> On Nov 22, 2007, at 11:12 PM, Aaron Finley wrote:
 		>I used a Motorola StarTAC
 
> Neat little phone.

I never had one of them, but am a fan of other simple Motorola phones.
Since the network I use is 900mHz GSM, older phones are available 
and easy to find. The average Israeli upgrades their cell phone
every two years and the two GSM service providers here give you
100 NIS (25) for a used phone as a trade in. 

So many of them are available for 100 NIS or free. :-)



	> On Nov 22, 2007, at 11:12 PM, Aaron Finley wrote:
		> until I was forced to upgrade due to 911 GPS
		> regulations or whatnot.

> ...which should be completely optional.

I agree. 

> The point is you bought the device, and should be allowed to use its  
> functions however you see fit.

My problem with using old phones is that the batteries die and can not
be replaced. I just hacked a replacement battery for my C-330 and then
found that they can be bought new for $20 here.

I have one from the previous generation (the first Timeport) and
those batteries are also available for the same price.  

The previous generation to them, which I like better,was the CD920/930
and they were available with NiMH and Lion batteries. It's just big enough
that I can easily read the screen and hit the buttons. I bought a bunch of
third party NiMH batteries for them on close out and now they are dying. 
To my pleasant surprise they were closed with adhesive tape and 
have 3 AAA batteries in them, so I can rebuild them easily.

If only I could get a similar thing going with the 6v flat packs, but
they used flat NiMH batteries, and were sonicly welded. I've rebuilt 
ham radio batteries by freezing them and cracking them open on a concrete
step, but have yet to try the phone ones. Getting the cells will be
a problem too. 

Here due to relegious reasons, many people will only buy a "kosher" cell
phone. It's kosher because a well respected rabbi said they were ok. The
phones have everything except voice calls disabled. They still come with
cameras, vibrators and SMS capability, but they are turned off and can't
be easily turned on. 

The deaf community here is up in arms against them because they use
SMS's to communicate with hearing people on cell phones and video
phones to have sign language conversations. 

My wife has a C380, the next version sold here up from the c330
and the user interface sucks. I can't even answer a call with it.
Somehow it often turns the ring volume down on its own in her purse
and she misses calls. 

One of the things I designed and thought about patenting and marketing
was a cell phone for children and senior citizens. It had a large
display, no special features, loud audio and rings and only 3 or 4
buttons on the front. You could place little photographs or icons
of your choosing on them. You could place the owner's photograph 
on it so that people could tell who owned it.

BTW to mamange the phone book on a computer, the CD920/930 phones needed a
special cable or an external SIM card reader, the timeport had an I/R
port and the C330 and C380 have standard mini USB ports. You can buy the
cable for around $10 here (probably a buck in the U.S.) and the software
from Motorola. On the Mac iSync will work with them, and for all I know
there is freeware for Windows or Linux.

Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/