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Benedict Arnold

why is using a new phone like operating a space craft

i am having a tough time BUT at least the camera is nice

Posted - March 15, 2019
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Responses


  • 13395
    You gotta be smart like a rocket scientist to be able to figure it out. 
      March 15, 2019 4:53 PM MDT
    2

  • 44603
    Easy solution. Don't get a new phone.
      March 15, 2019 5:14 PM MDT
    1

  • 3523
    Funny you should say that.  Last night we watched a documentary about the first lunar mission.   They said all the technology they had available to them in mission control was about as complex as today's cell phones.
      March 15, 2019 8:22 PM MDT
    1

  • 3719

    A 'phone shop assistant told me many users find them second nature because they not only use them very often, but have been buying the latest every time one comes out.

    Whereas if you only change the instrument when genuinely necessary, such as it breaking down irrepairably, the replacement is far more advanced than what you are accustomed to.
    '

    My November 2017 purchased, LG-made, 4G-rated, so-called "smart" 'phone lies abandoned and unloved on a shelf, no good to me. Too difficult to use; I missed several calls, could not respond to left phone messages. In fact I discovered that LG regards normal telephony as an accessory feature, not the telephone's main purpose! It is clumsy and heavy, and discharges its battery within a day or so. It invited me to open a Google account on it, but I ignored that.

    I've paid off the 18-month balance of the 2- year contract, had it unlocked, removed its card. 

    (Having it unlocked was a saga of its own, puzzling even the service company's technical people until one discovered LG keeps changing the unlocking codes.)   
    '

    I use instead a small, simple, 3G device. It has button keys (so text messages are a bit awkward but I send and receive few anyway). It's pocket-sized, I don't need a degree in electronics just to ring someone. Its battery charge lasts several days (though to be fair it spends more time switched off than on even when I have it with me away from home). I think it can be linked to the Internet - but I don't need that, and it's PAYG, so very cheap to own and use.

      April 27, 2019 2:59 PM MDT
    1

  • never ever buy an LG. they are the worst. contrary to popular belief, I actually think apple iPhones are the easiest to use. they have a really simple interface and all of their software is made in house so it runs smooth. i switched from apple to Samsung and it is definitely far more complicated, although it does have more usability when you get used to it 
      April 27, 2019 4:01 PM MDT
    0

  • 3719
    Thank you. To be honest I thought they are all pretty much the same - just different badges. In any case these things offer far more features I need or want, but make the ones I do (simple phone and text communication) difficult.

    What happened was that Orange contacted me by phone to try to sell me a contract, but I pointed out it was hardly economical - costing twice as much for the contract alone as my typical PAYG portable 'phone calls do. Surprisingly the salesman was actually English, in the UK! And he understood my point. 

    Most of the calls and make and receive are by landline, and all my Internet use is via broadband land-line - and I need a proper computer with a full-size keyboard, monitor and printer for the applications I choose to use. Being able to use the Internet by phone is not important to me - I plan things other ways.


    I told the salesman of poor Orange coverage in areas key to me, and he suggested I swap the card for an EE one. I didn't know until in the shop that BT had bought EE, and the companies trade separately but can see each other's customers' broadband use. The bloke in the shop talked me into moving from BT to  EE with a complete package - broadband landline + new portable phone; all for about half my BT bill. Only later, I realised the PAYG I thought I'd bought was a 2-year contract costing in all £240, on top of the broadband side!


    By the way trading laws work I could not return the 'phone and cancel its contract, but could cancel the EE broadband and stay with BT, which magically found a new tariff at half of what it had been for the same service it had been......   

    I found the LG was basically useless quite soon after that, as result of missing calls and being unable to return phone messages; and finding the only valuable part of the text side was the virtual keyboard making typing easier than by multi-function buttons.

    I paid off the rest of the EE portable contract and took the phone out of use. I advertised it for sale but had no responses.

    So "smart" 'phones? Smart appearance yes. Otherwise the only thing "smart" by the American definition intended, is the way the trade works to its, not its customers' advantage. 


    As for Apple - I accept your review of their software, and I know Apple has very many satisfied customers, but I could not possibly afford their ridiculous prices.
       
      April 28, 2019 2:47 AM MDT
    0