Gah! I wanna rant about mobile phones. I want to real badly 
Get out while you can if you don't want to be bothered, but I sure would like an audience to share my annoyance with!
I am so pissed off at myself for acting like a total sheep and getting an all-in-one cell phone with built-in media player and web browser etc, which has turned out a lousy media player--poor sound, pain in the neck controls, the works! I mean it bugs me so much, I am ready to revert to using my old little Creative MP3 player for on-the-go music
I am with music the way other people are with their morning coffee; I get cranky if I can't have it. I listen to music, like many people, while I'm doing chores around the house, when I'm in the shower or online or on the bus or out walking. But I also have it on when I'm out on a shoot, or making stuff--even out shopping. And ever since I was like 9, when somebody gave me a Walkman tape player for Christmas, I've never been without some kind of personal music player. I've owned that first walkman, then another when the first one broke, then a discman, a minidisc player, and finally the Creative. So I don't go out without a music player unless it's to go to the corner store or something
Anyway, up until November I had this set up comprised of one lame little cell phone with few features (of which I only ever used about 10%: making and receiving calls <g>), and my trusty, if ugly, Creative. Then around a year ago the creative began to play up, and I had to start considering alternatives. At that time I started seing more and more phones with built-in music and media players about, and thought, wow, what a cool idea--that way I'd have one less device to carry around, especially seing as the phone was used very little. I liked it because I'm always on the look out for ways to reduce the bulk 'essentials' I always have to carry with me--all the bits and pieces like money, keys, phone, notepad etc., soon add up to quite a bit of space and weight, and I try to keep them to a minimum, because when I'm lugging my camera gear pretty near everywhere I go, the last thing I need is a great big handbag filled with like 15 pounds of stuff, 'just in case' So I did the research, fiddled with a number of phones extensively at the store (well, as extensively as I could; most phones didn't have any media in them, so you couldn't try them as well as you might) then finally settled on a Sony Ericsson 'Walkman' phone.
I figured, these music phone thingies are everywhere, they've been around for a good two years, and I'm buying one of the better models. So I should be in for a good experience music wise, no reason to think it would be a POS, right? WRONG!! boy was I wrong. The worse thing is the problems kind of snuck up on me; I didn't realise how tinny and annoying I really found the sound until I'd spent some time listening to all my favorites, in the same kind of noise levels and activities as I had with the creative, and getting a headache out of it, I swear! and the controls are just completely irrational! For instance, the 'back' button which lets you navigate between the various folders is tiny (about 3 x 4 mm) and located exactly above the equally sized 'end call/exit' button. Which, if pressed, sends you clear out of the phone's player app, and you have to go through all the folders again. Arghhh! it makes me want to roar when it happens, and it happens a lot. I suppose the problem is that I thought I was getting a music/media player that lets you call people and receive calls, when I was really buying a phone that also lets you listen to a few tunes or watch a couple of short vids when you're sat bored at the dentist's. Not a serious music player like I needed, but a serious phone; that's why the battery lasts so little when the music player app is running.
So I decided to go a bit retro, and ditch the all-in-one idea and go for a teeny-tiny mobile for just calling and texting, combined with a proper music player (like a nano) for most of the time, and leave either at home when I don't need to have both. So I went to see what I could find in terms of very small phones--as in, small enough to fit on my expanded keyring with the multitool and maglite. And would you believe it, there is no such thing anymore! They're all great big bricks with integrated music players and web browsers and what not! Booo hooo! How bl***y frustrating!
So go on people and rant about what you really hate about your mobile!
I feel better already <g>
Get out while you can if you don't want to be bothered, but I sure would like an audience to share my annoyance with!
I am so pissed off at myself for acting like a total sheep and getting an all-in-one cell phone with built-in media player and web browser etc, which has turned out a lousy media player--poor sound, pain in the neck controls, the works! I mean it bugs me so much, I am ready to revert to using my old little Creative MP3 player for on-the-go music
I am with music the way other people are with their morning coffee; I get cranky if I can't have it
. I listen to music, like many people, while I'm doing chores around the house, when I'm in the shower or online or on the bus or out walking. But I also have it on when I'm out on a shoot, or making stuff--even out shopping. And ever since I was like 9, when somebody gave me a Walkman tape player for Christmas, I've never been without some kind of personal music player. I've owned that first walkman, then another when the first one broke, then a discman, a minidisc player, and finally the Creative. So I don't go out without a music player unless it's to go to the corner store or something Anyway, up until November I had this set up comprised of one lame little cell phone with few features (of which I only ever used about 10%: making and receiving calls <g>), and my trusty, if ugly, Creative. Then around a year ago the creative began to play up, and I had to start considering alternatives. At that time I started seing more and more phones with built-in music and media players about, and thought, wow, what a cool idea--that way I'd have one less device to carry around, especially seing as the phone was used very little. I liked it because I'm always on the look out for ways to reduce the bulk 'essentials' I always have to carry with me--all the bits and pieces like money, keys, phone, notepad etc., soon add up to quite a bit of space and weight, and I try to keep them to a minimum, because when I'm lugging my camera gear pretty near everywhere I go, the last thing I need is a great big handbag filled with like 15 pounds of stuff, 'just in case'
So I did the research, fiddled with a number of phones extensively at the store (well, as extensively as I could; most phones didn't have any media in them, so you couldn't try them as well as you might) then finally settled on a Sony Ericsson 'Walkman' phone. I figured, these music phone thingies are everywhere, they've been around for a good two years, and I'm buying one of the better models. So I should be in for a good experience music wise, no reason to think it would be a POS, right? WRONG!! boy was I wrong. The worse thing is the problems kind of snuck up on me; I didn't realise how tinny and annoying I really found the sound until I'd spent some time listening to all my favorites, in the same kind of noise levels and activities as I had with the creative, and getting a headache out of it, I swear! and the controls are just completely irrational! For instance, the 'back' button which lets you navigate between the various folders is tiny (about 3 x 4 mm) and located exactly above the equally sized 'end call/exit' button. Which, if pressed, sends you clear out of the phone's player app, and you have to go through all the folders again. Arghhh! it makes me want to roar when it happens, and it happens a lot. I suppose the problem is that I thought I was getting a music/media player that lets you call people and receive calls, when I was really buying a phone that also lets you listen to a few tunes or watch a couple of short vids when you're sat bored at the dentist's. Not a serious music player like I needed, but a serious phone; that's why the battery lasts so little when the music player app is running.
So I decided to go a bit retro, and ditch the all-in-one idea and go for a teeny-tiny mobile for just calling and texting, combined with a proper music player (like a nano
) for most of the time, and leave either at home when I don't need to have both. So I went to see what I could find in terms of very small phones--as in, small enough to fit on my expanded keyring with the multitool and maglite. And would you believe it, there is no such thing anymore! They're all great big bricks with integrated music players and web browsers and what not! Booo hooo! How bl***y frustrating! So go on people and rant about what you really hate about your mobile!
I feel better already <g>
