Mobile Phones

[chinatyke]

Thanks, Wendy. Typhoons lose strength quickly over land and we're about 200 miles inland. My train down to Nanning on Sunday evening was cancelled, along with hundreds of other long distance fast trains, but I managed to get a first class ticket on a train 90 minutes later and stayed in Nanning for 2 days. There was some heavy rain and moderate winds but nothing serious. Usual pictures on TV of trees blown over and mudslides and cladding peeling off high rise buildings but I didn't see any damage.

[Stanley]

Good..... You do gad about China.....

[Tizer]

Some time ago I wrote on OG how I'd bought a Nokia 216 mobile phone, mainly to carry around with me when away from home in case of emergencies. I also described how I'd got a PAYG SIM card for it from 1p Mobile. This has been successful but due to hardly using it for other than texts I've accumulated nearly £30 on the card (the 1p Mobile deal is £10 for 120 days and what's left carries over at the end of each period). I decided it was time to spend some of that money so I set the phone to use the mobile network for data and downloaded the Opera browser for the phone. I've been pleasantly surprised at how good the browser works on the phone - remember this is not a smartphone and costs only £30 inc. delivery from Amazon. I can happily read the BBC news and check the weather on it. The phone takes only about 7 seconds to switch on so I don't keep it on all the time, only when I want to use it. But the battery keeps going for a long time without a recharge. And it's a lot lighter than a smartphone!

[chinatyke]

Nokia 216, that would be OK for me too. It's about the same price here, £30. It's pay and go here with calls costing about the same too. I like the black model but the powder blue? No! Might look into that when I get a wife to translate for me at the shop.

[Stanley]

That's funny China. Will any wife do?

[chinatyke]

Will any wife do?

I wish! I stand out like a sore thumb here, I can't get away with anything! Last month I was in an extremely remote country village about 40km from home and a lady said "I know you, you live at WanGuan, Pingguo."

[Stanley]

Big Brother is watching you.......

[Tizer]

Your reputation goes before you, China!

Stanley, I expect he was using the phrase `a wife' in the way a Scot would talk about a `wifey'. In other words he meant the housewives doing their shopping.

[chinatyke]

I should have said "when my wife returns so that she can translate and do the haggling for a good price." She gets home next Wednesday.

[Stanley]

He'd let anyone translate for him!

[Big Kev]

Got new phones for me and P today, I'm impressed with the biometric security. It took a while to 'train' the phone to recognise my fingerprint but it works very well.

[chinatyke]

Got new phones for me and P today, I'm impressed with the biometric security. It took a while to 'train' the phone to recognise my fingerprint but it works very well.

I got my new phone yesterday also, a Huawei Honor COR-AL00, 4GB RAM/64GB storage + another 32GB on a removable memory card. An early Christmas present from my wife. It's one of these new fangled do everything devices that I said I would never have. Far too big and I'm sure it will get broken soon. Can't be bothered with the fingerprint security at the moment, it's taking me all my time to find everything else. It has a wonderful translator, you record what you want to say and play it back in Chinese. It has an English menu but then some of the apps instructions are in Chinese which makes it difficult. I'm pretty sure this is going to cost me more than ten quid a year to use, but the good news is that China Mobile have offered me some deal as a gift because I've had the same number for more than 10 years, actually about 14 years. I think it is 200Mb of useage free.

[Marilyn]

My hubby had a Hauwei. I think that was the one he fell in the sea with last year and it was the end of it. He hadn't had it long but couldn't get along with it. He complained it was too quick for him and had a hair trigger. He is a button stabber...I was always sorting it out for him and getting it back on track. At one point he had my number on his blocked list and wondered why he couldn't phone me! He used to send one word text messages because he claimed the phone sent them while he was still typing. Somehow he kept turning the volume down too and couldn't hear it ring. It was hit and miss trying to contact him!
It's a bit the same with our latest car. It has a lot of controls on the steering wheel, and he will fiddle with buttons. Drives me insane. My catch cry is "leave the bloody thing alone!"

[Stanley]

The video would sell Maz.......

[Tizer]

It took a while to 'train' the phone to recognise my fingerprint but it works very well.

Ah, but does it recognise everyone else's fingerprint too?

[Big Kev]

It took a while to 'train' the phone to recognise my fingerprint but it works very well.

Ah, but does it recognise everyone else's fingerprint too?

To date, no. That includes my other 9 that I didn't train it to recognise and two of 'er indoors fingers

[Stanley]

Did you hear the lady on Start The Week on R4 talking about how algorithms are ruling our lives?

[Big Kev]

I was intrigued by the varying cost of renewing my phone contract. For the last 2 years I had two phones, on the same contract, for £32 a month which included unlimited calls and texts 1GB of data and paying for the handset.

To renew, with the updated version of the same phones, O2 wanted nearly £60 a month. I went into the Car phone Warehouse shop (opposite the O2 shop) and got two higher spec phones with the same allowances as previously for £36 and I'm still on the O2 network. It certainly pays to shop around.

[Stanley]

I can remember a time when most things were roughly the same price wherever you went. The only time that didn't apply was if you were getting a quote for something very specific like a builder's job......

[Tizer]

`How light could help superfast mobile reach even further' LINK
`The global race towards superfast "fifth generation" mobile internet, known as 5G, is entering a key phase. The trouble is no-one knows exactly which technologies will be best for offering such a service. But one telecoms firm may just have had a light-bulb moment. At its headquarters in Slough, O2 has installed an unusual demo. It's a room where a wireless internet connection is provided not through wi-fi, but li-fi - a system that transmits data through light waves rather than radio waves. The mobile operator thinks the system may help to offer 5G speeds in certain locations where getting coverage from an outdoor mobile signal is difficult...'

[Stanley]

Wonderful stuff isn't it but forgive me for being a sceptic. The biggest change I see on the streets is that almost everyone has a smart phone in their hands and doesn't go long without doing something on it. What effect overall does this have on society, the world of work and leisure? Is it a wonderful extension of our abilities to communicate or a cancer eating into productivity, personal interaction face to face, learning and even security?
This view isn't popular but it's worth considering.

[PanBiker]

Heads up for anyone that want's one, just got a belting little bluetooth speaker from the mobile shop on Albert Road. Handy for the mp3's on my phone and when we go camping. £14.99 or so a cube design with 3 speakers, inbuilt lithium battery, seamless pairing with my mobile (other bluetooth devices are available) and a nice tone for such a small box 3" x 3" x 3" or so claimed 3w output, sounds about right. Comes with all leads, USB for charging, 3.5mm jack for direct connection, wrist strap and carabina for carrying and fixing to convenient hanging points. It also has a built in microphone and answer button so can be used for hands free calls on the mobile

Dirty RF transmission method I know but I can't change the world.

Busy playing all the tracks I had forgotten were on my SD card in the phone.

[Stanley]

Beyond my comprehension......

[PanBiker]

Rechargeable wireless speaker with a few buttons, better?

[Tizer]

For anyone who, like me, has less than perfect hearing and wants to listen to spoken voice radio some of the have too much bass and not enough treble. Not many of them have equaliser controls for customising. We bought a Sony bluetooth speaker recently (see post somewhere on OG) which is actually described `extra bass' but we are using that for listening to classical music tracks stored on our tablet. We also bought an Evoke H3 bluetooth radio which has bass/treble customisation and we use that for voice listening - Radio 4 news and iPlayer. It's very good, if a bit expensive.