On cell phones and their identity crises

[mankiller]

Has anybody noticed that cell phones are trying to become more than what anyone has asked them to be? Java has long been a companion of cell phones, back to iDEN at least on Motorola phones. Internal memory has always been limited, because...well, I don't know. Actually, that's exactly the part of the identity crisis I wanted to address

Comments

[bonelesspuppy]

That's one reason I don't have a Japanese cell phone-- I can't make myself pay upwards of $50 a month for the shiny colors and camera functions when I really don't want or need them. When I settle in at a new job, I'll probably have a cell phone again, and by God it will be black-and-white with no feature more advanced than "vibrate." If wanted a PDA, I would buy a PDA.

Cell phones: Not for the less-than-socially-irresponsible-technogeek anymore

[mankiller]

I got an offer for a free phone recently, it's color. It doesn't have many fancy features, though, and I read some reviews online...It seems pretty stupid-simple. The only complaint was the lack of ring tones...rather, of ringing ring tones. Plenty of musical abortions of famous composers' works, but very few actual phone rings. *sigh*. Hey, I want a stupid-simple (my grandma can make and receive calls on it) phone with no fluff and actual ringers. It has some at least. 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Yes, ain't ain't in the dictionary. I like it. I'll coin it. Consider me the "New Word Mint". Mmmm...mints...

Re: Cell phones: Not for the less-than-socially-irresponsible-technogeek anymore

[bonelesspuppy]

Actually, "ain't" is in pretty much any dictionary you care to pick up-- it's just listed as "non-standard." :P

And I wouldn't mind a lack of ring tones, as long as I have the option to make it buzz instead. A vibrating phone on a desk creates an even more attention-gettting noise than a real-sounding phone ring. Bah on this "color" thing, though.

Re: Cell phones: Not for the less-than-socially-irresponsible-technogeek anymore

[mankiller]

Sorry, I only own (very) old, (greatly) abridged dictionaries...though my sister did find a good deal on an unabridged Webster's

Re: Cell phones: Not for the less-than-socially-irresponsible-technogeek anymore

[bonelesspuppy]

I've never tried dict.org before, but they seem to have an odd pool of dictionaries. I searched for "putative" and got four results-- one from that Collaborative International Dictionary of English, one from Bouvier's Law Dictionary, and two from what I suppose are computer programs (WordNet 2.0 and Moby's Thesaurus II 1.0). Weird.

I got the same set for "put" (minus the law dictionary and plus an acronym finder), so I think I'm on to their wily ways. Now it only remains to me to find out whether this Collaborative Dictionary's permissibility is more on par with Webster's 2nd or 3rd.

My Win2K desktop is the present's world map from Chrono Trigger, the oceans of which I carefully tiled out to fill the 1280x1024 space. Sometimes color can be a good and cheering thing. But on cell phones, I prefer the monochromatic goodness that lets me imagine I'm actually carrying an old-school Gameboy.