Posts Tagged ‘phones’

Recently, I felt the need to speak out in support of Sony Ericsson. It’s a big decision – Elina’s recent choice to purchase on of their devices mean she is now barred from ever returning to her home nation. However, given so many of our blog posts are moaning about technology has let us down, I thought I would offer a word of encouragement.

This is my Sony Ericsson k800i. It’s battered, every corner is chipped off, the infrared censor has come off the side completely and now there is a little creator where it used to be, the quick keys have been totally scrubbed of paint and you have to ram the joystick as hard as you can every now and then to get it working again.

But it still works, and this phone is now five years old.

I’m not sure I have anything other piece of technology that is equally as old and equally as used. It’s still my alarm every morning despite the fact I have since upgraded my phone three times and am now sporting my very, very much loved iPhone 4.

Phones, computers, laptops and many other gadgets have come and gone and it’s not like I buy cheap. My MacBook Pro is now starting to feel it’s age despite its £1,200 price tag and not yet having reached its second birthday.

As such, it really is a credit to Sony Ericsson that they can build a phone that can put up with the punishment I give it and still be in usable order after such a long period.

Vodafone started sending out tweets via SMS a few weeks ago but they never started arriving to my phone despite me having turned device updates on for several of the people I follow.

The solution in the end was to delete my phone and re-add it which seems to have worked a treat and now I am hapily receiving updates on my phone. No longer do I need to be sat at a computer 24/7 to see people’s updates – now it’s just because I want to be sat there.

If you haven’t heard about Grand Central (I hadn’t) it is a telecommunications service bought out by Google last year which basically helps you manage your phone calls. The basic idea is that you register with Grand Central and you get one phone number that you can give out and you never need to give out another.

So for example, and to be honest I am somewhat just guessing based on what I have read, but you get a number from Grand Central and give that out. Then when you get a new phone and end up with a whole new number (because for some reason most people don’t port their numbers like us sensible people do) they just put their new number into Grand Central and people and because everyone else uses their Grand Central number they won’t know a difference.

Notably this would be really useful for me though as currently I have two phones, one on Vodaphone and one on o2. This is ok but it means I have to have two numbers which means distributing two numbers. Using Grand Central I could give out my new number and when someone called it it would ring both my phones.

It also offers a number of other cool features including listening in to voicemail being recorded, recording of calls (both parties are notified to comply with privacy laws), voicemail notifications by email, have different callers put through to different phones and the ability to switch phones in the middle of call (battery running out – switch to your landline).

It’s currently in beta and only available in the United States but looks very interesting. Have a read on their website if you want to know more.

It’s been a busy few days.

Friday: 15
Thursday: 14
Wednesday: 13

I couldn’t say before this date as my call log doesn’t go back that far (I only knew Wednesday’s because I already knew the figure, half the calls have already moved off the list).

Yeah, organising things is fun.

With my phone out of commission I was going to have to rely on my old phone. Oh wait, no, the browser doesn’t work on that.

Not that it matters that I can’t evaluate my software as having just failed my GI coursework I’ve pretty much dug my own grave anyway.

And don’t even get me started on A-Soc…

As I left for uni this morning I was debating whether I could be bothered to go into town and pick up my phone (which was in for repair) or whether I should pick it up later. I decided to make the trek down to town as I need my phone to test my FYP on a phone browser on. I got down there to have them turn round and say “sorry, we had to send it off, it’s going to be 14 days.” So it should be due back right about the time I’ve just handed my FYP in. Fantastic.