What You Want in a Cell Phone & Apple's iPhone Poll

Ok, there's talk about the iPhone everywhere. They even did a segment on NPR on the iPhone today. I guess that's a sign that the buzz about this product is really hot. Is the buzz just hype or is Friday, June 29th going to be a date in cell phone or Apple history?

Speaking of phones, what do you need/want to have in a cell phone? What could you just as soon pass on?

I like cell phones -- a lot. The feature set of a phone is important, especially to me.

The most important feature of the phone, I would say, is the operating system. You want to be able to dial, answer, enter your phone numbers and all that. This is not easy with all, or even most, phones.

I bet up to half the people with cell phones don’t spend the time setting up their phone so that the phone works best for them. And this is not their fault, a operating system for a phone (or anything else) should be designed so one can operate it without spending hours reading a manual!

The task that I would list first would be dialing your most active numbers -- the ones that my phone (Motorola SLVR or C-7) calls Recent Calls Received and Dialed.

My phone is good on the Dialed numbers, I simply hold down the green send button, then scroll to the number I want, and hit send again. Of course this is not intuitive or even a shortcut listed in the manual -- someone had to show me!

Apparently, the first person in line for an iPhone in NYC is none other than the professional line waiter, Greg Packer:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/ne...t_id=1000576165

Video interview of people in line 100 hours early so they could be the first:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=319447

These people are nuts! I can never understand people who feel the need to camp out for stuff like this. I guess it's the adult version of the sleep over party. I remember that there were people camped out at Ikea in East Palo Alto before that place opened its doors. OK, now those people were TRULY SCREWY.

For five hundred dollars it can't do what a laptop can do. Email, websurfing, and photos are not ideal applications for a phone. I want my phone to take pictures, have a radio built in (not mpg player) and a good speaker phone are my priorities. If they got it down in price I would be interested but then I would have to give business to ATT/SBC/ Pac Bell and I think I would rather not. I will stay with sprint and my radio tuner phone with infrared ability to talk to my laptop. Like paris would say: "that is hot"

QUOTE (Sheldon @ Jun 28 2007, 09:58 AM)

These people are nuts! I can never understand people who feel the need to camp out for stuff like this. I guess it's the adult version of the sleep over party. I remember that there were people camped out at Ikea in East Palo Alto before that place opened its doors. OK, now those people were TRULY SCREWY.

You said it! As much as I love Apple and will only buy a Mac, I'm totally not a techno-geek. I probably would not have even heard of the iPhone except for the fact that my boyfriend is waiting to get one. He isn't one of those people who has to have one right away; he's waiting for his friend's Apple employee discount to kick in.

I have the crappiest cell phone right now. My old phone was better but the battery died and my dad has some phones he got for free. It is pretty barebones. I don't care that much because I don't like to talk on the phone; I use it mostly for emergencies and calling long distance. But it really annoys me that the phone will beep intermittently when the battery is dying (I like to let it die because it's better for the battery). The phone also makes a loud beep when I send text messages. I don't really need the whole world to know when I'm using my cell phone but there is no way to turn the sound off. It is very un-user-friendly. I don't use my phone for email or web surfing so I can't see spending a lot of money on a phone or CrackBerry. I prefer to use my computer if I need to do those things.

And, man, I really am not a fan of Ikea. The only thing I MIGHT camp out for is to see the Foo Fighters or Moby. But even then, I'm not sure that I'd do it.

dear moby,
First I doubt you have a ni-cad battery that you have to run all the way down They have not been putting them in phones for five years. If it is lithium-ion you don't have to run it down. You can recharge anytime. I do everynight regardless of how much juice I used. I put on my nightstand and plug in overnight. Always have a fresh phone.

Secondly, I am abolutely sure you have vol control for your warnings, voice and alerts. Look under set up or go to index in user manual or call your provider (even better visit them and they will do it for you).

Other features I really appreciate in cell phones include: almost all phones have now are calculator, and mini voice recorder to remember things you can't write. I find texting too much work but I hate voice mail even more. So usually I page. That alert draws attention of recepient better than a missed call screen.

I highly recommend checking out this short video by David Pogue, The New York Times technology writer, on the iPhone. It's totally brilliant and a good laugh:
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=f390...7e921d39b6c99aa