arggghhh...cell phones!

[430752]

*rant on*

Okay, i'm on like my 40th cell phone and they've only been around, what, 7 years? 10 years? these things suck.

okay, maybe not my 40th phone, but likely my 8th or so. I'm sure some of you have had more. But I've only had cell phones like 5 or 6 years. These phones simpyl don't work much longer than one year! Why doesn't someone invent a bulletproof phone?

the most recent tragedy is my LG vx6100. it is in "car kit", which it seems, is a euphanism for you dunked it in water. I guess car kit is what happens when you plug it into a car kit. But what really happens, according to verizon, is that if it is not physically in a car kit, yet displays the message, then 99.9% time it was water damaged and this causes the phone to think it is in the car kit mode. Thus, you cannot hear, talk, etc.

Now the trick is, and you may not know, is most phones in the battery compartment have water sensitive tape/stickers/etc. which turn color when exposed to liquid. the packaging around the battery is also liquid sensitive, changing colors when hit with water. water damage voids warranty. My phone does not have ANY color change, and I wasn't aroudn water this weekend, yet they tell me it is water damaged. I guess they may be right since I didn't keep my eye on the phone all 72 hours in a row, but you get the idea. Anyway, after arguing with them they pointed out that since the phone just got out of warranty just two weeks ago, even if it is not water damage, I have no warranty. thus I'm s.o.l.!

so, I gotta ask, when are they gonna develop a phone made of a watertight (or repellant) case, rubberized, capable of being dropped, and ditch the 36 million color screen, ability to microwave my lunch, surf the web (?!?), and etc. Just give me a phone with a phone book built in, backlight, and speaker, and I'm happy. Sure, I can download a tv show onto a phone, or play the latest song on my phone, or make it beam stuff between my pda,pc,microwave and whatever, but I can't get it to work beyond 1 year!

*okay, rant off*

maybe if I make a phone outta Ipe?

curt j.

[jziegler]

Curt,

You might want to wait a couple days and see what happens. My old phone got dropped in a bucket of water and after a couple days worked OK, other than the battery drained a lot faster than before, which may have just been the battery getting old anyway. Of course, it was an older phone a little closer to what you want, although it could surf the web, if you consider 4 lines of monochrome text surfing the web...

So, see what happens. You may be surprised. And if not, well, nothing further lost, right?

-Jim

[DUD]

My friend that works at a cell phone store says, only Motorola or Nokia, will stand up. My Motorola is 4 years old. Bill

[Mrs. Wallnut]

Curt, I know that this is frustrating. But I worked as a temporary cashier at a local cell phone company and could never understand the water issue. There is a water sensitive piece back there but the one thing people around there used to tell people that it was more than likely condensation on the phone. I don't understand it either. But always seemed like a load...

I have a Motorola and it seems to work great. Mark has a Nokia and the first one lasted for quite a while.

[onedash]

if you ever drop it in water hopefully its turned off. if you wait for it to dry before turning it back on it should be fine. You might get some rust which will lead to early failure.
I know someone who said he washes mother boards with water. talk about a PC cleaner. wonder if bleach will kill viruses.

[rbfunk]

Curt,
As an ex-Lucent employee, I can tell you that almost nobody wants a plain jane, only makes a call, cell phone. The engineering term is feature creep. Add to that a very very small margin on the phones. Nobody pays that $400 list price. In fact. Lucent got out of the phone buisness becausethe beancounters figured out that the potential risks outwayed the profit by something like 100 to 1. Thats why almost all cellphones are made offshore.
So now you have 100's of features built by the lowest bidder, programed by a cut rate team and planed to breakdown (yes I said planed) and to be obsolete in a year or two.
BTW a bit of trivia, The first cell phone was used in Chicago in the early 60's.
Bob

[scorrpio]

First off:
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphone...one-143253.php


I guess someone out there thinks along same lines.

I don't think I ever had a cell phone breakage. I replaced my cell phones cause I switched providers, or because they were ancient dinosaurs. After 10 years, I am on my 4th phone. (I started with AT&T, went over to Omnipoint (now T-Mobile), changed my original Omnipoint phone for one that could be used as a modem, then went over to Verizon 2.5 years ago. My current, a Kyocera, shows no signs of giving up.

All my phones were 'brick' type - I never trusted the flips.

[meika123]

All I want is a phone that you can make a call on, receive a call, and be able to hear the conversation. I have the new Motorola Raizer phone, and I absolutely hate it. The only reason I bought this thing is it is a "Bluetooth" capable phone, and my new car has the Bluetooth wireless technology. Unless you have the phone perfectly placed in your ear, you can hardly hear the conversation.
I had the Motorola V-60 flip phone, and adbsolutely loved it. What do I need a camera in my phone for?

Dave in NC

[meika123]

Had to post again. Could not stand the "666" after my name. WHEW!!!


Dave in NC

[430752]

that's the phone for me!

Ohhh...Ohhh...! That's the phone for me!!!! Waterproof, shockproof, and ugly!

Not that I dipped my phone in water, but now that I've been accused of it, I might as well!

Maybe its me, since most of my phones last only 8-12 months. I started with a samsung, it went to crap in a few months (this is back in the late 90's). Then a nokia, same thing. then a motorola and loved it until I dropped it from up high. Guess that wasn't the phone's fault. So then I got a startac. That was the best, absolutely. great battery, distance, etc. Kept that acutally for like 14-16 months. Then dunked it when doing dishes (fell from shirt pocket). Guess I can't blame that on the cell phone, either. Wanted another startac, even if monocrhome, but they disco'd them. So got another motorla, this time with color, at the same time my wife got an LG. Man, this new Motorola stunk. battery dead in like half a day, no reception, weak hinge, etc. Thing fell apart in like 6 mos. They gave me another motorola, and it did the same thing in another 6 months. Meanwhile my wife's LG was still going strong. So now I got this lg, and I guess it did last 12 months and 2 weeks, but then she gave up the ghost. My wife says I gotta use her old LG, which might not be such a bad idea.

well, whatever, I want that new LG waterproof/shockproof thing.

thanks for all the advice, it still won't work. And i've tried a trick learned online to go into svc. menu, reset all wrror codes, etc. Still won't work.

curt j

[billwmeyer]

Do you take out the additional insurance? My wife had a cell phone that she had on the console of the car. When she stopped it slid straight into a cup of tea she had. It was fried. We took it into the store we bought it at and told them what happened. They said water damage was not covered. I threw it in their trash can and said I lost it. They fixed us up.
Bill