Sellout
Fine, 21st century. You win. I got a cell phone.
I opened the packaging last night, put the battery in, and charged it up. When it finished charging, I picked it up and turned it on. It immediately goes into some "setup wizard." The first option is to pick the default menu language. The options were:
-Smart card (SIM) default
-English
-Spanish
-French
I'm sure the SIM default is English, but because I wanted to be sure, I pressed the down arrow. Nothing happened, the cursor was still on the SIM default option. I pressed it again. Still nothing. So I pressed the "Enter" key. I pressed it again. And again. And probably a few more times. (It should be noted that all this happened in the span of 5 seconds, I'm a bit impatient sometimes.)
Just as I was about to start getting concerned, the phone suddenly started responding - to all the previous keystrokes I made. When it finally settled, I was about 5 screens deep into the Spanish version of the setup wizard. It turns out that I've retained very little from my one semester of Spanish in college. I hollered for the wife, who can read/understand Spanish. We managed to back up enough to get back to the language choice menu. My Spanish skills were good enough to determine that the option I wanted was "Inglés." (I never understood why language option menus don't always display each language name the way it's spelled in that language. Some do, but most I've seen don't.)
Since then, things have gone quite smoothly. Of course, all that is liable to change when the first bill arrives.
Comments
Cate said:
Yeah, it's all fun and games until the bill arrives.
Carol said:
And the fun continues through each month as the anticipation builds to see if you have yet again exceeded your minutes. Not to mention the excitement figuring out how to pay a bill equivalent to the GNP of a small country.
By the way... Love your blog!
Radioactive Jam said:
Type? Provider?
The first because I'm curious, and the second because - well, pretty much the same reason.
I said:
Welcome, Carol! And thanks!
RaJ, it's a Sony Ericsson w810i through Cingular. It's one of their "walkman phones," but I got it for its 2 megapixel camera and Mac friendliness.
Jonathan said:
Omar, maybe you should have the boy program your phone next time.
Saving Changes
Just a thought :)
Jonathan said:
hey the link worked in the live preview -
http://www.omarphillips.net/weblog/archives/2006/06/saving_changes.html
I said:
It was missing some quotation marks, it works now. I could delete your second comment, now that the first works, but why would I? My comment count is now padded by two!
Lia said:
Oooh!
Cingular is pretty good, actually. You should be okay.
The real pain is transferring all your contacts to a new phone. Since you didn't used to have one, you were spared that pain.
Becky said:
i have the older version of that phone (it's vintage april '06). i looooove it. you will, too (or, you'll love the newer version). oh, and now that you are with cingular, you can call me for free on mobile to mobile, so we can discuss our mutual obsessive-compulsive tendancies and the finer points of pie making. that, and my new gold club status.
Lianne said:
I am still laughing. You, the computer genius of our blogdom, and you have just NOW gotten a cell phone.
You are simply quite marvelous.
Lianne said:
Oh, and something I would like clarified (I must have missed this) How does one qualify for the various colored flags next to the link. (Don't get me wrong, I am delighted at the link)
Inquiring minds want to know.
glo said:
Awww...I haven't forgotten last year when Lianne campaigned for her link...
congrats on the cell phone. I think it's marvelous that it gave you some trouble. Serves you right for dissing all the people of cell phone land.
Rhonda said:
You can thank the 20th century for your cell phone. So you are only one century behind the rest of us. :)
I said:
Lia - Cingular's coverage only recently got good in my area. I was excited, because they offer good phones.
Becky - If only I talked, I'd totally call! But I don't.
Lianne - Whoa, let's not equate technical proficiency with having a cell phone! My mom has a cell phone. I didn't have a phone because I don't talk, not for fear of technology. That, and because I'm cheap.
And re: the gold/silver club, the guidelines are a well-kept secret.
glo - Bah.
Rhonda - For the record, I had a phone from '97 to '99, then again for a quick stint in '03.
Jonathan said:
thanks for fixing the link
pad pad
elasticwaistbandlady said:
Now, you're a phoney, Omar! The graphic keystroking details offended my puritan sensibilities. Shame on you!
Jym Ferrier
said:
I got a Sony z525a two days ago, also from cingular. That same wizard crap irritated the heck out of me. On the bright side, I found a plugin to make it work with iSync. It also has a great speaker so my Banana Phone ringtone sounds amazing.
Jon said:
all I'm going to say is that I am currently somewhere in the US, on my laptop, using my cell phone as a modem and doing whatever I please. My current download speeds on said cell phone modem are around 230 kbps. It gets the job done. I can only hope your cell phone offers such wonderful capabilities.
cadiz12 said:
congrats, omar! you know, being an annoying cellphone user is a CHOICE, so you don't have to automatically associate yourself with those who irritate you.
and that phone-as-modem thing is really cool. H has it, too, and it's so much faster than dialup! (yes, some of us are still living in a technological cave, even if we're not in a dungeon.)
jazzy said:
you're a techie guy. my plan with verizon is up. i'm free. you hear that?! i'm FREE!!!! to choose a new phone and plan.
i might come to you for advice on what all the numbers and stuff mean from phone to phone. even though you're new with this i'm sure you're still better at it than me
Nadia said:
Omar, not only are you a techie guy, you are now officially MY techie guy.
(No, you don't get a say in this.)
Basically, all I ask of you is...
Gimme your phone. Gimme it. GIMME.
Syar said:
I was just about to gush about how close our phone types are when I realized you're a W, and I'm a Sony Ericsson K750i.
Shot down by the class system. What a day.
Jon said:
hmmm... busy chatting away on that new phone?