quote:

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Razrs ... don't have a good record for being well built, long lasting phones

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The way everyone gets a new phone every 10 days or so, there's no need for them to be well built or long lasting, is there?
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-23-2006, 02:42 PM:
 
Yeah. People are retarded.
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 12-23-2006, 03:18 PM:
 
I had to switch to Cingular when they bought out AT&T a year or so ago... I happened to be there the day they got in the new tiny Pantech PG-C300 phones so I got one and absolutely love it. Great phone except the buttons are almost too small for my fingers! I have dropped it by now probably a dozen or so times without even a scratch ending up on the thing. I highly reccomend it if you can tolerate Cingulars crappy service .

Mark
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-23-2006, 03:30 PM:
 
I really wanted to get a Motorola Razr phone, just not any of the truly shitty ones Motorola confines American customers to buy.

Motorola is an American company, right? Then why in the living hell are they doing something so inexcusably fuck-tarded as selling the only good versions of the Razr in Europe and Asia? Not only are they releasing better versions of their phones overseas, they're keeping them from America. Other companies like Nokia are doing the same thing. They also seem to be in collusion with American cellphone companies on this as well. This sort of thing is adding another competitive disadvantage against the United States relating to faster technology rollout in Europe and Asia.

European and Asian customers can actually buy a Razr phone with removable memory card slot. There's one that supports iTunes. Cingular was supposed to start offering the Razr "V3i" to customers in America MORE THAN A YEAR AGO. That has still never happened.

In the end I just gave up and bought something else, the Samsung SGH-D807 phone. I've had it for a few months and believe it is still the best general purpose phone available through Cingular. All the Razr models Cingular carries are just pathetic. The Samsung SGH-D807 can do just about anything Verizon's Chocolate phone does. It has a MicroSD card slot, very good Bluetooth support and a lot of other stuff. It has as big a color display as the Razr phone too. The only bad thing about the phone is the slider design (if you hate sliders). I would have preferred a clamshell design, but all of Cingular's flip phone suck too much ass to tolerate. My only real complaint about the SGH-D807 is the call volume is a bit low. If your hearing isn't really good then avoid getting this phone.

Why did I have to go with Cingular? I had to sign up with Cingular's network since all my family and most of my other relatives are signed up with them. All our office mobile phones and the personal mobile phones of most of my co-workers are all on Cingular.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-23-2006, 04:50 PM:
 
I've got a Cingular Razr phone and I've had no issues with it's reliability. I do however have a problem with the phenomenal screw job I got a few times over from Cingular. I don't feel like going into it right now, but suffice it to say Cingular has got to be the worst cell phone provider out there in terms of changing prices and policies. I plan on dumping them in Feb/March when my contract runs out.
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 12-23-2006, 05:50 PM:
 

quote: Brad Miller

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Cingular has got to be the worst cell phone provider out there in terms of changing prices and policies.

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quote: Bobby Henderson

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Motorola is an American company, right?

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quote: Bobby Henderson

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Then why in the living hell are they doing something so inexcusably fuck-tarded as selling the only good versions of the Razr in Europe and Asia?

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quote: Mike Heenan

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Don't all cell providers charge for text messages received and sent?

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quote: Jason Black

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Sounds like Cingular does suck.

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quote: Joe Redifer

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...every single cell phone provider sucks ass.

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quote: Bobby Henderson

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Then why in the living hell are they doing something so inexcusably fuck-tarded as selling the only good versions of the Razr in Europe and Asia?

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Don't blame the manufacturers, blame the carriers. The cell carriers spec the phones they want from the manufacturers. When the better stuff is not avaible it's usually either because of network bandwidth or customer support. For example sometimes the european or asian models will have higher resolution cameras. Why? Because the US carriers (especially GSM carriers) don't have they're high speed data networks built out enough and they don't want people picture messaging the higher res pictures because it will be slow.

In other cases, they don't want features included because they think they are too complex for people to use and will bog down customer support lines asking questions. The customer service issue is also the reason why DirecTV never enabled networking ability on their Tivo recievers (even though the hardware and software were there for wireless networking with a USB wireless adapter).

The RAZR is well constructed for what it was meant for. It was designed as a fashion accessory, not a rugged device. I have had one for over a year and it's been dropped several times and it still works just fine and isn't damaged save for some small scratches.

Also, Motorola is an American company, not Japanese.

As to the original question of the thread, the only thing I can think of to do is open it up and see if there are any cracked components (which you will have to remove metal shields to see most of). I'm guessing a capacitory or inductor that affects processor clock speed was cracked. To improve battery life, cell phone processors normally "gear shift" clock speed depending on the task. Probably text entry uses a higher clock speed and is affected by it. Does it have problems using tools like calculator?

If text entry is the ONLY thing that causes trouble there is a slim possibility that the firmware got corrupted at address related to text entry. If this happened it was definitely not caused by dropping the phone. If the firmware got corrupted a T-mobile shop should be able to re-flash the software for you and upgrade to the latest version.
 

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Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 12-24-2006, 05:39 AM:
 
Text messaging can be retarded and I've seen several people go way overboard with it; however, used properly its a great addition to your phone. One thing that springs to mind immediately is if I'm in a loud bar sending text messages works better than calling because I wouldn't be able to hear the other person speaking and vice versa. Sending text messages can also be usefull if you are in an area with limited service for your provider. It takes fewer 'bars' to send and recieve texts than to carry on a call. Finally, there are those situations where you can't/don't want to carry on a voice conversation. If you have something very private to tell someone ("Honey, put on the buttless chaps, I'm coming home ") but can't say out loud (say while your on the bus or during a church service ).

As for Cingular charging for text messages-every cell phone plan I've ever looked at either has a fixed number of allowed messages included with you having to pay for messages after that or they make you pay for all messages. Most of them have add-ons to their existing plans-300 messages a month for $10.99 or whatever. I will say though if text messages were free before then adding an additional charge is bullshit. I'm sure the contract is written so they can do that but its still horseshit. One more reason to stay away from Cingular.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-24-2006, 01:20 PM:
 
I agree about the negative comments on text messaging. I use a mobile phone to talk to other people, not type. Texting can be convenient at times, but my needs for it are rare.

One thing's for sure, people should NOT be sending text messages in movie theaters. The display screens on those phones light up like a flash light in a dark theater.

Sure, Cingular sucks. But I also agree that ALL American cellphone carriers suck. Every single one of those bastards has ways of padding a cellphone bill. The trick is you have to read all that fine print and ask lots of questions.

I thought about going with Verizon Wireless, mainly because they have a much better selection of phones than Cingular. But to get some of the services they advertise for their phones you'll wind up with a $100 per month phone bill or worse.

Being able to talk to other people on the same cellphone network for free is the most powerful selling point for any carrier. More people I talk to on the phone are with Cingular than anyone else.

quote: Joe Redifer

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LOL. They are Japanese.

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quote: Tim Reed

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Some of those HTs were a great source for conversion to Amateur (ham) use.

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Humm, I have a Ham in the oven right now !

Mark
 

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Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 12-24-2006, 02:43 PM:
 
Indeed, Cingular can be a royal pain.
My ex used to work in a call center for them, probably one of the worst jobs in the world I'd say. I'd rather shovel popcorn for a living...err...Anyway.

When you have the great displeasure of dealing with cingular customer service remember this:
Dialing 0 gets you out of most menus to a live person.
The live reps are supposed to have an average call length no longer than 8 minutes so have _everything_ you need in front of you or they will not care to help.
If you have to repeat yourself more than once they're playing with something and not listening, ask for their group supervisor.

As for your Razr, the transceiver board is probably shot. It will soon stop receiving service and/or powering on/restart for no reason. Check the waranty with Motorola, it usually lasts longer and is more expedient than Cigular.

I've noticed with Motorola cell phones they either last forever or they don't last for crap.
Couple people I know had a v551, still going just fine with more scratches than a cat fight. Mine, sadly, never made it past 6 months.
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 12-24-2006, 02:56 PM:
 
Lyle romer

quote: Lyle Romer

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If text entry is the ONLY thing that causes trouble there is a slim possibility that the firmware got corrupted at address related to text entry. If this happened it was definitely not caused by dropping the phone. If the firmware got corrupted a T-mobile shop should be able to re-flash the software for you and upgrade to the latest version.

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quote: Bobby Henderson

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Actually Motorola turns out to be an American company.

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Yeah yeah, I keep getting them confused with MatsuSHITa. All companies that start with the letter M are the same.
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-25-2006, 08:02 PM:
 
Gee, I've never had any of these problems with my Western Electric 500 set:



(or my 2500 set or 302 set or 2554 wall set or 1C2 payphone)

Someone remind me why I would want a cell phone.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 12-25-2006, 08:33 PM:
 

quote: Scott Norwood

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Someone remind me why I would want a cell phone.

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Hot tip, Scott: There's NO cord to drag behind ya when driving around!
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-25-2006, 08:52 PM:
 
Plus you can dial an entire number in the same time you can dial a 9 on that phone.

As if that isn't enough reasoning, cell phones are digital, and that means they are perfect!!!
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-25-2006, 09:25 PM:
 
Yeah, but you would NEVER get a dropped call or a stupid annoying pop-song ring tone with that Western Electric phone. No roaming charges, either.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 12-25-2006, 09:30 PM:
 
Mike, you NEED a better provider...

Oh, and I agree about no roaming charges... cuz ya can only "roam" about 50ft with those corded phones...
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-25-2006, 10:12 PM:
 
No pop song ring tone??? OH FUCK THAT I'LL NEVER USE THAT PHONE IF IT DOESN'T HAVE A POP SONG RING TONE!!!

Actually it probably has a bell that'll wake the neighbors ten doors down when it rings.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-25-2006, 10:16 PM:
 
"Pop song" ring tone? That implies Brittney Spears or Jessica Simpson would be barking out of my phone. Screw that. I have hard rock for my ring tone, Back in Black from AC/DC.

If I want my phone to be especially annoying when it rings, I'll select the "extra man" sound effect from those classic 1980s Williams Electronics games (Defender, Robotron:2084, Stargate).
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-25-2006, 11:05 PM:
 
I have a goddamn phone ring for my ring tone. A bit electronic sounding, but that's OK.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-25-2006, 11:50 PM:
 
YEAH! Why the fuck don't phones just RING anymore?!
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-26-2006, 12:08 AM:
 
Because ringing isn't 1337 enough for the kiddies out there. Having a phone that plays music or a voice clip from a favorite movie or TV show will display to everyone else how hip and with it you are. And you don't want anyone thinking that you're not cool. Can't have that.

Honestly though, if I had part of a song as my ring tone, I imagine I'd quickly get sick of that song.
 

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Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 12-26-2006, 01:15 AM:
 
I think the original purpose of customized ring tones was so people could tell who's phone was ringing when several people all had cell phones. Joe is right though, currently ring tones are a 'cool' thing.
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 12-26-2006, 06:14 AM:
 
If telco service started out this bad; it would not have survived. WE have become accustomed to gradually reducing quality and cell phones prove this. Louis
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-26-2006, 10:12 AM:
 
There is actually a branch of mathematics (Combinatorics) which, for instance, can be used to determine the minimum number of ringtones needed to aurally differentiate all the cell phones in any given room.

Cartographers have used these formulas to determine that it takes no more than 5 colors to make a map so that no two countries with a common boundary have the same color.

By extension, I figure that there need be no more than, say, a dozen possible ringtones to be sure that no two phones in the same room have the same sound. Just for safety, double that. (Because people move around quasi-randomly. Countries on a map don't.) Therefore the two dozen ring tones that come on a phone are MORE than enough to differentiate any two phones in the same room.

The ONLY reason for the proliferation of ring tones is to pad the pockets of the cell phone companies... You have to PAY to download those damn songs, doncha' know!
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-26-2006, 12:58 PM:
 
When we were a cellphone dealer at my day job, we got a lot of complaints about the crappy signal in town. (The tower was 5 miles from the town, which is in a valley.) When ringtones and 'games' became popular, I emailed the district supervisor and said: "Why don't you put less effort into the games and ringtones and so on, and concentrate more on improving the service?" He wrote back: "Because we make A LOT of money on games and ringtones."

We got out of the cell business soon after that. I remain mystified as to why people will happily spend $2 or more on a 30-second crappy-sounding ringtone, but balk at CD and movie ticket prices.
 

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 12-26-2006, 02:25 PM:
 
Cell phones have replaced cigarettes as the new mass-market addictive behavior of choice. The cell addicts can't put their phone down without going into withdrawal. And if they do, they have to pick it up and check it again every 30 seconds, just like taking a puff on a cig.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-26-2006, 02:44 PM:
 

quote:

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[Text messaging is useful] if you have something very private to tell someone ("Honey, put on the buttless chaps, I'm coming home") but can't say out loud (say while your on the bus or during a church service).

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I do not understand why you would not want to say this out loud, especially in church.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-26-2006, 03:38 PM:
 
As big and bright as mobile phone displays have become, it would be easy for someone to read over your shoulder to see what kind of perverted stuff you were typing -especially in the crowded confines of a church!


BTW, I do have regular ring tones selected on my phone for certain people. For instance, if my boss calls my phone will blare out the regular old fashioned sounding phone ringer. It's like caller ID without having to look at the phone.


I may create some fart and/or vomit sound effects ringers to attach to certain callers in my phone book.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-26-2006, 09:40 PM:
 
The voice dial feature on my phone has only one name programmed into it. My boss, the production manager. The word I have it trained for is, "Fuck!"

I don't know how many times I found myself standing in the middle of the stage, just hours before curtain, when somebody walks up to me and says, "The band isn't here yet...", or, "We're out of HPL stage lamps..." or something like that. And, I don't know how many times somebody has done that when I said, "Fuck!" and picked up my cell phone to call the boss.

So, I figured I'd make it all into one, smooth motion. I pick up my phone, snap it open, click the button and say, "Fuck!"

Moments later the call goes through.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-26-2006, 09:57 PM:
 
Although I find that story amusing, I think the voice dial feature is extremely pretentious. It takes so little effort to open up the phone and press the down arrow to the person you want to call and press the little green call button. I think people just want to look cool, as if voice recognition is the hot new technology or something (it's only 'state-of-the-art', not even 'space-age'). And it doesn't seem to work very well. I've heard people in public open up their phones, stand there and say "Call Dennis" or whatever. Pause. "Call Dennis!". Pause. "CALL DENNIS!!" Wait, wait wait. "Hello Dennis, get the buttless chaps on, I'm coming home!"
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-27-2006, 08:05 AM:
 
If I ever get a phone of any type that has a musical ringtone, someone please shoot me. That has to be the most annoying "feature" ever conceived.

I would think that voice dialing would be confusing. I would expect that it would be easier to remember Joe's phone number than to remember if I had programmed him in as being "Joe," "Joseph," "Joseph Redifer," "Joe Redifier," "Mr. Redifer," or "That Wiseguy." Then again, I tend to have a pretty good memory for phone numbers, so maybe this is more of an issue for some than for others.

Oh, and Phil, I don't have a 500 set with a long cord in my car. I prefer to make phone calls before I leave to go somewhere and then actually pay attention to driving when in the car. Yes, I know that this is out of fashion right now and that some people are perfectly comfortable reading, calling, shuffling papers, and typing on laptops while driving at 80+ miles per hour during rush hour.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-27-2006, 08:19 AM:
 

quote: Scott Norwood

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If I ever get a phone of any type that has a musical ringtone, someone please shoot me. That has to be the most annoying "feature" ever conceived.

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That's the whole idea! Why else would that feature be created?

 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 12-27-2006, 01:11 PM:
 
I think text messaging is great, as if you dont want to get into a long conversation with a gasbag long winded friend of yours, you can type in somethign to get right to the point. They're sort of like emails, but I dont see anyone whining about them.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-27-2006, 07:09 PM:
 
You don't have to type e-mail with your thumbs and also don't get charged every time you send and receive one. Also, you can read them on a screen bigger than a fly on a bull's ass.

quote: Scott Norwood

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I would expect that it would be easier to remember Joe's phone number than to remember if I had programmed him in as being "Joe," "Joseph," "Joseph Redifer," "Joe Redifier," "Mr. Redifer," or "That Wiseguy."

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You forgot "King Joe Redifer". You know what's even easier than remembering my awesomely easy cell phone number? Programming it into the phone and just scrolling down to "Lord Joe Redifer" and pressing the call button.
 

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Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 12-28-2006, 09:09 PM:
 
First, a question. Are there such a thing as assed chaps? In other words, are not all chaps without butt covers and therefore "buttless chaps" is redundant?

Now on to the original topic: I have had a model V3C Razor through US Cellular, a company likely unavailable to most of you, and I have no complaints. The reception is great when I travel and the speaker phone works well. The only thing is that you have to spell the entry theater instead of theatre to use the voice dialing, otherwise it will not recognize it unless you pronounce it thee-a-tray instead of thee-a-ter (sorry I cannot type the real phonetics to make it more clear). I have dropped it a few times. My wife and I have each owned one for 9 months.

I love my ringtones, but not because I think they are cool. In fact, they annoy me. They do, however, let me know who is calling since I assign different songs to different people. Working in a theatre, if my phone rings, I don't want to take time to look at my phone if I'm in a rush, especially if I have oil on my hands. If it's the bosses' ringtone, I answer. If it is a friend, I can disregard and go about my business. Valuable feature as I see it.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-28-2006, 10:34 PM:
 
I used to have one of those old Nokia phones... The model 3100 or something like that. I don't know for sure. But it was the most durable phone I've ever had. That thing took a BEATING!

I dropped it off a 55 foot high catwalk to the stage deck below. Only cracked the shell. Put on a new shell and it was good as new.

Dropped it out of my pocket, onto the pavement or what have you, countless times.

Ran it over with my car once. Replaced the shell again. Good as new.

Dropped it in a toilet. Took it apart, removed the battery, wasked it out and dried it with a hair dryer. STILL keep on ticking!

Took a trip through the clothes dryer once. I noticed the sound of it knocking around in there and stopped the dryer. It came out all toasty warm but unscathed.

FINALLY, I dropped it into the dishwasher and ran it through a full cycle, heat dry and all. THAT finally killed it!

But, since it was only two weeks until my contract was up I re-upped for another year and got a new phone with the deal. This time it was the Motorola V-60. What a piece of shit!

If the Razr is anything like the V-60 in terms of quality, I feel sorry for you!
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-28-2006, 11:13 PM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

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remembering my awesomely easy cell phone number

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