Technology hell day. Phone system went down, ethernet hub decided to peter out, yada yada. Figured out how to get the phones back up at work. Gave up on the network, since the WiFi was still kickin. So no printing from any computer or surfing on the PC.
Yippee.
Returned the rental car over lunch and went with Heather to pick up a new Sprint PCS phone (hers disappeared off the roof of her car when she was driving back from the wedding).
Long battery life, usable form factor, semi-rugged design. That’s all she needed.
The sales people are trained to take a plunger and stuff the PCS Vision crap down our throats.
She didn’t want to take pictures if it costs 400 bucks or requires a separate device. She didn’t want email, or the web or messaging or picture caller id, or screen savers or fishtanks or flying toasters or spinning globes…
In lieu, we had the choice of small, smaller and wimpy phones with tiny buttons and color screens with menu-systems that seemed to improve the chances of highway fatalities.
We found the least offensive. Some Sanyo with forgettable numeric name. The new fangled “3D like” menu could be shut off. The colors could be adjusted to give the screen SOME contrast. But there went any ringers built in that didn’t sound like cruddy MIDI emitting from a Hallmark Card.
They have this imitation of what phones USED to sound like. But it’s not a good imitation.
Tangent – I have a few triggers in life:
One is standing in lines.
The other is mobile phones ringing during movies or in restaurants.
I’d love to be able to hook up an old Western Electric to ring at will, without the aid of wires. I could set it on the table when i go to dinner, and trigger it to ring and ring and just have my meal without noticing. Eventually I’d pick up the phone and have some loud banal conversation.