Some things just ain't progress.

[Richard Moore]

[utube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQaXjqfAgkQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="344">

I may have to rethink this whole Iphone thing.

[kurt]

Cool.

Of course, one could use the phone as the verbal communication device it's intended to be.

I've tried texting on my phone; I don't know why kids bother.

Personally, I'd like a cell phone with zero features outside of making phone calls. Just give me a signal, that's all I ask.

[sepefrio]

I still can't accept the concept that I have to pay for someone else to call or text me. If I wasn't in business, I would not even own a cell phone.

[AHI in AR]

The truth is out...Kurt's a closet Luddite!

Truth be told, I rarely ever use my phone for anything other than calls. My 15 year old son was stunned to learn that I had absolutely no idea what games were on the phone.

Not that I'm a technophobe, however. I do have an Archos personal media player that I find totally cool.

[kurt]

I'm no Luddite! I'm anti-foolishness.

We need phone companies interested in providing cellular service, not ring tones and shopping options. The United States ranks somewhere around 29th in the world on the connectivity index; that's pathetic.

This little vid shows just how silly it's gotten.

[Chad Fabry]

I still can't accept the concept that I have to pay for someone else to call or text me. If I wasn't in business, I would not even own a cell phone.

I don't have a cell phone. One day I realized I was spending 70 bucks a month so other people could steal my day at their will. If I'm in the office I answer my phone, if I'm not, my machine gets it.

[hausdok]

Originally posted by Chad Fabry

I still can't accept the concept that I have to pay for someone else to call or text me. If I wasn't in business, I would not even own a cell phone.

I don't have a cell phone. One day I realized I was spending 70 bucks a month so other people could steal my day at their will. If I'm in the office I answer my phone, if I'm not, my machine gets it.

Um,

There's a device on the cell phone to control that Chad; it's called an on/off button. Or, you can get high tech and just turn off the ringer.

No cell phone? Philistine!

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[caryseidner]

Obviously mine is not the popular opinion, but I must say you guys are goofs! My cell phone (Motorola Q) is approx. 4.5h x 2.75w x .5d and it has replaced my palm pilot (which replaced my big old 9" x 5" x 2" Daytimer), basic cell phone, and voice recorder.

It also has a music player, calculator, note pad, camera, email and the internet to name a few. It's nearly a frickin' PC in my pocket. Well not quite I guess, but it does A LOT and I wouldn't qo back to a basic cell.

Texting is a great way to send a quick message to somebody. Way better than a VM. I personally hate leaving and receiving VM's. With texting you don't have to dial your VM to retrieve the message. Navigate through the voice automated menu. Try to decipher an often garbled message. Hit the replay button if you didn't hear the garbled phone number. Heck on my phone, a number sent in a text message is hyper linked so all I have to do is click it and the phone dials.

Texting on a standard cell phone without a keyboard is a major pain in the arse. You guys should upgrade to smartphones! My clients are mostly younger than me and that is probably going to continue. They like texting. I like clients.

FYI - US Cellular only charges for outgoing calls. Incoming is free, and at least around here their service is very good.

My 2 cents.

[Michael Brown]

Jeeze... they missed the text recognition on these things (not available on the Q Mobile, no stylus). The hand writing recognition is very fast and accurate when you get used to it. It would have to be faster than trying peck out a few words on those tiny keyboards. If your inspection software happens to run on them, even better.

Michael

[kurt]

Originally posted by caryseidner

Obviously mine is not the popular opinion, but I must say you guys are goofs! My cell phone (Motorola Q) is approx. 4.5h x 2.75w x .5d and it has replaced my palm pilot (which replaced my big old 9" x 5" x 2" Daytimer), basic cell phone, and voice recorder.

It also has a music player, calculator, note pad, camera, email and the internet to name a few. It's nearly a frickin' PC in my pocket. Well not quite I guess, but it does A LOT and I wouldn't qo back to a basic cell.

Texting is a great way to send a quick message to somebody. Way better than a VM. I personally hate leaving and receiving VM's. With texting you don't have to dial your VM to retrieve the message. Navigate through the voice automated menu. Try to decipher an often garbled message. Hit the replay button if you didn't hear the garbled phone number. Heck on my phone, a number sent in a text message is hyper linked so all I have to do is click it and the phone dials.

Texting on a standard cell phone without a keyboard is a major pain in the arse. You guys should upgrade to smartphones! My clients are mostly younger than me and that is probably going to continue. They like texting. I like clients.

FYI - US Cellular only charges for outgoing calls. Incoming is free, and at least around here their service is very good.

My 2 cents.

Agreed on the smartphone. I've been texting on a standard cellphone which is simply too much hassle.

I'm due for a new phone anyway, and have been shopping all the options and services.

Thought about an iPhone, but I've come to hate AT&T. Might have to look into USCellular.

[hausdok]

Texting? Yuk! Tried it, don't like it.

I don't have a problem getting clients without texting. When someone calls up wanting to ask about my services and has to discuss difficulties in getting to and from a job, etc. I can get all of that discussion done by voice in about 1% of the time it would take me to type it all out on a phone. Texting is just a fancy schmancy way of e-mailing. I've found that when I talk to a customer directly it's relatively easy to convince them to use my services versus spending an afternoon calling around on the phone shopping inspectors. It's not so easy to do that via texting; it's been my experience at least that I lose more of those potential clients than use my services.

To each his own, I suppose.

By the way, I still use a daytimer and it's a whole lot more reliable than any gizmo I've ever used.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[caryseidner]

Hey Mike,

I never booked an inspection via text. I prefer the phone for that too. The few times people have initiated contact with me through email, I have talked (or typed) most of them into talking with me on the phone. If they won't call or let me call them, then I let it go. They're price shoppers and I don't win any of those deals. The texting part comes in around schedule changes or other quick communiques.

In my neck of the woods many of my clients are using text to stay in touch with their people. I see it during our inspections and many times after the inspection they text me with a quick question about this or that.

It's the future. No wait a minute...it's the present. They're the future.

[hausdok]

Originally posted by caryseidner

In my neck of the woods many of my clients are using text to stay in touch with their people. I see it during our inspections and many times after the inspection they text me with a quick question about this or that.

It's the future. No wait a minute...it's the present. They're the future.

Hi,

Yeah, I know all about it; this is one of the techieest places in the land, you know, what with Microsoft and all of these other high tech companies headquartered here. Walk through a mall around here anymore and it looks like half of the folks have lost the ability to hold their heads erect - they're all clacking away on cell phone keyboards. I think that half these folks wouldn't know how to communicate without their gizmos.

God help us if we ever simultaneously get hit with EMP weapons in all of the major cities in this country - we'll be crippled and the army of some country using 1960's technology will be able to come in and roll over our high tech weaponry like gulls feeding off a bunch of porpoises stranded on a sandbar. It won't be pretty.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[caryseidner]

If we got hit with an EMP would Morse Code work?

[Bill Kibbel]

i h8 txt msgs speld lk ths it rly pss me off do u c wat i mean - wtf.

[Richard Moore]

Originally posted by kurt

Agreed on the smartphone. I've been texting on a standard cellphone which is simply too much hassle.

I'm due for a new phone anyway, and have been shopping all the options and services.

Thought about an iPhone, but I've come to hate AT&T. Might have to look into USCellular.

Kurt, I was with Verizon before getting my iPhone. It's hard to love any of these companies so it didn't bug me that much to switch. I will say that I seem to get better coverage with AT&T, with less dead spots, but that's hardly a scientific comparison.

I got the iPhone originally so that I could easily get my e-mail while on various vacations, and without hauling a lap-top around. I have also become used to the occasional convenience of accessing the web from anywhere. I don't use it that much, but it can be handy for checking traffic, googling something on site, etc. Oh...also good for showing clients photos of my dog! All in all, I like the features and have no regrets going with the phone.

BUT...I have texted exactly zero times in my life. The only text messages I have ever received came from AT&T itself (very few and just info). I hope it stays that way.

[Terence McCann]

I'm a licensed amateur radio operator, K8TJM, and CW (Morse code) is my favorite mode of communication. The top end guys can send code at 30+ WPM. On my best day I'm sending at 12-15 WPM. I've made contacts all over the world on less than 50 watts.

It's proven time and again that when all other modes of communication fail or are overloaded, amateur radio provides a valuable emergency service for passing traffic.

Having said that I'd be lost without my BlackBerry.

[Steven Hockstein]

The ability to text quickly is directly proportional to your age. My kids could text a novel to their friends in the time it takes for me to enter a short note and send it out.

[Jim Baird]

I, like Chad, am a cellphone refusenik.

If I turn it off, as Haudok suggests, then I'm paying 70 bucks a month for nada.

On the other hand there is this studded leather collar and short leash that my wife put on me.

[Brad Manor]

I have a BlackBerry. I don't need it, but I like it. The ability to receive and respond to emails in the field makes it worthwhile (for me at least). When I am on-site at an inspection I won't pick it up, but it is a lifesaver for being productive between appointments - I will often schedule and confirm appointments entirely via email. I gotta admit, I really like the BlackBerry messenger too.

-Brad

[Brandon Whitmore]

It sounds like I may be in the minority. I have booked jobs without ever talking to someone on the phone. At least a few of those through text only.

For me, texting comes in handy. Say you are heading to a job at 7 am and don't want to wake a client up, but have a question. Send a quick text. If they are awake, there is a good chance they have their phone right next to them and can quickly reply. If they are sleeping, you won't rudely wake them up.

I use text quite a bit at the wee hours of the morning to make sure my sportsman buddies are awake like they should be. A ringing phone will wake up the better half.

[Brian G]

If I didn't have a cell phone I would lose business. Many people start down whatever list they have, and usually the first person who really "connects" with them gets the job. If they can't get me, I get skipped.

That said, mark me down with Kurt. All I want is a damn good phone; no games, no camera, no anything else.

Brian G.

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