Mobile Phone Newbie

[Andy]

Now I'm living in Japan, I got my first mobile phone (over here) today.

Because I can't read Kanji's the chinese-style writing I requested a phone without camera and email to keep costs to a minimum.

Well it turns out that every phone has a camera and "text messaging" is an unknown phrase  Everybody sends email via the phone.

Also, I can select English on the phone display so no problem 

I'll have to post a photo of the phone soon. It's a small clam-shell type (sony-ericsson). I spotted the ridge-racer game on it.

In the instruction manual there seem to be over 400 emoticons available 

[Mikey]

400 emoticons?  Youll never use all those.  They must have more facial expressions over there than they do here in America.  lol

[Hope]

The Japanese love their electronic toys. They have more toys than any other nation. They are a very technologically advanced at a very young age.

[SensoVision]

Andy, I always thought that people in Japan not show their emotions... maybe after keeping themselves from doing this for  so long they invent so many emoticons?
BTW what about rates for mobile services, are they affordable there?
looking forward to see the picture of this phone.

[Andy]

I guess it's because there is a large number of people packed around the coastline so people are traditionally very polite and hide emotions. Otherwise there would be a lot of carnage with the samorai swords etc. 

Here is the phone:





The cost is quite high in my opinion. In the UK I used a very cheap telecoms company that I was affiliated with. It was around 4x cheaper than here for the monthly charge.

But the phone was free under a 6 month contract.

[SensoVision]

nice-looking phone, Andy! I like it even taking into account that flip-panels is my most hated type of the phone, but on your picture it looks pretty solid.
I assume that on the second picture we see endless list of emoticons?

[Hope]

nice-looking phone, Andy! I like it even taking into account that flip-panels is my most hated type of the phone, but on your picture it looks pretty solid.

Why do you hate flip phones? I couldn't live without it. I had a non-flip phone and hated it because the keys were always exposed. Even locking the keys made it a pain.

[Andy]

Design-wise, I think the flip phone (clam shell) approach is most practical. There is alot of electronics to pack into a phone and some parts need good isolation from each other especially with dual-mode phones that operate in 2 radio bands.

Also the keys and display are best kept folded away when not in use IMHO to keep the display clean and avoid the problems with accidental key presses.

The hinge is sturdy enough and there is enough industry experience to get the electrical interconnection reliable now I think.

As regards emoticons, yes there are lots but I guess my mood may change as I navigate around to find the ideal one to reflect my instantaneous mood 

[SensoVision]

I don't like clam shell only because I saw how easy they are broken... also I've seen a lot of them at service center(most of them were flip-panels) but I acould assume that it was just old models and now industry really learn how to make them more sturdy...

As regards emoticons, yes there are lots but I guess my mood may change as I navigate around to find the ideal one to reflect my instantaneous mood  Grin

good point here

[Hope]

I have dropped my flip phones and had no problems with them. I have even dropped them when they were open. There was no problems either. Now, after 2 years of dropping my phone a few too many times, the speaker got a bit flakey. I just got a new phone. I am giving my old one to my son. He doesn't use the speaker so it isn't a problem.

[SensoVision]

good to hear that flip phones become so solid, guess that when my phone would die I would give a chance to flip phones as well.