New phone

For some reason I’ve been sent a free Skype mobile phone from the annoyingly named “3″ company. I last had a new phone in 2003. It’s got a black and white screen and doesn’t do much more than make calls and send texts. This is my first real adventure with what passes for cutting edge in the non-iPhone world of mobiles. And I’m pretty darn tech-savvy. So let’s see how I do.

11.45am

General Setup

Switching on is simple as is setting the date and time. I can’t be bothered to set my wallpaper but have hit my first stubling block. The instructions to set the ringtone just don’t relate to the phone.

Ah, figured it out. There are two left buttons, one on the rocker and one an actual key. Least offensive noises selected – a doorbell for text messages and the “school bell” for calls. There’s nothing resembling an actual telephone, of course. And thank heaven I’ve managed to switch off the retarded clicking noise every time a key is pressed.

12.00

Voicemail set up. Hated doing that.

12.03

Bored now. Let’s see what this site looks like on the mobile web. Eek! The phone doesn’t seem to get curly quotes (which WordPress puts in by default and which I don’t really like but never got around to sorting) and images seem a little pointless. But at least it loads stuff and is readable. Charges by the MB apparently or for £5 a month.

Okay, it’s a mobile phone and as expected I’m rather unimpressed with the whole experience. But that’s not why I have this. I have this for the Skype function. Let’s see how that works.

12.13

Skype set up was very easy, but then I already have a Skype account. The only problem is none of my Skype buddies are online right now, so I’ll have to test this later on.

Possibly the best thing about this phone is I really can’t be bothered to play with it. If it were something intuitive and usable that made me want to investigate every inch of its capabilities and push it to the edge then I’d just waste the whole day. As it is I’m going to get on with some work now.

The iPhone might not be perfect (and I have no intention of getting one until the cut’n'paste issue is sorted at the very least) but you can see why Apple went for the mobile market. They general standard really is poor.

On the plus side I’ll be able to make Skype calls away from Wifi spots and without my laptop on my lap. Which, considering the phone and service is free (for the next three months anyway), isn’t bad at all. It’d just be nicer if the phone wasn’t irritating. (Not complaining, just reviewing.)

For the record, this is a three month trial and then it has to be sent back so I’ll be keeping my current phone and number going. So nothing has changed on the contact front.