Using the Web on a cell phone: Do actual humans do this?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I'm finally thinking about getting The First Cell Phone, and it seems like some emergency Web access would be handy. Just for the getting-directions-to-the-bar-while-standing-on-a-freezing-corner sort of thing, and maybe the convincing-the-boss-I'm-working-while-at-the-park thing.

Does this actually work in the real world, though, or just in the commercials?

(I'm talking about normal cell phones here--if I used one of those keyboardy Treo things I'd be mistaken for a Hill staffer and swept into a markup meeting or something.)

― Stephen X (Stephen X), Saturday, 19 March 2005 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I got my phone last summer and the web on it sucks so much. This only works if you are japanese.

― Dr. Eldon Tyrell (ex machina), Saturday, 19 March 2005 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

my friend sean does it all the time...while he's driving! it freaks me the fuck out everytime he does it, but somehow he manages.

― latebloomer: damn cheapskate satanists (latebloomer), Saturday, 19 March 2005 01:01 (twenty-one years ago)

he has one of those hip top things

― latebloomer: damn cheapskate satanists (latebloomer), Saturday, 19 March 2005 01:01 (twenty-one years ago)

it's invaluable for keeping up with the various scores whilst I'm working

― Matt (Matt), Saturday, 19 March 2005 01:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, because the twunts at our pub quiz do it and think we can't see them cheating.

― ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 19 March 2005 01:12 (twenty-one years ago)

oh that's low

― Matt (Matt), Saturday, 19 March 2005 01:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I used to a lot when I lived in Germany. Service in U.S. isn't as good. I read ilx on it sometimes. And lots of newspaper headlines. Good for subways, streetcars, etc. It wasn't a super interface, but adequate.

― EComplex (EComplex), Saturday, 19 March 2005 04:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, because the twunts at our pub quiz do it and think we can't see them cheating.

Wasn't "Text Messaging Is Destroying The Pub Quiz As We Know It" a working title for a Super Furry Animals album?

I use mine to check football scores, and once used it to find a phone number.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Saturday, 19 March 2005 09:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I've actually posted to ILX from mine, but once a thread gets above 100 replies or so then it craps out. Checking football scores mainly.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Saturday, 19 March 2005 09:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Wasn't "Text Messaging Is Destroying The Pub Quiz As We Know It" a working title for a Super Furry Animals album?

It was as I mentioned that on this thread (Pub Quiz Ethics and the growth of mobile telephony) when the cheats were at a lower level of technology and I had a grumble at them. As did everyone else. This new development is v worrying.

My mobile alleged allows internet access but since it is a crappy old phone and not one of those new-fangled space-age machines I don't know how it works. I still have to stand in front of the window of Dixons to get the football scores like you probably all did before you got so technologically advanced.

― ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 19 March 2005 10:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm completely obsessed with the Blackberry. Here it costs an arm and a leg (baby format). I don't think I'd ever really buy it as I find it too chunky and quite ridiculous (as I am never really out so why bother, right?) That said, I am obsessed with it. The other day I saw a man opening his briefcase and in it was a BLACKBERRY. God, those things look ugly.

A few years back a friend tried to convince me *wapping* (is that how you say it in English as well? internet on a cellphone) was the new thing. I said:"Yeah, so new only 2 percent has it. No thanks." Maybe eventually it'll be standard, but for now I'll stick to my G5 when I want to download pron or music.

Also, the other day I hearda girl make this weird noise on her cellphone, as though she was clicking a tiny wheel. No, she was texting at 200 miles an hour. Her thumb moved so fast it seemed a blur.

― nathalie barefoot in the head (stevie nixed), Saturday, 19 March 2005 10:59 (twenty-one years ago)

My boss's boss has one of those Sony Ericssons that look like a GBA on its side. The previous version, the P900, pretended it was a phone by having a thin hinged thing at the botton which if you flipped it up onto the screen acted like a key pad (you press the button and it presses the screen). He said it's literally being able to use the internet wherever you are, which would frequently be great for EG "Is this really cheap DVD any good?". Though I'm old fashioned, and basically consider it just a jumped up PDA.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Saturday, 19 March 2005 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I consider myself to be just a jumped up PDA.

― TragicallyRealistic, Saturday, 19 March 2005 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

what's a gba, andrew?

― nathalie barefoot in the head (stevie nixed), Saturday, 19 March 2005 15:13 (twenty-one years ago)

my wife checks her email on hers. the web interface on my phone is shitty and doesn't work though. good idea, almost always bad in practice.

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 19 March 2005 17:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Posting from hiptop! Decent web, though NO cell phone web access is going to be nearly as convenient as a computer. Screen's simply too small to render most sites, ilx works fine though, things like that.

I'd consider the symbian based Ericsson p900 series the best web phone, though it's not at all cheap. For the phone and the data plan.

― bri c., Saturday, 19 March 2005 20:33 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm getting an ericsson. not the fancy one with the video, but the one with the camera and bluetooth. yay

― nathalie barefoot in the head (stevie nixed), Saturday, 19 March 2005 21:02 (twenty-one years ago)

GBA = GameBoy Advance. I'm saying that it's not ridiculously larger than the average phone, but it is all screen.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Saturday, 19 March 2005 22:59 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.sonyericsson.com/images/spgc/GPD_10335_1539_0_4000.jpg

The P900 (not actual size)

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Saturday, 19 March 2005 23:01 (twenty-one years ago)

my friend sean does it all the time...

haha my friend Sean does it too...

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Saturday, 19 March 2005 23:19 (twenty-one years ago)

You know how those Seans are.....

Is it easy enough to use teh email and Web and all just using the phone keypad? Because those little PDA-like things cost an arm and some legs.

― Stephen X (Stephen X), Sunday, 20 March 2005 00:20 (twenty-one years ago)

The only thing I ever use this for is checking football results and occasionally the news. Using the actual phone keypad to type anything longer than a text message strikes me as madness.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Sunday, 20 March 2005 00:26 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.