Horse's PaToouie!

[DeltaT]

Yep, that me! This new world we live in sucks, for the most part.

So AT&T tells me my old 12 year old Palm Cell phone won't work soon. So I have to change and they give me a Blackberry. Most awful phone I've ever had. So I go and get an IPhone4 from Best Buy. Good service & good buy...$50.00 plus $50.00 for hard case.

Much easier to use but still doesn't work for me as much as my old Palm...plus transferring contact info and addresses is very hard. I need a simple phone I can answer with one hand and has an ear piece.

Simple you would think. Well they don't exist anymore.

OK, I'll grow up and be trendy and stick with the Iphone4. So Ultra Aire has this really good app - see, I'm starting to fit in cause I used "app" - for free as listed in one of our trade magazines. It's an app called Ultra-Aire Psychrometric Calculator for the IPhone. And it's free. It says so on the ad.

I end up finding it after awhile but I something won't let me in to download this free app unless I give them my credit card number and agree to a 65 page document...which I did out of frustration but won't give them my credit card numbe since I'm not buying anything.

Anyway, after two hours and calling their tech support and calling the electronic man who answers "stupid" more than once, I get a real person who tells me the same thing.

They win. I'm not giving them my credit card number...and they are not giving me the Ultra-Aire app. So there. I guess I showed them.

Anyway, does anyone know of an AT&T phone that is a flib or a brick that has real keys and a real key pad that is fairly big?

And, I now have three Treo 650's with cases, extra chargers, extra battery and probably some other accessories that are up for grab for a few dollars if anyone is interested.

And I also have a new Blackberry Curve 9360 taken out of the box and used 2 and one half times too for those that like these things. I'm told they are really neat if you have the brains to use them.

[Control Man]

Check these out http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/dev...id=PPD9Z1Y7hUP

[jmac00]

welcome to the new world. All I want is a phone that I can answer, doesn't have any button on the side.

They don't exist. I have a new Razor Maxx. it's a nice phone but I could do WITHOUT all the media crap.

seriously, who the hell would watch a movie or tv on a freaking phone.

The cellular world has us by the gonads and they ain't letting go

[PM Heat n Cool]

See if they have an android phone with a slide out keyboard

[jmac00]

See if they have an android phone with a slide out keyboard

Droid II

[pacnw]

the salespeople look at you like you are from Mars or something when you ask for a phone!!!

"I want a phone, you know the one that you use to talk"

they show you this thing that does everything else but have phone capabilities or the phone/signal portion is crap.

[DeltaT]

Thanks for the input. Knowing that I was about to enter the world of "trendy" vs. the "working man" I did my phone homeword before I entered the AT&T or Best Buy store.

When I entered the AT&T store I was met by a young lady with a tablet that greeted me and stood in my path. After a long pause she asked for my name and why I was there. Told her both and we continued to stand there. Asked her if she was playing solitare on her tablet cause we weren't doing anything but standing there.

She told me we were looking to see who was busy and who was not. I repeated again that she was just standing there and so was I. She looked at me like I was an idiot. She repeated about the who's busy thing so I asked her why she just didn't turn around and look. After all she and me could see the entire place and everything in it. Another dirty look.

I said I see a guy at the service counter and why can't I just go over and wait. She said, no you can't. We are waiting to see who is busy and who is not. I said you can but I'm going over to the counter and wait on this guy. It's where I'm going to go anyway, right, I asked her.

She said go on with great relief that she has just gotten rid of this customer known as me.

Get to the counter and obsiviously I have upset the network so this other, really cute, lady comes over with her tablet and splains to me that my name is on the board, she point to it and I look, and I should wait my turn. I said I didn't know the board was there and I was not just going to stand there and do nothing but I was willing to wait my turn now that I know what was taking place.

So this cute gal ends up giving me the info I wanted including the manager who has also joined us. Seems I have not collored inside the AT&T lines as they require. So now I have two taking care of me.

I think their motivation was not to serve me but to get rid of me. Ends up all the phones they show me don't come near having the few features that I need as a working guy. And they don't know how to handle this.

They did order me the free replacement Blackberry and off I go.

Anyway, I returned to the same store a few days back and you would think I was Moses parting the Red Sea. I mean everyone avoided me cept one new guy. And he stated the same stuff with how cool all the phone were with all the stuff I did not need.

I think I'm stuck with my Iphone4......................

[Control Man]

Sounds like the last time I went to BEST BUY ( Better to buy elesehere )

Today had a great day , large job site that has a TECHNOLOGY BLOCKER , no cellphones , no pagers , no Texting , no Tweeting and 30 workers FREAKED out and 5 of us enjoying the peace and quiet and able to get 8 hours of uninterrupted work done.

Break time / Lunch it was a MAD dash to the outer limits of the site so they could all get their NET FIX.

[mbhydro]

reminds me of an ad, the local phone company had a few years ago (they do land lines and cell service). Two of their young customers were looking at their new smartphones and going on and on about latest ones MTS was selling in Manitoba and the apps they could use.

At the end one of their phone rings and one says to the other, " what's that noise?" the other kid "I don't know but it stops after I hear it a few times!"

Obviously the suggestion was they did not talk on them.

[mason]

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2341441,00.asp

Here's a better work phone from at&t. If you do some Internet research you'll turn up more.

[DeltaT]

Thanks all for the imput. I've looked at all those phones and most don't have an ear bug plug. The Motorola Tundra is excellent but AT&T doesn't carry it anymore. They recommend the Rugby II, which also doesn't have an ear bug hard wire connection. And I don't like Blue tooth. I stick my head in too my high voltage and confined spaces for that to be hanging off my ear.

The Motorala Tundra is for sale on line with a USB connected ear bug, expensive, but they are unlocked. Anyone have any experience with using unlocked phones?

I switched to my Palm Treo 650 from a phone I got on EBay many years ago and AT&T called me and chewed me out. They told me I could not do that but I continued to use the phone and they supported it for the last 10 years or so.

So, any experience positive or negative on using an on line purchesed unlocked cell phone?

Can't believed I've spent so much time on just trying to find a phone to use. The IPhone4 is pretty neat but it will not last 6 months on the job from what I see so far.

[chillerout1]

droid 3 or 4 both have port for earpiece and slide keyboards

[DeltaT]

droid 3 or 4 both have port for earpiece and slide keyboards

I was looking at those cause they were recommended before by a few others. Impressive but the slide out key board and the small keys are still an issue with me.

I'm tending to look more and more at a standard brick flip phone that has large keys and then get a bluetooth for non hands on conversations.

When I'm driving or on the job all I want to do is pick up the phone and press a button to talk. And I need hard keys not touch screen. Besides both stores told me the the touch screens are too easily damaged in the field especially if I drop the phone which does happen.

So it may look like a combination of a hard keyed flip phone like the Samsung II along with a blue tooth. After all I still have to insert the ear plug in my ear even when I'm driving so maybe the bluetooh might just be as easy or difficult.

Still unbelievable to me that I have had to spend so much time on this.