Random true mobile phone facts

[Silent1]

The first motorola flip phones didn't actually have a microphone in the flip section, also the aerials on them were fake because a focus group said all phones should have a big aerial like a walkie talkie.

[TheEnd]

The Nokia "matrix" phone wasn't the same phone used in the film, just all the matrix nerds wanted some slidey nokia and picked that one instead.

It was also the beginning of the end for bug free stable phones

[Steamer]

Random true mobile facts?

This was a bad phone:



However it was one of the few mobile phones that you could A. Slam down on the person you were talking to. B. Take someone's eyeout when the spring-loaded front becomes detached.

Edited by Steamer on Sunday 11th October 15:55

[simonrockman]

Silent1 said:

The first motorola flip phones didn't actually have a microphone in the flip section, also the aerials on them were fake because a focus group said all phones should have a big aerial like a walkie talkie.

I'm not sure I believe the antenna story. I'll mail someone who worked on it and check. He's still at Motorola and now very senior.

OK for my fact. The Motorola Razr wasn't expected to sell as many as a million handsets, it sold over 100 million. More than three milion in pink.

Downloadable ring tones came about because some engineers in a Nokia lab did a software load one Christmas with Jingle Bells for the 2110. This was only supposed to be given to a few people but once they realised everyone wanted it they made it a feature.

[Arese]

Steamer said:

B. Take someone's eyeout when the spring-loaded front becomes detached.

Was it definitely spring-loaded? I had an 8110 and I'm sure it was a 'manual' thing you had to do.

[Pesty]

simonrockman said:

Silent1 said:

The first motorola flip phones didn't actually have a microphone in the flip section, also the aerials on them were fake because a focus group said all phones should have a big aerial like a walkie talkie.

I'm not sure I believe the antenna story. I'll mail someone who worked on it and check. He's still at Motorola and now very senior.

OK for my fact. The Motorola Razr wasn't expected to sell as many as a million handsets, it sold over 100 million. More than three milion in pink.

Downloadable ring tones came about because some engineers in a Nokia lab did a software load one Christmas with Jingle Bells for the 2110. This was only supposed to be given to a few people but once they realised everyone wanted it they made it a feature.

I belive the ariel bit. I made several phones while working for a large sub contract electronic manufaturer that had useless plastic ariels not attached to anything or performing any task other than looking like they did something.

[Steamer]

Arese said:

Steamer said:

B. Take someone's eyeout when the spring-loaded front becomes detached.

Was it definitely spring-loaded? I had an 8110 and I'm sure it was a 'manual' thing you had to do.

Yes - it had the push button release on the side, then the cover bit shot down.

Unfortunatly a whole bunch of us had the same model and someone realised if you take it apart and wind up the spring a bit you can make the opening function a bit sharper.

Mine went off in Gatwich airport and the cover sprang off into a group a tourists never to be seen again

ETA: sorry I was talking about the 7110

Edited by Steamer on Sunday 11th October 15:47

[Arese]

Steamer said:

Arese said:

Steamer said:

B. Take someone's eyeout when the spring-loaded front becomes detached.

Was it definitely spring-loaded? I had an 8110 and I'm sure it was a 'manual' thing you had to do.

Yes - it had the push button release on the side, then the cover bit shot down.

Unfortunatly a whole bunch of us had the same model and someone realised if you take it apart and wind up the spring a bit you can make the opening function a bit sharper.

Mine went off in Gatwich airport and the cover sprang off into a group a tourists never to be seen again

ETA: sorry I was talking about the 7110

Edited by Steamer on Sunday 11th October 15:47

That's it! I vaguely some phone being spring-loaded, but I was sure it wasn't the 8110. My Dad had a 7110.

[eldar]

Text messaging wasn't going to be part of mobile phones. It was going to be a simple one-way paging facility. At the last moment it was made two way to be a bit cleverer than existing pagers and sell phones to deaf users.

It was expected to be an ignored feature that would die out in a few years, from the mainstream business. Why send some short message when you could talk to someone? Maybe a million or two messages over the lifetime of the product.

The UK does about 7000 messages a second or thereabouts, or 600,000,000 a day.

[zac510]

simonrockman said:

Silent1 said:

The first motorola flip phones didn't actually have a microphone in the flip section, also the aerials on them were fake because a focus group said all phones should have a big aerial like a walkie talkie.

I'm not sure I believe the antenna story. I'll mail someone who worked on it and check. He's still at Motorola and now very senior.

I believe it. I reckon it died out pretty quick, but if you remember the time you had to go outside your house to get a reception on a mobile you might be very tempted to think that a phone with an aerial is going to do a better job.

[Lord Flathead]

Nokia N96 Facts

• They have a small white label inside under the battery which goes pink if subjected to dampness or red if submerged in water.

• There is a chip with an inbuilt hairline crack on it. If the phone is subjected to microwave energy, this chip is desgined to rupture so that the techs can diagnose non-warranty abuse.

After accidently dropping my phone in the bath, rapidly removing the battery and sticking it in the airing cupboard for 24 hours, to my surpise it worked perfectly. In the afternoon of the same day I dropped the phone from my coffee table breaking the screen. In a dishonest attempt at getting the warranty to replace the broken handset, I thought that by sticking the phone in the microwave so it wouldn't even power on, I could swindle (yes I know - what was I thinking) another phone back under warranty (I have had phone insurance for over 5 years but never used it so I cancelled it as unnecessary expense in a credit crunch).

On taking the phone to a Nokia Service Centre, the tech took the phone then returned back within 2 minutes. His response?

"Sorry mate that's not a warranty repair, the phone has been submerged in water and someone has stuck it in the microwave!".

So cost of screen would have been £80, cost of replacement phone = £400

Moral of the story? Don't be immoral

[ofcorsa]

I know someone who who dropped a working phone into the bath hoping to get a replacement on insurance, They did this BEFORE checking said insurance policy.............

[AJI]

If you made a 5 minute call on any early nokia with a pull out aerial placed into an egg cup of water, it could heat that water to 50 degrees.

(I might have actually just made that up)

;-)

[skeggysteve]

Yes, the ariel on the Motorola didn't appear to help signal strengh at all but it did make customers think it did!

Cellnet experimented with real time telemetry via mobile phone software when they sponsored Damon Hill in F3.

When calls were charged first minute x pence (for the life of me I can't remember the cost) and the next minute or part of was charged at the same rate some airtime providers minutes were shorter than others.

I know it's been done to death but I'll just add that someone who should know told me that the 'don't use mobiles in petrol station' was due to them interfering with the price read out on one companies forecourts.

[uncinqsix]

The Nokia 1100 is the best selling phone and indeed the best selling item of consumer electronics ever.



It is also awesome.

Edited by uncinqsix on Sunday 11th October 18:55

[Zod]

uncinqsix said:

The Nokia 1100 is the best selling phone and indeed the best selling item of consumer electronics ever.



It is also awesome.

Edited by uncinqsix on Sunday 11th October 18:55

I have never seen this model, so I find this statement as difficult to believe as the one above that 100 million RAZRs were sold.

[hyperblue]

Zod said:

uncinqsix said:

The Nokia 1100 is the best selling phone and indeed the best selling item of consumer electronics ever.



It is also awesome.

Edited by uncinqsix on Sunday 11th October 18:55

I have never seen this model, so I find this statement as difficult to believe as the one above that 100 million RAZRs were sold.

That's because you don't live in a developing country - they've sold 200 million of them ( http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL026294562007050...).

Edited by hyperblue on Sunday 11th October 19:44

[speedchick]

The Nokia 1100 is a great little phone, I loved mine and the torch on the top of it was a nice feature, you could really throw them about and they just kept on going.

[Los Palmas 7]

Great for texting, crap as a phone.

[T_Pot]

simonrockman said:

I'm not sure I believe the antenna story. I'll mail someone who worked on it and check. He's still at Motorola and now very senior.

Porsche owner? john?