Retro coming back. Phones that is

I think if you ask anyone what they want from a phone (or laptop for that matter), it's battery life, signal strength, clear calling and for it all to be packaged up nicely in a robust case.

Instead we get fragile but nice looking phones we immediately have to cover up in film, glass and a case to ensure it lasts longer than a week. Then you have to charge it daily, even if you switch off all the features that drain the battery.

Then, to insult all of our intelligence, we are forced voice command features. It's a phone, it's in my hand. Why do I want to talk to it, when I could be talking to humans?

Then there are smart watches, which are never more than a few feet from your phone, need daily charging and do much less than a phone, but wait, it's on your wrist so everyone can see how cool and connected you are.

Now we have WiFi in cars. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we are already fighting battles against the distraction of using phones in cars, so why not make it a whole lot easier to do more distracting things??

I do like smart phones (as long as it isn't fruit branded), and I recently got a smart watch. However, the watch needs charging every 6 weeks or so, looks like a proper watch and is basic for functionality when compared to others, but it does only what it needs to, and very well.

I feel manufacturers stopped listening to the customer years ago and just sell what they want, there are far more people willing to pay for the 'latest and greatest' based on marketing bs, and upgrade annually, rather than make products that work and last.imag8ne the carbon footprint of a product that lasts years, oh wait, where is the profit in that?
 
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^^^^^

Ha! Couldn't have put it better myself.

Had a customer today say to me, but haven't you got a camera on your 'phone........? She's in her 70's, then admitted she can't download her pics from her 'phone anyway. What ever is wrong with having a camera for pics, a computer/lap top for the internet, and a watch to tell you the time....?

But then again, I am a bit 'retro' in that regard..... :LOL:
 
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Upgrade every year?!

I keep my phones for ages, some for 4 or 5 years; I think I've only had 5 or 6 phones in total.

I'm now on my second smart phone, a Motorola Moto G, which I bought for £35.00. I don't really use many smart phone aps, but I do like the music player feature. I put in a 32GB memory card, loaded with albums, bought one of these: http://www.whathifi.com/audioquest/drag ... v15/review and a pair of these: http://www.whathifi.com/philips/fidelio-m1mkii/review. Now I can listen to music on the go and it sounds nearly as good as my home set up.
 
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LikeClockwork":qf7vc4bi said:
^^^^^

Ha! Couldn't have put it better myself.

Had a customer today say to me, but haven't you got a camera on your 'phone........? She's in her 70's, then admitted she can't download her pics from her 'phone anyway. What ever is wrong with having a camera for pics, a computer/lap top for the internet, and a watch to tell you the time....?

But then again, I am a bit 'retro' in that regard..... :LOL:

How many times have I seen you post a sale/build thread and mention 'pics later/need to charge camera etc' I take a pic with my phone in the shed or anywhere else, it pops up on my ipad, i paste it in to photobucket. job done. I still have cameras for proper pics but for convenience my phone is better. While I can still see it.

Took me a while to get my head around the 'cloud' thing.
 
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66 triumph daytona":27l63ysd said:
Retro phones never went away,they improved.This is what I use,I got it last year.Its totally waterproof,shockproof and has a reasonable camera but what makes it stand out is the battery life.It claims a month between charges.I get on average 4 weeks between charges,no sh1t.I was sick of the fragility of smartphones and wanted to get away from the "head down finger swipe"thing.
Time is what I go for too, which is why i use a basic. The new one, admittedly £10 only gives about 7-10 days standby, but I'll look into that you have. Certainly 4 weeks would suit better.


I bought a smartphone about 6 months ago. The MS one. Within a week id gifted it to Mum. You need to be sitting by a powerpoint if you want to use it. Short standby time too, even switched off completely the battery ran down(no doubt some internal gps)
For my uses as I only send occasional texts, and never, well rarely use it as a phone, something with big standby would be best.
 
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heres mine,built like a brick,weighs the same,waterproof,me proof and the charge lasts a week which is good for a smartphone.my last smartphone broke when i had it in my pocket and went for a walk.this one can be driven over ...
 

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Here's mine


wall proof, tank proof, apocalypse proof, ...

Bought it a little over 2 years ago (NOS, sealed box and all), haven't really used my supposedly-smart phone since.
 

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