What I want in a phone:
Rather than going to a web site like PhoneSpamFilter to look up a number that has called me, I’d like a phone that would let me install an app that would look at my received calls and tell me what those numbers are for. Even better, one that took the place of ACTUAL CALLER ID and gave me information on anyone not in my phone book AS THE CALL WAS COMING IN. Not that I’m angry or anything, but I see no valid reason why cellphones can’t have actual caller ID.
And I’d like a phone to give me the ability, by default, to have no ringer (or vibrate function) on calls I don’t recognize. I want the ability, especially when I’m otherwise busy, to have unidentified numbers go straight to voicemail.
Maybe it’s a result of buying less-than-smartphones, but for years I’ve felt like applications available on cellphones do ANYTHING but actually provide added value to the PHONE aspect. Thanks for the calendar and the calculator, but how about giving me some control over my phone’s behavior?
What say ye?
Nobody does real caller ID…but for the ringer stuff, both Blackberry and Win Mobile phones have been doing it for a few phone generations at least.
Heck, it’d be awesome if I could have two separate voicemails, one for people I know and one for people I don’t.
I really need to get a manual for Windows Mobile, then, because my phone is great at everything -except- being a phone, so far.
Yeah, even the 2 phones I had before the iPhone allowed me to do address book/group based ringer rules. look into Sony/Ericsson is my advice, I guess.
Oh, I can set what ringtone to use, but I have to -create- a silent ringtone if I don’t want the phone to ring, and even then, I can’t have it -not- vibrate. And specifically, I can’t tell it to go straight to voicemail.
Hmm, I could have it go straight to VM, I don’t think I could have it not vibrate (though if it is not vibrating and silent it may as well be going to voicemail, right?) but I never tried. I didn’t have to create a silent sound file, vibrate was just one of the options for that person/group.
HRm…. I can.
It’s a call forwarding feature. I forward everything directly to my voicemail.
I currently have the Sony w810i, and I cannot stand it (it drops calls frequently, and gets poor reception), so I’d advise against that particular model.
Hmm, OK, for specificity, I have had and liked very much the following: p910a, T610, T68i
(though reception and dropped calls could be the carrier, not the phone)
I read somewhere why cell phones don’t have regular caller ID, but I’ll be damned if I can remember what the reason was.
Edit
Ah. Its a money issue. Isn’t everything?
From Wikipedia, granted not the world’s best source:
With Cell phones the biggest issue appears to be in the passing of calling line ID information through the network. Cell phone companies must support interconnecting trunks to a significant number of Wireline and PSTN access carriers. In order to save money it appears that many cell phone carriers do not purchase the North American feature Group D or PRI trunks required to pass calling line ID information across the network.
What you said. My next phone is going to have to be a SmartPhone, just to get the features that you listed.
On the one hand, I think it’s facsinating watching the industry converge down to the uni-gadget – the all-in-one gizmo I see in a lot of scifi (it’s called a datapad in SW, just in case you were curious).
But on the other hand, my phone is a phone, plain and simple. I haven’t upgraded it in years because I have no use for all the latest shiny. I don’t treat my phone like you do, though. I’ve never cared to assign ringers.
I guess my feeling is, what good is it to combine devices into one unit if the functions never interact with each other? If I can’t pull up my calendar and select the person I’m meeting in an hour to make a phone call, why are they in one unit?
If I’m going to have a unified device, I want some unity (not just physically, but conceptually). Simplicity. Ease of use.
Basically, I can’t believe we’ve only now reached the point where we have “visual voicemail” – so you can listen to a piece of voicemail out of order. I mean, how long has it been since we moved away from cassette tapes?
Because the left hand and the right hand aren’t on speaking terms?
at my work, we can get our voicemails emailed to us as .wav files. thats pretty cool.
*dreams of this*
*snaps out of it*
Hrm. (as far as your initial question goes:) On my phone- the kind-of-crappy-baby’s-first-smartphone Centro, you can indeed just set the ringer to off as default. You can also see the number that’s dialling you, but you can’t have certain numbers shunt to vm (at least, not using the handset itself).
For the implied “why can’t I just pick people to meet with from my contacts when I enter things into my calendar, and why can’t I map a meeting location from my calendar, HMM?” I have only sympathy. The closest I’ve gotten to interop was installing Google Maps, which gave a “map this in gmaps” button to my contact list. :(
I want my phone to have a violet wand attachment.
hot!