Plan your cell phone purchase carefully

When I bought my Razr V3c from Bell Mobility, the salesman tried to put me on a 3 years contract without even asking me. He just said “sign here for your contract”. My what? I don’t want to get involved in a contract. I don’t mind paying the phone 100-200$ more if I can save the hassle of a contract.

The salesman from still sold me a set of accessory, which I thought were free, and an extended warranty. Having dropped my phone on the ground thrice so far, I don’t mind the extended warranty - at this rate I will probably put it to good use next year. As for the accessories, I still needed them, but please be careful of what they will try to get you into when you buy your first cell phone, because you might end up regretting it!

I couldn’t find any words on the resolution of the camera, other that it’s a 640×480 VGA camera. Sounds pretty standard to me.

“Sanyo has tied up with Sprint to launch the Sanyo SCP-3100 PCS Vision Phone which is available in a gamut of colors including Pure Silver, Blue Energy, Always Pink, and the very cool and different Espresso.”

From MobileWhack

Yet another cell phone from Samsung. According to dlmag’s article Samsung’s SPH-B3100 cell phone, the phone is only available to Korea and is nothing special. It features an FM stereo receiver and a TV-out as well as all the now standard multimedia features such as an MP3 player.

An internal water-proof coating has been developed Anwar Shahadat Angur to safeguard the internal circuits of your cell phone from water and rusting due to battery charging.

“He explained these properties of the coating would bar water from entering the circuit-board which can otherwise cause problems in the innermost hardware and delicate software of the cellphone.

While charging a cellphone a substantial amount of oxide gases are discharged. This causes the internal hardware of the phone to rust. The rust causes short circuit and other problems within the wirings and circuits.”

From Raincoat for your cellphone

Global Mobile Alert has developed a warning system to help drivers use their phones while driving. In my opinion, this is not a solution at all. It could even make the matters worst by distracting the driver even more. I found the system to be rather humorous though!

“Whenever a driver who’s talking on a phone closes to within 100 meters of a stoplight, the system interrupts his or her conversation with a loud chirp — providing a not-so-gentle reminder to slow down.”

“The phone compares signals from GPS satellites to determine the vehicle’s location, direction, and speed, and transmits that information over the cellular data network to a computer server built by Global Mobile Alert. The server contains a database with the exact latitude and longitude of all stoplights and other traffic hazards in the driver’s area. If the server calculates that the cell-phone user’s vehicle is nearing one of those positions, it sends a chirp resembling the cuckoo-clock sound played by some pedestrian-crossing systems for the benefit of the visually impaired.”

From A Safe Cell Phone for Drivers

“A study conducted by researchers at Swinburne’s Brain Sciences Institute (BSI) in Australia compared the performance of 120 volunteers on 8 neuropsychological tests during real and sham exposure to mobile phone emissions equivalent to a 30 minute phonecall.

Results showed that participants’ “simple” and “choice reaction times” showed strong evidence of impairment.

Lead researcher and Director of BSI, Professor Con Stough, said that while the study raises the possibility that short-term exposure of mobile phone emissions affects brain activity, the effect is small.”

From Another Cellphone Health Issue Report

Is it me, or are all cell phones getting more and more alike?

“It’s a Bluetooth-enabled phone with a camera - although it’s not clear if it’s a megapixel cam. As usual, this one’s got more confidentiality requests in place than other manufacturers.”

From MobileWhack.

The Samsung SGH-T509 is only 9.8mm thick and includes a digital camera.

While it is slimmer than the Motorola RAZR, it is not, however, a flip cell phone.

Some of the features include:

• 9.8mm thick, even thinner than the Motorola RAZR and SLVR
• 65k color screen
• VGA camera with zoom for video recording
• 640×480 0.3 megapixel digital camera
• Bluetooth technology
• T9 text messaging
• WAP 2.0 compliant browser

“As expected, Disney announced Wednesday at CTIA Wireless in Las Vegas plans to launch its own cellular service in June utilizing Sprint Nextel’s network. The company would sell phones with GPS functionality that would enable parents to locate their children using their cellphone or the Internet.”

Disney to Launch Mobile Cell Service

Poor children. Some parents should really learn to communicate and trust their children.

Sony Ericsson has announced their new W700 Walkman cell phone, featuring a mp3 player with a 256mb memory stick and an impressive 2.0 megapixel digital camera. The phone will hit the stores second quarter 2006. For more information on this phone, check out the press release: New W700 WALKMAN® Phone launched in Titanium Gold colour