{"id":1060,"date":"2009-01-13T22:13:50","date_gmt":"2009-01-13T22:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=1060"},"modified":"2012-05-03T11:19:56","modified_gmt":"2012-05-03T10:19:56","slug":"hello","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=1060","title":{"rendered":"Hello?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a new gadget.<\/p>\n

My old mobile phone, my dear old, much loved, extremely trusted and many-times-dropped Samsung D500 handset has just creaked past the limit of operating acceptability.<\/p>\n

When one is texting and presses the ‘H’ key and the letter ‘B’ appears in the screen, or when one is making a call and presses the number ‘6’ only to see the character ‘!’ light up, it’s time to set the trusted friend aside.<\/p>\n

Especially when Vodafone laugh down the phone when I call them up to ask about warranty; after the giggle they explain that my handset went out of warranty 18 months ago.<\/p>\n

Eighteen months being, in the mobile phone world, the equivalent of three millennia and a small aeon. And perhaps an Ice Age or two. Not the cartoon of the same name, natch.<\/p>\n

So the Sunday before last found me in Oxford’s Ye Olde Vodafone Shoppe, examining replacement handsets.<\/p>\n

Eventually a decision was made; the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1.<\/p>\n

It had the things I need; Text, Bluetooth, 3G WAP, WiFi and a Camera.<\/p>\n

It can also make and receive Video Calls and record video and has an FM radio and has MS-Office compatibility (and has MS-Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Internet Explorer preloaded) and has the Opera browser and full data exchange\/synchronisation with Outlook and Many Other Things.<\/p>\n

And it even makes and receives phone calls!<\/p>\n

It also has great call-time life and is very strong in the standby-time department too.<\/p>\n

In fact there’s just one thing wrong with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 handset.<\/p>\n

It sucks.<\/p>\n

I’ve had the thing a week and a half, but some time in the next few days I’ll be hot-footing back to Oxford’s Ye Olde Vodafone Shoppe to hand the thing over, admit defeat and choose a replacement.<\/p>\n

The more I’ve used the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 handset, the more I’ve become disenchanted with it.<\/p>\n

Today was the final humiliation.<\/p>\n

A colleague rang me and she and I talked about what we needed to talk about. And then we chatted.<\/p>\n

And then there was a slightly awkward pause and then we chatted falteringly about some random things for a while. And then she said ‘Aren’t you going to hang up?’<\/p>\n

‘No, you hang up.’
\n‘Why?’ came back down the cellular line. If lines can indeed by cellular.
\n‘Because I want to see what the handset does when the incoming caller hangs up.’
\n‘You don’t know how to!’
\n‘Rubbish! Of course I know how to hang up. I just tap on the little red telephone icon on the screen.’
\n‘Well go on then.’
\n‘No. I told you. I want to see how the phone reacts when the incoming caller hangs up first.’
\n‘That’s rubbish. You don’t know how to do it!’
\n‘Of course I do. I just tap the red handset icon.’
\n‘Do it then.’
\n‘No.’
\n‘Why not?’
\n‘Because.’
\n‘Because why?’<\/p>\n

I mumbled something.<\/p>\n

‘I’m sorry?’ she asked.
\n‘I can’t.’
\n‘Why can’t you?’
\n‘Because the screen goes dark after 20 seconds, to preserve the battery life.’
\n‘And?’
\n‘And no matter how or where I tap it, it doesn’t come back on.’
\n‘You’re joking!’
\n‘No.’ I may have felt slightly embarrassed at having to say this.<\/p>\n

Anyway, we concluded our call – she did the hanging up thing.<\/p>\n

I really love the look, feel and weight of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 handset. But it really does suck. It does far too many things and because of the functional complexity it is a complete and utter fucking nightmare to get it to do what you want it to do.<\/p>\n

Want your address book?
\n1. Push the button to deactivate the screen\/battery saver
\n2. Click ‘Start’
\n3. Click ‘Contacts’
\nBut that’s four keystrokes to get to the alphabetical list. My old Samsung did it in two.<\/p>\n

Want to make a call?
\n1.\u00a0Push the button to deactivate the screen\/battery saver
\n2. Click ‘Start’
\n3. Click ‘Phone’
\n4. Click on ‘Address Book’
\nAnd that’s four keystrokes to get to the searchable address book. My old Samsung did it in two.<\/p>\n

Want to use the camera?
\n1. Push the button to deactivate the screen\/battery saver
\n2. Look for Camera in the list
\n3. Keep looking
\n4. Look some more
\n5. Check the list again<\/p>\n