The Butt Ugly Weblog

--Burana, 30-Mar-2006

I think part of the problem is that most phones are *just so damnably slow*. I press a button an in a second or two it does something. This thing can put out 30fps of crapoJava, but it takes 2 seconds to open a menu.

So natural thought is 'if only i could have a direct button'..

And that clock you mentioned? It's the screen. Can't see a thing on that color thing. I'm considering switching back to blacknwhite lcd screen phone just to see clock without searching for light button (incidentally, i'd like to see if i've missed any calls too).

--psi-, 31-Mar-2006

Unfortunately, the natural thought is wrong, since most of the CPU time is used in doing everything else except processing the keypresses. So a dedicated button would appear just as slow... But I share your pain. Some things are taking way too much time right now.

Yes, colour screens have a way worse contrast without the backlight than bw displays. I noticed the same thing when I got my first colour screen phone. There are even OLED (I think) displays out there which are totally dark if there's no light. But they look gorgeous when you turn the light on...

BTW at least on most Nokia phones you can turn the backlight on by pressing the power key, even if the keypad is locked.

(Thanks, Burana! More is to come ;-)

--JanneJalkanen, 31-Mar-2006

Well, configurable buttons? The best thing with my phone are indeed a couple of direct buttons, but that's lucky: they match my needs. AND then there are the two configurable buttons with which I take care of the rest. :)

Alas, for me the problem is that there are no good enough phones out there. GRRH. N-Gage (first) used to be the best phone, with enough features. Alas there is hardly anythin matching it. Well, N-series is finally catching up, with their own quirks: no more universal (mini)USB, proprietary connectors and whatnot. Eh, and healthy price tag for us mere clients! :)

Oh well, perhaps my grandchildren will finally start to get fast, useable, feature rich multi-communicators. :)

--Tommi Korhonen, 31-Mar-2006