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Post by maytriloxia on Jun 15, 2022 12:09:09 GMT -5
Or cell phones, if you prefer 📱 Phones are great at being both useful and addictive. There are said to be over 6.6 billion smartphone users at the time of writing; over 7.2bn when feature phones (mobile telephones with a keypad/buttons) are included, according to this website and estimations from others. That's a lot of phones!!
So, what are your views and situations with phones? In general
- Do you own a smartphone or a working feature phone?- When did you get your first mobile/cell phone, and what make was it?
- Are you loyal to a particular mobile phone brand/company or are you fine switching to other brands?
- Contract or pay-as-you-go? Would you change your phone once a contract ends or keep using it as long it works?
- Has your phone got a good camera/cameras? How many megapixels does the best one have?
Usage
- When using it to contact others, do you prefer calling people, texting or emailing them? Would it be different for acquaintances and those you know well, like family?
- Do you like to use your phone casually (playing games, watching videos, voice recordings, etc.)? Is more time spent doing this than contacting others/working on your phone? (It probably is for me )
- Could you easily spend a non-busy day with your phone turned off (also without receiving phone notifications from other devices)?
- If you listen to music on your phone, do you use wireless or wired headphones/earphones or prefer using speakers? 🎵
- Has the glass of your phone screen or screen protector cracked or become internally damaged? If the latter occurred, would you continue using the same phone?
Customisation
- Is your phone itself an interesting colour? 🎨
- How about the phone case design - do you prefer a flip cover or back cover?
- What is your ringtone like? Is it a custom one or already on the phone? Has the ringtone stayed the same or do you change it every so often?
- Do you change the phone font or size either for fun/convenience?
- Have you got any extra accessories for your phone, such as a stylus, charging pod, etc.?
Other discussion
I think Enya herself would be fairly good with technology in general; 'tech savvy'. That's partly why her music stands out, with the use of synthesisers and other studio elements in more creative and knowledgeable ways.
According to her mother Baba in an article from 2005, Enya would text the vocal arrangements for singing with her sisters.
The social media post may be managed by the Warner team, but I think some Enya posts are probably her own, or at least she would know how to access and create them. Quick replies on a Reddit AMA would be much trickier of course!
- What phone make would you guess Enya has? I'd guess a Samsung currently, and perhaps changing phones with each new contract. *Just an extra note, Nicky Ryan appeared to have an iPhone in 2016, unless it was Enya's. (Photo here) Enya's music career more or less began with a phone call (possibly a literal phone later ) from Nicky Ryan to join Clannad as she mentions here.- Of the phone brands with the highest global market share - Samsung or Apple? Or operating system - Android or iOS (or other)?
- Do you use emojis/emoticons in messages? Which do you particularly use or avoid?
(Also, does this Proboard, Marble Halls, have any more smiley face variation available to use? )
- When you send messages on a phone to friends and family, how much do you do text talk and use abbreviations? Which shorthand phrases do you use most?
- Do you still have a landline phone? If so, do you get many (or any) helpful incoming calls? - How do you usually hold your phone when typing? These are the nicest descriptions I've come across on this topic. Even as a young person I am proudly the 4th type.
- What do you think of the removal of the headphone jack for newer smartphones? (Personally I think it's not a good thing, getting wireless buds is extra money and less reliable, even if the sound quality is a bit better. Then again some laptops and desktops have good sound quality and keep the headphone jack and more USB ports, so not too much of a problem just yet.)
- As well as a mobile phone, do you own other electronic devices (e.g. laptops, tablets) and are they preferable in some ways? What's the oldest electronic device (with a backlit screen) that you own which still works fine?
- Oldest song you know which mentions the word 'phone'
- Anyone know how to change hold music on Android phone? I recently learnt that hold music only plays at 16kbps (the standard mp3 file is 128kbps), so fairly low quality. If it were permitted, which Enya piece would you choose as your hold music?
- Following on from that, if a line from one of Enya's songs could be a fun ringtone, what might you pick?
Answer whichever number of these you would like - looking forward to your replies
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Post by イ𝑜ⳏⲁ𝑧 𝑅𝑜𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒 on Jun 15, 2022 18:28:55 GMT -5
Haha, I see what inspired this topic 📱 Those are some interesting statistics! I might start with the categories 'In general' and 'Customisation' - I also ended up writing a lot just for these two, haha. I do own a mobile phone (smartphone) and it is also my first one! I got it in early 2020, during college. For my age/amongst my peers, that is probably quite late. I probably could have got a phone later in high school but I chose not to, so that I wouldn't spend too much time on it while I was doing my GCSEs (or O-Levels). Since I was about 7 or 8 I spent quite a lot of time on computers (desktops and laptops), and although I had/still have various other gadgets, a phone is probably the easiest to become addicted to. My mobile phone is the Samsung Galaxy S10 (SM-973F 128GB). I also have a laptop and tablet which are made by Samsung, and previous family cameras are too, but I wouldn't consider myself loyal to the brand. If I had to get a new phone I would rather 'downgrade' and would be happy with a Nokia or Motorola phone. The only Apple device I have is an iPod Touch 4th generation - it is in good condition but its functionality is rather limited now - in summary, the storage space is only 8GB, it can't update beyond iOS 6, and iTunes is no longer. I probably know how to use iPhones and Garageband was fun, but I probably wouldn't switch to an Apple phone. Most others I know around my age have iPhones (iPhone X to 13) now. The few who have Samsung have a mid-range (A rather than S) version. Some of my classmates had phones at younger than 11 years old, mostly Blackberry phones and HTC. I've played games on my parents' old phones before (which before Samsung and Oppo were ones like Huawei, iPhone 6, Sony, Nokia) but not jointly owning any phone before this decade. *As well as Over The Horizon tune which Samsung does (the 2011, 2012 and 2013-14 versions in particular) I like the classic Nokia ringtone tune, haha. This phone would still be very expensive to buy as a flagship! I am on a decent contract; when it finishes next year I plan to use a SIM and keep using the phone for as long as it works. There are 4 cameras; one of them (I think the ultra-wide, or x0.5 lens) is 16 megapixels. The camera does sort of adjust the photo with AI after taking it (except with the 'Pro' or manual mode) but the quality is still very good, and Night Mode photos outdoors are particularly nice. 🤩 The colour of my phone is 'Prism Green' or more of a shiny aqua-teal colour, very close to what my favourite colour is 😁💎💙 My phone case is a flip case - dark purple with pink and white butterflies. It is almost the same design as my tablet case, which is more dark blue than purple. Although it doesn't let the colour shine through, it still protects the phone and the screen well, even when dropped. I might replace my phone case as the edges are a bit worn out, and the magnet has fallen out. The original screen protector, apart from a tiny chip and scratches, is doing its job quite well! The current ringtone is one that I set near the beginning, called 'Synth Bell'. I Iike it, although I changed it a few times (to the versions of Over The Horizon I mentioned, even transposing the key to Eb major for the early version). However, my phone is on silent most of the time, so I changed it back. I don't really alter the font on my phone, and I think the text size is standard. Altering the fonts is something I prefer to do with 'Messletters' for the signature box here or downloading fonts to use on Microsoft Word or on Canva. Apart from the wired earphones that came with it, a simple stylus (nice but I rarely use it) and some sort of dust plug with a flower charm (same) which both came with the phone case, I don't really have extra fancy accessories for my phone. The fast charger for my laptop works for the phone, that might count. Other than my phone getting slow as storage gets filled, it is generally doing good.
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Post by bigwiglaf on Jun 15, 2022 23:26:56 GMT -5
I've got one, yes, without any kind of data plan, since I really only use it to call/text family and friends. It also has a camera, and some games that were loaded on it from the service provider I use.
Hopefully you'll forgive this middle-aged sometimes grumpy wingnut* for not giving any other info, as there's noy really much else to give.
*wingnut - one might substitute buffoon, yahoo, or any other verbiage along these lines to best describe me.
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Post by maytriloxia on Jun 16, 2022 2:13:02 GMT -5
I've got one, yes, without any kind of data plan, since I really only use it to call/text family and friends. It also has a camera, and some games that were loaded on it from the service provider I use. Hopefully you'll forgive this middle-aged sometimes grumpy wingnut* for not giving any other info, as there's noy really much else to give. Of course, that's absolutely fine! Just glad to see any responses )I've probably been asking too many detailed questions for such a generic topic anyway, just out of curiosity. I know both young people and older adults who use mobile phones excessively, and those who more or less use them for what they are basically intended for.
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Isabel
Member
Ah! Je voudrais voler comme un oiseau d'aile...
Posts: 1,277
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Post by Isabel on Jun 16, 2022 4:19:30 GMT -5
I got my first cellphone at 18 years old. I was in my last year at high school back in 2008. It was a second hand Nokia 5140i (The rubber one with the levelling bubble). While my friends each got their legendary Nokia 3310 back in 2003... I was still stuck at Hogwarts... I liked my books more... Normally I keep my phones from 3 to 5 years. I had that rubber Nokia, a roller ball Blackberry, a dumbphone Samsung, a Samsung Galaxy S5... I currently have a Samsung Galaxy S8+. I always have Pay as you go. The cameras on the Samsung Galaxy type smartphone are quite nice for taking cat and flower pictures. I don't bother to much with the specifications. I still call my close family and I mostly text my friends and colleagues. Smartphones are also quite handy for sending Math Papers by PDF. You can even use a scanner camera function directly to PDF. However, I still choose a laptop for better control over emails and compressing document files. I don't play games on my phone because I have a Xbox for that purpose. I still like my full sentences which is weird for my age. I had to look 'in real life' and 'in my humble opinion' up on google. I am not big on emoticons either. For music I prefer to listen to it on my speaker sound system or sound bar at home. Sometimes I would blast some orchestral music... my gay neigbour likes it. I never cracked a phone screen yet because I hold my phone like the 2nd type in that link maytriloxia posted. I gave my old Samsung Galaxy S5 to my mother. She should learn how to work a smaller touch screen. She still like her big tablets. I managed to keep my smartphones that long because I clear my storage regularly. I saved my best photos on an external drive. Post them on twitter, Instagram or Flickr. I don't keep lots of apps either. The oldest songs about phones I listen to is probably “Ring, Ring” by ABBA and “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder. I also remember “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen, “Payphone” by Maroon 5 featuring Wiz Khalifa, “Telephone” by Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce and “Hello” by Adele.
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Post by maytriloxia on Jun 16, 2022 6:09:08 GMT -5
I enjoyed reading both of your responses Topaz and Isabel! Also I like how you both have Samsung phones, me too. Samsung in Korean sort of translates to three stars, which the original logo featured ✨️. イ𝑜ⳏⲁ𝑧 𝑅𝑜𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒 , the prism green colour looks amazing, and reminds me of my first profile picture here, which I might revert back to. 💧Could we have a listen to the transposed 'Over The Horizon' too? Which colour is your Galaxy S8+ Isabel ? I also like to use full sentences too, but I use emojis quite a lot. Some of my friends got phones very young too, and tiny children playing on real smartphones is kind of strange to witness. I agree that while phones are handy, laptops are better for emails and documents.
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Isabel
Member
Ah! Je voudrais voler comme un oiseau d'aile...
Posts: 1,277
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Post by Isabel on Jun 16, 2022 7:03:45 GMT -5
Here are some cats posing with vintage telephones I found on google. Link. My late grandmother also had a rotary phone like that. I don't know what happened to it. At my previous job we still used phones with curly cords. Dealing with land subdivisions and consolidations required long hours on landline telephones. The boss lady used to yell at me for not having WhatsApp on my dumbphone. So I bought a cheap small Lenovo tablet with my own money and loaded WhatsApp on it for work. That Lenovo tablet is now 6 years old and still working. The Eiffel tower themed cover has some wear-and-tear. It is still a nice e-book reader. The Samsung Galaxy S5 is a pewter colour and the S8+ is black. My sibling who works in the US brought them for me as Christmas presents. Here in the picture you can see the packaging and covers my sibling chose for me. He knows me very well. Link.I used my S8+ to take the picture and that is why only the cover is in the picture. I also still choose generic ringtones. My mother chose "Summer Air" by ItaloBrothers as her ringtone when I gave her my old S5. I also stick to brands. Samsung smartphones, Dell laptops and computers. I spend more time on a laptop than a phone. I don't own a smartwatch because I don't want constant beeping around my wrist. Most of the times I answer my WhatsApp 24 hours later... it drives some people mad. www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBWywYirukE
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Suvi
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Post by Suvi on Jun 16, 2022 13:24:10 GMT -5
After having used Nokia phones for more than two decades, I finally had to give up on those and now I have my first Samsung (Galaxy XCover 4S) in use. The first mobile phone we bought back in 1997 was actually a "family" one (Nokia 2110), but since then we have had our own mobile phones. After several Nokias (8110i, 3310, Asha 300, Lumia 735) I have now settled with my XCover 4S which works well. I've never been fussy about phone colours, covers etc. but now that I've started taking photos on my smartphone camera, it has become an important feature for me. I'm not after the biggest amount of megapixels and whatnot though, but appreciate the basic camera functions and some kind of zoom, flash, as well as basic photo editing functions (the main camera on my Samsung has 16 megapixels and the "selfie" one 5 megapixels). Internet browser is also important, but as I don't have any social media accounts and never use WhatsApp, video calls etc, a basic internet functions are just enough for me. Currently I and my parents have longstanding contracts.
I have loaded some of my favourite music onto my phone, but as I seldom use my phone for listening to that music (my phone has got FM radio too but it requires wired headphones to use it), the music there is mainly for ringtones. I have some Adiemus, Clannad, Enya and Secret Garden tracks in my current ringtone list (as well as some Christmas tracks & classical music), but my current ringtone "Holiday Rag" is from DeWolfe music library. I always use customised ringtones as I'm fed up with people around me using the "norm" ones! I'm not a telephone "blabber" myself so I only call when I need to, the same goes with SMS messages. The organists with whom I've worked through the recent years all know that I can't always answer a call so I have advised them to either email me or text me with any music-related things.
The Enya music I have currently on my phone are Anywhere Is, Miraculum, White Is In The Winter Night and Bard Dance, and especially Bard Dance works amazingly well as a ringtone! When using one of my previous Nokia models I set that song as my alarm clock tone!
I never switch off my phone for the night, but I try to not use it all the time. These days it's quite impossible though because I take most my photos on my smartphone cam! No wonder I have to recharge it so often... A handsfree is also neat to have, as I have a walking cane on my other hand anyway whenever I'm out and about, plus, it saves a bit battery life during the cold wintertime as I can make calls while my phone stays in the pocket. But, I absolutely hate the "predictive text" function, it always gives you completely wrong words so I have switched it off for good. I use emojis and abbreviations very sparingly. We still have a landline phone in our family, due to that the internet connection also uses that route (broadband).
Suvi
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Post by maytriloxia on Jun 16, 2022 15:01:13 GMT -5
I'm identifying a pattern of previous Nokia users upgrading to a Samsung phone, interesting! In conparison to Apple (although Marimba was a decent ringtone) the Nokia and older Samsung ringtones are so much more memorable and nostalgic to listen to...
Those are lovely case designs for both phones and the tablet Isabel ! The smartwatch video was quite funny, and could probably apply to so many other things companies try to oversell. I like the cat telephone pictures too
Great to read your response too, Suvi ! Nice that your ringtones are from a custom library of music rather than the norm. Autocorrect/predictive text can be rather annoying, true. Also, I completely agree that Enya's piece Bard Dance really would make an excellent ringtone!
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Suvi
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Post by Suvi on Jun 16, 2022 15:24:06 GMT -5
Back in the old days almost all Nokia phones were designed and made in Finland, no wonder Finns went crazy over them and many had more than one mobile phone in use! Many people used to have Säkkijärven Polkka as their ringtone (back then one could not customise them), it was really annoying! I think I preferred Scotland The Brave (too bad there weren't any Irish tunes available)...
Funnily enough, Nokia was first known of their tyres, wellingtons and other rubber products before they started hi-tech, and they even had one of their headquarters/phone factories here in Oulu!!
I was fond of my last Nokia phone (Lumia 735), it was a Windows phone and I was sad to hear that none of the manufacturers continued using Windows as their platform. It was just so easy to natigate and straightforward to use as the phones would have been so well compatible when hooked on to PC for transferring music & photos...
Suvi
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Post by Riene on Jun 18, 2022 20:59:45 GMT -5
Phones, let's see. GeneralI do own a mobile, as does my husband. We do not have a landline anymore. For a while it felt really odd to no longer have a "home phone." I think the very first one was a Nokia, but I've had a Nokia, a Blackberry, a Motorola, and Samsung phones. The current one is a top of the line Samsung Galaxy S21 Ulta 5G with 128GB RAM. We have AT&T service, but our phones, his tablet, and the household internet are all on a package deal. We've had other services--T-Mobile, etc--but this is the current best deal and coverage for all the traveling we do. My current phone has five cameras. The best one is a 12 MP. www.samsung.com/us/smartphones/galaxy-s21-ultra-5g/ We only update our phones when they are unusable due to damage or obsolete, so we tend to get a good model at the upgrade. I had my last one 8 or 9 years. UsageWhat I use for communication really depends. I always called my mother. I usually text friends and co-workers because I have no idea what they are doing and dislike interrupting folks. I text and use emojis, yes. I use FB Messenger for international friends and frequently use FBM for local friends as well. There are days I have all-day running conversations with people, with each of us leaving a response whenever we drop back by the computer. I do play games on the phone--Pokemon Go, Hogwarts Mystery, Sudoku, Wordle, and an assortment of solitaire or challenge games. No, never watch videos. Even if it's a large screen for a phone, I much prefer a truly large screen such as our TV or my oversized monitor for watching movies or videos. The phone is used for internet surfing, email, camera, texting, navigation, and as a calendar. I could and frequently do spend days with the phone off. Most of the time it just stays on 24/7, but it just sits on my desk. I am not glued to my phone. I generally do not listen to music on the phone--dislike headphones/earbuds, and speaker quality is not the best. Besides, it irritates people around you when your phone is blaring. I've never actually damaged my phone. * knocks on wood * Customization The phone is plain black, but the case is dark blue leather. It is not a security case or wallet case. The ringtone is a quiet chime, and no, I don't have the ringtone customized for various people. No interesting accessories either. I do have the font enlarged just a bit for ease of my eyesight. no, i take that back, I do have two accessories--one is a powerful battery brick for when we are on travel and may not be able to charge. I also was gifted a wireless charger this past Christmas. OtherHe and I both own tablets, laptops, and desktop computers. We both prefer the desktop for doing any actual work. I'm a rapid and accurate typist and like a full-sized keyboard. I don't use Bluetooth. If there's a call I'll put it on speaker unless I'm out in public. I'm not sure holding a phone next to one's head is a good idea.
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Post by alrik on Jun 19, 2022 5:51:09 GMT -5
We say in Germany "handy" for a mobile phone or a cell phone. This word appears to be a genuine German invention, even although it looks a lot like an English word.
I have always had one, but only a small one, and I never did more that writing SMS and only an occational phone call. Now, since my father is gone, I inherited his mobile phone, but I'm still a beginner with that. There's so many functions I do not need. It feels more like ... luxury to me . I really use only a fraction of what it can do.
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Post by Riene on Jun 19, 2022 22:50:39 GMT -5
There's so many functions I do not need. It feels more like ... luxury to me . I really use only a fraction of what it can do. Same. This phone has a lot more capability than I'll ever use. I know it can do fancy photography and digital editing, for example, but I doubt I'll ever mess with that.
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Suvi
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Post by Suvi on Jun 20, 2022 13:06:12 GMT -5
There's so many functions I do not need. It feels more like ... luxury to me . I really use only a fraction of what it can do. Same. This phone has a lot more capability than I'll ever use. I know it can do fancy photography and digital editing, for example, but I doubt I'll ever mess with that. Just don't be afraid of smartphone cameras, now that I've started learning how to use it properly, I think I'm seriously hooked now! Believe me, smartphones don't bite anyway, and you do not need to use ALL those functions right away, just hit "undo" or "cancel" in case you do something unwanted! Many smartphone cams have actually LESS those functions than real cameras! Just keep calm, keep snapping...! Suvi
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Post by maytriloxia on Jun 20, 2022 16:49:03 GMT -5
I didn't know that about the nickname 'handy' in German for the mobile phone, nice fun fact! I am sorry to learn of your father's passing, alrik - it feels special to keep some items that a parent has once owned, and even more so after they are no longer around. I like how you have lots of games on your phone, Riene, also brilliant that your previous phone had lasted almost 10 years! Although I'd have to agree with Suvi about getting to explore the phone camera settings a little bit further, especially as it's a newer Samsung device.
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