I've upgraded my old mobile for a new smart phone

People were starting to snigger when I pulled out my old Nokia mobile phone, which looked a bit like this:



...so I've had to splash out on a cheap Samsung Galaxy Ace smartphone, which looks like this:



I hate having to adjust to new technology when I'm comfortable with the old stuff- but there you go.

I do like the way you can scroll down and across the screen with your fingertips on the Samsung, though.

I wonder about smart phones. What do they do that's so special? If I've got it right they make and receive phone calls, store pictures, give you the weather forecast, and have internet access, but don't you need to be near Wi-Fi to get the internet? The ads for smart phones always show the screen as having found a gas station near you or the kind of restaurant you want. So you get mapquest too.

Is there anything else they do?

Constance wrote:Is there anything else they do?

My friend and colleague George has an app on his smart phone- da yoot tell me that 'app' is short for 'application'- which allows him to find out the time and destination of the next buses from any stop in the vicinity of Aldgate tube station.

Another app on George's phone tells him the present phase of the moon. This is very useful because, like myself, George is something of a werewolf.
He has this posted on the door of his staff locker:

Werewolves Of London by Warren Zevon

I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain
He was looking for a place called Lee Ho Fook's
Going to get himself a big dish of beef chow mein
Werewolves of London

If you hear him howling around your kitchen door
Better not let him in
Little old lady got mutilated late last night
Werewolves of London again
Werewolves of London

He's the hairy-handed gent who ran amuck in Kent
Lately he's been overheard in Mayfair
Better stay away from him
He'll rip your lungs out, Jim
I'd like to meet his tailor
Werewolves of London

Well, I saw Lon Chaney walking with the Queen
Doing the
I saw Lon Chaney, Jr. walking with the Queen
Doing the
I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's
His hair was perfect
Werewolves of London
Draw blood

pinhedz wrote:this way I never have to worry about anything ringing in my pocket

Sometimes they vibrate.

My friend has an application that when we are in a pub and there's one song playing that she doesn't know what band it is he told us to shut up and the phone tells her the song and the band...

I haven't tried it yet, but I THINK my phone allows me to dictate a text message.

The designers of these gizmos all grew up watching Star Wars, and now they're making their childhood fantasies a reality.

Stephen Collins

eddie wrote:

Constance wrote:Is there anything else they do?

My friend and colleague George has an app on his smart phone- da yoot tell me that 'app' is short for 'application'- which allows him to find out the time and destination of the next buses from any stop in the vicinity of Aldgate tube station.

Another app on George's phone tells him the present phase of the moon. This is very useful because, like myself, George is something of a werewolf.

George showed me how to install the apps above on my phone this morning^.

Greatly encouraged, I went on to install:

A dictionary
A compass
A weather channel
The Guardian (natch)
The Sky at night (constellations, planets etc)