Cellphone Ergonomics
November 8, 2004 11:38 AM Subscribe
Cellphones Ergonomics: I used to have Sprint. Part of the reason I dropped coverage was because I didn't like my phone, a Sanyo 4900. It had great battery life, good technical features, and terrible ergonomics: it never felt right against my ear/head, and it tended to heat up after a few minutes use, making it an uncomfortable and sweaty poor fit to my ear/head (as well as conjuring visions of RF zapped brains, no matter how my rational side told me it wasn't happening). Anyway, I'm considering going back to Sprint, and am looking for recommendations about phones that feel good.
Battery life and technical features are still important, but not overriding the primary concern of ergonomics. Bluetooth is a plus, but PCS vision enabled is probably the only must -- I really liked being able to check my mail on the old phone, and using it to get my laptop on the net.
Battery life and technical features are still important, but not overriding the primary concern of ergonomics. Bluetooth is a plus, but PCS vision enabled is probably the only must -- I really liked being able to check my mail on the old phone, and using it to get my laptop on the net.
(Ah, and regarding PCS... it's not one of Sprint's phones, I think, but it has Bluetooth and GPRS modem capabilities, so you'll be able to get on fine with it if you have a GPRS friendly carrier)
posted by jammer at 12:00 PM on November 8, 2004
posted by jammer at 12:00 PM on November 8, 2004
I've kind of given up on the ergonomics thing for the phone itself, and instead I've picked up one of those earphone/microphone type headsets. I worry I look kind of like a borg, but it was cheap and it really solved that problem for me.
posted by jasper411 at 12:11 PM on November 8, 2004
posted by jasper411 at 12:11 PM on November 8, 2004
The Sprint A640 is simple, small, and very comfortable. I'm not sure about fancy features. It's a flip-phone which feels like a regular (landline) phone against your ear. It does get warm, but it never bothered me.
Here's a review.
posted by callmejay at 12:52 PM on November 8, 2004
Here's a review.
posted by callmejay at 12:52 PM on November 8, 2004
I have a love/hate with sprint.
I loved the 4900. Literally, it had the best reception and battery life of any phone I've ever owned. How good? I got signal when other's didn't. Battery life was around 4 hours.
I would never put the phone near my head. No need to put a transmitter near my brain. While evidence is weak (but does exist) of health effects, I always use a headseat.
I love isync. Last december sprint came out with the T608 - a sony erricson candybar phone. Sure, isync works, but the phone is a POS. Literally, it crashes, it fades, it's the worst phone I've ever owned (and yet, bluetooth draws me in.) Currently it's sprint's ONLY bluetooth phone.
This is about to change - the Treo 650 is about to come out...around $450 with discounts; there is also an LG phone that should be out by the end of the month.
I suggest looking at:
HowardForums
and
Sprint PCS Info
posted by filmgeek at 1:07 PM on November 8, 2004
I loved the 4900. Literally, it had the best reception and battery life of any phone I've ever owned. How good? I got signal when other's didn't. Battery life was around 4 hours.
I would never put the phone near my head. No need to put a transmitter near my brain. While evidence is weak (but does exist) of health effects, I always use a headseat.
I love isync. Last december sprint came out with the T608 - a sony erricson candybar phone. Sure, isync works, but the phone is a POS. Literally, it crashes, it fades, it's the worst phone I've ever owned (and yet, bluetooth draws me in.) Currently it's sprint's ONLY bluetooth phone.
This is about to change - the Treo 650 is about to come out...around $450 with discounts; there is also an LG phone that should be out by the end of the month.
I suggest looking at:
HowardForums
and
Sprint PCS Info
posted by filmgeek at 1:07 PM on November 8, 2004
This thread is closed to new comments.
If you have a very small hand, I can see the 638 not working for you, as it's not very ergonomic if you're going to grip it like a traditional phone. It's meant to be held in your fingertips -- there are grooves on the side and a nice matte paint that gives you a good grip. The sound is nice and loud, it doesn't get warm...
It just feels "just right".
The only issue I have with it is that it's clearly designed to try to funnel you into value-add packages -- there's an "online" button right on the side which fires up the WAP browser (and any incurred charges, I would assume, if you have a bill-per-use plan -- I have small transfer size flat-rate plan for checking movie times and such, so it doesn't bother me)
posted by jammer at 11:59 AM on November 8, 2004