My Mobile Phone Is For Girls

A few weeks ago I lost my Samsung X460 “Handy”, after breaking the previous one of the same model.

The X460 is more perfectly formed than any newer phone I’ve found so I wanted to get an X460 again, but that seemed unimaginative and I wanted Bluetooth so I could back up my telephone numbers, and a handy camera will be good for the new project in January. Choosing a new mobile phone is a major project, but I eventually settled on a Samsung E570, in silver gray rather than that shocking pink, though it still has the flowery design on the back. It’s small, though not nearly so small as the X460. It has a clock on the front, but again it’s not as clear as the clock on the X460.

But this really does seem to be phone targeted at women (I am male). Features include a fragrance type calculator (no idea), biorhythms, height/weight ratio calculator, a calorie calculator, a menstruation calendar, and multiple shopping lists. I’m not entirely convinced that this was designed by women, but there’s something so inept about it that it feels special. Otherwise it’s rather awkward to use and I won’t be too sorry when I lose it.

Also, I’ve lost all my mobile phone contacts from the last few years. In Germany this presents particular difficulties because half the people in Germany are called either Christian or Thomas, and without number recognition there is no way to know which one just sent you a text message.

(Why don’t device manufacturers make product images available under CC licenses or at least make it clear that you are free to reproduce them. This seems like something they should want us to do.)

9 thoughts on “My Mobile Phone Is For Girls

  1. well, I’ve seen worse though. you see, friend of mine has this other samsung that, when the screen turns off, turns itself into a mirror…

  2. > Do our dwindling Fair Use rights not cover photographs of a product?

    I’d like not to have to photograph my product when I can just take a stock photograph from the manufacturer. Also, I lost the old phone so I can’t photograph it.

  3. About the lost contacts – next time you could use https://zyb.com/ – it allows you to keep a backup of your contacts and transfer them to another phone, very handy when switching (or losing :) phones and the contacts are kept in phone memory instead of the SIM

  4. > Why don’t device manufacturers make product images available under CC licenses

    Because Creative Commons doesn’t have a “you can use this picture as long as you only say nice things about the product” license.

  5. “I’m not entirely convinced that this was designed by women, but there’s something so inept about it that it feels special.”

    Sorry, are you trying to suggest that women designers design inept phones?

  6. > are you trying to suggest that women designers design inept phones?

    Of course, not. I’m suggesting that it’s inept because it was designed by Men.

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