Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Consumer Reports, Amateur Edition

My indestructible little cell phone has done it again.

First, I dropped it one day getting out of my car, onto the concrete garage floor. The battery popped off, but otherwise it was fine.

Another time I dropped it getting out of my car in the driveway, and it fell into the lawn. A light rain storm and frost and 24 hours in the elements, it was fine.

Then one day, after finishing a home teaching appointment, I exited the apartment of the people I had just visited. I no longer wear a watch (a subject for another post) and rely on my phone's clock (always accurate, changes time zones automatically and self-adjusts to Daylight Saving Time). I pulled out my phone to look at the time, and the phone slipped out of my hand.

It fell onto the concrete steps, then slipped through the gap and fell one story onto the concrete steps below. Then, having not fully tested the very limits of physics, it slipped through the gap and fell one more story onto the concrete foundation.

Me: "(initial drop) Whoops... (impact) Owww! (impact) Ooooohh!"

Again, the battery popped off. I put it back on, and the phone fired right up. A couple of scratches, but nothing major. No cracks.

This weekend Anne inadvertently conducted the next series of the phone testing, we'll call it "hydro-resistance testing". The phone was in my jacket pocket, and Anne threw my jacket into the washing machine. She discovered it at the bottom of the washer, when she was emptying the load.

The battery had died earlier in the day, and I leave the charger in my office. So I brought it in today and put it on the charger. The display lit up. It charged. I turned it on, it worked. I called my receptionist, who could "hear me now."

The ultimate question is... Can it survive a two year old? (I'm not going to try that one, at least not intentionally!)

7 Comments:

At February 22, 2005 6:17 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow! I am impressed!

What kind of phone is it? I am planning on replacing my cell phone next month but haven't decided what to get.

 
At February 22, 2005 11:49 PM, Blogger Kelly said...

Amazing! My phone freaks out if it slips slightly in one of my hands. I think it's afraid of heights.

 
At February 23, 2005 12:00 AM, Blogger motherof8 said...

Send in your testimonlal to the company, maybe they will use it and pay you, and you and your faithful phone will be rich and famous.

 
At February 23, 2005 11:24 AM, Blogger Eddie said...

Sariah: It's an LG Electronics flip phone. Pretty good, it's several years old, too, which is another reason why each time something happens I figure, "This is it."

I just got an offer from Anne's cell company to add an additional line of service and get an LG flip phone. Until this one was resuscitated at my office, I was considering it.

Kelly: lol, you must be tall.

Barbara: Rich and famous, hmmmm. But then someone would hack into my phone and publish my address book on the Internet... You know, all those scandalous phone numbers I have stored: the bishop, ward executive secretary, etc.

 
At February 23, 2005 10:19 PM, Blogger Mika said...

My friend once dropped his in the toilet while he was on the phone in there (who knows why!). It actually survived.

Personally, I don't know if I would have wanted to use a phone that had been in the loo, but that's just me.

 
At February 24, 2005 5:41 AM, Blogger mrkhmusic said...

I love the advice given at the bottom of the article about Paris Hilton:

"While there's not much a consumer can do about hackers invading a company, wireless technology experts offered some tips:

"# Password protect every level of cell phones and hand-held devices, from the keyboard to address book, suggests Kent German, associate editor of technology-themed CNET.com.

"# Don't put credit card numbers on the devices - ever.

"# Delete any sensitive text messages.

"# It's a bad idea to use a cell phone cam to take nudie pictures."

Gee... Ya think?

:-)

MRKH

 
At February 28, 2005 9:07 PM, Blogger Eddie said...

Aimee: My father-in-law recently confessed to having done the exact same thing! My first thought? "Was that before or AFTER you let me use it while you were in town last Thanksgiving?!"

I think given the choice I'd use the pay phone with 10 years of waxy buildup on the receiver.

Mark: Lol, yes, too funny. Apparently even the obvious escapes some people.

 

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