[Familyonthemove]

Is there any chance of creating a version of IndiaMike that can be accessed via a PDA? Like BBC mobile edition? I'm using a Blackberry for this note - and although it's just about possible, it's not easy to navigate the site or post threads etc via a PDA.

There may also be some trekkers who only carry a smartphone to save weight but who still want to access the site (without hunting for an internet cafe)? It would be like a real 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy!

Don't Panic - India Mike can help.

PS can't do proper smilies on the Crackberry

[New-South-Welshman]

That would be something. Toss the old Lonely Planet or Rough Guide out, and just log onto India Mike. I'm pretty sure all those publishers for tourist guide books on India won't be too happy.

[nadreg]

I was thinking something along the lines, but it would infuriate me if people started texting in their posts. Reading something like the following would drive me over the edge.

gr8 2 b in Mum. lv u all. thx.

[Nick-H]

I always thought WAP was a solution looking for a problem. The idea of usefuly using the internet on a mobile phone screen has always seemed absurd to me.

I guess some of the bigger PDA-type devices make it worthwhile.

But now this idea has come up...

I can see certain problems. Mrs N might not like me attending to IndiaMike while I'm driving.

The Chennai police might not be impressed, either !

[karuna]

I've used IM from my handheld wossname. It takes a while to scroll through things but I didn't find it difficult to navigate. I'm more annoyed by my wossname's resolutely right-handed design.

+ I wud nvr do txt spk on hr. I do lv u all tho.

[tacita]

Originally Posted by nadreg

I was thinking something along the lines, but it would infuriate me if people started texting in their posts. Reading something like the following would drive me over the edge.
gr8 2 b in Mum. lv u all. thx.

ok, so maybe i'm a luddite, but it infuriates me even when people "text" in their text messages!

those 20-somethings that click away with both thumbs annoy me almost as much as the people so busy talking on their cell phones that they zig-zag their way up the sidewalk, making it impossible for the rest of us to pass them.

or how about the folks who rudely carry out full transactions -- whether a cup of coffee or a clothing or book purchase -- without ever stopping their cell phone conversations, as though the store clerk weren't even a live human being standing there.

don't get me started on the yellers...it's really quite easy to sort of cup your hand around the mouth piece when it's absolutely necessary to use a cell phone in a public place. oh, and those folks whose phones or blackberries light up half the movie theater when they check/send their messages -- they should be tarred and cell-phoned.

am i terribly old-fashioned?

did i miss the news broadcast headline announcing that people today are so vastly important that they can't be out of contact for more than 15 minutes at a stretch?

[Nick-H]

Sorry, Janice...

Hang on a minute....


I'M ON THE TRAIN!

Janice...

No, wait.... HELLO? HELLO?

[Prashant.M]

Nick you beat me to it.

[capt_mahajan]

Another luddite speaks: I do find, that as long as I use the mobile phone as a phone and nothing more, I am happy. And I make or receive very few calls on it, anyway, and I sms maybe twelve times a year.

So much so, that I bought a basic Nokia phone last week for 2000 rupees, and gave away the hi tech one I had with a camera and all kinds of stuff which I never use, and never could find- to my daughter.

I am tickled pink with the new cheap phone- and my daughter is taking photographs and doing internet stuff and smsg with both hands. - while telling me that my new cheap one has only a half dozen selections for the alarm clock sound

Though I miss the photograph of my cat on my old phone , I am far more relaxed.

[Sama]

I'm with you, capt. I just want a phone that makes and receives calls. don't want a camera (and my phone does not have one), don't want to get on the 'net (although I can with my phone), and I don't download ringtones.

[Nick-H]

I actually want a camera phone! Why take two bottles into the shower?

But not desparately. Just sometime, one day...

BTW. I learnt something recently.

I always thought that that morse ring tone ... -- ... was supposed to sound like SOS (the one bit of morse code we all know) but they'd left out one dash so as not to make it illegal.

Eventually I got around to looking up "--". it's 'M'



SMS.

SMS... whatever will they think of next. The morse for TXT, I suppose?

[shashank.aggarwal]

It all depends on the kind of profession you are into, I am not sure how many people would understand this...but for a 25 year old professional who is trying to establish a foothold in the competitive environment every call means business...

But I agree that non professional calls should be limited and used carefully...

[Nick-H]

I understand that when I'm not in somebody's office or home, I shouldn't have to listen to their phone calls*.

I'm embarrassed by the fact that my hearing problem means that, when I talk on the phone, others probably think I'm shouting, but I try not to.

One of my most embarrasing moments: my phone ringing in a cathedral! . And it was under several layers of clothes on a cold day, too. Oh dear, what shame!

*but some people seem to have developed a discretion knack. I think early mobile behaviour was more based on the fact that the kind of people who had them were the kind of people who wanted to show off about having them!

[capt_mahajan]

Shashank, I know what you mean.

About 8 years ago, I gave up a high pressure corporate honcho job.. in the end, what crystallised my inevitable decision was a walk near the lake with my wife, and a call from a US client for an hour which I couldn't ignore... and this, at a time when there were incoming call charges, too. My phone bills in a similar job today would be a fifth of what is was then.

I have a saying about corporate life these days... when in doubt, communicate

[dzibead]

Originally Posted by capt_mahajan

So much so, that I bought a basic Nokia phone last week for 2000 rupees ...

I think I bought the same basic Nokia last week, too (and for about the same price ... but in U.S. dollars!)

I definitely did not want a phone with a camera because there are a lot of places I have to go to (e.g., courts, offices that are part of the U.S. immigration service, etc.) that won't allow you to bring in a camera or camera phone - you can bring a cell phone, but not if it includes a camera. There was only one phone model in the entire shop (out of dozens and dozens) that didn't include a phone. I never even turn my cell phone on unless I'm using it to call someone else, or unless I'm expecting a pre-arranged in-coming call. And I don't have voicemail on my cell. One less place for people to bug me!