Feb 01

The British Love to Text

By Chris Samaras Interesting Phone Stuff No Comments »

20messaging_600span.jpegApparently, the majority of British people don’t have Internet packages on their new and refurbished cell phone plans because their connection speeds aren’t that great and their cost is high (which seems weird that it would be worse from here in the US as I thought we were always behind with things like this). BizReport wrote that 76% of all cell phone owners in England do not have wireless Internet plans.

What they do use, and use the heck out of at that, is text messaging. According to the U.K. based Mobile Data Association, 96.8 billion text messages were sent out in 2009, – which is 11 million text messages per hour or 265 million per day. That figure was up 23% from 2008 when the Brits sent 78.9 billion texts. The number of picture texts sent in 2009 was 601 million, and 4.5 million of those were sent on Christmas day.

With companies working to make texting safe in cars and with companies like Google allowing you to verbally dictate texts to your phone, these numbers will surely go nowhere but up.

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Jan 26

Your Days of Texting and Driving are Numbered

By Chris Samaras Interesting Phone Stuff, Phones In The News 2 Comments »
(Dark Blue) States that have banned texting - (Light Blue) States debating over passing the ban

(Dark Blue) States that have banned texting - (Light Blue) States debating over passing the ban

Texting from your new or refurbished cell phone while driving is obviously not a responsible thing to do, but the number of state legislators who feel that you are not responsible enough to govern your own actions while driving is steadily increasing.

19 states (Shown in dark blue on the map) have already banned texting while driving, and 23 states (shown in light blue) are currently debating over passing the ban.  AAA’s director of state relations, Justin McNaull, believes that at least 12 more bans will pass in 2010. He feels, “There’s clear public disapproval of the behavior, and there’s strong public support for a law.” The president of FocusDriven, Jennifer Smith, says, “I’m kind of at a loss as to why every state doesn’t have a no-texting law. That’s a no-brainer.”

According to the department of transportation, 5,870 people, 16% of all highway fatalities, died in distracted-driving crashes and 515,000 were injured in 2008.

While I do agree that texting while driving is extremely dangerous, I don’t, realistically speaking, see people turning their phones off until they get home. Hopefully more car manufacturers will follow Ford’s lead and incorporate safe ways to use your phone without ever having to take your eyes off the road.

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Jan 21

Walking and Texting Accidents Are On The Rise

By Chris Samaras Interesting Phone Stuff No Comments »

1765772958-padding-protect-pedestriansThe New York Times recently published an article about how the amount of people injured by walking into something while distracted by their new or refurbished cell phones is on the rise, which was both funny and kind of sad as I’ve definitely run into a few stationary objects mid text.

According to the article, more than 1,000 people visited the emergency room in 2008 because of a walking/running accident that occurred while they were using their cell phone. Apparently that number had doubled from 2007, which was twice the number from 2006.

Jack L. Nasar, a professor of city and regional planning at Ohio State, points out that the actual number of injuries incurred from being distracted by mobile phones is much, much higher, but most of the injuries aren’t serious enough to warrant a visit to the emergency room, so they go unrecorded.

The night after I read this article I visited my favorite restaurant, and the waitress told about how she had just walked into the corner of her coffee table because she was texting her boyfriend. I can’t help but laugh at myself every time I walk into something, but I guess it would be a lot different if it were an oncoming bus that I stepped in front of. Note to self: Look up more often while texting.

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Dec 29

Tikinotes Texting Challenging Swype

By Chris Samaras Cell Phone Reviews, Interesting Phone Stuff 1 Comment »

Tikinotes_0001I recently did a little review of Swype, but a new app from Tiki’Labs is challenging Swype for the fastest touch texting app title for your new or refurbished cell phone. They’ve even put a video in which Tikinotes wins (by a very small margin).

Tikinotes seems to be focusing on the idea that the bigger the “button” on the touch screen, the quicker you can type. They have designed a two-touch system where the initial screen shows you six large boxes, four containing six letters and two containing a combination of letters and symbols. To type, you first tap the box containing the letter you need, which changes the six boxes of multiple letters to six boxes, each containing only one letter. You then tap the letter you need. It sounds tedious but if you watch their tutorial video, you’ll see that it actually looks pretty quick. Again, the idea is that you eventually memorize where the letters will appear and can type really quickly because the buttons are so big, so you don’t have to worry about hitting the wrong letter.

I’m still not entirely sold, but I think that if I try it out, I will be. I still swear I could text faster on the old two-letter-per-button layout of the Blackberry Pearl than I can on a full QWERTY because the buttons were just a little larger, so maybe Tikinotes is what I need. You can get the app at iTunes for, I belive, $1.99.

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Nov 27

Swype Texting Review

By Chris Samaras Cell Phone Reviews, Interesting Phone Stuff 3 Comments »

htc3I just came across a video that is really interesting and seems to represent the future of text messaging on your new and refurbished cell phones. The software is called Swype and what it enables you to do is text on a touch screen without having to lift your finger, allowing a trained user to text a much quicker speeds than are possible with traditional texting (I think the guy in the video texts a something like 55 words per minute).

The way the system works is you slide your finger from letter to letter, and the software instantly figures out the word you are intending to type. It’s kind of hard to explain, so check out the video for a demonstration.

When the video first started, my initial reaction was, “That’s stupid,” but as the video went on, I began to see the possibilities that this system offers. It seems undeniable that Swype allows you to text faster (once you get used to it) but being a traditional touch typist, I am not sure that I want to train myself to text with one finger. I guess I’d have to try it to really know.

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Nov 11

Holiday Cell Phone Facts

By Chris Samaras Uncategorized No Comments »

happyholidayI came across a couple of interesting articles today involving cell phones and the holidays. The first is about a survey conducted by a British website, which shows that 58 percent of the 1,014 people polled said they would be sending holiday text messages instead of traditional cards this year from their mobile and refurbished cell phones. I was actually surprised that the percentage wasn’t a little higher as the idea of a traditional holiday card just makes no sense to me. Why pay five bucks for a piece of cardboard that someone will throw out within hours of you giving it them? Plus, in reality, texting instead of sending a card is the “Green” thing to do. Think of all the trees that will be saved this year if more people just text their season’s greetings. Sorry Hallmark, but it looks like your racket is almost up.

Merry freaking Christmas kid

Merry freaking Christmas kid

The second article that caught my eye, is about a website called TextSanta.net, which seems like one of those brilliant ideas that makes you go, “Damn it. Why didn’t I think of that?” At TextSanta.net, you can pay $5.49 to have Santa Clause text your children either on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. There are three stock messages to choose from, or you can create your own customized message, which is a great option as it allows adults to send “naughty” greetings as well. If your child doesn’t have a cell phone, you can have the text sent to your phone. Keeping in the holiday spirit, TextSanta.net will donate $1 for every text sent to the March of Dimes in support of its mission to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

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