Another candidate...
Jul. 28th, 2005 11:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgp...for Goofy and Unintuitive Design (GUD).
My cell phone is a Samsung a610. Among other features, it has the capability of storing up to 5 numbers (labeled "Home," "Office," "Mobile," "Pager," and "Fax") and 2 email addresses for each of up to 500 entries.
There is one, little catch, though.
None of the phone numbers can be the same.
This means that if I want to store the work numbers for Alice and Bob and they happen to work at the same company (i.e., they have the same work phone number)... it can't be done. (What possessed Samsung's designers to assume none of the people I deal with would work for the same company?)
It would appear the simplest solution would be to create a third, separate entry for their employer.
And if Bob and Carol share the same personal roof (and therefore, the same home phone number), I may as well keep both "Home" slots of them blank, since only one can contain their home number. (What possessed Samsung's designers to assume none of the people I want to call will share a common home number?)
Here, too, the simplest solution is to create a common entry for them both.
So instead of having three entries - for Alice, Bob, and Carol - where all I have to do is find their name and then select the number to call, I'll have three different entries - one for Alice, one joint entry for Bob and Carol, and one entry for Alice and Bob's employer - where all I have to do is remember that:
1. Alice's work number is stored under the name of her employer
2. Ditto for Bob
3. Bob's home number is stored in the joint entry for Bob and Carol
4. Carol's home number is also stored in the joint entry for Bob and Carol.
In each case, I'll have to remember who I want to call, and then remember where the number can be found.
I just ran across this "feature" when I tried to add an entry for "ICE" (which stands for "In Case of Emergency"), which would call my wife if I were to be injured in an accident to the extent where I could not tell anyone whom to call. (BTW, for more information about the ICE initiative, check out this post at the Moleskinerie. Hat tip: OpenLoops)
GUD going, Samsung!
Cheers...
P.S. It turns out that if you add a two-second pause to the end of a phone number, you can store the same phone number in two entries (one simply has an extra character at the end for the pause). This will work for one or two ICE entries, but doesn't really address the general issue of what to do if, say, all your friends work at the same company.
My cell phone is a Samsung a610. Among other features, it has the capability of storing up to 5 numbers (labeled "Home," "Office," "Mobile," "Pager," and "Fax") and 2 email addresses for each of up to 500 entries.
There is one, little catch, though.
None of the phone numbers can be the same.
This means that if I want to store the work numbers for Alice and Bob and they happen to work at the same company (i.e., they have the same work phone number)... it can't be done. (What possessed Samsung's designers to assume none of the people I deal with would work for the same company?)
It would appear the simplest solution would be to create a third, separate entry for their employer.
And if Bob and Carol share the same personal roof (and therefore, the same home phone number), I may as well keep both "Home" slots of them blank, since only one can contain their home number. (What possessed Samsung's designers to assume none of the people I want to call will share a common home number?)
Here, too, the simplest solution is to create a common entry for them both.
So instead of having three entries - for Alice, Bob, and Carol - where all I have to do is find their name and then select the number to call, I'll have three different entries - one for Alice, one joint entry for Bob and Carol, and one entry for Alice and Bob's employer - where all I have to do is remember that:
1. Alice's work number is stored under the name of her employer
2. Ditto for Bob
3. Bob's home number is stored in the joint entry for Bob and Carol
4. Carol's home number is also stored in the joint entry for Bob and Carol.
In each case, I'll have to remember who I want to call, and then remember where the number can be found.
I just ran across this "feature" when I tried to add an entry for "ICE" (which stands for "In Case of Emergency"), which would call my wife if I were to be injured in an accident to the extent where I could not tell anyone whom to call. (BTW, for more information about the ICE initiative, check out this post at the Moleskinerie. Hat tip: OpenLoops)
GUD going, Samsung!
Cheers...
P.S. It turns out that if you add a two-second pause to the end of a phone number, you can store the same phone number in two entries (one simply has an extra character at the end for the pause). This will work for one or two ICE entries, but doesn't really address the general issue of what to do if, say, all your friends work at the same company.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-07-28 08:26 pm (UTC)The entire process scares the hell out of me now. Frankly, I'm now amazed that any cell phone ever works. If you're ever in the Bay Area, I'll take you for a beer and share them; I probably shouldn't here.
That said, it's mostly software these days --- so I full well realize that those kinds of stories are part of the nature of the beast...