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Monday, January 18, 2010

Why is There a QWERTY Keyboard on my Phone?

Why is there a QWERTY keyboard on my phone? It makes no sense at all. It's too small to touch type. Why not use Dvorak or a phone-optimized keyboard layout?

I noticed another weird bit about my phone voicemail. I can't optimize it like with E-Mail.

I can't set up a list of "preferred" callers who get priority.

I can't "killfile" spammers/telemarketers.

I can't separately sort calls from people I've never heard from before.

I can set up custom ringtones. However, I leave the volume on my phone off. It'd be nice to have the volume turn on *ONLY* when certain numbers call.

I looked on Verizon's website, and I can actually block up to 5 numbers for 90 days. I have to re-enter the block after 90 days. That seems like a braindead crippled way to do it. Then I saw why. Verizon sells "usage controls" for $5/month, which isn't crippled. Blocking spammers isn't worth $5/month. It sucks to buy from a State-backed monopoly!

There's all these little frustrations when dealing with phone companies that don't occur with E-Mail. The reason is that the phone company has a State-backed monopoly. Anybody can write their own E-Mail client.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Given that your blog is really fantastic, I should not be surprised that you also use Dvorak.

I agree, the paucity of console configurations on portable devices is a travesty.

FSK said...

I don't use Dvorak, but I've been considering investing the time in learning.

I was pointing out that, for a phone, there's no reason to have a QWERTY keyboard at all. It would be better to have a phone-optimized layout.

This Blog Has Moved!

My blog has moved. Check out my new blog at realfreemarket.org.