Motorola Razor in the wash

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

My missus occasionally puts electronics into water. She washed my cell phone. OK no use crying over spilt circuits I go get a new one. Thanks to the recent consolidation of cell phone companies Verizon isn't trying to be competitive so no warrantee service on washed phones, no deals, no rebates - damn~!! Retail was what $250.00 OUCH but I needed a phone and didn't feel like playing the wait and see game with a cheap phone and the cheapest they had was $100.00 anyway.

So I got another razor and for the hell of it I got a bluetooth ear piece. I like the ear piece so well it was almost worth the rest of the sad sorry tale. I can use voice dialing to initiate a call and answer without touching my cell leaving it in my pocket.

[Nancy Laird]

Here in Albuquerque, a new law went into effect in April mandating the use of hands-free equipment on a cell phone while behind the wheel of a car. In anticipation, we bought bluetooths (blueteeth??) in December and have used them ever since. I LOVE it. I can carry my cell phone in my slacks or jacket pocket, and just have to touch a button on my earpiece to talk. Calling is a little dicier--can't have the radio on loud enough for the ear to hear it, or the little voice will tell me that the requested command "is not supported with flip closed." Other than that, it's great. Albuquerque wasn't the first to mandate hands-free--Santa Fe has had that law for a couple of years (although the police are all looking the other way and using their cell phones while driving, just like us ordinary mortals).

Nancy

[Randy Denby]

is the blutooth head set the big honkin thing wrapped around peoples ear s I see periodically, it looks almost like they have a fullfledged phone hanging of their ear. Surely that cant be comfortable....and I know its not becoming. But i would love to have a small ear bud phone to go along with my blutooth capable GPS for the motorcycle.
Randy

[David G Baker]

I see a lot of folks in stores walking around talking to themselves. It gets spooky if you only get to see one side of their face, sort of reminds me of San Francisco after Regan closed all the adult care facilities.
The LOML refuses to be held accountable for anything left in my clothes after they are placed in the hamper. Helps me keep my guard up.

[Nancy Laird]

My bluetooth is a little canine-tooth-shaped thing about 2 inches long and 1 inch wide. It has a curved piece that hooks over the top of my ear and fits over the opening of my ear---it does NOT insert into the ear canal. It is so comfortable that I forget it's there until it starts singing in my ear. Yep, it's funny to walk around talking to "myself", but it sure does help when I'm driving.

Nancy

[Russ Filtz]

My Nokia phone went through at least one wash/dry cycle. Still worked great! Cleaner too.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Bluetooth pipes my phone calls through the radio in my car. Sweet!!

[Al Willits]

Beasty has financed several projects off what I leave in my pockets, she says I'm tipping her for a job well done....

Where I work we have seen some ear problems with phone clerks that wear a head set all day, wondering if we'll see the same with the people who wander around with their phone stuck in their ear?

Al

[Jim Becker]

Professor Dr. SWMBO's new E62 got a nice quad-venti-one-pump vanilla-iced latté bath in the accident a month and a half ago...it survived, but it wasn't "immersed" like it would be in the wash.

Buying a new phone mid-contract really bites, but it was probably the right thing to do. The newer versions usually have more features. And yes, the Bluetooth headsets are nice. For our cars, since our new E62s don't support a wired car kit, I bought a couple BlueAnt Wireless SuperTooth II hands free setups and they are great. I don't like using a headset in the car as I have hearing problem and covering up my one good ear with a headset isn't as safe as using a dedicated hands-free device.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

is the blutooth head set the big honkin thing wrapped around peoples ear s I see periodically, it looks almost like they have a fullfledged phone hanging of their ear. Surely that cant be comfortable....and I know its not becoming. But i would love to have a small ear bud phone to go along with my blutooth capable GPS for the motorcycle.
Randy

Some of them are HUGE. I was behind some DROOLING MORON at a Dave Brubeck Concert who had a monster bluetooth strapped to her ear and the damn thing has a bright LED that flashed regularly pointing off to the rear of the thing (back of her head) that shagged my attention every time it went off. I haven't a clue what the korean or japanese engineer could possibly have been thinking ("Yeah a bright light shooting off behind the user, must be good for sumpin.")
Any way I had an usher make her take the thing off.
It was like one of those Sure-Fire military LED combat lights they use to disable people.

This one I have isn't heavy - even after a long period that you'd notice it but - - - It would be in the way of the music from a live Dave Brubeck Concert and if you've seen him you know he only has just so many concerts left in him. What moron would wear anything over their ear at a Dave Brubeck show I can't guess.

[Bob Childress]

What moron would wear anything over their ear at a Dave Brubeck show I can't guess.

Probably the one who "went along" just to please her partner. Her loss. Brubeck is fantastic.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Like Jim I have a hearing problem. I'm stone deaf in my right ear. If you ever meet me in person......I'll try to put you on my left side...and even then...I constantly repeat "What'd you say?"......I pull off the road to answer or make cell phone calls. It's safer and at my age I need fewer distractions while driving.

[Ken Garlock]

Well Cliff, now you won't be getting any dirty messages.

I wonder who is the person responsible for the care and feeding of their phone.

[TYLER WOOD]

I also had my lovely bride uh..... refresh my Audiovox phone in the washer.....twice. Not her fault, I left it there. Still running strong! I do get to upgrade here in about a week, which is good. The phone is getting dirty again and not sure if it would make it through a third spin cycle. But who knows.....

My wife also gets tipped for doing the laundry. She is paid well....

[Tony Sade]

I put my cel through the wash (I'm the launderer in my house) and just assumed it had died. One of the contracts on our family plan had expired, so I was able to get a new phone at the time at no cost-just a new 2 yr. contract. My teenager's phone died before the end of the contract, so just for grins, I took out the washed phone, which I save for some reason, and it still worked. The teenager wasn't terribly happy-he was expecting a new gadget with the latest bells. I told him he could shell out for whatever he wanted to, and that shut him up pretty quickly.

I get about 3 calls a week on my phone, mostly from my wife telling me she's on her way home, so I'm clearly not the type who would benefit from one of those in-the-ear jobs. I gotta say, I find the whole concept and the look real odd though.

As for the hands free setup, IIRC correctly, the emerging research is showing that hands free telephone conversations are no less dangerous than those using a handheld set. The last study I remember reading about concluded that carrying on a phone conversation in a car creates a level of "cognitive distraction" equal to being under the influence. And no, according to the same study, if memory serves, it's not the same thing (in terms of accident rates or level of distraction) as carrying on a conversation with someone in the car, flipping the radio channel, or even eating a burger. Don't mean to start an argument, but I'd be all for a ban on cel phone conversations of any type in a car, especially considering the kind of driving I consistently see from folks with phones stuck to their heads.

Drive safely.