At 05:40 PM Tuesday 10/16/2007, Julia Thompson wrote: >On Tue, 16 Oct 2007, William T Goodall wrote: > > On 16 Oct 2007, at 21:25, Andrew Crystall wrote: > >> On 16 Oct 2007 at 21:09, William T Goodall wrote: > >>> On 16 Oct 2007, at 20:43, Andrew Crystall wrote: >[snip and hope I left the attributions right] > >>> > >>>> Having an internal > >>>> battery glued in means you can't carry a spare (making it unsuitable > >>>> for still further usage), and drastically increases the price of the > >>>> battery to the consumer. > >>>> > >>> > >>> I have never heard of anyone carrying a spare battery for their phone > >>> ever. If there are such people they are so few that catering to their > >>> needs would be ridiculous for any sensible manufacturer. > >> > >> ...? > >> > >> People carry spare batteries for electrical equipment, including > >> mobiles, all the time. I keep a spare, charged mobile battery in my > >> backpack. > > > > That makes you the first person I've ever heard of in my life who > > claims to do that. I did grant there were a few of you. > >My previous phone had batteries for which a desktop charger was available. >I kept one charged as a spare and never ran into the >phone-totally-out-of-juice problem (except for once or twice when I forgot >to take the charged spare with me). My current phone does not have this >option, because the manufacturer thinks it's a weird thing to want, and it >annoys the crap out of me.
One of the primary reasons many people give for having a cell phone (*the* primary reason for some of them) is for use in emergencies when frex their car quits running when they are miles from anywhere. Depending on where it happens and the time of night it happens it may take awhile to get hold of someone with a tow truck who is available and willing to come out there, or whatever help you need in the situation. Also, depending on the particular problem, you may not be able to use the charger plugged into the lighter socket, frex if the problem is electrical in nature or the problem is one which forces you to abandon the vehicle (frex it catches on fire or rolls into a lake). Then of course there is the example from last month of the woman who was trapped in her vehicle after it went off the road and down into a ravine who was found after she had been there for 8 days in part because they were able to locate the signal from her cell phone (see, frex, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-28-washington-woman_N.htm). Having extended battery life so you can keep using it would likely also be helpful if you were frex hiking somewhere with cell service and fell and were injured and needed help (back in the late 80s before cell phones were available a guy I knew from the local SF groups was hiking in one of the canyons near Provo when that happened to him. They did not find him in time to rescue him but when they did they said that he had probably lived for some time lying there after falling. He wasn't far from town and the area is a popular place for an afternoon hike, so these days he probably would have been able to call for help if he had had a cell phone, or searchers could have used it to locate him similarly to the way the Washington woman was finally found), or if a storm or earthquake or other disaster knocks out your power and/or landline phone service for several days or causes you to have to evacuate, etc. . . . > I'm almost tempted to see if I can get a >second phone that takes the same kind of battery just to use as a charger. You can buy at various places either (or both) (1) a single-use backup battery in a case about the size of an old-fashioned (uses fluid rather than butane) cigarette lighter and has a plug on top which fits into the charging jack on your phone (they make different ones of different brands of phone, and I've seen them for sale at convenience stores) or (2) a device which similarly plugs into the charging jack but takes (various models) 2 or 4 standard AA or AAA batteries. I've also seen at some of the local W**-M*** stores which you mention below one of those hand-cranked emergency flashlights which in addition to a radio and some of the other features often included on such lights has a wire coming out of it which you can plug into your cell phone's charging jack to charge the phone's battery when you turn the crank. (According to the package after you buy the flashlight you contact the company and tell them what model phone you have and they will send you the plug which fits your phone for free.) >(There may be some available for as little as $40 at my favorite grocery >store; it's my favorite grocery store because if I really wanted to, I >could buy a limited selection of power tools there at midnight, Frex, a power saw (and some trash bags) in case someone (note that I am presuming that you personally would probably not find yourself in this situation) had committed multiple homicide and needed a quick solution to the three-body problem? > and the >ownership isn't out to screw everyone else as badly as Wal-Mart seems to >be.) > > Julia Which store would this be? (I'm wondering if I'm thinking of the right chain which I've encountered elsewhere. Answer off-list (or not at all) if you wish.) -- Ronn! :) _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
