In my previous post I discussed how our mobile lifestyles have affected our dating and relationships. The fact still remains that mobile phones have greatly enhanced our relationships, making it easier for us to keep in touch. However, there might be times we wish the mobile phones do not exist because it makes it difficult for us to get away from some people.

In this post, I want to discuss the moral aspects of dating, relationship and mobile lifestyles. Recently, I was opportune to be in a seminar organised by some women groups. Among the topics discussed was if it is proper for parents to give mobile phones to their children who are still in primary or secondary schools.

School Children & Mobile Phones
As you would have imagined, the topic generated a lot of excitements and questions. Those who are in favour said it helps the parents to keep in touch with their children and also assists the children in case of emergency. Those who are opposed to it said that it aids the children in promiscuity and it is an unnecessary distraction to them. I believe both sides are correct, but we need to marry the two sides of arguments.

At the end of the Seminar, Phonerism.com approached one of the outspoken women, who gave her name as Biola, and this conversation ensued:

phonerism: Will u give mobile phones to your children still in primary or secondary schools?
Biola: Well, I gave my daughter who is in Secondary school on one condition
phonerism: Yes…
Biola: She will not take the phone to school and I have equal right to the phone, that is, when messages come, I have the right to read and to know who and who has been calling/flashing her and vice versa.
Biola: When her younger brother gets to JSS2 like her, he will get his own too.
phonerism: Has she been complying? Any funny text messages?
Biola: She has been complying, there has never been a funny one except the ones my friends will send to her or her cousins.

The dialogue above just proved that it is possible to give school children cell phones and at the same time maintain disciplines. Phonerism.com praised the woman for her courage and confidence in her daughter.

My phone is my buddy

The Disobedient Collaborators
About a month ago, I visited an uncle and I met him scolding his 14 years old daughter, Agnes, who is still in Secondary school. Agnes has a Sagem handset which was neither purchased for her by her dad or mum, and she cannot explain to her father how she came by the handset. Apparently, the handset has been given to her by her boyfriend, but she was afraid of what her father might do if she said so. So she decided to play the silence game. Finally, her father ordered her to return the handset to whoever gave it to her with 24 hours. He further told her that her studies should be paramount to her now the handset will be a major distraction. That was the end of the matter. So I thought.

About two weeks ago, Lara visited me in the office. Lara is a 25-year old cousin staying with my uncle, Agnes father. She is working and at the same time doing part-time studying in a university. I saw her holding a Sagem handset. She was using a Motorola before. True to my characteristics, I like examining handsets if the opportunity presents itself. On a closer observation, it was the same handset my uncle ordered her daughter to return to her boyfriend.

Lara explained to me later, that instead of returning the handset, she persuaded Agnes to give her the handset, since she had just lost her own handset. The arrangement was that Agnes boyfriend can always call her and talk to her on Lara’s mobile line using the same Sagem handset. Whenever a call comes in, and the call is for Agnes, Lara will go inside the room, tells the caller to hold on, and call Agnes so that she can receive her call secretly in the room. This is a serious moral issue that relates to dating, relationships and mobile lifestyles.

The Eavesdropping Husband
Recently, I read in the newspaper, a case of a married woman who got out of bed, beside her husband, in the night, to answer a call on her cell phone. But unfortunately for her, , her husband was not sleeping. The man having long suspected her of extra-marital affairs, tip-toed after and caught her red-handed in a phone conversation with her boyfriend, Well, to cut it short, her husband divorced her immediately.

Guilty As Texted
Early this year, a male’s colleague fiancé left him. The reason was that she found some amorous text messages to and fro another girl on her boyfriend’s mobile phone. Since the lady lives in another town, the guy was not really expecting her that day, otherwise he would have cleaned up his mobile phone prior to her arrival. The dumped him saying she had long suspected he was not serious with her. Meanwhile, the boyfriend protested that she had no right to be snooping through his text messages without his approval. Well, right or no right, approval or no approval, that was the end of a 2-year relationship.

Unsolicited Night Calls
Two weeks ago, I had to settle a quarrel between a friend and his wife. The friend is a class representative (a.k.a. Governor) in his MBA class. The wife accused the husband of receiving late night calls, even from ladies, with him setting up appointments with them, even in her presence. The husband defended himself that he had nothing to hide from her otherwise he wouldn’t have received the calls in her presence, and the he was only performing his class duties. He accused his wife of being unnecessarily too jealous. But the truth is that some of the ladies in his class have started flirting with him on phone, and this guy seems to be enjoying all the attentions he was receiving from the women, otherwise he would have stopped them. I told my friend he just has to put a demarcation between his class commitments and his personal privacy. He should not encourage his classmates, especially the females to call him late in the night, for whatever cause.

To close this article, it can be deduced from all the examples aforementioned that a lot of serious moral issues are attached to dating, relationships and mobile lifestyles. The mobile phone is an excellent communication tool, which must be used properly and wisely. If used properly, it benefits our relationship, but if used wrongly, it can cause mistrust or many questions between very close people.

The way to my heart is through my phone

Ever wonder what transforms dating and relationships nowadays? Well, you need not guess too far, it is the mobile phone or handset. It can mend, make or mar relationships depending on which angle you look at it. The fact still remains that our dating culture and relationships are now extremely influenced by our mobile lifestyles.

Phonerism.com ever desirous and curious about people’s mobile lifestyles took some times to investigate and talk with some people on how cell phones affect their dating and relationships, and you will find interesting, if not amazed at what some people do or have to say.

No Phone No Date
Iyke, a 23 years old undergraduate said he cannot date a girl without a mobile phone. When asked why, he replied, “How do you communicate since you are not living together? How do you setup dates and appointments if the lady is not on phone? It can’t just work out”. Well, maybe someone might agree or disagree with Iyke, but as far as he is concerned, that is his own belief.

A Dose of SMS Wins Them
Daniel, A 34 year old sales executive said he used Text Messages to win his ladies over. Asked how he does that, his replied was, “All I need is to make the lady give me her mobile phone number, then the rest is easy. I will start gradually with some normal or funny texts, and then change over to romantic texts if the lady encourages me, by responding occasionally. Later, as I receive more encouragements, I will gradually amplify the degree of contents of the text messages, and before you know it, the lady will be itching to go out with me”. I think this is a little sophisticated but will work for those who know what they are doing.

Can You Tease Me on Phone?

When a Flashing Speaks Volume
Tina, a 24 years old confidential secretary said that she doesn’t normally have enough credits on her phone. But anytime she wants her fiancée to call her, or anytime she just want to let the guy knows that she misses him, she will just flash him. Most times, within minutes, her boyfriend will call her.

I am Not in Town
“Dating can be a little difficult nowadays, especially when you are broke”. This was the response of Biodun, a 31 years old business man. “Most of the time when I am broke and I wanted to avoid going out with my girlfriend, I will tell her whenever she called me on phone that I’m out of town on a business trip”, Biodun concluded. When told that this was tantamount to lying, he replied, “Call it lying or anything you like, but I will call it being smart”.

Wrong Number
Lizzy, a 20 year old undergraduate said that the mobile phone makes it easier for her to outsmart some dumb men who make passes at her. When asked how she did that, her response was, “Just give the loser guy a wrong number, and that is all. And if you happened to give him the right number, pretend as if he got the wrong number whenever he calls you.” Well, this is a wickedly smart way for ladies out there who get pestered for their number by men they are not interested in.

Woo the Girl on Phone
Bello, A 22 year old male undergraduate said he is an extremely shy person, and so it is difficult for him to approach a girl and starts wooing her immediately. This is what he does; he will ask the girl for her number. Then later, he will give the girl a call on her mobile phone and make his intention known. This way, he will not directly suffer the humiliation of the girl turning him down, and there will be no witness to make it worse. He said that the method works for him some of the time but the problem is that most ladies, even though they are interested in him, will not reveal it too soon.

Talk Time is Bed Time
Emma, a 27 years old graphic artist, prided himself on being successful with women. According to him, he will spend long minutes chatting with his latest girl on phone. He will purposely delay calling her until late in the night, when she will most certainly be on bed. Then, he will call her mobile number and talked with her. When phonerism.com asked why he does this, he replied with an air of authority, “I want to be the last person she talked to before she goes to bed. In this way, she will have sweet memories of me just before she falls asleep, and this normally lingers until the next call”. Truly, this amazed me. I wonder if the guy is a part-time psychologist.

I Need a BF/GF
There are lots of dating programmes on most of the FM Radio stations in the country nowadays. Most of these programs are always late in the night. A boy or a girl will send an SMS to the presenter of the programme that he/she needs a girlfriend/boyfriend, and interested persons should call his/her phone number. I used to wonder what happened to the traditional approach of wooing girls. I can understand for the girls, but the boys, what’s ailing them? Why can’t they go out there and talk face-to-face?

Well, this is by no means exhaustive, but I just have to stop somewhere. Through observation and discussion with others, phonerism.com was able to gather this information. Next post will focus on the social and moral effects of Dating, Relationships & Mobile Lifestyles. I encourage you to watch out for it.

Talk Time is Anywhere

For all users of the Qtek S100 Pocket PC, it must must be a thing of joy to have finally found a successor for the compact and versatile mobile communicator. The Qtek S200 (aka HTC Prophet) has been released as a successor to Qtek S100 (aka HTC Magician). Both are products of the same manufacturer, HTC. Other products by the HTC company are i-Mate, Dopod, O2, T-Mobile and Orange.

When the Qtek S100 (same specification as i-Mate JAM) was first released in late 2004, it was adjudged to be the smallest Pocket PC ever manufactured, with the size no bigger than any other smartphones in the market. It became popular among those who want to use Pocket PCs but at the same time do not want to carry about a too heavy device. The Qtek S100 was both compact and pleasant to use, which makes it to be very popular as you can easily slide it into your pocket without a noticeable buldge.

Qtek S200 aka as The Prophet, the true successor to the Magician has arrived. It has not only arrived, it came packed with better features than the old Qtek S100, while still maintaining almost the original size and same weight of 150g. The new thing about the Qtek S200 is that it is running on Windows Mobile 5.0 and having the much desired Wi-Fi connectivity and a 2 Megapixel camera. The old Qtek S100 runs on Windows Mobile 2003, 1.3 Megapixel camera and without Wi-Fi.

The specifications of the HTC Prophet is as outlined below:

New Wine Weak Bottle?
The new Qtek S200 has a body covered with plastic unlike the old Qtek S100 which has its body covered with a thin metal alloy. This is a rather backwars step, I must confess. I can remember several instances I dropped my Qtek S100 on the concrete floor; all I need to do is to pick up the scattered pieces, and put the phone back again. I doubt whether the Qtek S200 will survive few of such ordeals.

It is All About Speed
Qtek S200 is driven by Texas Instruments OMAP850 processor at a frequency of 195MHZ, in contrast to the older Qtek S100 with a process speed of 416 MHZ. This is not good enough, as this makes The Prophet to be slower. Considering the fact that the newer OS of Windows Mobile 5.0 will take more system resources, a faster processor would have been better to drive the device. I believe this slower processor speed will be the archile heel of Qtek S200.

Pros of Qtek S200
- Small and compact design like the Qtek S100
- New OS Windows Mobile 5
- 2 Megapixel Camera
- EDGE and Wi-Fi Connectivity
- Brilliant and sharper display

Cons of Qtek S200
- Slower Processor
- Plastic body

Generally speaking, the Qtek S200 has arrived and it came package with better things than its predecessor. The new Windows Mobile 5.0 OS and Wi-Fi connectivity are big boosts to it which cannot be ignored, in addition to its brilliant display which can be difficult to rival by other smatphones. But the issue of slower processor speed and plastic body are big let-downs in this new device. Owing the old HTC Magician myself, I am still seriously thinking whether to make the change to the new HTC Prohet and enjoy the better OS, Wi-Fi, bigger camera or to wait and watch out for what, I don’t really know. All the same, if you are lover of Pocket PCs, Qtek S200 is a device which you can’t just ignore.

HTC Prophet: Qtek S200

When Motorola came out with the RAZR V3 late 2004, it was an instant hit. The unusual, thin-edge and flat design of the clamshell phone makes it very attractive and extraordinary. The RAZR V3 has 172 x 220 pixels 256K TFT display, weighs 95g and with an internal memory of 5.5MB. It has a VGA camera. The shape and design of the phone has been its strong selling point.

With the success of the RAZR V3, Motorola introduced yet another similar clamshell phone, the RAZR V3i, late year 2005. The RAZR V3i was a slight modification of the original RAZR. Weighing about 5g more, the Motorola V3i in addition came with 1.23 MP camera, 10MB internal memory and a microSD TransFlash card slot, expandable to 512MB. Those who love the RAZR V3 also love the RAZR V3i. In fact, I was not surprised to find sitting beside me in an aircraft yesterday, a middle-age business man, holding the two versions of Motorola RAZR handsets. Initially, I thought the RAZR handsets will be more popular with women, but I have seen several men and business executives clutching either a Motorola RAZR V3 or V3i or both.

Motorola RAZR V3i

Motorola has another stylish clamshell, the Motorola PEBL U6, which also has a lot in common with the RAZR models and equally attracts a lot of attention. The PEBL U6 weighs about 15g more than the original RAZR, but was also a slight modification of the RAZR model. It has 5MB internal memory, but lacks a memory card slot. It has a VGA camera like the original RAZR. The Motorola PEBL U6 is not just any phone, it resembles a true pebble. In fact, one of the commercials in TV portrays a rock being cast out of space into the sea, this became a pebble that was cast out of the sea to the shore; and when it was being picked up, behold, and it was the Motorola pebble U6.

Find below a comparison chart that summarized the salient features of these three phones that have attracted a lot of attention.

Motorola PEBL U6

Pros of RAZR V3
- Good, attractive and innovative design

Cons of RAZR V3 - Weak backlighting
- Poor bluetooth connectivity
- Finicky screen and keypad
- No memory card slot
- No FM Radio
- Random freezing and shutdowns
- Condensation on the phone when hot; this may cause damage to the screen.

Pros of RAZR V3i
- High quality design
- Slim design similar to the original RAZR
- 1.23 MP camera
- MicroSD card slot
- Excellent phonebook

Cons of RAZR V3i
- Just a slight modification of the original RAZR
- Outer protecting glass catches fingerprints
- Menu items not logically arranged
- Camera picture quality is poor
- Typing text is uncomfortable / poor messaging functions
- No task or note organiser
- No FM Radio
- Poor MP3 player

Pros of PEBL U6
- Beautiful original oval design
- Innovative automatic opening of phone
- Stylish rubber surface

Cons of PEBL U6
- Increased weight when compared to original RAZR
- No memory card slot
- Menu items not arranged logically
- Poor touch orientation on the keypad
- No FM Stereo
- Poor camera picture quality
- No task or note organiser

Comments
The Motorola RAZR V3, V3i and PEBL U6 are highly stylish devices of attractive designs and top-class construction. If you ever want to attract attention anytime, anywhere, all you need is let one of these beautiful devices accompany you. However, these phones are only for the fashion-conscious individuals who desire not more than the normal call and receive functions from a phone. The phones lack most of the basic features that will make it desirable to the high-tech users, because they lack most of the sophisticated functions found in modern handsets. Nevertheless, the phones are fulfilling their functions by satisfying the needs of the classy and trendy users who always want to use the phones with best look and design.

Original Motorola RAZR V3

Ever seen the LG KG800 mobile phone? This is a phone that will surely turn any eye and make you instantly get noticed anywhere anytime. The LG KG800 is a black, slim and sexy phone to behold. It is a phone engineered with the fashion-conscious individual in mind. The LG KG800 is a tri-band phone with 1.3 MP camera and 128MB internal memory, weighing about 83g. It also features an MP3 player.

The LG K800 is a gorgeous mobile phone with a red-glowing navigation touchpad. This attractive phone got its chocolate name because in the Korean market where it was pioneered, it has the scent of chocolate. Also, the keys shape of the LG KG800 resembles a lot like pieces of a chocolate bar. The phone is a rare gem and a real black beauty that is difficult to fault its design.

On the technical side, the LG KG800 does not have much to offer the techno-savvy mobile user. This is because basically most other phones in the market have better features and functionality than this phone. But then, the LG KG800 was not designed with the techie in mind. The phone was designed and targeted at the classy, trendy and fashion aficionados who always go out with impressive wears and gadgets. Like the Nokia fashion phones (Nokia 7360, Nokia 7370 and Nokia 7380), the LG KG800 was designed for the fashion world, and it has already out-classed any other mobile phone in the market, in that category. So, if you are looking for a mobile phone that will satisfy all your communication and entertainment needs, move on, because the LG KG800 is not the phone for you.

The LG KG800 mobile phone has the following specifications.

LG KG800 Phone

Pros of LG KG800
- Good product, good design
- Very beautiful and fashionable
- Touchpad navigation
- 1.3 MP camera with LED flash
- 128 MB shared internal memory
- USB 1.2 mass storage support
- Menu system with fast response
- Excellent keypad and good backlighting
- Easy to turn off the carrier’s name or operator’s logo

Cons of LG KG800
- No memory card slot
- Poor MP3 player in addition to the above
- No FM Stereo
- Slow and poor camera performance
- Hard to disengage battery cover
- Touchpad confusing and clumsy to use
- Display resolutions not too good
- Only .bmp & 72 x 72 pixels files can be attached to contacts
- Ringtones can only be assigned to caller group and not to certain callers
- Difficulty in saving second or third number to an already existing contact directly from the standby screen.

To sum it up, the LG KG800 is a good phone for making and receiving calls. The sound quality is excellent, loud and clear. Also, if you want to go out in class and style, the LG PK800 is the best handset to carry along with you. It will surely get you noticed.

LG KG800 Slider