Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Cellular Weirdness

A friend gave me her SAMSUNG cellphone recently -- yes, some of us have friends like that! -- and as I struggle to adapt my poor, Sudoku-challenged brain to the vast gulf that separates a NOKIA from a SAMSUNG (for instance: the space-bar key is NOT the "0" but the "#". I've had it for five days now, and I STILL hit the wrong button all the time!) I've noticed a very odd feature: the phone seems to be travelling in an alternative universe. While I remain stationary in the house -- did I mention anywhere that I am currently in Madras? Visiting my Mum -- which should register under the location "CHETPET" in the phone, the phone manages to travel as far afield as MCNICHOLS ROAD and NUNGUMBAKKAM. Each time it travels it gives out a little buzz and does a jig on whatever surface it happens to be resting upon and a crescent-shaped alert-light goes on, on the front of the phone.

I forgot to ask my friend to tell me everything I needed to know about the phone, so there are lots of features that leave me puzzled and worried. Needless to say, I do not have a manual. It's a bit like walking blindfold through an unfamiliar house (we all do this periodically, don't we?? Ummm .. DON'T we???) -- I keep on bumping into stuff that seems familiar and then again ... isn't. Still. Now there's no going back to my previous phone, coz I have unaccountably managed to fry it. I mean, I wasn't TRYING to fry it, but I did insert a TATA Indicom SIM card into it, thinking that it would work just as well inside a NOKIA as it would (presumably) inside a TATA Indicom phone (which I don't have. Long story. Don't ask). WRONGGGGG! The NOKIA can neither find its own network now nor, it turns out, can it turn itself back on when I insert its original SIM into it (i.e., the one that's currently in the newly acquired SAMSUNG). Not only that, but it is displaying Japanese characters when it's got its original SIM inside it. Very disturbing. Fortunately, its internal list of numbers (i.e., the ones that were not saved to the SIM) are still accessible, so I can copy them (by HAND, what a thrill) into the SAMSUNG.

And so it goes! The joys of connectedness.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

try to shut the phone off and open the back and actually take out the battery - and then put it back in and also place the functional "was working before" sim card. sometimes that might help to reboot the phone. also go thru internet - put in your query and phone set model - and you might get useful info off the net too. best wishes gt

Manjula Padmanabhan said...

I'll try the second suggestion (i.e., to find an info line on the net) coz the model of my phone requires removing the battery to replace the SIM. I need at least one functioning fone before I return to the Delhirium so I don't want to mess around TOO much with the SIM ... Never know when that'll choose to go on the blink too!