Mobile Choice Blog

Forget Crazy Frog: Your mum may be the best ringtone in the world!

No, we're not suggesting that your mum has signed a contract with Jamster and is planning to release a dreadful Hi-NRG dance album in time for Christmas. Although you might want to ring her to make sure. Instead, the Loose Wire blog has suggested that the best ringtone for any mobile user might be their mother's voice.

It's all based on US Air Force research in the 1950s, that found pilots responded to automatic cockpit warnings much better if the orders were recorded by their mothers. For example: "Do wrap up a bit warmer dear, have you had your sandwiches yet, oh, and TAKE EVASIVE ACTION!"

Anyway, Loose Wire suggests that on phones that allow it, you should get your mums to record herself calling your name, then use it as your ringtone. It's certainly a thought, although possibly not appealing for those of us who disloyally spend our days avoiding mobile calls from our mothers.

Loose Ends blog (via Ringtonia)

You ARE allowed to sag off work by SMS

So, you wake up one morning only to discover that you fancy a day on your PlayStation 3 have a dreadful sore throat. You don't feel up to making a phone call, but since you have your boss' mobile number, you send them a text instead. Can you get sacked for doing that?

According to an employment tribunal here in the UK, no - as long as that method's been accepted in the past, and you haven't been issued with regulations forbidding it. The ruling came in a case involving sales adviser Mark Morrison (no, not that one), who used texts to tell his boss he'd be off sick on two separate occasions.

He sued for unfair dismissal, and won, with the tribunal saying because his employer had accepted him notifying them by text one week, they couldn't sack him the next for the same method. Morrison got £6,977 in damages, but the rest of us get more days off without having to fake a sore throat on the phone. Er.. not that we'd ever do such a thing, obviously.

(via Cellular News)

South Korean teenagers getting lessons in mobile addiction

We've got a few lessons we'd like to impart to British teenagers on the subject of mobile usage. 1.) DON'T play loud music from them on the bus, 2.) DON'T punch people in the head while filming it on your camphone, and 3.) DON'T sign up to those tempting ringtone subscriptions, you'll only regret it.

In South Korea, educators are more worried about pupils being addicted to their mobiles, so 12 schools have been chosen for a pilot scheme investigating the problem. The kids will be discussing how they use phones, what symptoms they experience when they're without their handset, and considering "proper use of the phones as consumers".

Naturally, they won't be allowed to have their phones switched on during the lessons: in fact, they'll be put in special phone lockers for the duration. Could such a scheme happen here in the UK? We think the idea's got legs.

(via Textually)

Snaffle yourself some free turkey ringtones

It's nearly Christmas, so why not jazz up your phone with a fun turkey ringtone? Admittedly, we can think of about 21 reasons why we wouldn't want our mobiles going gobble-gobble on the train, but...

The UK Turkeys website, which has been set up to persuade people to buy local turkeys for their Christmas dinners, is offering two different turkey-themed ringtones, which you can download for free via your PC, or pay 50p to receive as a direct download to your phone.

What about poor old vegetarians though? If anyone's selling a ringtone based on nut roast, please let us know!

UK Turkey ringtones

Bluetooth mobile-controlled skateboard? Yes please!

Forget Bluetooth headsets, wireless photo transfers, or local multiplayer games. The best use for Bluetooth we've ever heard of is a new gadget called GroundSurf. It's... a Bluetooth-enabled skateboard with an electric motor between its front wheels. You accelerate and brake using controls on an application on your phone.

It's not going on sale until next year, and is fraught with worries on our part: for example, if you're zooming down the street on it and somebody calls you, can you control the application and talk at the same time? Or do you end up slamming into a wall due to an inability to brake?

Still, we're intrigued nevertheless, and would love to have a go on one. Watch this space (or our local hospital) for news of whether we manage it.

(via The Cell Freak)

Cabinet minister fined for using mobile phone while driving

The introduction of a law to stop people gabbing on their phones while driving was definitely a good thing, although anecdotal evidence (i.e. what we've seen while out and about) indicates that some people continue to flout the law.

Among them is immigration minister Liam Byrne, who was fined £100 plus costs on Friday after being caught using his mobile at the wheel. He claimed in court that he was taking an important call about a deportation case, but the magistrate rightfully decided that if the call was that important, Byrne should have pulled over before taking it.

That's one politician who'll have hopefully gone out to buy a Bluetooth headset this weekend. By the way, in case you're wondering, he didn't do that graffiti in the photo. Honest.

(via IHT)

Spongebob Squarepants: the phone!

Don't pretend you don't love this too. Forget boring old Nokias or dated Sony Ericssons* - we've seen the future, and it looks like a certain yella fella called Spongebob. Admittedly, this is a corded landline phone and not a mobile, but it doesn't take much imagination to see the idea being translated into the mobile space.

So, it's a flip phone modelled on Spongebob Squarepants, that stands proudly when you're not gabbing away on it. Worth $19.97 of anyone's money, we're sure you'll agree.

(via Nerd Approved)

*we don't really think Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones are boring, obviously. But if they could be shaped a bit more like cartoon characters, it'd be nice.

Fancy a spot of hot smexting action?

Ever had smext on the beach? I wanna smext you up. Let's get some smextual healing. Feel free to insert your own songs with 'sex' changed to 'smext'. It's good fun.

Smexting is a new term that's been coined to describe the act of sending a text while having a crafty ciggie outside your office or the pub. It's apparently quite common since the smoking ban came in, presumably because people feel a bit awkward puffing away alone on the street (if they're in company, it's surely rude to smext at all).

We'd like a go at this mobile-related word-invention. How about plexting, which is what you do when you desperately try to squeeze off a quick text before getting on a plane - for example to a loved one? Okay, maybe we're not cut out for this dictionary lark after all...

(via MobHappy)

Officer, officer! There's a Motorola RAZR 2 smashed into my car!

One good reason to be careful about parking outside a mobile shop: what happens if something goes wrong with their outdoor advertising display, and a large Motorola RAZR 2 falls onto your car? One Illinois driver found out the hard way...

(via Engadget Mobile)

Fuwa Phone: the official kiddie mobile of the Beijing Olympics

Looking for a cutesy-yet-rare mobile handset to make your friends think you're a gadget maven? Of course you are. Check out the Fuwa phone, which is being launched in China as part of the build-up to next year's Olympics.

The character is Fuwa Huanhuan, who's the official Games mascot. You get a 1.5-inch screen, a 256MB memory card, music and video playing capabilities, and a 1.3-megapixel camera. Well, it is designed for children: they're not so fussy when it comes to specs. Probably.

Maybe the organisers of the 2012 London Olympics should get working on a similar idea for that event, as long as they don't use that godawful official logo, of course. We'd shun any phone that featured that.

(via New Launches)