dmiessler.com | grep understanding - Latest Comments in It’s Called A “Mobile” Phone

Re: It’s Called A “Mobile” Phone

brad — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 19:17:44 -0000

or maybe...."handimobicell".
you, know, cover all of the bases. If not that, "mobile" OR "phone", but NOT BOTH.

Re: It’s Called A “Mobile” Phone

dylan — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 10:43:07 -0000

What about "mobicell"?

Re: It’s Called A “Mobile” Phone

Zhasper — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 23:38:35 -0000

here in .au, it's always been "mobile"
Not sure what you mean about europeans though - for instance, in Germany, they call it a "handi" (short for handtelefon - lets not start on what mental images that conjures up).

In .au though, everyone does know if you're giving them a mobile or landline number - all our mobiles are in the 04 area code, with the next two digits indicating (approximately) your carrier (I say approximately, as we've had MNP for years now, so although my prefix indicates I'm with Telstra, I've actually been with Vodafone for over a year)

Re: It’s Called A “Mobile” Phone

Tim — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 19:05:09 -0000

Also, I'm with Dennis. If the French do it, I'm against it.

Re: It’s Called A “Mobile” Phone

Tim — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 19:04:03 -0000

Bah. I'm going with the ideology behind one of Jason's recent blog posts. A quote:

"I don't necessarily think it'd be a great idea to expose all the 'guts' of these things, but I think the mechanics of how something is achieved can be aesthetically appealing."

I think the term "cell" somewhat exposes the mechanics behind how the device works.

Maybe I'm stretching a bit, but I still think the term "cell" is cooler (despite the fact that supermodels don't think so). I've always called it a cell phone, and it trips me up to no end that the voice recognition software on my phone uses "mobile" and not "cell".

Just my $0.02

Re: It’s Called A “Mobile” Phone

Dennis — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 10:20:11 -0000

If the French do it, I'm against it.

Re: It’s Called A “Mobile” Phone

Daniel Miessler — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 09:36:12 -0000

I was waiting for you to show up, Jason. :)

I agree that "phone" would be good enough for most, but I think if we're going to call this thing by a single name it should probably be "mobile". Again, that's what the Europeans do.

"Hit me up on my mobile.", they say. Or maybe I made that up.

Re: It’s Called A “Mobile” Phone

Kapil Verma — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 08:26:40 -0000

Yes i agree with him..

Re: It’s Called A “Mobile” Phone

Carl M — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 20:33:51 -0000

Wait .. so we're not calling it a car phone any more?

Re: It’s Called A “Mobile” Phone

Jason Powell — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 18:26:02 -0000

Actually, I propose calling it a "phone." It's rare that anyone needs to know whether it's your home phone or mobile--I'm still considering dropping the pretense altogether along with my land-line.

Re: It’s Called A “Mobile” Phone

Jason Powell — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 18:18:53 -0000

When I hear "cell," I think small, as in "single cell organism." When I hear mobile, I think of trailer homes with a slightly more ambiguous title. When I hear europeans say "mobile," it sounds like "mo' bile," like the stuff that comes from your liver.

When I see that Google says supermodels like mobile better, I can hear me saying it, too. :D