UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion

My handwriting is very legible. It has to be.

Drives me nuts how wonderfully Dave writes at school yet when he leaves me a note I usually have to ring him to find out what it says.

My hand writing became illegible even to me at Uni, I tend to merge letters together so when I went back to read my notes I'd have to borrow my flat mates to work out what I had written. I've gotten used to my 'shortcuts' so now I can read it better but it's probably impossible for anyone else.

I never use text speak though. I would have before when I was paying per text and only had 90 characters but I tended to write it out in full and then go back and remove letters where possible to keep it to 1 message. My cousin started using it for a while when she was younger and I had to tell her to stop when texting me because I didn't know what she was saying.

I always knew what BYOB meant though :o)

Will wrote: "I was going to suggest we bought Jim something more modern at Crimbo. But any phone built in the last b5 years has probably broken irretrievably."

waste of time. If there's no reception what's the point in the phone?
And if I'm working or slouching about enjoying myself, why do I want people phoning me?
Mind you one mate of mine who is unconvinced by the whole constant connectivity thing has been quite taken by the idea of a smart phone to read books on. Smaller than a kindle and easier to carry.
He's researching to see if you can have the phone on to read with, but still have it off so it cannot take calls when he's reading.

Patti (Baku Bound) wrote: "Dave finally bought his very first phone over the holiday. He's always used crap handmedowns from a mate.

I think it was about £15. A Samsung that is very basic. Of course it uses a different char..."

my last phone cost me about £25 which included £20 of credit. It's pay as you go and two years ago I put my usual £20 a year on, only to discover I'd got £32 credit. I finally had to put some more credit on it Saturday just gone.

Patti (Baku Bound) wrote: "I thought all chargers are supposed to be interchangeable now? .."

There's an EU mandate that says all smartphones should use the micro USB standard for charging, to reduce the number of plugs and wires that are wasting plastic and littering landfill sites. This doesn't apply to more basic "feature" phones though, so Nokia and Samsung sub £30 ones will have simple plugs.

Most handsets manufacturers abide by this law for their Smartphones (HTC, Nokia, Sony, Samsung), but the likes of Apple prefer to use their proprietary hardware instead and to hell with the extra cables now cluttering our homes. They get around the EU law by offering an adaptor, usually at extra cost (the one for my iPhone 5 was £30!)

He can Jim if he gets a phone with 'flight mode' on it (iPhones have it), it turns off all the connectivity stuff so it's basically a wee tablet.

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "He can Jim if he gets a phone with 'flight mode' on it (iPhones have it), it turns off all the connectivity stuff so it's basically a wee tablet."

I'll mention that to him. Can he just link his phone to his desk top by a cable of some sort and download books and pdfs off his computer?

I dunnno I've never done that but if his phone has wifi capability he can log on and download them from the likes of amazon if he has the kindle app. (Or purchase the books on the website and download them to the phone later which is what I do)

With most phones if you plug it into your PC it will show up like a USB stick. So you can drag and drop things from your PC on to the phone.

Bill wrote: "With most phones if you plug it into your PC it will show up like a USB stick. So you can drag and drop things from your PC on to the phone."

I think this is the one he'd prefer. It'll save him having to actually have any money on his phone :-)

Patti (Baku Bound) wrote: "I don't get why they're called a candy bar phone? Never heard the term before."

Cos they're roughly the size & shape of a candy bar. As opposed to a flip phone, which flips open, or a slider phone, where a keyboard slides out, or a smartphone, or a brick (those really old ones that were like carrying a brick)...

I have a half brick at the back of the draw, and the current candy bar. Both were hand-me-downs from family members

how can anyone try and legislate for language? It's a constantly evolving thing. Political correctness was a political act to try and regulate it for political purposes. The claim of upholding educational standards - who is to say definitively what those standards are? Again it would be a political act based on dogma- politics must never be allowed control over the organic beast that is our language

My dad still has his Nokia Cityman from the mid 80s. It weighs more than a brick, and like most Nokias was built to last and still switches on (although he can't make calls on it).

But his wifi would be free on his home internet (if he has it)

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "But his wifi would be free on his home internet (if he has it)"

I think he's like me,he has a desk top and it's wired into the router because that way you've got a better connection

Fair enough :o)

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "Fair enough :o)"

The advantage of wiring your computer to the router is that it cannot follow you around and bother you when you're busy :-)

What really bugs me (you can tell I've had to deal with it) is when people use text speak and no capitals in emails
Especially the no capitals
It's sloppy, it's just wrong.

that really annoys me also its like when they forget to use punctuation and just write out one long sentence that seems to drone on and on with no end in sight as if they begin to reach the end but then think of something else to say so just slap it on the end whats wrong with using a comma or a good old fashioned semicolon now and again it really bugs me just like that graffiti i see on my way to work every day that says your gay rather than youre gay i mean what do they mean are they referring to a gay that belongs to me and if so thats rather derogatory isnt it it makes me so mad or maybe they are inferring that i am homosexual which im not but im flattered that theyre asking but i think that an ad in the paper for such a thing would be more appropriate than a sign on a roundabout wouldnt it

Andy wrote: "that really annoys me also its like when they forget to use punctuation and just write out one long sentence that seems to drone on and on with no end in sight as if they begin to reach the end but..."

LMFAO

Utter charmer on her telephomatrix in the queue for coffee at the station in front of me this morning. Not only did she use the word "hashtag" in conversation, but also asked the barista if she could "get a latte". Presuming that she didn't actually want to serve herself, I found that particularly choice of phrase rather grating.

So did the barista, who either took umbrage with my above grievances as well, or with the fact that she didn't cease her conversation when ordering, to the point that he rather loudly proclaimed that he'd shove the steamer upside her head (alas, she didn't hear).

Andy wrote: "that really annoys me also its like when they forget to use punctuation and just write out one long sentence that seems to drone on and on with no end in sight as if they begin to reach the end but..."

well that's post-modernism for you

I hate people who don't halt their phone conversations to pay a cashier or some such. We used to ignore people who did that in the shop I worked in. Or over charge and see if they noticed:)

I received an email about a meeting about "blue sky thinking" the other day. I had to stop myself asking if that meant "do you mean, above your head and largely empty?"

Alexandra wrote: "I received an email about a meeting about "blue sky thinking" the other day. I had to stop myself asking if that meant "do you mean, above your head and largely empty?"."

That is a particular abhorrent phrase that always leads to the most narrow minded thought processes imaginable. A few years back I received a drumming down from a colleague for using the phrase "brainstorm", as it's offensive to people with tornado minds or something.

I hate all that sort of thing.:)

Alexandra wrote: "I hate people who don't halt their phone conversations to pay a cashier or some such. We used to ignore people who did that in the shop I worked in. Or over charge and see if they noticed:)

I rece..."

Remember the woman that got refused at the checkout in Sainsbury's because she wouldn't get off the phone? Cowardly company apologised. Morons.

Your making me rack my brains to think have I ever gone to a check out on the phone. If it's my mum I always just tell her I'm paying and need to go but it's not always easy to do that, if someone is having a rant or upset it could be difficult to pause the conversation or to hang up but I think/hope I at least apologise to the cashier for it.

I'm all paranoid now.

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "Your making me rack my brains to think have I ever gone to a check out on the phone. If it's my mum I always just tell her I'm paying and need to go but it's not always easy to do that, if someone..."

I sometimes continue chatting when I'm using the self-checkout, which is the only reason I can think of for the wretched machines being so darned awkward (a cucumber is not an unexpected item in the bagging area; were Pickering Phipps or similar 19th Century politician to suddenly appear in there then indeed that would be unexpected, but not an item of green grocery).

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "Your making me rack my brains to think have I ever gone to a check out on the phone. If it's my mum I always just tell her I'm paying and need to go but it's not always easy to do that, if someone..."

I try not to have conversations in places I might have to pay, but as you say, sometimes it is unavoidable.

Erm. I disagree.

A 'sorry, I'll call back' always works.

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "Your making me rack my brains to think have I ever gone to a check out on the phone. If it's my mum I always just tell her I'm paying and need to go but it's not always easy to do that, if someone..."

So step out of the queue and go stand in the corner *out of the way* until you've finished.

At least apologise to the cashier.:)

If I did it I would definitely apologise to the cashier.

Patti (peaches n cream) wrote: "Erm. I disagree.

A 'sorry, I'll call back' always works."

Patti (peaches n cream) wrote: "Erm. I disagree.

A 'sorry, I'll call back' always works."

You've never had a conversation with my mum when she's having a rant! The only way would be to put the phone down on her. I would always apologize though

:)