We've had a few new people start in the office. All of them seem to have the same ringtone on their shiny, white mobile phones.

I see an application for an app that allows each phone to interrogate others in the vicinity and "decide" upon a unique ringtone for each phone, as the owners are apparently too lazy to do this for themselves.

Alternately, maybe a simple voice synthesiser, telling "Joe Bloggs, your phone is ringing", would suffice?
-- UnaBubba, Jan 16 2013

Dead Ringer Your_20Ringer_20Is_...20For_20My_20Ringer
[theircompetitor, Jan 17 2013]

Ubuntu for Phones http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/phone
Not quite out yet - but promises an interesting alternative. [zen_tom, Jan 17 2013]

Halfbakery: Ringsmoke Ringsmoke
An alternative way of figuring out whether it's your phone that's ringing. [zen_tom, Jan 17 2013]

Just had three people standing outside my office, all patting their pockets, because two of their 'phones were ringing with the same tone, simultaneously.
-- UnaBubba, Jan 17 2013


I think you're right, [21Q]. I have a Samsung Galaxy SII. Three of us had the same ringtone for about three hours, before we all changed them to something we'd each recognise as our own. On the other hand, the iPhone users here all seem to be stuck with the same ringtone and can't or won't change.
-- UnaBubba, Jan 17 2013


That seems to be true of a lot of Apple products. I'm thoroughly biased against them, I must admit. Poor battery life, one-size-fits-all, clunky form factor...
-- UnaBubba, Jan 17 2013


Not to join in with one of those "my phone's better than your phone" things - but I recently cobbled together a bunch of tones and successfully installed them on my iPhone - so I don't know where the whole "non customisable thing comes from" - I might put up some instructions if anyone's interested.

What I do notice though is that Apple have managed to successfully obfuscate/control (and thereby monetize) much of that problem domain in the name of "delivering a consistent user experience". In doing so, they have created an entirely new market - a market coincidentally that all the other players are rapidly piling into. i.e. everyone's got an app-store these days - like it or not, it's profitable.

One recent development that I do rather like the sound of is the recent announcement of the Ubuntu phone OS - hopefully they'll continue to espouse the whole Open Source philosophy in that area, but presumably they'll be tempted to turn a profit as well. We'll have to see how it develops.
-- zen_tom, Jan 17 2013


On the specifics of the idea - you'd need some protocol to decide, in cases of a found conflict, which phone gets to keep its original tone, and which one is to change. This could rapidly get tricky as more and more phones are come into contact with during the day (e.g. on the train, bus or whatever) - resulting in an end state when nobody is quite sure what their ringtone sounds like anymore and reaching for their pockets whenever an unfamiliar sound is heard - there is an alternative though ... [link]
-- zen_tom, Jan 17 2013


I just got my first smart phone and I don't know how to get my ringtone changed. Maybe that's the issue with some of your peers. Just dumb, like me. hehehe
-- blissmiss, Jan 17 2013


"Different ringtones for different callers" has been about for a long time. It makes the whole thing more complex if you can't remember all of them, but it is fun, for a short while, to set it to play the National Anthem of the caller, or the music to The Godfather for Italians etc.

If the phone selects its own ring tone, then how would you know which one it selected?

I think a more devious system would be to get the wrong phone to ring...he he.
-- Ling, Jan 17 2013


random Apple rant moment: why is it that in the name of style, my Ipod touch's charge cord is designed to be nearly impossible to remove?
-- RayfordSteele, Jan 17 2013


Android
-- blissmiss, Jan 18 2013


Haemorrhoid
-- UnaBubba, Jan 18 2013


I was thinking about different ringtones for different callers. Ling here says it has been around for a long time so I am sure that must be. Now that all are connected, could my ringtone be associated with my number? For example on acquiring me as a contact, the phone owner would be prompted "Bungston suggests 'Thus Spake Zarthustra' as his ringtone. Download?"

In the world to come, perhaps people acquiring me as a contact would see my identity in the Apple Store along with my suggested ringtone, as well as ringtones that others have chosen for me - "Theme from Shaft", "A Mighty Fortress" etc. One could choose among my theme songs.
-- bungston, Jun 22 2013


I am thinking how great it would be to edit someone's prized ringtone and then submit that as an option. For example, Zarthustra - but liberally larded with kazoo and quacking rubber ducks. Bwaaaa!
-- bungston, Jun 22 2013



random, halfbakery