My cell phone is poorly designed in that it takes 13 button pushes to change it from loud to silent. As a student, I switch it back and forth between each class. It would rock if I could just program in my class times, and have it turn the ring on and off by itself at the right times. It could maybe do a little vibrate to remind you it's turning the ring off.-- flyfast, Jan 14 2005 This is baked by TreoGuard http://www.geakware...reoguard/index.htmlTurning wireless mode on and off automatically according to schedule on a Treo smartphone. Scroll down to "Let TreoGuard remember..." [robinism, Jan 18 2005] Nice. I can't believe this hasn't been thought of already, but I've never seen it. Sure fire bun.-- wagster, Jan 14 2005 On one of the older nokias, you could put it on vibrate temporarily, I think by pressing the power button. It gave you a menu with the amount of time before it returned to your previous setting. It's not as good, but you might be able to pick one up on ebay.-- tiromancer, Jan 14 2005 You can do this with a Treo smartphone (using treoguard, treoOffOn, TreoHelper, or TreoTools) (see link)-- robinism, Jan 14 2005 Now I am confused...Doe'sn't this fall under "WIBN"?-- Susan, Jan 16 2005 Why is it a WIBNI? A WIBNI is a proposal for something that someone would like to have happen, but with no particular means by which anybody could achieve it.
What is proposed here is a feature which cellphone firmware authors could incorporate into their products with no particular difficulty, and which would be quite useful.-- supercat, Jan 16 2005 <Supercat> I thought the Idea poster had to provide or at least give a hint as to the means to achieve it.-- Susan, Jan 17 2005 "Program in my class times, and have it turn on and off by itself at the right times". Seems pretty clear how the phone should work. Given that many phones already have scheduling functions, it should be a fairly simple matter to make changing the ring style be a scheduled event. It's not as though the idea was for the phone to magically know when the prof was giving an interesting lecture (so it should remain silent) and when the prof was rambling (i.e. 'rescue me please!')-- supercat, Jan 17 2005 // I thought the Idea poster had to provide or at least give a hint as to the means to achieve it. //
If that were the case, where would the line be drawn? We'd have to rigorously explain every detail and concept, and it would become a chore. If I proposed that a toaster be invented, which featured a timer to separate the release of individual slices of toast, I wouldn’t have to explain the electronics because we all know that timers exist in all sorts of electronic gizmos.
WIBNI's are reserved for things such as floating skateboards, time machines and classic Beach Boys songs.-- spiritualized, Jan 17 2005 Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older Then we wouldn’t have to wait so long And wouldn’t it be nice to live together In the kind of world where we belong
Beach Boys-- normzone, Jan 17 2005 // I can't believe this hasn't been thought of already, //
You can be certain that if anyone says this at the halfbakery, it has been thought of already.
My Nokia phone does this using timed profile settings. I set the profile the way I want (or just use the stock profiles like 'silent' or 'meeting') and set the time I want them to turn on and off. Mine is a fairly standard model - I would presume it's a feature on most Nokias.-- waugsqueke, Jan 17 2005 Ok, point taken. I substituted the words "it would rock" for WIBNI and I recently came across a remark by Jutta which had the words "...without giving a means to acchieve it" in it. Since my knowledge of cellphones is limited I didn't know if it would be difficult to make it programmable in such a way that this idea was doable.-- Susan, Jan 18 2005 The Nokia "Timed Profiles" do not duplicate this invention. The timed profiles expire within 24 hours. This invention would allow for perpetual silencing at night.-- robinism, Jan 18 2005 Sorry to spoil the party, but this was baked on my Sony Ericsson T610... you could set times up and as far as I know, they don't expire until you change them.
I say "as far as I know" because I never used the feature - being as it only took 1 key press to turn it to silent anyway...-- kmlabs, Jan 18 2005 Which part? The timed profiles or the single key press to go to silent mode?
Press and hold the C button to activate/deactivate silent mode. Timed profiles I'll have to get back to you on, I don't have that phone any more, I'll have to check my wife's tonite.-- kmlabs, Jan 18 2005 This is baked; for four days I've been saying this is baked...what is the secret to saying something is baked?-- robinism, Jan 18 2005 [robinism] you can't prove it's baked until you go out an buy one for everyone that annoed. ...except [Susan]-- she needs a copy of Pet Sounds.-- brodie, Jan 18 2005 It is interesting that someone linked to a program to do this on the Treo. I have a Treo, and it is one of the few phones that I think did the "ringer off" function correctly. It uses a slide switch on the top of the phone, you don't even have to turn the phone on or look at a menu.
Usability issues in common devices like phones is a big pet peeve of mine. Most phones have absolutely hideous user interfaces, in my experience.-- krelnik, Jan 18 2005 My last phone (a hideous Motorola A835) made the most ridiculous noises when turning on and off. Worse still, it was impossible to turn it to silent without making a noise, which left you in a bit of a catch-22 when in a cinema/theatre/conference if you had left it on. And it didn't have an alarm clock. Hrumpf.-- wagster, Jan 18 2005 [robinism], that something is "baked" doesn't necessarily mean that the idea poster knew that at the time of posting. In the case where someone posts an invention idea that is already *widely known to exist,* then the idea can be (marked–for–deletion). Whether the MFD is honored and the idea removed is up to moderator discretion and whether or not a moderator agrees that the idea is widely-known-to-exist.
In this case, there are are two things that keep me from thinking this idea should be marked or removed: 1. The idea is for a programmable timetable that allows the ringer to be turned from audible to silent whereas the Treo function is to turn off the phone's ability to receive altogether. 2. The Treo function, even if it was the same as this idea, is fairly obscure and, even then, is provided only by a third-party application.
I think that a phone that listened to the ambient environment and selected an appropriate ring level and tone would be an idea worth exploring. It wouldn't always be perfect, though. Maybe it could compute on a rolling average sound level collected over 20-30 seconds.-- bristolz, Jan 18 2005 Well put, but I like [brodie]'s explanation better.-- tiromancer, Jan 18 2005 [Bristolz] Thanks for explaining.
//you go out an buy one for everyone //
No problem, I'll start counting my pennies.-- robinism, Jan 18 2005 //Worse still, it was impossible to turn it to silent without making a noise, which left you in a bit of a catch-22 when in a cinema/theatre/conference if you had left it on.//
On my Motorola, I usually found that popping out the battery briefly would solve that problem. I was more peeved by the fact that the unit would always bleep when the battery was low and there was no way to shut that off (the phone would bleep even in 'silent' mode).
That having been said, there were three things I liked about my Motorola which I miss on my current phone:
-1- The ability to program any ringtone I want directly.
-2- The setting to beep periodically when there are missed calls or messages. Without that, I find that if I miss a call I'm apt not to realize it for quite some time.
-3- The setting to vibrate on an incoming call, and ring if not answered.
On the other hand, I probably won't miss the fact that the datebook function generates completely random alarms.-- supercat, Jan 18 2005 [Ian T] I stand corrected - please accept my apologies, I can't find that function on my wife's T610... I definitely had it on one of my phones though - and it wasn't a Nokia, I avoid them. It was either a Sony T5, Sony-Ericsson T68i or the Samsung flip phone with the rotating camera (can't remember the model). Oh well...-- kmlabs, Jan 19 2005 This feature was def on the old Sony Ericsson T610 and is still on the newer phones by S/E, well the V800 anyway-- gorjabuble, Jan 29 2006 random, halfbakery