I'm starting to look for a new mobile phone to replace my excellent (but heavy and 5 year old) Nokia 3210. I've found that mobile phone shops don't have all the phones I'm interested in (i.e. can afford) and won't let me try out several working models side-by-side.I would like a slim, light phone with a simple, usable interface. I can get the feel of a phone from the 'dummy' phones they have in the phone shops, but for the interface, I would like a website with pictures of the phones on which the buttons and screens actually worked. You'd click around the phone's interface with your mouse (e.g. sending dummy text messages) and be able to tell, for example that your chosen phone has decent predictive texting but requires a completely unnecessary 6 key presses to end the message and choose a recipient, and also that the menu font is vile and unchangeable.-- hippo, May 14 2007 (?) My new mobile is lumbered with a bewildering array of unnecessary features aimed at idiots http://www.guardian.../0,,2026580,00.htmlby Charlie Brooker. Sums up mobile phones quite nicely. [calum, May 14 2007] (?) Nokia's free remote device access http://www.forum.no...okiardainstructionsLog onto a phone somewhere and interact with it [DenholmRicshaw, May 15 2007] (?) Linux Phone - OpenMoko http://linuxdevices...s/NS7056478804.htmlArticle about the upcoming Open Software cell phone powered by Linux with a user-customizable interface [marc1919, May 16 2007] Emulator https://www.youtube...watch?v=puvQ0P3QFIwdon't make tv like this these days, thank god [not_morrison_rm, Jul 14 2015] My partner is visually impaired and trying to find a phone she can use is really hard without an operating phone. An internet version of the phone OS and display would be so useful.-- oneoffdave, May 14 2007 Very good idea. I foresee IP issues with the replication of interfaces, though, unless the manufacturers can be persuaded to license them. Which Samsung for one surely won't want to do, given that their interfaces are consistently dogsdinneresque.-- calum, May 14 2007 It's a good idea for the most part but the only problem is that the online version of the interface would have a shed load more processor power behind it. One of the main things that ticks me off about my phone is how slowly it takes to get from one screen to the next or think about the key you just pressed.-- theleopard, May 14 2007 There could be a dealy built into the online version to accurately mimic the phone version. It would have to fairly accurately reflect the reality of the phone or it may fall foul of UK advertising law if it was used by a retailer to promote their wares.-- oneoffdave, May 14 2007 If that'd work, and it was enforcable by advertising standards agencies, then you get a [+]-- theleopard, May 14 2007 You can download the firmware and file system firmware from most phones. From there you just have to emulate the hardware.
One thing I like about Sony Ericsson phones is menu continuity form phone to phone.-- Giblet, May 15 2007 There are numerous emulators out there. Not sure if they go as far as you'd like.-- theircompetitor, May 15 2007 So in 2007 we didn't have android?
My kids were talking last week about the time when I, their father, was a kid. They explained: In his time they didn't invent color pictures yet.-- pashute, Jul 13 2015 I don't think so - I think this idea comes from an era when the world was still ruled by Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola.-- hippo, Jul 14 2015 //There are numerous emulators out there.
I'm in favour of them, especially the Rod Hull version-- not_morrison_rm, Jul 14 2015 //An upgrade to Android can well upset an old phone//
Surely the whole point of software development is to ensure turnover in the hardware market? Modern electronics will often last for years, if not decades, so the only way to disable them is through software.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 14 2015 Likewise, my Nexus S phone - it doesn't accept Android updates beyond 4.1.2 but every update up until then seemed to slow the phone down a little...-- hippo, Jul 15 2015 random, halfbakery