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The first minute of every phone call is torture now

theatlantic.com

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Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#61

Post by danielbln »

2000UltraDeluxe wrote: post #49
pavlov wrote: post #22

Phone calls should have a subject line, just like emails. It’s crazy that anyone can force a full-screen interrupt on my personal device with no context. If call metadata included a subject line, software could automatically screen out calls where the subject is empty or spammy, just like with email. It would be very helpful for missed calls. “Why did my wife call twice in the last 5 minutes, did something happen, sh…

> It’s crazy that anyone can force a full-screen interrupt on my personal device with no context. It's a _phone_. Phone calls are it's primary function. If you don't want that, wouldn't a pad be a better option than a phone? Besides, how would you handle calls from landlines and such?

Is there a 5-6 inch pad available? If not, then that's not an alternative, can't shove a 10 inch tablet into my pocket. And while it's called a phone, the primary function for many (dare I say most?) is definitely not doing voice calls, hell my phone app icon isn't even on the homescreen anymore, that's how little I use this device for phone calls and I use it for hours every day otherwise.

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#62

Post by noobermin »

Godel_unicode wrote: post #50
baxtr wrote: post #31

This is about local connection problems, audio device with your phone: >Hello? … Wait, hello? Can you hear me? Okay, hold on. Ugh. Okay, okay, just a second. I have to get my earphones to connect. Damn it. Okay, never mind, I’ll just hold it up to my head. Hi, ugh, sorry about that. I can confirm this. However, there is another class of problems, too, which aren't mentioned. Network problems. It is the year 2022 and…

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if this is happening to you it’s your fault. You must either live in a coal mine or use terrible tech for your calls. I have voip calls all the time and they’re all what you’re asking for. It just takes a tiny amount of forethought when deciding on what tech to use.

Can you force my boss to pay for zoom phone so we can use voip via zoom? Ah no it must be my fault then.

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#63

Post by kergonath »

Markoff wrote: post #42
pavlov wrote: post #22

Phone calls should have a subject line, just like emails. It’s crazy that anyone can force a full-screen interrupt on my personal device with no context. If call metadata included a subject line, software could automatically screen out calls where the subject is empty or spammy, just like with email. It would be very helpful for missed calls. “Why did my wife call twice in the last 5 minutes, did something happen, sh…

> Phone calls should have a subject line, just like emails. Yeah, I think it's called IM. > It’s crazy that anyone can force a full-screen interrupt on my personal device with no context. That's called DND, my phone is 100% time in DND mode. There are already filters for spam calls based on phone number. > It would be very helpful for missed calls. “Why did my wife call twice in the last 5 minutes, did something happ…

> Maybe tell wife to write you IM/SMS or just communicate through IM as priority, if you desire text communication?

Not the parent, but Dog knows I have been trying. Some people just don’t understand how disruptive an unnecessary phone call is.

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#64

Post by thaumasiotes »

> Often it’s the wireless earbuds, which won’t reconnect or are connected to the wrong device.

Wireless headsets seem to have intentionally crippled functionality in many areas for no particular reason[1]. The point of being wireless is that you aren't connected to a device. Why do they need a logical connection? If you're listening to two devices, just accept the packets from both devices, and play them over the audio output.

[1] See also: if you turn on the microphone, you can no longer have audio output in stereo. It switches to mono, because... because.

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#65

Post by saurik »

2000UltraDeluxe wrote: post #49
pavlov wrote: post #22

Phone calls should have a subject line, just like emails. It’s crazy that anyone can force a full-screen interrupt on my personal device with no context. If call metadata included a subject line, software could automatically screen out calls where the subject is empty or spammy, just like with email. It would be very helpful for missed calls. “Why did my wife call twice in the last 5 minutes, did something happen, sh…

> It’s crazy that anyone can force a full-screen interrupt on my personal device with no context. It's a _phone_. Phone calls are it's primary function. If you don't want that, wouldn't a pad be a better option than a phone? Besides, how would you handle calls from landlines and such?

> If you don't want that, wouldn't a pad be a better option than a phone?

1) Do they make devices that aren't phones that are the size of a note"pad"? The smallest non-phone tablet devices are now (with the death of iPod touch) the size of (at best) a small note"book", not a sensibly-sized-for-portable-usage note"pad".

2) That doesn't even solve the problem as tons of Internet-connected messaging software now supports calls, so I feel like you are missing the point in some sense: the person you are responding to is seriously talking about WhatsApp!

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#66

Post by m4lvin »

codalan wrote: post #40

The stock Android dialer is a complete UX hellscape. Every other time I need to dial a number, I will be randomly interrupted by some dialogue to enable a feature or to learn about X, when I'm urgently trying to make a call. It's so f-ing rude and intrusive. And it's designed to trick you into enabling shit without giving you time to think it over. It's such a scummy thing to do, but hey, it's Google. Imagine having…

That must be the Google Dialer app. The one in LineageOS which I guess comes from AOSP is perfectly fine and never bothers me about anything. Come to the dark side! ;-)

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#67

Post by tluyben2 »

Godel_unicode wrote: post #50
baxtr wrote: post #31

This is about local connection problems, audio device with your phone: >Hello? … Wait, hello? Can you hear me? Okay, hold on. Ugh. Okay, okay, just a second. I have to get my earphones to connect. Damn it. Okay, never mind, I’ll just hold it up to my head. Hi, ugh, sorry about that. I can confirm this. However, there is another class of problems, too, which aren't mentioned. Network problems. It is the year 2022 and…

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if this is happening to you it’s your fault. You must either live in a coal mine or use terrible tech for your calls. I have voip calls all the time and they’re all what you’re asking for. It just takes a tiny amount of forethought when deciding on what tech to use.

You mean it’s all fine when you sit in your office using fiber and expensive VoIP gear? But how about when you are on the move? The ‘coal mine’ starts 2 meters outside the center of London and that’s not only for data.

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#68

Post by iwangulenko »

Tech recruiter here from Switzerland, and our mobile coverage is probably one of the best in the world.

One of the things I hate most is that I often can't hear people.

Selling people jobs on the phone is stressful enough, but extremely annoying if I don't get feedback whether the person even heard what I said.

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#69

Post by Godel_unicode »

tluyben2 wrote: post #67
Godel_unicode wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if this is happening to you it’s your fault. You must either live in a coal mine or use terrible tech for your calls. I have voip calls all the time and they’re all what you’re asking for. It just takes a tiny amount of forethought when deciding on what tech to use.

You mean it’s all fine when you sit in your office using fiber and expensive VoIP gear? But how about when you are on the move? The ‘coal mine’ starts 2 meters outside the center of London and that’s not only for data.

> But how about when you are on the move?

Yep, then too. The stats are extremely clear about this, don’t use cheap carriers and don’t use cheap Bluetooth. Southern England has excellent cell coverage.

Re: The first minute of every phone call is torture now

#70

Post by kergonath »

allanrbo wrote: post #8

Maybe we need to unbundle the phone again. Maybe "a widescreen iPod with touch controls; a revolutionary mobile phone; and a breakthrough Internet communications device" isn't what we need in a single device after all...

It is definitely what I need, and I don’t think I am alone. Phone calls are such a minor functionality of these devices. If we do that, that will be the death of the phone as quite a lot of people won’t bother carrying a second device, or give up on their pocket computer.
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