Viewty updates

This entry was posted on December 9, 2007

After looking through my site’s stats, I’ve noticed a fair few people coming here after searching for various Viewty-related phrases. Hello, fellow Viewty users! Do not worry - I feel your pain.

The Viewty delete button

As many of you know, the Viewty has a touchscreen interface. This implies that all the buttons are on the screen, no? No! There are in fact three buttons on a Viewty : the green button, the red button, and the white button. The green button has a phone on it and is used mainly for answering calls. The red button also has a phone on it and means “no / cancel”, so you can use it for cancelling whatever you’re doing, and for hanging up phone calls. The white button has a “C” on it and is used for cancelling smaller things, such as mistakes in text messages.

You would not believe how long I was staring at my Viewty after I made a mistake in a text message. Surely I wouldn’t have to delete the whole thing and start over? Surely not! Yes, that’s what the “C” button does. No more fretting now, you can easily “undo” anything you’ve just done with this lifesaving button.

Typing numbers during a phone call

“Welcome to O2 voicemail. Please press 1 to hear your new messages.”

I can’t press 1! My phone has no buttons! Damn you O2 for needing me to be able to press buttons! Unfortunately the “C” button cannot come to the rescue in this situation, which I found out the first time I checked my voicemail. I thought I’d discovered a pretty serious design flaw right there. Surely my trusty Viewty wouldn’t let me down?

Nope. The Viewty’s too good for that. When you’re making a phone call, there are three small touchscreen buttons. Touch the middle one of these, and it’ll bring up a keypad for you, enabling you to “press 1″, “press 2″, and press all the other buttons you’ll need.

The LG Phone Software

At some point, you’ll want to plug your Viewty into your computer. The Viewty comes with software for such a purpose, which is (to be honest) a pile of poop. It’s the one downside to the Viewty. Not only does it come with a mini-sized disc which makes people too scared to put it in their Mac, the software isn’t useful for much. Sure, it looks like it’ll do the job - open it up and you’ll get funky things such as “backup” and “image editor”, but click any of these and your computer will soon start making a “bong” sound to let you know you’re trying to click the unclickable.

That leaves us with two options, each with their advantages and disadvantages.

  1. Bluetooth. If your computer is Bluetooth-enabled, you can connect your Viewty that way and transfer everything across. Unfortunately, my computer isn’t Bluetooth-enabled.
  2. Memory card. The Viewty takes a Micro-SD memory card, and I currently have one on order from Amazon. Once it arrives, I can put it in the Viewty (it goes underneath the battery for some bizarre reason), change the USB connectivity to “mass storage device”, and use my Viewty like a memory stick, transferring everything in “My Computer”.

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3000 years and we’re back where we started

This entry was posted on December 8, 2007

3000 years ago we (well, some of us) were all wearing robes and living in pyramids in the desert. Written communication was via the use of hieroglyphics. All was well (ish). The years went by and new languages started to form in different countries around the world.

Written language was via the use of words, using a feather and some ink. This turned into pencil and paper, which turned into pen and paper, which turned into typewriters, which turned into computers and so on and so forth. You get the idea.

These days much of our written language is transmitted electronically. Printers, email, fax, text message, and IM are all examples of this. With all this electronic communication and writing things down, we’re starting to lose emotion from our communication.

What happened to the times we could call people on the phone and laugh / cry with them? What happened to writing a heartfelt letter on pen and paper? Electronic communication is just so… cold.

But, we’re trying to put some emotion back in, using these little things we call emoticons, or “smilies”. Not all of them are smiling, and they’re very useful to portray how you feel.

:) = “I’m happy”

:( = “I’m sad”

:P = “I’m sticking my tongue out at you”

;) = “I’m winking”

:D = “I’m very happy”

But that just means we’re right back where we started! Here we are, the 21st century, almost at the end of 2007… using pictures to communicate with people.

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How Michael Buble could teach Gerard Way a thing or two

This entry was posted on December 7, 2007

In November I saw My Chemical Romance (MCR) at a show in London, and then on Tuesday I saw Michael Buble at a show, also in London (though at a different venue). I massively enjoyed both shows, but for two very different reasons. Michael Buble and MCR are about as different as you can get, but they do have the same goal: to entertain the audience to which they are performing.

MCR were two members (out of five) down when I saw them. The drummer was sick, and one of the guitarists had a family emergency. However, in true showman style, “the show must go on”, which it did. They belted through each of their songs with the same enthusiasm, barely stopping to take a breath. As Gerard Way (the lead singer and band frontman) described it, they played “fast and hard”, partly because they were two members down. Talking to the crowd was minimal, and the focus was all on performing the songs the best they could, given the circumstances.

The Michael Buble show was the last of his UK tour, and as he described it, “if you came to one of the earlier shows, you were ripped off. I wasn’t even trying. Tonight I’m gonna try really hard.” He belted the songs out in the inimitable style he has, and there was a much more relaxed feel to the show.

So what could Gerard Way learn from Michael Buble?

He could learn how to better interact with his audience. Michael jumped off stage and headed into the crowd, making time for hugs and kisses and pictures. However, there’s one very important reason why Gerard wouldn’t be able to do this : MCR crowds are crazy. If Gerard came into the crowd, there would be bloodshed.

However, just like there is more than one way to skin a cat, there is more than one way to work a crowd. Not only did Michael get up close and personal with his audience, he interacted with them a lot from his stage. He told jokes, and mocked himself (”oh that Michael’s such a good boy… no I’m not - I’m badass”), introduced each member of his 12-piece band and had banter with them, and much more.

That’s why, even though I’m a massive MCR fan, I preferred Michael’s live show. To me, a live show shouldn’t just be about the music. After all, I own the CD’s, I have them on my iPod, I’ve seen the music videos - I know the music! I go to live shows for a “complete experience”, and for me that involves more than just hearing / seeing the music played live. It’s about the complete package of the band, which involves banter as well as music.

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