Audiovox SMT 5600 / SPV C500 (HTC Typhoon)
Very specific usability questions
I want to buy this phone, but I need to ask some very, very specific usability/pet peeve questions before I do. Hopefully someone here will be nice enough to kindly answer them. If so, thanks in advance!!!
I currently have the SE T300, the Worst Phone Ever.
- Does the SMT 5600 have missed call/voice mail light, or can you always see an indicator on the screen? With the T300, I have to pick up the phone and hit a bunch of key-unlock buttons if I want to see if I missed a call.
- Does it lag? I can type in an entire phone number before the T300 even responds...
- After you dial a number, or after you key-press you way though some automated phone system menu, does the phone keep all of that junk on the screen after the call is...
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I currently have the SE T300, the Worst Phone Ever.
- Does the SMT 5600 have missed call/voice mail light, or can you always see an indicator on the screen? With the T300, I have to pick up the phone and hit a bunch of key-unlock buttons if I want to see if I missed a call.
- Does it lag? I can type in an entire phone number before the T300 even responds...
- After you dial a number, or after you key-press you way though some automated phone system menu, does the phone keep all of that junk on the screen after the call is...
(continues)
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Hi,
Being a usability engineer by trade, I'm sensitive to the "little" things as well. To answer your questions:
1. There are persistant icons in the top-line bar on the screen, but no separate LED or repeating audio alert to indicate as such. I've gotten in the habit of tapping the power button to "wake up" the phone and then I just look at the top-left corner of the screen for the missed call, voice mail, or e-mail icons.
2. No perceptible lag under normal operations. Like all windows devices, the more apps you run, the slower everything gets. You don't ever "quit" applications, so they're always running in the background once you start them. There is a utility in the phone whereby you can quit them manually, however. So i...
(continues)
Being a usability engineer by trade, I'm sensitive to the "little" things as well. To answer your questions:
1. There are persistant icons in the top-line bar on the screen, but no separate LED or repeating audio alert to indicate as such. I've gotten in the habit of tapping the power button to "wake up" the phone and then I just look at the top-left corner of the screen for the missed call, voice mail, or e-mail icons.
2. No perceptible lag under normal operations. Like all windows devices, the more apps you run, the slower everything gets. You don't ever "quit" applications, so they're always running in the background once you start them. There is a utility in the phone whereby you can quit them manually, however. So i...
(continues)
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Thanks for answering my questions, and I'm glad you appreciate the little things!
I've gotten in the habit of tapping the power button to "wake up" the phone and then I just look at the top-left corner of the screen for the missed call, voice mail, or e-mail icons.
Grrr that's my #1 pet peeve! For example, just now I walked away from my desk for a couple of minutes and left my phone behind. I'm looking at it now, as I type, and thinking to myself "I wonder if I got a call?" I'll have to pick up the phone and hit a key sequence to find out, as even the Power button just tells me that the key-lock is on. Major, major bummer.
I've gotten in the habit of tapping the power button to "wake up" the phone and then I just look at the top-left corner of the screen for the missed call, voice mail, or e-mail icons.
Grrr that's my #1 pet peeve! For example, just now I walked away from my desk for a couple of minutes and left my phone behind. I'm looking at it now, as I type, and thinking to myself "I wonder if I got a call?" I'll have to pick up the phone and hit a key sequence to find out, as even the Power button just tells me that the key-lock is on. Major, major bummer.
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I feel your pain and would also prefer that the LED signify a warning condition and not just phone power and Bluetooth power.
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Tha is not totally true...I have Homescreen designer..which you can get for a free trial..it has a missed calls plug in that will display a different screen all together..so when I miss a call I know about it and how many I missed..then just select the display button and it shows the numbers called. So you don't have to worry about hitting abutton to SEE if you missed a call mine displays a Missed Calls screen. Hope that helps
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I think you misunderstood the question, Dale13. The screen on the SMT5600 will go dark (i.e. the backlight turns off to save power) after a set amount of time (you can change how long), and there is no external way to tell if you've missed a call without "waking up" the phone by pressing a button.
What I think all of us would want is for the blinking green light (or blue, if you have bluetooth on) to change to a blinking red light or something, to let us know that we should wake up the phone to see what's going on.
What I think all of us would want is for the blinking green light (or blue, if you have bluetooth on) to change to a blinking red light or something, to let us know that we should wake up the phone to see what's going on.
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Hmm, perhaps my settings are different but even if the keypad is locked, the screen is dimmed, but not black. With the 'AWS Home Screen" setting, I can easily see how many calls I have missed, if I have any vocemails,emails or SMS. All this is accomplished by just looking at teh screen, without unlocking it.
BTW, unlocking it is a=only a two button process. 😎
BTW, unlocking it is a=only a two button process. 😎
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