Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Sunday, 17 February 2008 07:31
Opinion and Analysis
Page 3 of 4
A previous Windows Mobile smartphone this friend owned did all she wanted it to do – stored her contacts and appointments, her notes and other digital information.
But whenever she made a phone call, there was a problem. Because the screen was a touch screen, part of her ear would inevitably seem to touch different buttons on the phone’s screen, putting people on hold, cutting off the call, calling other people. It was – and is – an infuriating situation for her, so much so that she had to go to a Windows Mobile phone that didn’t have a touch screen.
Now I’ve used a number of Windows Mobile phones over the years, and don’t ever remember having this problem. But it is a problem for some people – even Apple, on the iPhone, put in a sensor to send the screen blank and turn off the touch screen when the phone is placed next to your ear, to specifically prevent this from being a problem for iPhone users.
Now yes, some of you are thinking that she should use a different brand of phone, Symbian, iPhone, Nokia, whatever. Something else.
But in this case, it’s a business phone, it needs to be synched to her company’s Exchange server for email, and she just likes the Windows Mobile interface, especially for contacts and appointments.
So I suggested she try the HTC Touch Dual 850, and try it out in store with a few test calls to see if she would experience the same problems - or not - and you already know what happened next. Se lives on her phone for business calls, and knowing if this latest model would cause her to suffer the same problems was vital!
As I said, I suppose I can understand them not wanting to end up with a phone they can’t sell at full price, but it just seems ridiculous to me, in the 21st century, that companies can’t organise themselves to put the customer first, to let them try before they buy, and to treat the customer like gold, instead of scum that they wish would go away, after having handed over the money first, of course.
Perhaps instead of Telstra sending out demo phone stock, they could simply allow each store to open up one of the phones they already have in their store, and use it as a demonstrator?
If I want to be able to test a phone out before I buy it, I damn well expect to be able to do so. If this is not the way things are done in phone stores in Australia, then listen up phone retailers: you had better change your ways, or weep when everyone buys iPhones and sends you all out of business.
But guess what? My friend went into another retail store to test out an iPod Touch – and received the same kind of run around! Have Australian retailers gone completely mad? Please read onto page 4.
