[LINK] News: 'New mobile phones will double as credit cards'

[David Boxall]

Howard Lowndes wrote:
>
>
> Rick Welykochy wrote:
>> ...
>> It won't be fantastic for the environment. What is the average lifetime
>> of a mobile phone right now? How often do people replace them? My guess
>> is far too often as it is.
>
> Then I must be bucking the trend.  I've owned 3 mobiles.  The first 
> was a Voxson 888 bought in '94 - built like a brick and about the same 
> weight and 12 hour battery life.  That was replaced in '98 with a 
> Nokia with about 36 hour battery life and that went out in '01 for 
> another Nokia without the stick out aerial; as the phone resides in my 
> trouser pocket a stick out aerial is a PITA - literally.  The current 
> phone had a battery replacement about 3 years ago for a $35 Li-Ion 
> which is half the weight and gives about 4 days life than the NiMH it 
> replaced.  I was tempted to go and buy a "gadget" but I think I will 
> stick with just having a "phone".
>
I've only owned one; bought more than four years ago on a two-year 
contract.  It came with a warning that the phone wasn't guaranteed to 
last as long as the contract.

It's on Telstra's CDMA network, so I'll have to replace it by next 
February.  I wonder how many serviceable phones will be made obsolete by 
the closing of that network.

-- 
David Boxall                    |  Any given program,
                                 |  when running correctly,
                                 |  is obsolete.
                                 |       --Arthur C. Clarke