nifty-o-matic

How do you go about choosing a cell phone?

I go about it by doing research. I’ll look at the phones online and find the ones that fit what I need from a phone, from size to bands to features. Then I’ll look around to see the cost - can I afford these?

And then we take the plunge and find a store that has these phones. There you can pick them up and look at them up close. Sure they are attached to this retractable little cable, so it feels like someone is always pulling the phone away. And the picture on the screen always looks great because it is simulated and a photograph! The buttons may or may not push and in short it is a non-working model! You don’t even know if the weight is correct!

So how, short of reading the manual, are you supposed to know if this phone will actually work in a way that you like and can use?

Internet to the rescue! This website, call TryPhone, will let you see how the phone works for real, by interacting with a model of a working phone. See how to dial it, input data, change the settings, etc.  Its pretty cool. It is a bea website and not all phones are available, but still, if you plan to order a phone online or even from the store, you’d like to know how the thing works and if you like it. Great site! I give it a thumbs up!

If you can’t get your hands on Apple’s iPhone, this is a great way to test drive it!