The f*cking cold is back again, damnit. This bipolar weather shit is getting pretty annoying. Good thing I don’t have to go out today, but it’s not gonna get any better for the rest of the week, so I’ll have to leave the house tomorrow. It’s currently about four below and it’s supposed to get colder before it gets warmer today. If you can consider a high of seven “warmer,” that is. Oh well, at least I’m not in Big Form Minnesota, where according to The Weather Channel, it’s -29° at the moment. Now that’s cold.
So I need a little help from you Apple fanboys and fangirls out there. I don’t really get a whole lot of phone calls on my work iPhone, but I do get three kinds in general. First, in order to log into my work VPN, I have to go to a web page and authenticate. If I do that successfully, an automated system calls the phone I have on record and then tells me to push a certain key. The second kind of call I get is that when somebody calls my desk at work and leaves voicemail, the system calls my cell phone every 15 minutes and gives me the opportunity to push the pound sign and enter my password to pick up the message. The alternative to that is calling the office (not cell phone) voicemail system (the number for which I can never remember) and then jumping through a bunch of hoops to get to my mailbox and enter all my secret codes. The third (and least frequent) type of call I get (not calling Ann from Credit Card Services, of course) is somebody from work who wants to talk to me (frankly, I prefer Ann).
That all seems simple enough, and with a “regular” phone, it would be. But with the freakin’ iPhone, I have to swipe to answer (so far so good, though it’s a tad on the slow side) and then it goes to a screen where I have to touch the “keypad” icon, and then the keypad screen comes up after a bit of a hesitation. And all the while I can hear the automated voice droning on about what key to touch or whatever. In the case of the VPN authentication, I know what’s coming and I know what key it is and it gives me a few seconds to hit it before it hangs up on me.
In the case of the voicemail system, the generic main number for where I work displays, so I don’t actually know if it’s the voicemail system or somebody from work is actually calling me. So I have to answer and then I either have to hit the speaker phone icon or put the phone up to my ear to say hello (unless I happen to have my ear thingie in, which I usually don’t ‘cuz I have enough problems w/o getting brain cancer), only to find out that it’s the voicemail system. And it is then really friggin’ hard to hit the buttons fast enough to get to the voicemail before the damn thing hangs up on me.
So what I’d really like is to set the default on-answer phone screen to the keypad. I would think that would be simple – especially since Apple is so well known for being so user-friendly and all that (assuming you do things the way they want you to). And maybe it is simple, and I’m just too dumb to figure it out. I’ve looked at all the settings (I think), I’ve Googled, and I even tried asking Siri (who is either a friggin’ moron or just deliberately obstinate and obtuse. She gets kinda touch when you compare her to Scarlett Johansson, too).
So, if y’all know how to set the default phone screen on one of these infernal contraptions, I would most certainly be obliged.
Thanks, and stay warm out there.
Of course I have no idea how to help, PJ. A couple of months ago I wanted to know how to make it louder so I can hear the person on the other end without putting it on speaker. I looked online. The first suggestion was to use an empty glass as amplifier. I finally figured out that the louder button works in whatever mode you are in. I can’t find an online manual, though one would be helpful…maybe.
My vet says she pays for weekly Apple using lessons.
The hardware “louder” button on the side actually works to snap a picture when you’re in camera mode. It’s nice because then you can hold the phone like a regular camera.
Maybe I should go to the “genius” bar. Though I’ve been to a lot of bars in my life, and have come across very few geniuses (lots who thought they were, though).
Good tip on that volume pic snap.
That is all above my pay grade and I recommend the genius bar. It sounds like several of your hoops are work instigated. Maybe you should talk to someone in SU IT. 🙂
As for the cancer, I suspect that it is minimized if you use the white wired headset with the microphone that came with your phone. I’d be more worried about a blu-tooth although it sound like it might color coordinate with your ears the next few days. :cold: 😮
6 tips for minimizing cell phone radiation
It also suggests you are better off keeping the phone away from your body, the further the better.
Yeah. But the strength of the radiation is inversely proportional to the square of the distance, and it’s all very low power anyway, so I’m not convinced there’s a huge problem. Not for a geezer like me – if I’d grown up with a cell phone in my ear the way these kids seem to be nowadays, then I might be worried about the long term constant exposure.
If I’m gonna worry, I’ll worry about the WiFi signal in my house (2.4 GHz, just like the microwave oven) or the teevee and radio signals or the signals from the cell phone towers or….
:paranoid:
But if I’m not worried about my high blood pressure, being fat, or excessive alcohol intake, then I reckon I probably aint gonna spend a lot of time worried about the cell phone.
On the bright side, at least I don’t smoke cigarettes.
I do have a bluetooth thing that I use when I don’t want to use the speaker phone, but I’m so rarely on the phone I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it when I do use it. To be honest, there are a whole slew of things that will kill me long before the radiation from the phone/headset.
If I talked on the phone a lot, I wouldn’t have to worry because the battery would be dead anyway. Taking on the iPhone reminds me of driving my 1976 Chevy Impala station wagon (with a 454 V-8). I could step on the gas and watch the needle drop right before my eyes. That baby sure could move when you put your foot down, though.
Didn’t get a wired headset with the phone, I don’t think. I do have a pair of earbuds that I use for listening to the radio while I’m not sleeping at night, and they have a microphone, though I’ve never actually tried it out.
Unless I’m on the way to work or something, the phone sits on my desk fairly far away from me.
I really just want to be able to tell the damn phone what screen to display when I answer a call. It’s not really a big deal. Just a nuisance.
I meant earbuds. The mic is actually pretty good. When driving now I have gotten out of habit of setting my phone in my lap but I still tend to carry it in a pocket.
The snow arrived early and now we are expecting 10-15 inches of the stuff. I guess I don’t have to worry about getting my car to the mechanic tomorrow.
Cold and windy, tomorrow. Ugh!