Rotary dial application for touch-screen phones

Submitted by brad on Tue, 2008-04-22 12:50
Topic: 
Telecom

Ok, this would be a cool application for iPhones, Pocket PC and the like -- a dialer which presents an old style rotary phone dial, and you have to put your finger in it and spin it around the center, and then it slowly twists back and plays the sound of a dial returning. A bit like how you control an iPod, but slower.

Completely useless, other than for having fun and explaining to kids why we call it "dialing" a phone.

Perhaps with the iPhone accelerometer you could actually spin the physical iPhone to move the dial. No way to generate the classic sore index finger and physical resistance though.

(Some people made jokes about rotary dial on the iPhone before it was launched but I don't know of anybody who actually did this.)

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Comments

John Doe

Wed, 2008-04-23 06:10

Absolutely ridiculous.
A complete waste of time and energy.

Aaron

Wed, 2008-04-23 11:36

I think it sounds good dude.

John Doe

Wed, 2008-04-23 16:27

I don't.

Anon Y. Mouse

Wed, 2008-04-23 23:46

Yep... silly and pointless.

Which is why such a thing might be wildly popular.

Look at PCs and desktop backgrounds, sound & appearance
schemes, application skins, etc. They are created,
passed around, used by many. Newbies in particular
go overboard when they find they can customize their PCs
with this stuff, much to the annoyance of sophisticated
users (especially with sounds).

Hell, look at ringtones -- people spend *millions* of
dollars on them.

If the iPhone allows such a thing (I don't know), there
probably already is a mod that emits manual typewriter
sounds when you tap on the screen keyboard, dings when
you hit a pre-set right margin, and makes the r-r-rip
carriage-return noise when you press enter.

John Doe

Thu, 2008-04-24 05:54

It's still ridiculous.
Nobody would use it because it's so ridiculous.
ridiculoussssssssssssssssssss.

Alex Goldman

Fri, 2008-04-25 08:42

I agree with the anon mouse. Clearly you've touched a nerve here. This much controversy means -- this app must be delivered like Rite of Spring to the angry audience.

Brent Rieck

Mon, 2008-05-05 21:26

I don't have an iPhone so I can't tell if it works or not but the idea was awesome enough to have done by somebody: http://iphone-tips-tricks.blogspot.com/2008/03/iphone-tips-idial-oldschool-rotary.html

brad

Mon, 2008-05-05 23:05

Dialing is back, baby.

Anonymous

Thu, 2009-09-17 12:45

There's a bunch of them for the iPhone already. Symbian phones too. Have yet to find a good one for windows mobile...All ideas are good, even if they are 3 years after-the-fact...

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