What's made you grumpy today?

[varesecrazy]

Oh, by the way, after the covid jag making me feel pretty croak yesterday, I woke up feeling much better this morning and was back to normal around 11 o'clock. Now just got to wait for the rash and hope it's not too itchy.

My neighbour was pretty off colour with theirs,
no idea "how different"it is to all the others

After the joint damage malarkey,
the" Panda driver and I" have decided we will just have the FluJabs from here on in,

I only had the chills after the Covid jabs thankfully, and the obligatory sore arm

 

[StevenRB45]

You still cheap cheap new phones that act like old ones: https://www.amazon.co.uk/uleway-Button-2-8inch-Display-Elderly-RED/dp/B0CFTY4CGQ/

You can get actual modern remakes of old phones new.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1139028?istCompanyId=a74d8886-5df9-4baa-b776-166b3bf9111c&istFeedId=30f62ea9-9626-4cac-97c8-9ff3921f8558&istItemId=rwtqxplxi&istBid=t&&cmpid=GS001&_$ja=tsid:59157%7Cacid:804-627-9544%7Ccid:20269441415%7Cagid:%7Ctid:%7Ccrid:%7Cnw:x%7Crnd:13615359916163440564%7Cdvc:m%7Cadp:%7Cmt:%7Cloc:1006669&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20269441415&utm_term=1139028&utm_content=shopping&utm_custom1=&utm_custom2=804-627-9544&GPDP=true&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxqayBhDFARIsAANWRnT4WIyfGkPRdtIoE6vd37-RgHEyAq4T4uBvWFkHSSFY_6bmSqMyO94aAk8AEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

But I was under the impression Jock wanted something a bit more capable.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

You still cheap cheap new phones that act like old ones: https://www.amazon.co.uk/uleway-Button-2-8inch-Display-Elderly-RED/dp/B0CFTY4CGQ/

Hmm. Quite like the look of that, thanks. Will it allow us to download to pay car parking charges etc? - not so fussy if it doesn't do sat nav etc.

 

[porta]

It’s not a smart phone though, very limited in functions

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

It’s not a smart phone though, very limited in functions

Thanks - suspected that would be the case. I think, if we are going to do this, we really need to buy a smart phone? The reason we're thinking about this is because, when we were down south at Easter we noticed nearly all the car parks required you to pay using a mobile phone - and since we returned home we've become aware many of them up here also require this (we don't often park in pay parking at home) also we can't download stuff like the Lidl discount thingy that we see so many of the people in front of us at the checkout scanning their mobile phone for.

So, for better or worse, I fear it's got to be a "smart phone".

 

[portland_bill]

Hmm. Quite like the look of that, thanks. Will it allow us to download to pay car parking charges etc? - not so fussy if it doesn't do sat nav etc.

Smartphones are computers that also make calls. They are better at being computers than they are at being phones. And they can be irritating as a result.

I have a Sony, bought outright nearly 3 years ago. Mostly it is just a phone, making calls, and texts. It will do other stuff, but I mostly don't. I do not/will not have emails on the phone, they can stay at home on the desktop computer. I access the internet very rarely, so leave the data turned off, until needed. As a result, I have to charge my phone about once every 10 days. Most people charge daily, or even more frequently than this.
Bluetooth can be useful to connect to the car, but calls will distract. Most useful is to see who is calling, to decide when you will call back, rather than talk immediately. As your car is new, it will talk the same language as a new phone. My 2015 Fabia didn't talk the same bluetooth language as the new phone. Later bluetooth talking a different language, not backwards compatible. Needed a bit of phone hacking to make them talk properly.

Jock, you have children and grandchildren who have smartphones. They can give advice, and take you shopping. BUT. They are 'into' their phones, so may lead you down the same path, rather than a choice to suit your needs. Your neighbour is a 'techie', so again, may point you at functionality you don't need. Ideally, you need someone who understands them, but not necessarily likes them.

All service providers are in the process of turning off 3G, so any used phone needs to be 4G. (I have a very nice Motorola phone, discarded only due to the 3G being turned off.) Ideally, use the Scala if shopping for a used phone, and ask to see it connect.

Personally, I'd avoid the cheap Chinese phones. They will be fine to use, but there are lots of bad stories about data security. The big brands will be made in China, but should be to the brand's standards. Japan and Korea seem to do honesty better than China.

 

[porta]

Smartphones are computers that also make calls. They are better at being computers than they are at being phones. And they can be irritating as a result.

I have a Sony, bought outright nearly 3 years ago. Mostly it is just a phone, making calls, and texts. It will do other stuff, but I mostly don't. I do not/will not have emails on the phone, they can stay at home on the desktop computer. I access the internet very rarely, so leave the data turned off, until needed. As a result, I have to charge my phone about once every 10 days. Most people charge daily, or even more frequently than this.
Bluetooth can be useful to connect to the car, but calls will distract. Most useful is to see who is calling, to decide when you will call back, rather than talk immediately. As your car is new, it will talk the same language as a new phone. My 2015 Fabia didn't talk the same bluetooth language as the new phone. Later bluetooth talking a different language, not backwards compatible. Needed a bit of phone hacking to make them talk properly.

Jock, you have children and grandchildren who have smartphones. They can give advice, and take you shopping. BUT. They are 'into' their phones, so may lead you down the same path, rather than a choice to suit your needs. Your neighbour is a 'techie', so again, may point you at functionality you don't need. Ideally, you need someone who understands them, but not necessarily likes them.

All service providers are in the process of turning off 3G, so any used phone needs to be 4G. (I have a very nice Motorola phone, discarded only due to the 3G being turned off.) Ideally, use the Scala if shopping for a used phone, and ask to see it connect.

Personally, I'd avoid the cheap Chinese phones. They will be fine to use, but there are lots of bad stories about data security. The big brands will be made in China, but should be to the brand's standards. Japan and Korea seem to do honesty better than China.

The China security thing is a red herring…every phone on the planet has chips sourced from China, if they wanted your data they only have to go to Meta, so anyone on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp etc already has their data shared with whoever pays for it

 

[portland_bill]

The old Flymo rotary mower is now over 20 years old, is noisy and vibrates. So I've been slowly looking at replacements.
Then up popped a Mountfield electric. They had a good name for their larger, industrial models, so worth a look, I thought. Seems Mountfield are owned by an Italian company, Stiga, and the electric model is one of theirs, with the Mountifield name on. Mountfield's own website had an offer, instead of £139, now £79. Bargain. Sadly not.
3-5 days delivery they promise, and delivered in on the 6th day, yesterday, Saturday, so no support available.
Opened the box, unloaded all the bits.
First issue. The lower parts of the handle need attaching. The instructions do not say how, as they state they are already attached. So from a tiny pic, about the size of a 10p piece, the bits get pieced together. The lower handle has three positions, adjustable with a toothed ring, and a 'quick release' lever. The right hand toothed ring is a poor fit. The lever squeezes against a flat washer, which sits against the handle. The handle is a round tube, squashed, not flat, but more a figure 8 with a wide centre. The washer is almost big enough to bridge it properly. If the handle is tightened in line with the handle, it rocks the washer, preventing it working. Turning it 90 degrees may mean it is now too tight, or too loose to do its job. That is of less consequence, as the transition from off to on, has a sharp step, which is difficult to go over. If the handle is slack enough to go over, it will not be tight enough to hold the handle. So you turn the handle, then rotate it to tighten more. Would be better just as a turning knob. The handle is too long to turn, unless the cutting height is on max, otherwise the wheel gets in the way.
By this time, I'm a bit miffed.

Next we have to attach the top part of the handle, a U shape. At this point it becomes apparent that the two lower parts are not parallel, and not adjustable, as they have three positions only, each pair giving the same result. The top of the handle is not level, being significantly lower at the right. Even without any trace of OCD, that would be annoying. This can't be obviously fixed.

It is packed back in its box. A strong email has been sent, demanding they collect it and refund the cost. We await Monday's response.

How to destroy a reputation.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Feeling pretty Pi***d off this morning. Came down to make a pot of tea, as I do every day, at about 8 o'clock - I've treated her to a cup of tea and a ginger nut biscuit in bed every morning for many years - to find the top oven going full blast and a strong smell which was something like burnt hot dog sausages? It's a Hotpoint electric eye level unit (separate gas hob in the worktop next to it) The control panel above it was so hot I could hardly touch it! anyway, I immediately hit the big red switch which isolates this unit, put on the oven gloves and opened the oven door to let it cool down. All control switches were at "off" by the way.

Next, after checking it hadn't set fire to the cupboard above it, I went through to the living room and checked the electricity smart meter readout. Looks like it's "eaten" about 60p's worth of electricity, so probably not been burning for very long. In fact I know for sure it wasn't on at around 04.15hrs because Mrs J woke me at that time to say she thought she could hear someone rapping on our living room window. Very unlikely, but our residents association has circulated us that more than one resident has seen some very dodgy characters - hoodies with face masks on - trying car and front door handles in the wee small hours and warned us to be sure every thing is properly locked up before going to bed. So, without switching any lights on to alert them, I did a recce of the whole house - and found nothing. I've no idea what I thought I might have done if I'd found someone in the house. Maybe I should have a think about that? - However I'm sure the oven was not on at that time. What it has been doing of late though is not always responding to the control knob and not always producing the temperature selected with the knob. I'm guessing the control knob is actually commanding a "chip" somewhere to do the deed and is not "direct acting" so my guess would be that something's gone wrong with the ECU?

As this has been ongoing for some time now, and this latest "trick", being far more serious (I think we've been very lucky not to have had a fire) has destroyed our confidence in the unit so Mrs J is angling for a new oven unit. Apart from the expense of buying a new one I must say I'm not all that keen on repairing the old one as it wasn't actually the oven we wanted when the kitchen was being built. We ended up with it due to a short supply situation. However it also occurs to me that our main electricity distribution board is still a fused unit - which is actually quite handy because it means I can run my compressor and welding plant without having circuit breakers jumping out! - and a neighbour had to upgrade their installation to circuit breakers before the electrician would install whatever it was they were having installed. Might be a considerable cost involved if we replaced the oven unit?

 

[varesecrazy]

That's scary stuff Jock!

I wouldn't be trusting it either

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Smartphones are computers that also make calls. They are better at being computers than they are at being phones. And they can be irritating as a result.

I have a Sony, bought outright nearly 3 years ago. Mostly it is just a phone, making calls, and texts. It will do other stuff, but I mostly don't. I do not/will not have emails on the phone, they can stay at home on the desktop computer. I access the internet very rarely, so leave the data turned off, until needed. As a result, I have to charge my phone about once every 10 days. Most people charge daily, or even more frequently than this.
Bluetooth can be useful to connect to the car, but calls will distract. Most useful is to see who is calling, to decide when you will call back, rather than talk immediately. As your car is new, it will talk the same language as a new phone. My 2015 Fabia didn't talk the same bluetooth language as the new phone. Later bluetooth talking a different language, not backwards compatible. Needed a bit of phone hacking to make them talk properly.

Jock, you have children and grandchildren who have smartphones. They can give advice, and take you shopping. BUT. They are 'into' their phones, so may lead you down the same path, rather than a choice to suit your needs. Your neighbour is a 'techie', so again, may point you at functionality you don't need. Ideally, you need someone who understands them, but not necessarily likes them.

All service providers are in the process of turning off 3G, so any used phone needs to be 4G. (I have a very nice Motorola phone, discarded only due to the 3G being turned off.) Ideally, use the Scala if shopping for a used phone, and ask to see it connect.

Personally, I'd avoid the cheap Chinese phones. They will be fine to use, but there are lots of bad stories about data security. The big brands will be made in China, but should be to the brand's standards. Japan and Korea seem to do honesty better than China.

Thanks PB, very interesting "take" on my problem. I know I'm a dinosaur but I just refuse to have a mobile phone switched on when I'm driving so that's not a problem.

Ah yes, the "G's". No idea what our existing phones run on but I'll bet they are in the low G count numbers so almost certain to be defunct soon. Interestingly we always had excellent signal strength here at home and around Edinburgh in general. A few months ago they installed a monolithically humongous mast - taller than any of the trees or buildings around it - complete with two large cabinets at it's base which make quite loud fan type whirring noises, and ever since we get either one bar only of signal strength or no signal at all, and to get that you have to go upstairs! Signal strength generally around the town has now become more patchy too.

We had to renew/negotiate our broadband contract earlier this year, which is with Sky. We are happy with Sky's service and it works well 99% of the time also this year they upgraded us from copper to full fibre at no extra cost as part of the deal. During the negotiations they asked us about our phone provider (it's EE) - they don't miss a "trick" these people do they - and we talked briefly about Sky's service. I'm going to look into it some more as I like the fact you can "roll over" any unused data from month to month and, although it's a pain having to do the 18 monthly contractual "dance" I do find them actually quite accommodating and open to negotiation. In reality though I just haven't a clue!

 

[StevenRB45]

May be a case of paying someone who isn't an electrician...i.e. get it off AO and get them to install it.

They have no interest in upselling to a rewire they just want it in and to be gone.

But at the same time you may be missing things like earthing.

(Oven wise you've posted since ).

But yes I agree with PB what you want and what I want will be different but it's a computer really not a phone...also your signal issues may well be because you're on 2G.

My dad swears his mobile works nowhere but mine on a modern network will work standing next to him while his won't.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

That's scary stuff Jock!

I wouldn't be trusting it either

Aye Charlie, The big red switch is definitely staying off just now! Annoyingly it also controls the electric supply to the gas hob so with it off the sparker doesn't work. Gas still come through when you turn the knob though so we'll just have to buy a box of matches! Like it always used to be.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

May be a case of paying someone who isn't an electrician...i.e. get it off AO and get them to install it.

They have no interest in upselling to a rewire they just want it in and to be gone.

But at the same time you may be missing things like earthing.

(Oven wise you've posted since ).

But yes I agree with PB what you want and what I want will be different but it's a computer really not a phone...also your signal issues may well be because you're on 2G.

My dad swears his mobile works nowhere but mine on a modern network will work standing next to him while his won't.

Didn't know about AO - I'll look into it - thanks.

Regarding signal, I think you are almost certainly correct as all the kids phones work fine here, it's just Mrs J and I who have this problem.

 

[porta]

The old Flymo rotary mower is now over 20 years old, is noisy and vibrates. So I've been slowly looking at replacements.
Then up popped a Mountfield electric. They had a good name for their larger, industrial models, so worth a look, I thought. Seems Mountfield are owned by an Italian company, Stiga, and the electric model is one of theirs, with the Mountifield name on. Mountfield's own website had an offer, instead of £139, now £79. Bargain. Sadly not.
3-5 days delivery they promise, and delivered in on the 6th day, yesterday, Saturday, so no support available.
Opened the box, unloaded all the bits.
First issue. The lower parts of the handle need attaching. The instructions do not say how, as they state they are already attached. So from a tiny pic, about the size of a 10p piece, the bits get pieced together. The lower handle has three positions, adjustable with a toothed ring, and a 'quick release' lever. The right hand toothed ring is a poor fit. The lever squeezes against a flat washer, which sits against the handle. The handle is a round tube, squashed, not flat, but more a figure 8 with a wide centre. The washer is almost big enough to bridge it properly. If the handle is tightened in line with the handle, it rocks the washer, preventing it working. Turning it 90 degrees may mean it is now too tight, or too loose to do its job. That is of less consequence, as the transition from off to on, has a sharp step, which is difficult to go over. If the handle is slack enough to go over, it will not be tight enough to hold the handle. So you turn the handle, then rotate it to tighten more. Would be better just as a turning knob. The handle is too long to turn, unless the cutting height is on max, otherwise the wheel gets in the way.
By this time, I'm a bit miffed.

Next we have to attach the top part of the handle, a U shape. At this point it becomes apparent that the two lower parts are not parallel, and not adjustable, as they have three positions only, each pair giving the same result. The top of the handle is not level, being significantly lower at the right. Even without any trace of OCD, that would be annoying. This can't be obviously fixed.

It is packed back in its box. A strong email has been sent, demanding they collect it and refund the cost. We await Monday's response.

How to destroy a reputation.

Like a lot of companies, stiga don’t make all their ‘small stuff’ you’ll find that the deck, innards, motor etc etc will be identical to other brands…our red mouttfield deck rusted through and was replaced with one from a qualcast (also Italian in origin!), wehn the Honda engine went, I replaced that with an engine donated by in-laws Honda mower who’s deck also went, so no we have a mountfield mower with only the handles and controls original.
Same goes for our, now sold, ride on mower…interchangeable with a lot of stuff including John Deere but half the price!
The stiga ride ons are very good but a bit pricey, any big jobs now are done with tractor topper, just have to be careful in the orchard!

 

[StevenRB45]

Didn't know about AO - I'll look into it - thanks.

Would say the only risk is they take the old one out then discover something they don't like as they tend to deal with standard installation not something vaguely dodgy.

So they may plug in a multimeter find for example the resistance in the earth off the scale and say no we aren't doing it.

This is only fresh in my mind as it happened during my boiler installation...we have rcds but they weren't connected to an earth.

Although in this case the boiler was a fixed price job and they'd sub contracted to an actual electrician who ran an earth for the whole house as part of the job.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Thanks for trying to help. I really do appreciate it. However, as usual with "computery stuff", It'll probably end up with us taking advice from my friend two doors down who used to write security protocols (whatever they are) for DELL and is now head of computer security for a large educational establishment and from my son in law who does "very clever stuff" with computer programs for fast jets - I'm not allowed to know what. Your advice is not wasted though as I've learned from it, so thank you.

I’d recommend going with the same sort of phone that family members are using, that way if you do need help then you have people you can easily call on.

With people having a preference for iPhone or android phones they may have only had one type and not know much about the other.

 

[StevenRB45]

I’d recommend going with the same sort of phone that family members are using, that way if you do need help then you have people you can easily call on.

With people having a preference for iPhone or android phones they may have only had one type and not know much about the other.

If anything this is probably where Android falls down.

The apple regimentation that annoys the bejesus out of me makes it a lot easier to pick up the phone and use it if you're unfamiliar.

Whereas using my wife's phone makes me feel like a grandad.. because she's set up how her brain works...I've set mine up how my brain works and we've both made choices that make no sense to eachother but perfect sense to ourselves.

You can set one up to just have 4 big icons on the screen of phone, camera, contacts, nav.. but you also need to know how to do that initially.

This is before you get to the fact a lot of android using companies layer a bunch of crap on top of vanilla android to make it "theirs". Samsung used to be awful for this and also forced you to install utter toss like Bixby or try and get you to use their website browser or email system rather than say installing the browser or email you use on your desktop so it can talk to it across devices.

This is how I ended up on a pixel as it's as close as you'll get to Apple OS...without any dealings at all with Apple or their "walled garden". So I can use a 7 year old wireless charger I bought for my Samsung S8...etc rather than buying lots of proprietary gear that gets rendered obsolete regularly.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

I have an android work phone but I really don’t get on with it, it updates itself and everything moves around and changes all the time.

I use Apple phones because I have done for the last 10+ years and it’s very easy to enter your iCloud settings and the new phone will download everything from the old one and set itself up with no other input

 

[StevenRB45]

An android phone does exactly the same..and has done for many years as well.

Had the wife's new one set up how she likes it (if you can call it that) in 10 mins yesterday, you log in to your email or pulls your last back up and installs it on the new phone.

Only issue was the change in sim card standard but that will be sorted shortly.

I'd suggest work are getting you cheap ones...as nothing moves on mine unless I ask it to..