A ZDnet UK columnist found himself stranded in the Scottish Highlands over the holidays after a skiing accident. No problem — he had a brand new, sexy Microsoft-powered mobile phone. However, the MSFT interface is so tortuous that he nearly froze to death while trying to figure out how to get the device to turn its radio on.
The next time I looked at the phone it appeared to have turned itself off — so I tried switching it on again. When it eventually came to life I could not get it to dial — a closer examination revealed the legend 'Radio off' displayed very legibly on the SPV's excellent screen. No amount of menu searching let me find anything that would turn the phone's radio back on. At this point I remember making a few comments about the dubiousness of Bill Gates' parentage. I eventually managed to flag down a passing skier who let me use her Nokia phone (which switched on immediately) to call for help. Later analysis revealed that the problem arose because of the SPV's implementation of the ON/OFF button. It needs to be depressed for a couple of seconds to function as an on/off switch. If pressed and released briefly it summons a 'QuickList' menu — where one of the items lets you turn the radio — presumably to let you watch movies on the thing when airborne on something more reliable than two planks of wood.
(via Oblomovka)
