Polite Cell Phones

yEvb0 writes "Researchers at Motorola and Carnegie Mellon University are developing more polite cell phones. Strategies include programming the ringer to turn on and off according to the time of day, monitoring sound light levels to determine if the owner is a movie theater or talking to his boss, and even letting callers decide whether they'd like to interrupt based on this information."

good sales strategy

[rd4tech]

monitoring sound light levels to determine if the owner is a movie theater

Ok, I'm confused enough, now, where can I buy this cellphone from?

Re:They should research

[thanuk]

Are we so daft these days that our phones have to be polite for us? Yes. Next question please.

Re:But...

[precize]

That's where the artificial butter detector comes in... which should work, unless you keep a lot of that in your pocket, in which case you're probably not the kind of person who minds what other people think of you.

Re:It's Called 'Vibrate'

[voice_of_all_reason]

At church, during a quiet time, a hip-worn cell vibrating against a Wooden Pew makes a lot of noise...

Well, I mean... they already have the crosses and nails there, right? Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Re:Inside my pocket

[meringuoid]

It's dark and there is the sound of rattling change.

What? Grues use currency these days, do they?

Re:In Communist China

[Y-Crate]

How is that like the american phones. When the vibrate goes off people go and pick up the phone and start talking loudly to it. Many times it is far more interupting then the phone itself.

A lot of people put their phones on vibrate when they go into the movies.

Only to sit there and have a conversation the moment it rings.

Needless to say, movie theaters need to have flamthrowers available to the audience.

Re:good sales strategy

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, so your boss calls and the phone tells him you're at his house in a darkened room with a moderate noise level... hmmm, time to look for a new job! eh?

My definition of a polite cell phone:

[noidentity]

One with a dead battery.