I love my new cell phone. It’s finally a fairly modern phone. I mentioned it here recently, the LG VX-9100 aka. ENV2.
But I have one problem with it. I keep dialing random numbers with it when it is in my pocket. Sometimes, it even treats them as a redial or gets into the directory. That’s the worst, because it calls real numbers and real people!
If I’ve called you and you heard nothing but background, or worse, heard whatever I was doing at the time, please accept my apologies for anything I said! One friend called me back to let me know it was happening and we laughed about it, because her son did the same thing all the time.
The phone is a brick. It’s a flat rectangular block with the keypad on the front, so anything that presses against it presses the keys.
It’s supposed to lock the keyboard. If you hit a key accidentally, it says “Press OK to unlock.” But apparently, it’s easy enough to hit the OK key the same way and unlock it.
Of course, the solution is to not put it into my pocket, or at least not a pants pocket. I don’t think the shape of the phone lends itself to hanging it on my belt. Probably an inside jacket pocket or a shirt pocket is the best place to keep it and protect it from the accidental dialing. But I often don’t have such a pocket.
I have a case, but it’s just a silicone skin. It doesn’t stop it at all.
Any ideas?
I have the same phone and the same problem. Oddly enough, trying to turn off the keylock to actually place a call can be harder than just leaving it in your pocket and let it “phantom dial”.
unfortunately, I have no solution other than the shirt pocket.
I have a flip phone so I haven’t had this problem. However I have heard of the phenomenon known as “pocket dialing”. It made national headlines recently when an American soldier in Iraq “pocket dialed” his parents while in combat. His parents thought they were hearing his last moments alive on their answering machine. I believe he didn’t know it happened until they called back. He assured them that he was alright.
As for some advice on the problem, at work I use a case that attaches to a belt. I found out that regular cell phone cases wore out very quickly. I then tried using small digital camara cases. This has worked out well, but make sure you get one sturdy enough. I had one that the velcro wore out in a month. Had to upgrade to better quality. Most are under ten bucks and are more protective than regular phone cases. The phone cases are fine for jacket pockets or purses.
My last two phones were the flip-phone style of phone. I went through several cases.
The worst were the plastic, belt clip attachments that were a great belt clip (except for being plastic, which didn’t take much abuse.) but offered no protection for the phone and stayed on your belt even as you knocked the phone out getting into the car…
Better leather and plastic cases protected the phone, but I had some that didn’t securely stay on my belt, while those that did, I couldn’t get off in time to answer the phone. I had one with a swivel attachment that released when you turned it that I liked, but A.) it false-released a lot and B.) the clip broke.
I actually lost one phone somewhere between work and home and was probably lying somewhere in the parking lot. No one ever turned it in.
My favorite case was a Home Depot contractor’s cell-phone case. Nothing fancy, in fact, it was cheap, just a nylon pouch with a flap that closed with velcro. It had a shape to accomodate the antenna sticking and a very strong metal clip that stayed on your belt, yet you could get it off easily. If that didn’t suit you, it had belt loops in two directions that you could slide a belt through it.
Of course, you couldn’t use the phone while it was in the case, it was more of a holster, but the velcro released quickly when you needed it.
This new phone just doesn’t lend itself to that sort of a case, though. It’s really a shirt-pocket, inside jacket-pocket, or keep-in-your-breifcase sort of phone.
I’ve heard from a few more people who have also “pocket-dialed” and I guess it’s becoming enough of a cultural phenomenon, that it’s becoming accepted. Oh well, if I pocket-dial YOU, at least you can’t say I never call!