Apple Archive

Cell Phones, AOL Instant Messaging, and the Mac: Not a Good Combo

- 2004.06.04

About a year ago, I got a mobile phone. We figured that it was about time that I got one in case of an emergency. Until then, my sister and I would borrow my mom's phone in case we were going somewhere, but it started getting awkward. I'd try to call my mom, but she'd be out and unable to answer the phone. My sister would want to call me, but I'd be somewhere.

The solution seemed obvious. Buy a "family plan" and get each of us our own mobile phone.

That seemed simple enough - until we were told that not only was our current plan out of date but also that the family plan required us to buy three new mobile phones, not just two. Considering that rebates were available for the phones, it didn't turn out too badly. And the new phones had color screens, wireless Internet, and a bunch of other fancy features that the old one didn't have.

I lost mine a couple weeks ago. Thankfully we had insurance on it and were able to have it replaced fairly easily. Thankfully we replaced it when we did, since my "new" (new to me) car broke down twice in three days. It certainly came in handy!

The new phone I got last Friday appeared to be exactly the same as the one I got last year - both Nokia 3595s - but a few little things were different. First of all, the new phone makes noise (the infamous Nokia tune) when you turn it on (which is not so convenient when you're in a quiet room). Slightly more useful is the new instant messaging feature.

This feature lets you send messages to AOL Instant Messenger users - and considering that I do a fair bit of IMing, it's a nice feature to have. However, getting it to be perfectly compatible with AOL IM (AIM) on the computer was a bit of a challenge. Since you can sign on from two locations at once, I can have my phone signed on as well as my computer. Supposedly, you can sign off your mobile device from the computer - but only if you have the right version of Instant Messenger.

Since I have the Mac version, and an older one (4.3) at that, things aren't so easy. In the Windows version, you can enable or disable a mobile device right from the preferences box. But if you're using a Mac, you have to go through AOL's confusing website and (not that it always seems to work) attempt to do it there.

I thought that perhaps I could do it on my PowerBook with AIM 4.7. The only thing that version gives you is a link to AOL's fantastically confusing website. That doesn't make things much easier for me.

It'd be nice if AOL made it a bit easier to access these features from the Mac version of their application. Considering that they haven't released a new version of AOL for the Mac in over a year, they don't seem nearly as committed to Mac development as they are to development for Windows.

Not that I'm planning on using mobile IM that often, since it is very difficult to type on a phone. It takes much longer than typing on a keyboard, even if you are experienced with it. It's still a nice feature to have, but I just wish that AOL made the integration between AIM on the computer and on the phone a bit smoother.

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