How do you organize your phonebook?

For a long time I was with AT&T's eventually ill-fated TDMA service. My
first free phone had little memory, one number to each name, and I
organized it as "Susan home" "Susan cell" etc.

Then I got a phone that could store a few names under each name (but
they were predefined, like home/work/cell). So I started writing names
as "Susan H C" and "Josh H W C" to remind myself which numbers were
there under that name.

Anyway, now I just signed up a new account with T-Mobile and got a
Nokia 6030. It seems to have a lot of memory. It also has an option of
"groups".

Before I spend a lot of time typing in names and numbers, I am
wondering what the best organization would be. By best I mean easiest
to retrieve with least number of clicks. If you have worked out a good
system, I would love to hear what it is. Do you create groups, or just
a long list of names, for example?

Ajanta scribed in message <180120071632186681%ajanta@null.void> at
22:32:18 18/01/2007

>Before I spend a lot of time typing in names and numbers, I am
>wondering what the best organization would be. By best I mean easiest
>to retrieve with least number of clicks. If you have worked out a good
>system, I would love to hear what it is. Do you create groups, or just
>a long list of names, for example?

Why either/or? Putting a contact into a Group doesn't remove it from the
long list, it creates another option for searching. If your phone has
speech recognition as well then you just press one button and speak the
contacts name. However, in using speech recognition you will have to list
each contact and phone number uniquely. For instance, my boss has two
phone numbers I use, one home and the other mobile, so I can't list him as
Chris and include his home and mobile in his details as the phone always
dials a default number, I have to make two entries, Chris Home and Chris
Mobile.

Spend a bit of time giving yourself all the options and it will pay off in
the future.

--
Rob

http://www.flickr.com/photos/canopus_archives/

On 19 Jan 2007 11:34:42 GMT, "Canopus" <JLNKOOECOCGY@spammotel.com> wrote
this with the utmost thought:

>Ajanta scribed in message <180120071632186681%ajanta@null.void> at
>22:32:18 18/01/2007
>
>>Before I spend a lot of time typing in names and numbers, I am
>>wondering what the best organization would be. By best I mean easiest
>>to retrieve with least number of clicks. If you have worked out a good
>>system, I would love to hear what it is. Do you create groups, or just
>>a long list of names, for example?
>
>Why either/or? Putting a contact into a Group doesn't remove it from the
>long list, it creates another option for searching. If your phone has
>speech recognition as well then you just press one button and speak the
>contacts name. However, in using speech recognition you will have to list
>each contact and phone number uniquely. For instance, my boss has two
>phone numbers I use, one home and the other mobile, so I can't list him as
>Chris and include his home and mobile in his details as the phone always
>dials a default number, I have to make two entries, Chris Home and Chris
>Mobile.

No flames please. Motorola V3i voice dialling, one contact several numbers
and software is intelligent enough to let you decide mobile, home, work and
not just a single, default number.

Surely Nokia has a competing mobile?

On 19 Jan 2007 11:34:42 GMT, "Canopus" <JLNKOOECOCGY@spammotel.com> wrote:
: Ajanta scribed in message <180120071632186681%ajanta@null.void> at
: 22:32:18 18/01/2007
:
: >Before I spend a lot of time typing in names and numbers, I am
: >wondering what the best organization would be. By best I mean easiest
: >to retrieve with least number of clicks. If you have worked out a good
: >system, I would love to hear what it is. Do you create groups, or just
: >a long list of names, for example?
:
: Why either/or? Putting a contact into a Group doesn't remove it from the
: long list, it creates another option for searching. If your phone has
: speech recognition as well then you just press one button and speak the
: contacts name. However, in using speech recognition you will have to list
: each contact and phone number uniquely. For instance, my boss has two
: phone numbers I use, one home and the other mobile, so I can't list him as
: Chris and include his home and mobile in his details as the phone always
: dials a default number, I have to make two entries, Chris Home and Chris
: Mobile.

Some newer phones (my LG 8300, for example) don't require you to preset the
voice dial feature. I can say "Call John Doe home" or "Call John Doe work",
and the phone will select the right number from John's entry in my contacts.

Bob

Robert Coe scribed in message <9ddpr2duehh69gd26a1hni682r2mmuq3dj@4ax.com>
at 14:45:14 28/01/2007

>Some newer phones (my LG 8300, for example) don't require you to preset the
>voice dial feature. I can say "Call John Doe home" or "Call John Doe work",
>and the phone will select the right number from John's entry in my
>contacts.

That's interesting, I never thought of adding Home or Work after the
contacts name during voice dialling, will have to try it on my 6234.

--
Rob

http://www.flickr.com/photos/canopus_archives/

Ajanta wrote:

> Before I spend a lot of time typing in names and numbers, I am
> wondering what the best organization would be. By best I mean easiest
> to retrieve with least number of clicks. If you have worked out a good
> system, I would love to hear what it is. Do you create groups, or just
> a long list of names, for example?

For the quick-dial numbers, 1-9, I put in the names as 1-Home, 2-Wife
Cell, 3-Child Cell, ....

Then I put in all the names lastname, firstname. The newer phones let
you have multiple phone numbers under each name, and specify which is
the primary number, so you can call it without going to the sub-number
menu once you get to the name in the contact list. Prior to that, I
would just add "Home," "Work," or "Cell," to the listing.