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Rant: "Real-time software: not needed on a mobile phone!"

Most of us shout at our phones. Today, it's me: I'm particularly furious with my (otherwise lovely) Nokia E61. I'm dialling numbers. It's ignoring me.

Technically, it's my fault. I'm looking at the keyboard, not at the screen. But - I mean, this is a phone, right? I'm pressing numbers. So - how smart do you have to be, as a programmer, to say: "Hm, if someone is pressing keys on a phone, and it could be a phone number, maybe I could capture it?"

It would be easy enough to pop up a dialog box: "Do you want to call 0808 234 7149?" - and maybe, offer drop-down options for "text" and "multimedia" connections.

But not the guys who put this together. No! As far as they are concerned, the system is running the "missed calls" page. So, you OBVIOUSLY can't be wanting to dial a phone number! Not if you're looking at the menus for missed calls! ... so we'll just ignore the fact that THE USER is TRYING TO DIAL!

"Not my problem, Guv... you're using the wrong menu. We don't cater for idiots..."

Oh, and while I'm at it, Nokia, why doesn't my stupid phone charge its battery from the USB port? Microsoft's been doing that simple trick for four years... but no! I have a flat phone battery, just because I used it as a 3G modem for my notebook. Clever.