Phone Overhaul!

[Herbo]

The point of this is to get peoples ideas/suggestions on a "Phone-Overhaul" update. In the Weazel news post Harley mentioned a phone overhaul update and I decided to make another suggestion on the matter as I thought it was a good idea. Here are some of my ideas.

1. Notification System - Attach a notification system that goes with calls & texts. Make it clear what chats you have "unread" messages in and add a notification counter in the corner of the app similar to how the iPhone does it IRL. Along with that rework the Call system where you can clearly see any missed calls you received while offline.

2. Weazel News App - This goes with the weazel news update suggestion but make a weazel news app where you can see ALL previous advertisements posted. Taking it 1 step farther make a "marketplace" app that is similar to the marketplace we have on the forums, where people can post and fully contact each other through IC methods.

3. Food Delivery - Make an app where you can potentially order food from burgershot, this would open the door to make another freelance job as a "Delivery Driver" where people put an order in for something and you can go get it ( similar to trucker but not as large in scale )

4. Settings - Make a settings app on the phone where you can change things about it, the background color, the icons, ringtone, etc. 

5. Lifeinvader & Gov - Make both of these apps actually usable on the phone. Lifeinvaader just doesn't work and Gov is super laggy it's just easier to tab out to google and go on the gov website if you need.

6. Camera - Make a camera system similar to Base GTA's that allows you to take pictures of things and potentially send it via texts. This could open up some really cool RP of people being "photographers", potential for LEO RP of them getting search warrants for your photos, etc.

That's all I can really think of off the top of my head, would love to see some more suggestions on the matter as the phone system is very old & boring and could definitely use a re-work!

[aitorgn]

+1 Love all of the ideas above! I never use the phone cause it's so laggy and I can't do much really.

[SquirtleSquad]

+1 from me on most of these. Would love to see other suggestions as well! Like a Mechanic app, Coroner's app (once the job is fixed)

[Cyrus Raven]

+1 Would also like to see a social media platform (not life invader for the love of all that is holy) for simple server wide communication. Think of like a message board/twitter.

[AnakinB]

+1 camera app would be crazy my camera roll would have so much incriminatory shit

[TheOwl]

+1 Still waiting on group chats.

[Richie194]

+1 All of this would be a great addition.

[Tenbae]

Yes, and also the possibility to mute your phone! 

[bellalawren]

I think it would be possible to make a system of numbers, and their analogues, such as VoIP, etc. Players would pay some amount of money for the numbers depending on which subscription was purchased. You could also buy phone companies, which would diversify the state's world a lot. If you take the example, it is best to pay attention to https://www.mightycall.com/online-phone-number/ as it provides some of the best services.

Edited May 10, 2023 by bellalawren

[Marksy]

+1 on this suggestion, all epic

[ryanlove]

big +1

[Carl Vespucci]

+1 I'd like to see the implementation of texts being ordered to most recently received; So I don't have to scroll down and search who texted me when I get one. 

or when I log on and have to comb through and see If I've received anything. 

[Bronnen]

+1

I would also suggest having texts show the time you receive them and be sorted by the most recent text. It would also be nice if when you get a new text from someone, you can just add them to contacts instead of having to copy paste their number and go to the contact page.

[Dapph]

huge +1

[Bala]

+1 - I think I even actually liked the old phone more but the interface of this one reminds me of one of those toy phones you have as a kid.

You look at other servers and their phones are so important to connecting players across the map, for us.. it's the odd text, a bit of money transfer and calling a taxi.

[Carl Vespucci]

Twitter would be cool addition to keep updates on what's going on in city real time.

[Dapph]

or just like a yellow pages app?

[Bronnen]

To be honest, the No pixel phone app is just... Fantastic. I've been on a dozen or so servers and theirs is the best phone app.

[ryanlove]

I will +1 this again because this needs to happen ASAP. I have been using the other phone from time to time and it's a game changer. So many things you can do with it's actually mind boggling. Will boost the enjoyment of the server by the tenfold.

[Pazz]

All of the proposed ideas are valuable changes. Well, some more than others, I could do without the customization, but it is shocking that we're lacking something as simple as clear notifications of unread texts.

Honestly, the updated phone we have now feels a little... half-assed, in the sense that while it is great that it was upgraded from having a single screen with multiple texts from various individuals to person-specific chats that can be opened, it wasn't deemed important enough to dedicate a little more time to actually making it a quality update by adding the finishing touches. Which is weird, because as Bala mentioned, the phone is an integral part of the server.

In fact, it feels like we have gone a little backward over time when it comes to the updates to the phone. The first phone was introduced in 2017 and was entirely text-based, but it would inform you of text messages that you received while offline upon login. Texts would also tell you when they were sent, not with a date, but stating "X hours ago".

 

 

The fact that this existed but wasn't carried over to a phone that is supposed to be "better" is a strange decision. So-called "upgrades" really shouldn't come at the expense of being user-friendly. I really don't think it's that difficult to add a little red dot to the texts app and conversations with unread messages.