Irritating Design Decisions #1

The Product: Motorola Razr2

The Problem: Plugging it into my laptop causes it to automatically change its ringer profile to “Loud”.  Huh?  I just plugged in the phone to my computer, so chances are that 1) I’m indoors; and 2) I’m physically close to the phone.  Even if a compelling argument can be made that my first point is not necessarily true, then why change the volume at all?

For myself, when my phone is plugged into my laptop, I’m at work — a quiet environment — where I don’t necessarily want the phone to blare as loudly as it can to get my attention.  If you can’t reliably determine whether or not the phone is in a noisy environment, then perhaps defaulting to the most intrusive setting is not ideal.

The best default is the one that I specifically set.