Unlimited Rice Pudding

In the caravan last night, looking at the weather forecast via my mobile phone, and showing videos of my niece singing Abba songs whilst she’s hidden under a table (I have a feeling that she’s going to hate that cutesy clip in years to come), I wondered why I hadn’t hooked up the notebook via the mobile phone to the Net. Simple reason – I hadn’t needed to.

So there was a task for me whilst Mr Ramsay was having a time of it sorting out a Mexican. I new I could use the Nokia 6220c as a mobile dial-up modem, but went in search of a way to use it with my O2 mobile phone contract (unlimited data transfer) rather than via my home broadband connection.

It turns out that there is a button on the Nokia Suite that allows this. So I downloaded it on to the phone’s memory card, as Nokia had, thankfully, included the whole install file instead of just a wee install stub. I left the phone working on that 35mb download overnight and recharged the battery in the morning (handy USB phone cable just plugs into notebook).

In the morning, I use bluetooth to transfer the file across to the notebook. I haven’t really used bluetooth too much, but was impressed by the transfer rate. A simple install, bish bash bosh and a button-press, and I can see the weather forecast for the Minch on XC-Weather without having to strain my eyes.

It is an awful lot easier to use than pinking out messages on the phone’s keyboard, or trying to read messages on the wee screen, or browsing a forum without the aid of tabs. At 115kbps, I wonder if it can handle the BBC iPlayer. Mitch Benn (6,589 followers)(S. Fry 398,220 followers; B Obama 21,398; Fred MacAulay 98) twittered on Thursday that the old gang were back together again. As the caravan walls are paper thin, I’d better get the headphones out and stifle my guffaws.

A few minutes later, and the little swirly thing goes round, the connection resets itself, and – for some reason as yet unknown – the headphone socket is ignored and the sounds come out of the speakers; I think I’ll close the iPlayer page down, and wait for the Saturday repeat on the car radio.

Now … I’m off to find out what the issue is with the headphone socket that wasn’t there before. Typical computer problem that. Find one solution, and it causes a separate problem – I bet it has something to do with bluetooth. Hmm, maybe it is using the phone as a speaker and was playing back through that. Well, it keeps my brain ticking over as the sound of breathing comes from various close relatives, over the sound of the river and the crows outside.

gReader Catchup: Next iPhone

Caught up on some of the MacRumors about the next iPhone.

• the next-generation iPhone will have "a significantly faster Internet connection." While no further information is given as to whether this is referring to cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity. source
• the new iPhone would indeed have a video camera. source
• New iPhone announcement around mid-June. source
• Supporting only 802.11n devices on a wireless network can significantly improve performance.
  If Apple does indeed provide video recording and publishing, it certainly makes sense to offer some limited editing/clipping ability. source
• 802.11n wireless connectivity … also supports both reception and transmission of FM radio signals.
  Apple has certainly been known not to enable all features their hardware is capable of, and FM reception/transmission is one that have shown no interest in supporting in the past. source
• The discovery that Apple's next iPhone might contain both video input as well as a magnetometer (digital compass) opens up some interesting possibilities for future iPhone applications.
  Examples of how this could be used include pointing your iPhone's camera at a building and the phone telling you what building it is by combining GPS, accelerometer and compass information. The iPhone could even overlay graphics and text on top of the image to provide additional information. Another application described is the ability to show information about stars and constellations simply by pointing your iPhone towards the sky. source

I’m counting the days already. Even if they are just rumours at this stage.

Linx B-tube

Linx B-tube, originally uploaded by dimacleod.

Linx b-tube arrives. It looks good and feels good. For a few seconds i forget my lurgy and leave my breathing to a lower brain function. For a wee while. Watching last week's "old dogs" and seeing behind the scenes of John Simpson's journey to Afghanistan. Lots to do. And I'm on holiday now.

--

Added “out of the box” video.

Snaptu

After some chatter about Twitter at work, I went looking for mobile clients and found Snaptu. It works on my Nokia. Looks smart and caught up with some film news. As to Twitter. Well, not being a fan of chat rooms – I don’t do small talk, breath is too important to waste on worthless chatter. Life moves on, and I’ve just wasted precious heart-beats on the mundane daily life of other mundane folk. Pub, talk, edited highlights, agonising lowlights, set the world to rights – all missing from the inane chatter of SMS text messages.

But it is a tool. Useful in cases. Useless in other cases. It sits there in the toolbox. When I need it for work, I’ll just get the students to use the site as a character-counter, then copy/paste it into an email, or wiki page in Blackboard. Or give them a pen and a Post-it note.

I look forward to seeing what Snaptu offers next. It looks good. Does what it says on the tin. I guess that nothing more is needed from an app that lets you access other apps.

Searching for More Phone Apps

As I get fed up finding that the Symbian s60 (3rd ed) operating system has programs that do not run unless you have a specific Nokia phone, I went looking elsewhere.

If the mobile phone OS can't cut the mustard, why not use the layers above it?

My Nokia 6220 Classic has Flash Lite installed, and after 2 years (article from Sept 2006), there should be a lot of apps for this cross-platform system. Must'n't there be?

I must be missing something. Lots of people have mobile phone. Many have Nokia mobile phones. Many of the Nokia phones have the Symbian OS.

The software is all over the place and poorly advertised (i.e. not at all). If Nokia wanted to push a store similar to Apple's App Store, they'd have a large market in their grasp.

With the current economic crisis, I'm surprised that they are so blasé about this. Heck, when I got the Nokia 6220 Classic, it wasn't even listed within their software pages. It is one thing for a company like Adobe not to mention it (yes, it does come with Flash Lite pre-installed), but silly for Nokia not to.

Perhaps this shows something about the company itself? A market where only the hardware matters. I certainly see how poor the texting interface is on the 6220 in comparison with that of the K800i. The same is true of the camera interface.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the market over the next 17 months. Will battery technology have moved on? Will 3g be available outside the urban sprawl so that mobiles can access the 'cloud' when needed? Will there be anything useful developed from geo-apps? Will we be merely throwing sheep?

Nokia 6220 Classic Menu

Software listing. Having followed the advice from SymbianGuru's 3-part article, I arranged software into various folders, and then re-arranged them on the screen of easy access. However, when I copied the supplied 1 gig SDHC on to the newly arrived (from Play.com) 4 gig SDHC, some of the programs installed on the card refused to swap over. So this list is really for my benefit as I'll now have to go and re-install the files.

Internet

Search. Download. Web. Share Online. WidSets. My Nokia. Music Store. Opera Mini. Spodtronic

Applications

My Own (Empty). Recorder. Camera. Games (Marble). Translation (LastMinute.com: Italian, Spanish, German, French). PanoMan. ScrnSnapS60. Location Tagger. CellSpin.

Nav

Maps. GoogleMaps. GPS Data. Landmarks. Sports Tracker.

Office

Converter. Calendar. Quickoffice. Calculator. Active Notes. Dictionary. Adobe PDF. Notes. WorldMate. Enhanced Calculator.

Media

Podcasting. Radio. RealPlayer. Msg Reader. Nokia Audiobook Player.

System

Help (Tutorial. Welcome. Help). Archive (Print Online. PTT). Y-Browser. Log.

Settings

Sett Wizard. Profiles. Voice Comm. Themes. Phone Sett. Connectivity. Speed Dial. Data Mgr. Speech. Call mailbox. Conn Mgr.

I like the phone, and think I might actually buy the Opera browser when the trial period ends. Unless FireFox port a version to the S60 Symbian language before then. I was out with relatives last night, and used the BBC Sports live feed to keep them informed of the Andy Murray tennis match. It was gibberish to me, but meant something to them. Until a cousin found there was a 5 minute delay in the report, and got round it by nipping to the pub next-door to the restaurant. Sneaker-net is alive and well.

And finally, I switched the camera's location detector off on Wednesday, even though I had left it with only the option of picking up the location of the phone from the network rather than the battery-draining GPS system. By Saturday night, I was down to 3 bars of energy (from 7), despite 'normal' usage plus Internet. A more reasonable battery life than I had experience on Monday and Tuesday. Signal strength has been good, far better than the returned Sony Ericsson c902.

At beach with 6220

At beach with 6220, originally uploaded by dimacleod.

Took some comparative photos with the nokia 6220 classic and figured out some focussing issues with the zoom.
I switched the geotagging feature on flickr and downloaded the additional program from nokia last night, but the phone comes with the feature anyway. Back at the car, i switched off the gps before closing the tagging program and locked the applications running. I had to switch the phone off and on again. Still, it is fun to learn there idiocyncracies.

--added later--

The focus on the camera requires a gentle touch, especially when zoomed in. After an experiment, it seems that the focus when in "landscape" mode doesn't kick in as the focus is set on infinity, but I'll need to experiment more. Two photos below, one with the full optical zoom. I didn't bother with the digital zoom, as I can do that with the software.

And if you go to the Flickr pages (click on the image), there's a geotag been added by the system for the latter two images. I wonder if it was because they weren't edited. Personally, I'd be happy (or happier) with the data being picked up off the network instead of the GPS. The system was useful in that it backdated the images when the satellites had locked in to my phone. Sadly, there is no easy kill-switch for the GPS ... and now the "positioning" menu (where the options are) has disappeared from the easy to remember Settings -> Phone Settings -> General.

Snaps with Nokia 6220 Classic

I still have the Nokia 6220's camera to get to grips with, having just found more settings in the extended camera toolbar (white balance, ISO, etc). Here's a couple of shots taken on my way to the shops.

Outside HMT.

Looking back at the once Triple Kirk.

Full sized images are up on Flickr if anyone wants to see them. I have switched on the geotagging feature, which meant that every time the camera was used, the GPS system fired up to source the location. It seems to stay on too. Also, no location information was uploaded to Flickr. Having to manually switch off the GPS became a nuisance, so I've switched it back to using the phone's network to obtain the location.

I'll leave the GPS system for when I need detailed satnav.

Nokia 6220 "classic"

I spent last night downloading software from Nokia's "app store" and then finding that most was demo ("free to try" means just that). I found download.com's mobile software better for finding appropriate software for the Symbian s60 (the operating system used).

This morning I went through software uninstalling most as the programs wouldn't run on my phone.

I can't find decent blogging software. Tried "CellSpin" this morning (having seen it last night), but I'm not keen on it. It requires a Net connection when writing. Think I'll stick with emailing to the blog and Flickr. The screen can be rotated (it doesn't do this automatically) and so the web can be read easily, and easier than I did on the c902.

Official Nokia site

Cnet's review of Nokia 6220 "classic"

I have downloaded Google Maps and changed the customisable side "my own key" to open that. Photo shows GoogleMaps, the location is picked up from the cell's network (the GPS didn't work indoors), so has an accuracy of 1.8km.

A 4gig SDHC is on order, and I'll need to get a new case for the phone (though it fits into the K800 bodyglove with some extra space). All sounds and photos from Sony Ericsson's phone ported across last night.

Return to Sender

With a song in my heart, I'm just off the phone to my provider, and I'll be returning the Sony Ericsson c902 tomorrow.

After a couple of days of mediocrity, customising menus and a software upgrade, I gave up on reasons to keep it after it kept dropping signal strength when Darren called me earlier. A call that the K800i had handled with no problem was cracking up, and we were both in our respective urban abodes too, and not mobile. I'd seen the signal strength bars fluctuate from full to nothing when sitting on my desk.

So, I went to the local O2 shoppe and looked at some handsets. My needs were:

• keyboard visible for hot text action.
• 5mp camera with good reviews.
• lens cover to protect lens from scratches.

Amazingly, very few phones met that spec. Of the phones available to me, the Nokia 6220 was the only one. I went home, and looked at the writeup. Apart from build quality and a slightly weaker battery, it compared well with the c902 (here). Plus it is loaded with extras.

This is the last photo I will be taking with the phone as I decant back to the K800 for a few days. I have been with SE for my last 3 phones and my relatives seem to enjoy the cast-offs.

Happy Bunny

After the debacle with the iPhone, my phone provider stood by an arranged deal, and a new Sony Ericsson (1c2ses) C902 is winging its way to me. A 3g phone with unlimited Internet access and a 5megapixel camera. That's why I've been playing around with blogging bigger photos via Flickr.com.

Of course, I've read that some people have had poor experiences with their C902's, and the flash isn't as good as it could be. So far, I've been 'lucky' with my Sony Ericsson experiences. Or have others just been unlucky. That's the downside with reading online reviews.

Shopping list: a new "Body Glove" holder, and eventually a bigger M2 memory stick (I'll swap my existing 1gig card into it).

I can't see myself using the phone in any new and exciting way. I have a k800i already, so can listen to music through the built-in speakers, I can take photos with the camera, and can email them to the blog. I can also text, and even make phone calls. It isn't a convergent device like the iPhone, but I'll see if any new software is available for it. And in 18 months time, I'll see what the new communications technology and battery systems will allow me to upgrade to.

Not quite another SPOT-killer

Webware is a useful service to subscribe to. Overnight there were about 6 items of news2.0 to look at. This one caught my eye:

Online travel communications retailer Telestial has just launched Travel Journal, an online service that automatically creates an online trip journal based on the location of the user's phone. Using a special SIM card that triangulates the user's location using cell phone towers, Travel Journal automatically updates in more than 100 countries.

Full article at: Webware

I hope we see more of these useful features being added to mobile phones. Obviously, the difficulty is receiving mobile phone connections in the wilds. Something that SPOT recognised, and so set up their own system to negate that issue.

You can, of course, send your own email link to your blog, and have it appear as a flag on Google Maps (see earlier post). With GPS hardware appearing in more and more mobile phones, the search for the killer geo-application goes on. But it will be difficult to sell an application to the outdoor community whilst signal coverage is so poor. But, who cares about it? It is good to get away from people texting about problems at their work and how rubbish tv is.

One solution that I heard of to taking the world with you in your mobile phone was that the wife gave him a pay-as-you-go SIM for his phone. Work didn't know his new number, but he could call out if he needed. He had a great time painting watercolours in France.

Snarf Shorty

If you aren't using Bluetooth on your mobiles, switch it off and switch visibility to hidden. Here's why. A batch of party-goers got on board the train at Arbroath. They proceeded to spill drinks on the chairs, and spout of obscenities. There were kids further down the carriage, but their parents didn't object, so neither did I. Live and let live, as I maintained an aura of "don't even think of spilling over to my side of the carriage".

A thought crossed my mind, and I set my phone to detect bluetooth devices. Slowly a number of devices began to be listed. 7 in total. Voighty:), x!shorty!x, Shellybabe, XxXrAnDoMxXx, and the more mundane: w910i, w580i, k610i.

No doubt I'd have need to have guessed an access code, and any access attempt would have pinged a message to the phone user. The last three are Sony Ericsson phones, so I wonder if that means something about the initial settings. I stopped with just the list of device names on my phone, and a wonder at people's naiveté.

Don't have nightmares.

--

On a lighter note, I was in one of the three O2 shops on Princes St on Saturday. When we were in, there were only 2 customers in. There were 6-8 iPhones on display. The staff let us browse unhindered by sales talk. I compared the phone's real dimensions against my current phone. I was still underwhelmed by the product. We left.

Of Phones and Things

Had a nice chat with Katy across on Orange. Laughably, as I try to get a number to call O2 for their contract termination, their 'upgrades' link points me to a message telling my to "Upgrade to Apple iPhone3G". If I hadn't passed the last straw already, that would have been it.

Oh, and walking past the O2 shop in the Bon Accord mall today after 1pm, I saw a big empty shop, a guard on the door, and a queue ("line") of 3 people outside. I shook my head in their general direction. I couldn't muster any happy thoughts. I read online that the O2 Upgrade system had crashed, and so some stores were only taking new customers, one store processed details on paper.

Using my browser's history I punched up the now-inaccessible contacts page. I called and got through to terminations. Security questions depended on knowing my account, but the online billing was fried. Being a trusting soul, I'd printed off relevant detailed to pdf last night (yeah, PrimoPDF), so could answer the questions. Being a good at his job, the O2 guy matched my Sony Ericsson C902 deal from Orange, in fact, bettering the monthly price by a tenner (£180 saving). No free 8gig memory card, but I can live with that (I can use the 1gig card I have with my existing phone, or spend the 2 months tariff savings on a 4gb card). All I'll need after that is a new body glove case (they seem to work well for me).

Happy bunny.

I took this with my 3.2mp camera-phone. The C902 has a 5mp camera. Not a 2mp camera (unlike the one I was hoping to get today). It turns out that the quality and spec of the embedded camera is more important to me than the hype of the iPhone. It also transpires that I want to be able to quickly text/blog-mail without having to slide out a keyboard (ruling out the N95 and some other smartphones).

So, the saga ends. I am on the promise of a new phone when my contract ends early in August. The details have been recorded on my O2 customer log, and I have written a transcript on paper (including the chap's name).

I still have twitlive.tv playing in the background (total viewers for his amazing 24-hour livecast has topped a quarter-of-a-million already ) I've closed down the O2 iPhone forums. I'll probably unsubscribe from the related podcasts and RSS feeds.

Please hold.

iEmpathy - 3g iPhone Blues

This is what I get when watching Leo live. I empathise with the song, as Darren texts me phone models to look at.

Jobs' keynote presentation never mentioned this at launch day. For about a month now, today was "launch day". yesterday's rain has passed, but it is still raining in my heart.

Just finishing breakfast, then off to do the filing I didn't do yesterday.

Please hold.

iMorning

Leo Laporte is still going strong 7 hours later, he's 8 hours behind UK time. twitlive.tv

He's just admitted that he hasn't spoken to anyone via the new iPhone yet. Speaking to Wil Harris in Oxford, there is only 6 people queuing outside the O2 store. In the US flagship store, there was only 20 people queuing whereas last year there was over 100. 10 mins before the opening, Wil said the queue ("line") went up to 11 people.

Oooh, video of iRobot (ooh, hip name). Direct control of a small robot, without having to go through a laptop. No wonder the US military are interested. link

iPhone Launch Day

Well, it is now the 11th July. the day that Steve Jobs' company launches the iPhone. The day that O2 stores in the UK are selling the iPhone. I'm watching Leo Laporte at twitlive.tv - first time I've seen him in the 'flesh', and I'm still trying to marry up the voice with the face.

As to phones, I'm on the Sony Ericsson site, looking at the spec of the C902. No (non-turn-by-turn) gps, no app store. But it is smaller, has a better camera, and I can text with buttons. I'll see what deals I can get on the phone and contract when my contract expires in August.

So long, Apple, it has been a fun month thinking of all the things I could do with it. Each one seems to have been knocked back by what I've heard about limitations of hardware, software and coverage. Maybe the next release will be handled better.

d-1 for iPhone 3G Launch

David Pogue of the New York Times sums up a lot of what I've been thinking since O2 don't want my iCustom.

Having seen the problems that people have been having on the O2 forums, I decided not to bother calling up a different O2 upgrade phone number. I think I want a better camera than the iPhone comes with. I'm getting tempted by the Sony Ericsson C902, or the Nokia N95. For out on the hills, I'm not too keen on having to slide out a keyboard to rattle off a blog post - that way leads to a damaged phone or a missed opportunity.

Hello, Goodbye

Just off the phone with what sounds like a very busy O2 call centre. The main news is that despite being texted by O2 that I can upgrade my phone to an iPhone, the lass said exactly the same as the email message that came in on Tuesday.

I have to wait another month until my contract expires to get an iPhone.

For me, that's another month to look at coverage, contracts, to hear about the problems with the iPhone after the launch, to walk away from O2 and Apple. And then there will be the launch of new phones from Apple's competitors to consider.

But I did hear mention of a speculated 32gig iPhone launching later in the year. The "Today in iPhone" decision tree.

Oh, I tried joining the O2 customer forums last night (tech, tips). 12 hours later and I'm still waiting for the activation email. I'd be laughing if I had any chuckles left in me after the way O2 has mis-handled the launch and killed off my interest in a convergent device in just 4 days. Well done to all involved. It just sums up the state of the UK so-called "service" industry.

Anyway, here's "The Hell Song" - slightly more appropriate for O2's 'hold' music than "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". Who the heck plays songs-from-the-wars music to customers? Oh yeah, O2. Please hold.

No News is No News

On Monday, I wasn't able to get a 3g iPhone from O2 online. They said to come back to their site on Thursday. For the next few days the 'news' was the same.

This morning, their site has a graphic stating: "iPhone 3G. The iPhone you've been waiting for. Coming 11 July."

The only news for existing O2 customers (me) who don't have a 1st generation iPhone (I don't).

Upgrade to iPhone 3G
Existing O2 customers can also switch to iPhone 3G. We'll contact you when you're eligible for an upgrade and talk you through the best options.

Considering that this is a business who's core business is communications, this sort of attitude is laughable.

As my contract is with the online O2 franchise, I am not able to go to a real-world O2 shop tomorrow. I wouldn't bother queuing like a Muppet anyway. What I'm doing tonight/tomorrow depends on the weather, not some over-paid O2 executives.