Cellcomms

“It Just Works”

| Richard

Yesterday, I was reminded about just how good technology can be when it all works together. This can, of course, be a rare thing and nothing is more frustrating than kit that doesn’t work as it should.

But two things – OK, three – reminded me of how lucky we are these days.

It started with iTunes Match: I updated the iTunes software on my work laptop and then enabled iTunes Match and watched as it increased the number of songs from simply those I’d previously purchased from the iTunes Store (available since a previous release of iTunes) to all of my music collection currently stored on my iMac back at home but now backed up to iCloud.

I was then able to download a track I wanted on my laptop from my music store back home.

I’m working away from home at the moment and saw that there was nothing much worth watching on the telly. So I fired up my iPad, tethered it to my iPhone – thanks to 3’s All You Can Eat data plan – and did a bit of social networking before starting up Sky Go.

I then watched a couple of films from Sky’s Anytime+ feature: new or classic films that are available to you, depending upon your Sky TV package. Streamed over 3’s network at no additional cost to me.

“It Just Works”…

iPhone 4

| Richard

Well as I mentioned over at Crass Stupidity, I’d been considering an iPhone 4 after it was announced and given it a guarded ‘maybe’, so I’d registered an interest in it with 3 and indeed Vodafone.

Recent searches had also indicated that 3 might well be offering free tethering, whereby you use your phone’s data package with other devices like laptops and indeed an iPad to save you having to splash out on a separate data contract. And yes, I am beginning to be tempted by the thought of an iPad as well, having had a photographer friend extol the virtues of his and having played with one at Meadowhell last weekend.

Merely having expressed interest, I’d been surprised to receive this text from 3 on the 22nd June:

“Great news: You’ll get an iPhone 4 upgrade and we’ve already reserved one for you…”

I didn’t even say I wanted one yet!

Then on the 24th June:

“Update. Your iPhone 4 is still reserved. Due to high demand we’ll contact you when we can process your order. View tariff details at three.co.uk/iphone”

The next day, I received this text:

“Great news. Your iPhone 4 will be available w/c 19 July. We’ll contact you between 1 & 7 July to process your upgrade…”

Well I’ve just received that call late this afternoon. They’re offering me a 16GB iPhone 4 on a 24 month contract with a one-payment to start with. In other words, it’s the same offer as anyone else would get, except that:

  1. I wouldn’t want a 16GB one as I’d intend to actually use it and fill up the phone with music, video and of course work.
  2. Why the hell would I want a 24 month contract when Tesco are offering a 12 month one?
  3. Why the hell would I want a 24 month contract when my current one is a 12 month one?
  4. Why the hell would I want a 24 month contract when Apple tend to launch a newer, better iPhone every year?
  5. Why the hell would I necessarily want to stay with 3 when I have two pay monthly phones and want to combine the two into one?

Time to talk to 3’s customer retention department, I think…

The Trouble with the iPhone 4…

| Richard

So Apple’s new iPhone 4 was announced yesterday and no doubt all the Apple fanbois will soon be getting their sweaty mitts on them. I mustard mitt that I watched the video late last night and started to give getting one some serious thought.

Looking at the tech specs, it’s lighter, thinner and shorter than my present Nokia N97 but wider. So a guarded thumbs up there. It’s heavier, taller and wider but thinner than my current choice for upgrade, BlackBerry’s Pearl 3G/9105, so the scales tip away again. And of course it’s a touchscreen with all that goes with that in terms of minor irritations.

The first couple of minutes of the promo video focus on the video calling capability of the iPhone 4, but then this does depend upon both the caller and the recipient having iPhone 4s and being set up and using WiFi. The guy in the hotel room is clearly luckier or wealthier than me, because I almost always find hotel WiFi hit and miss and hideously expensive. And of course this is nothing that an average laptop user can’t accomplish with a cellular, wired or wireless connection and Windows Live Messenger, Skype or whathaveyou. So the main feature is nice, but expensive.

Multi-tasking makes it to the iPhone 4, something that both the Nokia and the BlackBerry have been doing for yonks.

So it looks like the choice is probably still going to be the BlackBerry, but we’ll see.

The Trouble with Smartphones

| Richard

…is that that composite word is a contradiction in terms. My Nokia N97 is becoming the most annoying thing in my life at the moment. Why?

  • the touchscreen is slow and unresponsive sometimes, which means that it takes twice as long to enter a text message or input data due to errors
  • the touchscreen is usually greasy from my fingers and/or face
  • Nokia’s Bluetooth implementation sucks: it doesn’t work properly in my Mazda RX-8 R3, unlike both my BlackBerry and Sony Ericsson phones
  • reception is rubbish, though this could be down to Vodafone who, let’s not forget, are now selling a gadget to boost your signal (actually a box which appears to change your calls to VOIP)
  • the camera lens is scratched, ironically enough by the lens cover that’s supposed to protect it, so that most shots are compromised and flash shots are truly horrendous

So I’ve decided to replace it with something else. Now, the iPhone is no good as it’s too large and restricted by network (unless you pay top dollar from Expansys) and I’m now no fan of touchscreens anyway. Sony Ericsson have a Google Android device that looks good but is again a touchscreen and Android’s implementation of Bluetooth is again full of fail in terms of voice dialling. No, if only I could have a GPS-equipped version of my favourite current phone, my SE W595.

Well that would appear to be the Sony Ericsson W995 then? Yes … and no. Can someone explain to me what on earth possessed SE to shove a metal stand on it? SRSLY, WTF? I mean, do they reckon that you’re going to get together with friends and family to sit around a tiny mobile phone perched on a coffee table to watch a movie? No, that’s what TVs are for! And in the meantime, that stand is going to be flapping around all over the place – take a look at any demo unit in a phone shop and see what I mean. So it’ll get caught when you put it in or out of your pocket. Being metal, it’ll scratch any other gadgets in the same pocket. Of course, I could just break it off or superglue it down, but that’s not a good way to treat a new phone, surely?

The Trouble with iPhones

| Richard

So Apple has unveiled new features for its iPhone. The main one is for advertising within apps – I read that as intrusive targeted ads that you need to click past before using the app or whilst using it.

This means the final nail in the coffin for me ever getting one: my Nokia N97 is due for replacement this summer and I thought about getting an iPhone but quite honestly its size puts me off. Likewise I’m becoming more and more annoyed with touchscreens and having a filthy, greasy screen to read. There’s no way I’ll be putting up with intrusive ads either.

More and more, I’ve been thinking that the only thing that makes my other phone, a Sony Ericsson W595, less than perfect is its lack of GPS. And guess what? Their W995 has that. SE also do a great-looking touchscreen model running Android, but Google’s implementation of Bluetooth hands-free is such that you can’t actually make the call from a car kit but you need to do it from the phone. Which means it’s not good enough for use in the car (much like Nokia’s N97 then…).

The Sony Ericsson W595 Just Works. If their W995 is as easy then that’s a no-brainer for me: a small phone with all the features I want and none of the features I don’t.

Bluetooth

| Richard

The Bose audio system – which is fabulous – also includes Bluetooth telephone compatibility which dispenses with a car kit. It allows you to pair a number of phones with the car as well.

Sadly, it appears that one manufacturer’s implementation of Bluetooth differs from another and I have had some ‘issues’ getting one of my phones to work properly. I presently have a Nokia N97 for general use, a BlackBerry Curve 8900 for work and a Sony Ericsson W595 as a spare (those hyperlinks take you to the results of Mazda’s tests on the handsets).

Whilst all three phones successfully paired with the R3, the Nokia will only receive calls through the audio system and make calls only if dialled from the handset. Both the other phones make and receive calls by voice alone, which is effectively another nail in the coffin for the Nokia.

Damn You Google!

| Richard

{shakes fist}

The other day, I turned up in Birmingham and realised I hadn’t packed a tie, so I needed to wander off and find one. Not knowing the area, but having found a likely shopping centre on Google Maps, I decided to fire up Nokia Maps on my Nokia N95-8GB and use its built-in GPS to give myself walking directions. I had been using this application quite a lot since the start of the year whilst wandering around Birmingham staying in different hotels and having to find my way on foot to a Client’s offices.

So I was disappointed to realise that my subscription to the navigation element of the app. had expired, so I reluctantly renewed it at the cost – whatever it was – and used it to find me way there and back.

Now I prefer the Google Mobile Maps application to Nokia Maps, but that only had driving directions and public transport … except that a couple of days after renewing, I saw an article which mentioned the directions on foot facility in the latest version of the software. Now downloaded to my mobile and yes, indeed it does have foot navigation. And it’s free…

Bugger!

Nokia N95 8GB and Exchange

| Richard

I have resisted buying a BlackBerry – or strictly speaking having one bought for me by the company I work for – for the following reasons:

  1. If I want a phone, I’ll use a phone – the smaller the better, so it fits in my pocket.
  2. If I want to check or send an e-mail then I’ll fire up a laptop and do it on proper hardware.
  3. I don’t want “Sent from my BlackBerry” added to my e-mails!
  4. My Nokia N95 8GB does everything I want: camera, phone, texts, e-mail (I have a special e-mail account set up to be checked on it) and satellite navigation using Co-Pilot software.

But when BlackBerry introduced their Storm, I thought “at last, a BlackBerry that might fit my requirements!” So I spoke to the MD and he said I should go right ahead and get a BlackBerry. I dug a little deeper and found that Orange - who we are switching to – don’t offer the Storm: it’s Vodafone only. And besides, the BlackBerry Storm on Vodafone may not work with Exchange (or it possibly might … for an extra £26 a month on top of your price plan!).

Now as our company e-mail runs on Microsoft Exchange, that rather means that the Storm is as useful to me as a chocolate teapot. And it was slowly becoming apparent that being able to access my e-mail or be advised that e-mail has arrived on the go without needing to fire up a laptop with the Orange 3G dongle was becoming more and more of a requirement, it seemed I was stuffed.

So back to square one. I thought. I asked the IT bods to set up mail forwarding for me, so that incoming e-mail would go to my Exchange account and a copy would be forwarded to an e-mail address I had set up especially for this. I had set up my Nokia N95 8GB to fetch e-mails every 30 minutes and it worked.

Except that replies would appear to come from my own address and wouldn’t be properly synchronised with my work e-mails. So I Googled for “Nokia S60 exchange mail” and found this link to Nokia’s Mail For Exchange.

Downloaded, sent to the phone, installed and set up in a few minutes. Then a few more minutes tweaking the settings so it worked and voila! My Outlook Calendar and Exchange e-mails were sync’d to my phone. I’ve set it up to be connected during my working hours (8.00am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday) and then outside those working periods every four hours – I could have made it more frequently, but one last check at 10.00pm and then once every four hours over the weekend is more than adequate.

And It Just Works!

So I now have my Nokia doing what I want as I want it done.

ORLY?

| Richard

And the award for Most Pointless Text Message today goes to Vodafone:

“We continually invest in our network to provide a reliable service & you’ll be pleased to know we’ve now improved coverage in an area where you use your mobile.”

Excellent! Which area is that? Given that I live in South-East London during the week, work in South London, visit clients in Central London twice a week and travel home to Norfolk each weekend, wouldn’t it have been an idea to tell me which area had been improved?