Category: mobile-technology

SPV E600 came yesterday, thanks Orange

Like Orange promised, the SPV E600 did come on Monday and I'm now a proud owner of one of the best little mobile phones you can get at the moment.

Poil asked for a list of my installed applications, well here you go.

  • PocketRSS 2.x (RSS reader)
  • iMov Messenger (jabber)
  • Minimo 0.14 alpha (WWW Browser)
  • Dynamo 2 (task switcher) – might remove this
  • Keypass (password keeper)
  • Betaplayer (video player)
  • Agile Messenger (jabber) – can't get it connecting over xmpp at the moment
  • VNC viewer (vnc)
  • Wififofum 2.2 (wireless scanner)
  • Wifi Tunes 0.4 (itunes browser)
  • GSPlayer 2.x (music player)

My only gripes so far have been the power button which allows you to put the M600 in standby mode as well as power off. Standby mode also stops any music which you may have been playing. Its not a big issue because GSplayer and even windows media player 10 have display off options. Another beef is the Today screen which has been hijacked by Orange for there weird menu thing. Oh and one last thing, my Bluetooth Keyboard doesn't have drivers for Windows mobile 5, so it fails to work at the moment. Otherwise I'm totally happy. Simple things like the ability to automaticly restart music after a phone call is great. You can check out all my SPV M600 pictures here. Thanks again Orange, hopefully next time I come to upgrade the process won't be so painful.

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A update on the SPV M600 query

I got it! yep and it was well worth the wait!

So a quick update on whats happening with the SPV M600 which I'm still currently trying to get. So expansys emailed me on Wednesday and said they have 9 phones in stock, would you want us to deliver it to you tomorrow. I decided against it because it would mean a change of contract and everything would have to go through expansys instead of Orange directly. This may seem stupid if I really wanted the phone that badly but actually the new contact would have cost me extra every month, therefore ignoring all the time and money I've spent with Orange for the last 3 years. So I thought I would search the London Orange Business stores for M600's. I visited the Holburn, Cheapside, Oxford Circus and Woolwich business centres multiple times this week, after getting some hot tips about the M600 being delivered to those stores. Obviously all the trips ended up in no phones. I think the closest I got to the M600 was the Woolwich store, where they sold out the evening before I phoned up.

Anyway I decided do things a little differently after reading Dan's comment about holding Orange to ransom about moving to Vodafone. I decided to call Oranges, I'm moving to another network line. And it worked out well for myself.

They agreed to keep me on my current contract but change the amount of free text messages I get every month and give me the phone for free. At the time (yesterday – Thursday) I was dismissive of the offer because I thought the phone wouldn't be in stock for another month. So agreed that Orange should call me when theres actual M600's in stock which they can deliver the next day.

I decided to keep search and phoning Orange stores looking for any left over stock of the M600, just incase (i ride past 3 of them in the mornings). But the same women who I spoke to yesterday on the phone at Orange, called me mid morring and said what I've been waiting for months. We have stock of the SPV M600 would you like me to send you one on a free upgrade? I almost started laughing, yes indeed!

So now Monday at sometime my new phone should come and I will finally have the phone I've been waiting for. I just hope Orange don't jack me around because I know Expansys have another deliver of M600's on Tuesday and I will be very tempted to just call them up, unless one of the stores gets it in first. Geez sounds like a endless loop, doesn't it? Lets just hope Orange delivers on its promise. As I have a load of applications ready to install on it.

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Orange why can I not have a strikingly compact M600?

SPV M600

Orange are simply taking the piss now. Not only do they have the phone I want in stock but they will not sell it to me because its classed as a business phone. Yeah how stupid is that? Tell me Orange what about the SPV M500, SPV M2000, 3G mobile Office card and the SPV M5000. Hummm well Orange? What adds to the insult is the fact that Orange France are selling the SPV M600 as normal and that Orange UK won't be releasing this phone out of the business tarrif till sometime in Summer at least (so I've been told). Anyway, I've bitten the bullet and bought the phone via a 3rd party. Expansys reckon they have the phone ready to go, so I've bought it from them under the understanding that I can return it within 30days if I'm not happy with it. I can also cancel the order if Orange get it before Expansys, but I very much douht it. So yeah goodbye to the Nokia N80, its a good phone but its not coming on to Orange till late May now I hear, Vodafone in May.

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My thoughts on the Microsoft Origami

Founder Origami

A friend of mine Birch, sent me a email.

I think this gizmo has a future because of its price point, wireless capability and mobility. i might even be sold on one. what do you think?

And my reply as I've only covered it not really put any of my thoughts down yet.

Honestly I think its too expensive. If they got it down to about 400-500 pounds it might start selling. Having a TabletPC already I know there good but not worth a extra 250 on top of a reasonable Laptop. If they did get the price down I would dump my HP Ipaq which runs PocketPC 2003. I would still keep my 12 inch Toshiba TabletPC because you can't beat a decent keyboard although my Bluetooth Keyboard isn't bad once its paired and running. But even 12 inches is too big for holding on a packed London train in the mornings. The 2.5 inch Ipaq is good but a little too small for playing video back. And don't even get me started on playing back H.264 content on a PocketPC! I'm sure its simply not possible. With a 7 inch Origami or other like device (ben), its going to be possible to playback h.264 with VLC without having to transcode the video first. Hey and its not just about watching and consuming. The Origami is going to be a great device for taking notes, recording audio and maybe even recording video has it has a Camera and USB2

Its generally a interesting device but I wouldn't give up my Laptop of it. But we can certainly say this could be the end of the road for PocketPC and PDA devices now. I mean the next phone I'm really interested in has everything my Ipaq has, so whats the point of having both I guess.

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Microsoft’s Origami

MS Origami

Thanks to Che for sending this link around the office today. Its the video for the new Microsoft device which is set to be launched tomorrow (March 2nd 2006). I've heard Scobe and others talking about it on blogs and podcasts but had no idea it was a OQO killer. Hey another reason not to buy a PSP or Ipod maybe? By the way, what is up with this site?

It certainly looks like it has Wireless and Bluetooth. Maybe running a special version of Vista instead of Windows Mobile 5? The big question is if its a real product or just a concept or prototype? I guess we will find out tomorrow.

And at long last its official.

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Do you EVDO? No not on this side of the world

If I hear someone say EVDO again, I'm going to scream. I don't know any other country in the world which uses this 2.5g mobile data connetion? Except maybe Canada? Oh and Latin America? don't think so, but maybe someone could confirm this. I'm very sure its not used anywhere else including Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa, Middle East, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Eastern Asia or the Asia Pacific area. it seems to have been made by American mobile carrier to allow them to offer mobile internet type solutions without paying the stupid prices of 3G licences. Ok, Fair enough but now theres a split between the smartphones coming out (IMHO).

Theres a whole range which support GPRS, EDGE and UMTS (3G) which all seem to work together nicely. You can even go from one country to another with these phones and it works. Believe it or not I was able to get GPRS out of my SPV E200 when I last went to the midwest of America in 2004 thanks to Tmobile and AT&T. Then you got the rouge phones which only support EVDO. This would be fine but the rouge ones tend to be the Microsoft PocketPC or Windows Mobile 2005 devices. The type of device I've been looking forward to having one day soon. Thanks EVDO carriers for this split. Thank you very much. I can't really blame Microsoft because America is a bigger market when it comes to Mobile Data it would seem. I'm not only pointing the finger at American Carriers like Cingular but also much closer to home like my own which is Orange. If Orange would provide a more American like data tariff of 20 pounds for 100meg of Mobile data a month we may start to see more mobile data use and that would in turn attract Microsoft and others.

It must be killing Orange and other mobile operators over here that they paid such stupid prices for 3G and its actually better and quicker technology that EVDO but the customers are not using it much. They quote huge take ups of 3G phones but how many of those people actually regularly use 3G and how much data do they transfer? I bet the percentage of data per person is very low. And you can't be suprised when most operators are charging about 1 pound per meg if you don't buy in advance with a bundle. (This post could/should simply be about this really.) I do care that I can't get a 3G phone which runs Windows mobile 2005 in a smaller size than my ipaq. But also mobile data costs in the UK and Europe is stupidly priced and I would have thought in 2006 we would be moving away from these crazy prices. I mean can you blame me for waiting for a phone which supports Wifi? Roll on the Nokia N80 soon please Nokia.

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Should I wait even longer or buy a mobile now?

In my overdue quest to get a new mobile phone I've started to get closer to a decision. Basicly I can even wait for the new range of Nokia Nseries phones or get a Nokia 6280 in a few weeks or even get a Orange SPV M500 for free right now.

So before going into details, my ideal list in order for the phone I want to get next.

  • 3G/GPRS access
  • Bluetooth dialup
  • 2 megapix camera
  • Hot swappable SD or MiniSD support
  • Screen resoultion of 320×240 or over
  • Mpeg4 or 3GP Video recording
  • SVG tiny support
  • Java (MDIP2.0) support
  • Media playback
  • Bluetooth 2.0 support
  • Quadband support (GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
  • USB mass storage ability
  • FM radio
  • MMC support
  • EDGE support
  • 3G video calling support

So first up why not the SPV M500 now? I've always liked this device, since the first day I saw one my students with one about 2 years ago but… Well you see its got no 3G only GPRS access. Not even EDGE which would be useful when I go to America or parts of Europe. The problem seem to be that the PocketPC and Windows Mobile range seems to be lacking 3G(UMTS) because the American operators are obsessed with EVDO not UMTS. So there not making many devices which support 3G at this moment. Ok that aside, its runs on PocketPC like my HP Ipaq 5550 but on the positive side the form factor is small enough to fit nicely into my pocket. But then again its exactly like my Ipaq which makes having both a pointless idea. So, oh well say good bye to that mobile. Also for the same reasons, all the SPV range is not suited to me, as they have no 3g or are too much like my ipaq. I was thinking about getting the M500 and simply swapping my sim card in and out of the Sanyo S750 when I need 3G, but its not practical, so on with the next phone…

Nokia 6280

Next phone is the Nokia 6280. Now I saw this phone when I was browsing around the orange store the other day. And its pretty damm sweet. Most of the things I want are in place, even EDGE/USB2 and high rez screen support. Its odd because I only came across this phone because the sales people in MPC kept telling me that the Nokia N70 has a better screen resoultion than the Nokia 6880 which it does not! So why don't I buy this one? Well theres something about the Series 40 operating system which means it won't run Symbian applications. Which means I'll have to run only Java applications. This is ok, but I would like to have Opera and a decent Jabber client on my phone, instead of relying on my ipaq each time. Also this phone feels like a phone which looks like it will be eclipsed by the Nokia NSeries phones (N71, N80, N90, etc). People who read my blog regularly will know I love the Nokia N90 but can not justify the stupid price which it sells at. I've also been thinking its actually too heavy and I'm not a fan of flip phones. I actually prefer Slide phones like my Sanyo S750. What else puts me off the Nokia 6820? well video recording at QCIF resoultion and only to 3GP format not Mpeg4. Specially when you compare it to the Nokia N80.

Nokia N80

And I'm really warming to the N80 now, even more so that the N90. I mean it seems to have everything I need plus the price seems to be about the same as the Nokia 6280. So it should cost between 50-100 pounds on Orange when it finally comes out. Which looks like March now. However maybe its worth it for wireless on a phone. Certainly if Skype and Wifi become a real alternative as Ben suggests. Either way, the Wifi, universial plug n play (geez I hope you can easily turn it on and off) and the 3 megapix camera all seem to be future proof enough for me. I just need to wait or hope the SPV range adds 3G to its smaller range.

Interestingly Infosync has a run down of the top 5 Orange phones.

Why oh why is there no 3G on this new device? Oh yes I remember, because there only interested in a american audience. EVDO and EDGE versions but no 3G anywhere to be seen. Shame because I would instantly buy this phone. i-mate Jamin

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Nokia I understand, but I would have pimped the N90 too

Loic with a Nokia N90 phone

Nokia you missed a trick here. Yes I understand you wanted to get the N90 out there by bribing certain bloggers with by giving them a shiny Nokia N90. But I've been talking about buying one for quite sometime now, you may have considered sending one this way. Hey I would have wrote a nice long entry about it and maybe influenced some people to buy one. Of course I would have told everyone that it was given to me and that I'm now a temporary pimp for Nokia N90 phones. But thats not really a problem is it? Oh well my Z list status makes its difficult for these things to happen.

But joking aside, there is something I'm a little uneasy about with Nokia and this story. Will it stop me from buying the phone, hummmm maybe not but I cant help bribinginfluencing people is not the best way to get a product out on the web. But hey what do I know, as the story says Microsoft's being doing it for years. I'll have to see the real details of the arrangements, some rumours were saying Nokia are going to take them back at some point in the future, they would take away the phone if you wrote anything negative about it or wrote nothing at all?

I still can not believe its still not available in the UK under contract on Orange or any other network. There's no way I'm paying 430 pounds for a phone full stop. I'm also hearing rumours about a 3g Microsoft Smartphone device coming in January, so might hold off. Too bad Nokia

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My phone is also made of human ass

When I heard Merlin from 43 folders talk about his phone, I instantly knew it was a Panasonic phone before he even said it. Then I looked up the picture of his phone and laughed. Me and Sarah have been generally pissed off about our home phone for the same reasons for about the last 6 months. The rubber keys are a nightmare once they start to wear, I cant tell you how many times I've pressed 5 and its dialed 3 5's. The battery life on the phone is also a nightmare and its about the same weight as my ipaq which is simply wrong.

So anyhow we did change it recently to a philips 5115 phone which was a pile of crap, riddled with bugs and a difficult navigation to boot. Just 2 days ago we bought a couple of NTL DECT phones (would link to picture but Argos.co.uk dont seem to have it, although I bought it there) and according to my wife its really good. The question is now, what do we do with the old panasonic phone? And the only thing which I can think about is to give it to a charity shop as it still works, its just a pain to use.

Hey I didnt know NTL and Telewest merged?

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AvantGo finally supports RSS

So funny, I've been hearing rumours about AvantGo supporting RSS like Russell has for quite some time too. Like him I was told not to blog it but I'm sure it wasnt the same person or group of people. Even without the heads-up, it was certain that AvantGo would have to do something at some point to stay relevent with the huge demand for RSS content on mobile devices. Is it enough to make me switch back to using AvantGo over PocketRSS? No. But is it good enough to recommend to others? Your damm right…

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Why I dont want a Ipod or PSP

Going digital

This post to slashdot by Zonk sums up my thoughts too,

As the owner of a PocketPC PDA I am a very happy camper, with wifi internet access, Skype Voip, video playback, and of course the ubiquitous mp3 playback. In an era were everyone seems to talk about the Video iPod, and the next generation of mobile devices, it leaves me wondering – I already have all those abilities in a PDA that costs about as much as an iPod. My question for Slashdot: Given that modern PDAs have almost all the functionality of these separate devices, how has Palm and Microsoft/PocketPC developers failed in making PDAs a force in this new era of portable media devices? It is the poor marketing, bad media apps, public perception, or do people simply not want an all-in-one for mobile media?

And as I expect, its horse's for course's as my dad says.

Gumber says

Because more functionality isn’t aways better, especially in a smaller device.

You might as well be asking why people buy screwdrivers and pliers instead of a single Leathermen.

Some more comments for thought,

From ciroknight

PDAs might be cool toys, they do a lot that a PC can do, and you can carry it in your pocket. Pretty cool eh? But when it comes down to it, what does the device actually do? Hard to define; it can do calendars, it can do media playback, it can do telephony, it can do internet-related tasks. But on the overall, it's a very obscure device.

– Indeed, its one of the things which makes it difficult to explain to people. One moment I'm using it as a mp3 player then a video player next moment a skype or im device and at the end of the day I'm using it to take notes at a meeting. It works for me but its a hard concept to sell and it requires installing many pieces of software and some configuration.

There was lots of talk about storage too.

Unless you sprung for extra storage, the space on your PDA is measured in tens of megabytes. On an iPod, it's measured in tens of gigabytes.

I dont think that's the main issue, because the psp has equal storage levels to a modern PocketPC (1/2gig maximum). Yes its nothing compared to the 100gigs which are now possible. But I expect Flash Drive pocketpc will be arriving soon, as hard drives are still very power hungrey.

The impact of Crackberries (backberries) has also had an effect on the image of pocketpc in the business world just like how most pocketpc have moved into the mobile world. Hence the change of operating system name, WindowsCE to PocketPC to Windows Mobile.

As someone said,
People who make generic statements such as “PDAs have failed” are just simply wrong.

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iTunes on windows mobile

Itunes 5 on the pocketpc

So when I first saw these screenshots, I was thinking those guys at Aspect software have done a great job with wifitunes. But no the screenshots are actually from a special build just for Windows mobile 5 devices. Apple are really gunning for the mobile market.

Looking at the blog post, there seems to be no iTunes sharing (zeroconf) but iTunes store ability seems to be just around the corner. This is all pretty straight forward when you consider that iTunes has had Mobile phone syncing cabilities since 4.9. But lets step back for a moment, maybe the whole thing is a hoax? Engadget are certainly considering it. I personally think its a early build and maybe true, specially if you consider the next Razr could include iTunes.

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My next mobile could be a Nokia…

People who know me well, also know I had Ericsson preference when it came to mobile phones. But I've been looking around for the next phone I should upgrade to, and honestly theres not much out there.

I said I would go back to Windows mobile but there are so few of them which support 3G (UMTS) and are not really mini pocketpcs. And I dont think any SPV type smartphone form factors are coming till after the new year. So I'm forced to look elsewhere.

So I spotted the Nokia N90, which was previewed in Engadget in April. I think you will agree this certainly looks like a phone for 2006.

Nokia N90 in camera mode

Nokia N90 fits in the palm of your hand

Of course its got the spec to go with it. Just the screen rez alone out does my PocketPC and current Sanyo 3G phone. 128px x 128px in 65k colour on the outside of the phone and 352px x 416px in 262k colour on the main screen. 2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens. Not big fan of RS-MMS because of the price and lack of compatablity with most of my SD enabled devices, but I'll live with it. Triband and 3G support tops off a quite large but very interesting phone. (Theres a huge review on mobile review by the way) But I'm wondering if I should just wait for the Hard drive enabled Nokia N91 instead? Which I hear has been delayed again, but sounds like a phone worth having

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What’s your next cellphone? Asks Engadget

It’s been over a year since we last took everyone’s temperature on this topic, so we figured it was high time we did another Ask Engadget where we asked everyone what their next cellphone was going to be.

I'm going back to the Windows Smartphone/mobile platform for my next phone. Maybe the Windows mobile Treo might be a idea but will it support 3G/UMTS? douhtful… Something is certain, the next phone will have to support a high rez screen. I've been comparing my 320×240 screen with some of the latest Nokia's and i'm totally shocked by the quality of the Sanyo S750.
Some things I dont want on my phone, playback buttons. I honestly dont care if my phone has play and pause buttons. Clam style.
Some things I do want on my phone, SD or MiniSD storage. Windows Mobile or some open Linux operating system, USB type connection, 2+ megapixal cameras with unlimited video support (unlimited capture to storage card).

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