What do I use a phone for, anyway?

So, I was challenged by a friend, who said that my needs were not common, and could only be fulfilled by an open source phone like the Neo(FIC) openmoko.

So I decided to outline some of my tasks.

• there are a few tasks I want to do which are common for many people:
• make calls, manage missed calls, voicemail, address book.
• slightly less common is managing calendar / syncing calendar.
• I also like to use the camera and sync those files. Added bonus if I can sync them to flickr / blog.
• some form of gmail app (they have a java one)
• some form of rss reader (non essential)
• some form of skype app (fring or iskoot currently)
• (yes, diverging away from most users here)
• and I'd like to use the camera to ocr pictures of text and then use that text.

I don't know why they haven't been able to write these applications properly. Still, they aren't doing anything to check version compatibility for applications so I have to do the work to figure out what will, won't, or may run. They do addressbook badly (motorola). They run out of memory ridiculously often (nokia symbian series 2.) The file transfer is done via bluetooth-as-text message (nokia). There's just a lot of decisions that add up to a poor experience across many different handsets.

a conversation:
em0ry vmarks: file trans ... OBEX?
em0ry that isn't text messaging over bluetooth.
nelson em0ry: I'm not saying that I'm right; merely that I see no better solution.
em0ry vmarks: or do you mean how incoming files and hsit end up in Messaging?
vmarks yes, that., and browsing the device shows nothing, and it won;t appear as a mass storage device via usb.
em0ry yeah that was added in S60 v3
em0ry and everyone knows it was stupid
vmarks why should I have to know that?
em0ry you shouldn't.

em0ry that was completely asinine on their part
em0ry and the bluetooth file browser not working is infuriating too
em0ry it isn't perfect but in my opinoin s60 is the best option out there. period.
vmarks ugh.
vmarks see, that's what kills me. s60 is the best option, and it's infuriating.

phones I have loved and half-loved.

Once upon a time I hated all cell-phones. It seemed that public telephones were frequent enough that a person could just carry change and not need to be in touch all the time. Who was so important that they needed this thing!

Then in 1998, I went to another country to live for a while. There, children would walk side by side, and all of them had cell phones. The two on the ends of the row would likely be talking to each other.

So I got a phone, with a pay-go account, where receiving calls was free.

I have had my share of cellphones. Those things that we mostly all glue to our waists, pockets, and heads.

I have owned or been in possession of for long-term use:

A nokia of ancient description, TDMA. (Turns out it's a 2110.)
http://static.flickr.com/46/166436512_7f18bcfee6_m.jpg

Some moto thing that is now so long ago as to be meaningless. GSM 900.


Ericsson i888 World SCH-350, a tank. This thing is STILL working. GSM900,1900

sch-8500, a samsung flip on the sprint network, CDMA.
T61z, Sony Ericsson. A nice attempt.
T616, as hyped by the Sony Ericsson president and Steve Jobs. GSM 850, 1800, 1900.
Nokia 3620, GSM 850, 1900
Blackberry 7100g (returned)
Nokia 6682, GSM 850, 1800, 1900
(on-loan) Treo 680, GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900.

Now, use patterns.

Ignore the very old ones for now. Start with the t616.

The SonyEricsson T616 is a fine phone in many respects. Good Bluetooth sync, decent button spacing so that you hit the key on the phone that you intended to hit.

Let me say that again, the button spacing was perfect. Good for texting (which I never did when I used this phone) but no mis-dialling. Unlike later SE phones like the k700i, where the buttons are jammed next to each other.

The camera was horriffic. Postage stamp photos, with tons of color artifacts whenever it was too low light for the thing (meaning, anything less than direct sunlight bleaching out the subject.)

Java took forever, and was only used for simple games.

Still, it worked as well as could be expected for what it was attempting to accomplish. I never did attempt to use web on this device.

Blackberry 7100t

Borrowed this from a friend for a few weeks.

Scroll wheel overshoots due to lag of matching rate of scroll.
Thumb for trigger of wheel is always in wrong position after having scrolled.

Bluetooth syncing. Blackberry? Wha?
Bluetooth vcard exchanging. Blackberry? Hello?

Nokia
3620? 6682?

Why should I have to know the difference between symbian s60-series1 and s60-series2?

Why should I have to know that when I leave an application that it hasn't quit it, and that leaving more than one application open will cause "App. closed, out of memory" errors?

And why can’t the thing be viewed properly when browsing the device in bluetooth? Sending a file to the computer has to be initiated from the phone, sending to the phone receives as an SMS. It’s absurd.

Ringtones. So I transferred an mp3 ringtone to the phone via bluetooth. In Profiles, I go to set the ringtone for the meeting profile. It doesn’t show up. Not allowed.

Two different skype apps on it, fring and iskoot. iSkoot looks like a proper skype application. Fring is pretty good about adding googletalk, and fairly good about being a Skype citizen. It does however launch on boot and log in all the time. Have an unlimited data account.
lifeblog and shozu for getting to flickr.
gmail. Thank heavens for gmail.
jajah. jajah arranges voip calls. internationally cingular charges me 1.29 to 1.99 for a min of voice and $0.019 for data. So I’ll make the voip call.