I've had a Nokia 6280 since September, and unfortunately the initial excitement of managing to make it sync with my Mac has worn down. Here's a round-up of what works, and doesn't work.
The phone is pretty, it's the right size to fit in my hand, and the keyboard has a very nice touch (particularly important to me as I have RSI). The sliding mechanism is fun to play with (specially to answer calls or hang up), and it overall behaves quite correctly as a device to call other people and be called.
However. Not all is well.
One of the reasons I bought this phone was the 2Mpx camera. Well, to put it simply, it's crap. Too much compression, artefacts, patchy colors, and an overall impression of digital zoom.
As I said, the phone works over iSync to sync contacts and calendars. When it works, that is. Half the time computer and phone are unable to recognize each other. (Yes, it could have something to do with the computer, but for the sake of this post, I'm going to blame it on the phone.)
The T9 dictionary works fine until you want to teach it new words. It remembers them for a little while, and then forgets about them. Obviously, instead of being permanently added to the dictionary, they are kept in some kind of short-term memory of very limited capacity.
Flooded with many unread SMS, maybe because you use Twitter on your mobile and forgot to turn it off? Fear not, you will be given the chance to trudge through those 30 messages one by one to mark them as read. You can "mark" them individually and then delete them all in one go, but you can't "mark as read" in a batch.
There also seems to be no way to set the volume for SMS reception and incoming calls separately. This means that the "beep-beep" announcing the arrival of text messages is way too loud, and the ringing for incoming calls is still not loud enough.
The alarm has to be reset each day. Learning this involved quite a bit of oversleeping, until I understood that just checking the alarm time was right and then exiting was not sufficient. The "OK" button needs to be pressed each day to reactivate the alarm.
The icing on the cake? The customizable "Go to" menu (for easy access to frequently requested functions) sports a shiny shortcut to the web portal homepage of a carrier which happens to not be mine. Hard-coded. First position. Unmovable.
Crossposted to Climb to the Stars.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Telecom Italia and rollable displays
http://www.polymervision.com/News-Center/Press-Releases/TelecomItaliaandPolymerVisionannouncetheCE.html shows that Telecom Italia and Polymer Vision are working together to release a cellular book with a display that can roll up.
USB, 4GB drive, HSPDA, and DVB-H all make it an intriguing device, and touch-sensitive LED user interface adds to the mix.
The display currently doesn’t do moving images well, so we’re talking about all that storage for documents, emails, and music, with internet browsing thrown in the mix.
They say that a color screen will follow, but one of the advantages of a grayscale screen is the low power requirements, which mean you could probably use this for 10 days between charges. Or at least, that’s the marketing promise ;).
USB, 4GB drive, HSPDA, and DVB-H all make it an intriguing device, and touch-sensitive LED user interface adds to the mix.
The display currently doesn’t do moving images well, so we’re talking about all that storage for documents, emails, and music, with internet browsing thrown in the mix.
They say that a color screen will follow, but one of the advantages of a grayscale screen is the low power requirements, which mean you could probably use this for 10 days between charges. Or at least, that’s the marketing promise ;).
Crossposted to Climb to the Stars.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Sony Ericsson and Motorola go for the shallow end of the pool
Australian IT reports that Sony Ericsson is going for the affordable cell-phone market. That is, a phone that doesn’t do much more than be a good phone.
Contrast this with Motorola, whose motophone is a simple device with digital paper screen (efficient!) And it’s a phone and nothing more. Expect longer battery life.
The comment I have here is that the Apple iPhone appears to have had an interesting effect on marketing timing. Obviously these plans were made months ago - but just as Apple takes the high market (debatable) Moto and SE release for the low market. Are they ceding? I doubt it - but it’s interesting to see.
The low-cost phones, with colour screens and two of which have a basic digital camera, will be available in the second quarter of 2007.
The company has a policy to sell devices with features and prices slightly above those of its competitors.
Sony Ericsson's head of Nordic operations, Johan Mathson, said he expected the four basic phones to sell somewhere between €50 ($84) and €100, well above models priced as low as $US30 ($39) and $US40 from Motorola.
European head of marketing Ben Duffy said Sony Ericsson would not go as low as $US40 at the launch.
Contrast this with Motorola, whose motophone is a simple device with digital paper screen (efficient!) And it’s a phone and nothing more. Expect longer battery life.
The comment I have here is that the Apple iPhone appears to have had an interesting effect on marketing timing. Obviously these plans were made months ago - but just as Apple takes the high market (debatable) Moto and SE release for the low market. Are they ceding? I doubt it - but it’s interesting to see.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Dr. Dobbs does a round up on phones and phone-like devices
So, Dr. Dobb's Journal is running a wi-fi phone round up. I’ve got a few of these devices and can speak to their utility in my life.
Netgear’s sph101 and Belkin’s F1PP000GN-SK
Both of these are Skype only phones that use wi-fi to get network.
Neither of these have a browser, so they are nearly impossible to use at a public wi-fi hotspot like the coffee shop or airport. Which sadly makes them of limited use unless you’re on your home network or stealing someone else’s wi-fi.
Belkin tries to get around this with a hotspot manager, which allows connection to Boingo hotspots - for 8 dollars a month. And that’s on top of whatever Skype credits you run through dialing landline and cell SkypeOut numbers.
SMC has one of the devices as well. They do Skype right, with the correct interface - but they just aren’t useful.
Sony Mylo
I have one of these that was given to me. It’s a nice device in many ways, but I admit I was more excited about the promise of what it could do, than what it does.
On the up side, it does Skype, Gmail, Gtalk, Yahoo, and some light web, mp3, mp4. Oh, and it comes with one free year of T-Mobile hotspot access provided you got it before the end of 2006. It’s a Linux device, so it should be flexible and expandable.
On the down side, the keyboard is atrocious, the handsfree headphone connector is proprietary and costs 60 bucks to replace, and the T-Mobile access only works with genuine T-mo spots, not ones where T-mo is a partner. That means no airport. Starbucks only. Oh, it’s a Linux device - but it’s also a Sony device. No expandability.
UTStarcom f1000.
I have this. I got it for 50 bucks so I wouldn’t be tied to a cordless phone tied to a linksys vonage router. It’s sole advantage is being able to recharge it by USB instead of having to go to a cordless phone base as I was before. The screen is awful, the management of received/missed/dialed calls is horrible, and the buttons are too close together, so misdials are frequent.
It also suffers from the no-browser problem, so it can only work on networks that don’t require browser auth.
Nokia 6136 and Samsung SGH-T709
Both of these are cell phones, so they have their own cell phone interface problems - on top of that, the wi-fi only works with T-Mobile hotspots. Gee. Talk about limiting.
It kills me. So many companies are making devices that fall short. I can understand Netgear, SMC and Belkin making a purpose-built Skype phone, but leaving out browser auth kills it.
I can understand Sony making a communicator, but the keyboard, the connectors, the T-Mobile limitation, no AIM, no IRC, no room to improve it... well, it’s painful. It’s almost good, but falls short.
The UTStarcom F1000 works. It’s better than having to charge a cordless phone and being tied to that phone. But darned if it isn’t annoying. UTStarcom makes real cell phones, and they’re not a lot better, although they have better looks.
Nokia and Samsung both got limited by T-Mobile - this is another case of a provider taking functionality and lessening it to abuse the customer. US providers are like this, whether it’s Verizon turning off mp3 ringtones so they can charge for ringtones provided by them only, or other nasty practices.
Netgear’s sph101 and Belkin’s F1PP000GN-SK
Both of these are Skype only phones that use wi-fi to get network.
Neither of these have a browser, so they are nearly impossible to use at a public wi-fi hotspot like the coffee shop or airport. Which sadly makes them of limited use unless you’re on your home network or stealing someone else’s wi-fi.
Belkin tries to get around this with a hotspot manager, which allows connection to Boingo hotspots - for 8 dollars a month. And that’s on top of whatever Skype credits you run through dialing landline and cell SkypeOut numbers.
SMC has one of the devices as well. They do Skype right, with the correct interface - but they just aren’t useful.
Sony Mylo
I have one of these that was given to me. It’s a nice device in many ways, but I admit I was more excited about the promise of what it could do, than what it does.
On the up side, it does Skype, Gmail, Gtalk, Yahoo, and some light web, mp3, mp4. Oh, and it comes with one free year of T-Mobile hotspot access provided you got it before the end of 2006. It’s a Linux device, so it should be flexible and expandable.
On the down side, the keyboard is atrocious, the handsfree headphone connector is proprietary and costs 60 bucks to replace, and the T-Mobile access only works with genuine T-mo spots, not ones where T-mo is a partner. That means no airport. Starbucks only. Oh, it’s a Linux device - but it’s also a Sony device. No expandability.
UTStarcom f1000.
I have this. I got it for 50 bucks so I wouldn’t be tied to a cordless phone tied to a linksys vonage router. It’s sole advantage is being able to recharge it by USB instead of having to go to a cordless phone base as I was before. The screen is awful, the management of received/missed/dialed calls is horrible, and the buttons are too close together, so misdials are frequent.
It also suffers from the no-browser problem, so it can only work on networks that don’t require browser auth.
Nokia 6136 and Samsung SGH-T709
Both of these are cell phones, so they have their own cell phone interface problems - on top of that, the wi-fi only works with T-Mobile hotspots. Gee. Talk about limiting.
It kills me. So many companies are making devices that fall short. I can understand Netgear, SMC and Belkin making a purpose-built Skype phone, but leaving out browser auth kills it.
I can understand Sony making a communicator, but the keyboard, the connectors, the T-Mobile limitation, no AIM, no IRC, no room to improve it... well, it’s painful. It’s almost good, but falls short.
The UTStarcom F1000 works. It’s better than having to charge a cordless phone and being tied to that phone. But darned if it isn’t annoying. UTStarcom makes real cell phones, and they’re not a lot better, although they have better looks.
Nokia and Samsung both got limited by T-Mobile - this is another case of a provider taking functionality and lessening it to abuse the customer. US providers are like this, whether it’s Verizon turning off mp3 ringtones so they can charge for ringtones provided by them only, or other nasty practices.
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