Technology/Gadgets, Cycling

Utility Warehouse Business opportunities

2011-11-04T14:59:00.000-07:00

Since 1997, Telecom Plus, which operates the Utility Warehouse Discount Club, has grown from just an idea into a company with a turnover of over £360 million whose shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange. A track record second to none. This phenomenal growth in turnover and profits has been achieved by word of mouth “referral marketing”. The question is: what share of this could you earn for yourself? The explosion in growth that the Utility Warehouse is experiencing right now is just the beginning. It is said that the key to success is not necessarily being in the right place at the right time, but recognising that you are in the right place at the right time, and not four years later with hindsight.

Telecom Plus PLC is a British, publicly quoted company listed on the London Stock Exchange. The corporate management team, headed by Chief Executive Charles Wigoder, has been responsible for the phenomenal growth of the company. Charles’s previous successes prior to joining Telecom Plus include the spectacularly successful growth of Peoples Phone which he launched in 1990 and which grew to 400,000 customers, which at the time represented 10% of the UK mobile phone market prior to its purchase by Vodafone. He is now applying those same skills to the Utility Warehouse Discount Club, with breathtaking results. The Utility Warehouse is extremely successful and its profits are growing spectacularly every year. It also boasts an exceptionally strong balance sheet with no debt, providing confidence that this business really is here to stay.

How many people do you know who use the phone, switch on a light, turn on the oven or use the internet? The Utility Warehouse is not asking people to spend extra money on services they do not normally use, they are simply offering the same services but with one major difference - they offer far better value! You will be tapping into a market where people and businesses are already spending many billions of £’s a year.

Every time your customers make a phone call, switch on a light, turn on the heating or surf the net, you could be getting paid.

Anyone who wants to earn some money and has drive and enthusiasm can become successful with the Utility Warehouse.

The residual income you build will continue to be paid as long as your customers continue to use these services, and that could be long after you have stopped building your Utility Warehouse business!

The Utility Warehouse offers a unique support and training programme, which includes a comprehensive package of manuals and marketing materials, providing everything you need to start building your own successful Utility Warehouse business. Initial training for all new Distributors is provided free of charge at over 45 training centres throughout the country.

The more successful and prosperous you become, the greater the company’s success, so they do everything they can to help you succeed!

In addition to earning a residual income, generating discounts on your utility bills or raising funds for a good cause, Utility Warehouse Partners can also benefit from an exciting range of incentives and bonuses. These include owning your own Utility Warehouse branded BMW Mini; driving one of the company’s fleet of Porsche Boxsters; qualifying for luxury, all expenses paid holidays; earning vouchers to spend in M&S or John Lewis and also significant cash bonuses for achieving certain customer and Distributor gathering targets.

Thousands of Partners have already joined Telecom Plus, and many are earning a significant monthly income which is making a huge difference to their lives, raising funds for community projects close to their hearts, or generating an additional revenue stream for their business. But with around 1% of UK households currently using their services, you needn’t worry about being too late to join.

The Utility Warehouse operates a Share Option scheme to act as an incentive for its Distributors. Share Options are a ‘risk-free’ way for you to share in the future growth and financial success of the company. The Options issued so far have been worth millions of pounds, creating huge gains for many Distributors, and the intention is for the company to make further allocations in the future.

This is your chance to obtain a ‘free’ allocation of Share Options in a fast moving PLC on the London Stock Exchange. Did you know that as a result of Share Options issued by Microsoft, they have over 10,000 millionaires working for them? The more customers that the Utility Warehouse attracts and the bigger the business becomes, the more your Share Options will be worth. They could eventually be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. So don’t miss out - get involved and make sure you qualify simply by sharing the benefits of the Utility Warehouse with others.

The residual income you build will continue to be paid as long as your customers continue to use their services, providing you have at least six active qualifying customers.

Here are some of the benefits:

generate an increasing wealth by helping people save money
earn a generous ongoing monthly income
significant cash bonuses and fantastic incentives
no experience necessary
free training and support provided
work the hours to suit you
no stock to carry or targets to meet
share option scheme

£200 90-Day Starter Bonus – earn back the equivalent of double your joining fee in your first 90 days as a Distributor! Ask me how!

Help and Support building your business
As you would expect from one of the UK's leading businesses, you will be given training, advice and ongoing guidance to help you succeed. Although you will be in business for yourself, you will never be by yourself. You can expect the following benefits:
Emails - Regular emails for you and your group for information, inspiration, motivation and recognition, as well as top tips for massive growth of your business from some of the most successful Utility Warehouse Distributors.

Support and guidance - access to the best Distributors who have excelled in certain disciplines, whether you want assistance in gathering customers, building a team, working your warm market, advertising, direct mail and working shows and fetes. Your immediate sponsor (the person who introduced you to the Utility Warehouse) will give you the support you need to get started and there are several people in your upline who are keen to help you succeed. They will be happy to assist you with training and support, especially in your first few months.

FREE ongoing training - held at over 45 locations around the country. This will equip you to gather customers whilst building a huge team of Distributors who will put money in your pocket every month.

Website - your own personal company web sites, available to all Distributors. Sign up customers online, check your customer status, growth of your team and all the latest company news.

Utility warehouse

Utility Warehouse. Mobile phones

2011-09-30T12:07:00.000-07:00

Mobile Phone

The Utility Warehouse Price Promise means you can benefit from:

The UK’s cheapest mobile tariffs

Or they will give you back Double the Difference!

Charges, terms and conditions apply. For full details of the Utility Warehouse Price Promise see www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk

Other benefits include:

Huge range of handsets including the latest smartphones
Change tariffs whenever you want for maximum savings
No minimum contract term on 'SIM only'
Free itemised call listings (even on 'Pay as you Go')

The Utility Warehouse has the UK’s cheapest mobile tariffs, offering great savings, simplicity, flexibility and outstanding value for money.

Make huge savings on your mobile phone bills with the Utility Warehouse. With a great range of the latest handsets to choose from, including BlackBerry and smartphones, there's something to suit everyone.

Free calls abroad – the Utility Warehouse Smart Phone app – FreeCall – enables you to make and receive free calls abroad, and avoid expensive roaming charges. Ask for details!

Value Tariffs

The Utility Warehouse Value Tariffs are the UK’s cheapest bundled tariffs!
Value Tariffs are the cheapest tariffs in the UK, compared not just with the five main networks, but also against the supermarkets and other independent branded suppliers.
The UK’s cheapest mobile tariffs are available exclusively to members of the Utility Warehouse Discount Club.
The Utility Warehouse Double the Difference Price Promise is your guarantee that you’ll be getting the UK’s cheapest mobile phone services. If you don’t save money compared to your current provider, the Utility Warehouse will give you back double the difference!

Charges, terms and conditions apply. For full details of the Utility Warehouse Price Promise see www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk

With the Utility Warehouse unique Double the Difference Price Promise, you have complete peace of mind that you’re getting the UK’s cheapest mobile phone services.

Value Tariffs offer unlimited texts (fair use policy applies), with inclusive call allowances of 500, 800 or unlimited minutes. Simply pick the tariff that suits you. SIM-only prices start at just £10 per month!

There are three Value Tariffs:

Value500 – from just £10 per month including 500 any-network minutes and unlimited texts

Value800 – from just £15 per month including 800 any-network minutes and unlimited texts

ValueMax – from just £20 per month including unlimited any-network minutes and unlimited texts

Fair use policy applies to unlimited calls/texts. See www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk for full details, terms and conditions.

Value Tariffs are the UK’s cheapest – sign up in three simple steps:

Select a new handset – or keep your existing mobile for even greater savings.
Decide whether you need 500 minutes, 800 minutes or unlimited free calls each month, together with unlimited free texts.
Call your existing supplier for a PAC code (if you want to keep your number), complete an application form, and start saving!

Fair use policy applies to unlimited calls/texts. See www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk for full details, terms and conditions.

Budget control –gives you complete control over how much you spend on your mobile. This is a great choice for anyone who wants to make sure they don’t get a nasty surprise when they receive their monthly bill!

ValuePay (Pay as you Go):

Offers savings of around 65% compared with the Pay as you Go tariffs available from other major networks. You simply won’t find a better deal!

ValuePay offers fantastic value at just 7p per minute at any time for all standard calls including mobiles on other networks. Texts are only 4p each.
ValuePay (Pay as you Go) tariffs from the Utility Warehouse are simply unbeatable. Just 7p per minute for standard calls including mobiles and 4p texts. SIM cards are available free of charge. See www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk for full details, terms and conditions.

Follow @Rich_uwdc

Meego and the Nokia N9, where do we go from here?

2011-08-14T14:54:00.000-07:00

Those that know me will tell you i've been waiting since nokia announced its partnership with intel to bring us the meego operating system. for me, meego ticked all the right boxes. Having a platform which spans several areas of technology and isn't controlled by one company seemed just what us end users have been waiting for. I've always had issues with big companies wanting to dominate the market and i saw meego as the big brake the Linux foundation needed to get open source into the public domain.
But then Elop happened! i know the future of meego isn't controlled by nokia but its involvement up until the ex microsoft bloke took over would of had a massive influence on its success. instead nokia decided meego won't be ready to compete and another OS was needed to bring nokia back to the top in smartphones.
so today, we have no official nokia windows phone and the most fantastic looking meego based handset about to arrive in the shops.
with reports that the N9 won't be coming to many countries, nokia have stated that this is more to do with the networks not wanting the handset rather than nokia not shipping world wind. but i feel nokia would of suggested to the networks not to back the n9 and wait for the windows phone as that is the platform nokia intend to support long term.
So what can we if you were hoping for a true open source operating system in your next handset? very little is the short answer but maybe, just maybe, if enough people supported meego, then the networks might have second thoughts? What i suggest is we email all the networks in your country and ask when they are releasing the N9, if the networks get unprecedented interest in this handset are they going to ignore the requests or deliver what its customers wants? nokia might of done a deal to promote windows phone but the networks have no such commitment? spread the word amongst the meego community, on message boards, facebook and twitter to get emailing and put pressure on the networks to release the n9.
below you'll find the contact details for the uk networks

O2

Orange

T-mobile

three

vodafone

The Topfield Personal Video Recorder

2010-12-26T10:12:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd blog about my pvr as it seems to be the AV worlds best kept secret.
A few years ago i got my Topfield 5800 PVR after reading reviews online. Topfield was a company I've never heard of and I usually don't purchase anything remotely expensive if I've not heard of the company. But everyone online seemed to be raving about the PVR. So i took a chance and ordered one. The toppy (toppy is the topfields nickname) has one killer feature. Have you ever found that after researching what you want to purchase, you are left with two products but one has one great feature you want and the other has another great feature, but no one seems to make a product that does everything? well the toppy has the ability to install TAPS (topfield application programs). In some respect, topfield reminded me of nokia when nokia released its first smart phones, they were capable of enhancing the handsets by adding useful apps but nokia didn't seem to bother telling anyone! the same seems to be true about Topfield. I've read a few reviews and spoken to shop assistants but no one seems to be aware that the toppy can be enhanced with applications! for example, the toppys EPG isn't the best, so i downloaded a TAP called mystuff, not only does it radically improve the EPG but it adds lots of handy features. One being the ability to search and record programs based on title name rather than broadcast time. I purchased my Toppy before freeview+ came out so having the ability to record a show by its name rather than when it was on was fantastic. All the TAPS are available at toppy.org where you'll find a friendly and helpful community to get you started.
If you're unsure about what PVR to purchase, I'm sure you won't be disappointed with a Toppy 5800
the sad thing is, topfield haven't released a HD box in the UK, and their lack of interest in the UK is disappointing.

Danny MacAskill

2010-11-17T03:53:00.001-08:00

For those of you that don't know who Danny MacAskill is, he's a professional Street trials rider. this is a mix of cycle trials riding and bmx.
in 2009 Danny topped the youtube chart with this video, to date has over 21 million views.

this month Danny returns with a new video which is even more impressive!
even if you're not into cycling, i fail to see how you couldn't be impressed with what Danny can do with a bike.

Why I Hate The iPhone

2010-09-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

Before the iphone, i didn't have much of an opinion about apple. nice design but overpriced was as much as i knew.

lets start my rant with a history of my smartphones. My first was the nokia 3230, announced at the end of 2004 it featured a 1.23 megapixel camera, internet, full bluetooth support, picture messaging to anyone with a mms supporting handset, the ability to install apps and full multitasking (the first nokia multitasking handset was released in 2002).
my second smartphone was the revolutionary nokia N95, released around April 2007. As well as the above features, it had a 5 megapixel camera, 3g, video recording, video calling to any supporting handset over 3g, FM radio, internet telephony and a gps receiver.
Then, a couple of months after the arrival of the N95, the iphone launches! Switching on the news that day i find apple are getting free advertising on the BBC, as far as i know, no other company gets featured on the news when it releases a new product? The news story shows Steve Jobs at macworld telling the crowd of apple fanboys about this new revolutionary advanced device, it features a 2mp cam, no 3g, no video calling, no video recoding, no multitasking, no radio, no gps and only part support for bluetooth (headset connection only). i couldn't understand why this was being featured on the BBC news? yet the crowd were going mental with cheers and clapping as Mr Jobs announced each seemingly out of date feature (the apple reality distortion field must of been on full power that day). ok so the mobile world at this point needed a kick up the backside to deliver a more user friendly interface which apple had done well, but to make claims as if its features had never existed were just bewildering! if that isn't bad enough, its priced more expensive than many sim free smartphones yet an expensive, lengthy contract was also required. a year on and apple bring us the 3g, adding gps and 3g connection. 2009 brings us the next update, a faster processor and a 3.15mp camera. I'm looking at my ageing N95 and scratching my head.
2010 brings a big overhaul, now the camera matches my 3.5 year old n95. And to be honest, its not a bad phone, (apart from the antenna problems), it now has (well almost) multitasking and video calling, but wait, the video calling can only be done between other iphone4's and over wi-fi, WTF!! this, at first is laughable, but when I think about it, I admire apple for this. This might sound strange as it seems a backward step but the reason I changed my view on this is that the networks have a despicable ability to demand handset manufactures remove features that might prevent them from making more money. Take the n95 for example, it has internet telephony built in to the firmware, yet orange and vodafone in the UK instructed nokia to remove this feature which has the possibility to save the end user a lot of money. But for me apple will always be tarnished by its control it places on its users and its users who seem to be willing to pay anything to own an apple product. I do wonder how many users purchased an iphone just because they believe it'll make them cool rather than for the features it offers. I've had a couple of iphone users say they got the phone because you can install apps on it! Like its the first phone you could do this on! It just annoys me, the amount of advertising apple does to suck in those with little interest in technology and convince them, they are getting something revolutionary, or maybe they really are purchasing the iphone to try and make others think they are cool? Anyway, the competition is great for the industry and the end user, but do we need apple telling us how great they are on every add break?

Cycling in dorset

2010-07-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

At the start of 2009 I learnt a shocking fact. While out cycling I was struck by a car pulling out of a petrol station, it pushed me into the fast lane of a dual carriageway, fortunately there was no other vehicle on the road at that time and I was uninjured, the same couldn't be said for my bike. The rear wheel was wrecked. The driver was apologetic and promised to pay for the damage (which he did) but I was worried at the time I might not get my £1500 mountain bike fixed so I reported what I would call an act of careless driving to the police. This is when I got the real shock. I was told that because I wasn't injured that the police wouldn't even bother logging this collision that left my bike un-ridable. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. A cyclist can be fined a fixed penalty for simply riding on the pavement yet if a car strikes a cyclist it is only an offence and worth recording if the cyclist is hurt?
Fast forward to the summer of 2009 and bridge street in Christchurch, this is a road I ride to work on on a regular basis. Many years ago the council thought it necessary to make the road over the first bridge so narrow, you can only just fit a car through, since then, I've regarded this road to be too dangerous to cycle down, but during the summer, the police waited almost every week to catch cyclists who cycled along the pavement. As I didn't want to be fined for taking the safe option I've been religiously obeying the highway code, but it wasn't long before I was overtaken and struck by a car. After that incident I didn't ride to work again until march this year. While driving to work, I've witnessed the postman being skimmed by a car on bridge street and an elderly couple forced to stop as a bus overtook them. So this year I've felt it necessary to carry a video recorder to document the dangers I face riding to work, in fact recently I was dangerously overtaken on the first bridge (at the Christchurch end) then a few seconds later the car was stationary at the traffic lights in front of me. I asked the driver why he felt it necessary to overtake me when the road is so narrow and he said to me “I'm only a cyclist and he's not going to wait for a cyclist” now can you imagine if I'd of cycled along the pavement and said something similar to a pedestrian? Cyclists don't cycle on the pavements to annoy pedestrians (I'm sure not even the irresponsible cyclists do that). If a cyclist hits a pedestrian, he is as likely to hurt himself as much as the person he hit, and in some cases, the cyclist can come out worse (remember the death in Boscombe last year) yet if a car hits a cyclist, all that'll happen to the driver is he'll have some dents to fix on his car. Yet why is cycling on the pavement regarded as such a crime and being stuck by a car as not worth the bother of recording? The facts certainly don't add up. Hundreds of cyclists are killed on British roads every year, yet it's amazing if any pedestrians are killed by cycles.
The BBC published some interesting facts last year. More women cyclists are killed on the roads than men, but this is despite the fact that there are a lot more male cyclists. The reason turned out to be quite surprising. Male cyclists tend to jump red lights and by doing so, get well ahead of the junction and the traffic that causes so much danger. Now I'm not saying cyclist should ignore the highway code but councils and the police need to recognise that so many cyclists choose to ignore the highway code because it offers them no safety. Most of the cycle lanes which have been added in recent years seem to be in the most pointless of places that just appear to be where the road is wide enough for one rather than at a cyclists black spot, and then when we get a half decent cycle lane, such as at the beginning of barrack rd, cars ignore it and drive in it during the rush hour. Until the roads are made safe for cyclists and drivers attitudes towards cyclists change then it's a pointless exercise forcing cyclists into danger. I emailed Christchurch council last year about just how dangerous bridge street is but I never got a reply, then again this year I emailed but yet again my concerns as a cyclists were ignored. My best suggestion for bridge street would be to reduce the speed limit to 15mph, I realise that car drivers who drive without due care and attention won't take any notice of the speed limit but at least the police can easily do something about it when cyclists complain. To see the police catching drivers who speed dangerously past cyclists would be a welcome change to catching cyclists who ride on sometimes empty pavements.
on a final note, I feel the media has a lot to answer for when it comes to the public's perception of cyclists. far too often we read about the minority causing trouble on the pavements but we never read about the accidents involving motor vehicles and cyclists. maybe for every negative story about cycling printed in the press they also mention how many cyclists were killed or injured on UK roads then it might put the problem into perspective.

Edit:
finally got a reply from the council;
to summarise, the reply said, cyclists reporting incidents to the police would be too time consuming to log so not worth doing, the police are right in fining any cyclists who cycle along the pavement on this dangerous road. warning signs for cars to look out for cyclists aren't needed!
to say I'm disappointed in the reply in a huge understatement

Electric bicycles, finally cool?

2010-05-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

Electric bikes in the past have always been horrific things, but now a company called Cytronix. have built the ultimate machine. the motor is hidden away in the front hub and the battery is disguised as a water bottle. All built around the premium cannondale brand. I'd love this system on my current city bike!

I wanna Belt drive bike!!

2010-05-05T13:02:00.000-07:00

Lance Armstrong's One-off Livestrong Trek District Belt Drive

The '3' Mobile Network

2010-05-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

I've just read that 3 today has refreshed its brand in a bid to attract new customers on the strength of its data network. as i was a new customer of 3 at the start of the year, i thought i'd add my experience so far.
first off, i got a free sim card to test out signal strength at home. During December 2009 the signal wasn't as good as what i was used to on O2 but as i didn't make too many calls from home i thought the drop in signal wouldn't be a problem, also 3 has stated that they will be upping the number of transmitters from 6,000 sites to around 13,000 by the end of 2010. So in January i switched networks, all went well. i topped up by £10 and it gave me 600 texts, a generous internet allowance and free 3 to 3 calls, all of which last for 3 months. nearing the end of January (or maybe it was February) my signal at home dramatically went up, i even get signal in the centre of the house where in the past i've had no signal on any network! last week (1st of may) my £10 credit ran out! what a result!
the other issue i've read about 3 is the customer service, well i've phoned about 3 times and not had a single problem. i know some people don't like the over seas call centres but I've been able to understand them and they've always answered the phone quickly. emailing a question seems to get a phone call back to help you out. in fact i cannot think of anything bad to say about 3. apart from maybe the fact that if you get a phone from them, it will be branded and you might run into problems in the future if you try and update the firmware (but this can be said for just about all the networks). from now on, i'll always buy sim free handsets.
mobile news

Primera Cycle Shop Demo Day

2010-05-02T11:19:00.000-07:00

This weekend saw the first Primera demo day hosted at The Banks arms in Studland. i have been riding a Specialized Enduro Expert for the past 8 years and was keen to see how the Bike had evolved in this time. my bike has 100/120mm travel with rear lockout and the new model now features 115/160mm travel but without the rear lockout. i thought this would be an issue but the new pro-pedal system seems to work well and i didn't miss the inability to lock the rear. what i wasn't so keen on was the forks, while climbing they were every bouncy (maybe a few adjustments were needed here), but on the downhills, the ride was very plush. so am i going to upgrade? well in 2002, i couldn't believe i was handing over £1500 for a pedal bike! but now the same model is priced at £3000!!! i could feel the improvements but for me, its not worth spending £3000 on.
specialized.com

Todays Word Of The Day. iTard.

2010-04-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

One who continues to purchase items such as the ipod, and will be purchasing future items such as the iphone because they are mindless sheep. Instead of actually doing research on said items they will wander to the store and fork out £60.00 a month (24 months) for an outdated phone because they don't realize there are other options out there. The itard is so ignorant, that they will ask you if you have an ipod rather than asking if you have an mp3 player. Continuing this trend eventually itard's will believe that music spawns from ipods and owning anything else will be a strange and frightening experience for them.

Contactless payment card limit raised to £15

2010-03-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

seemed like a good idea at first but i find it almost impossible to use where i live. most stores refuse to let me use contactless unless i spend over £5

The Worlds Biggest Mobile O/S goes Open Source

2010-02-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

bbc news

No Symbian^2 ?

2010-02-02T15:54:00.000-08:00

according to this story, Nokia will be skipping Symbian^2 and going straight to Symbian^3. time will tell if this story if true

Ovi Map Racing Now Out!

2010-02-02T11:45:00.000-08:00

if you own a Symbian^1 device such as the N97 or the 5800, then you should be able to install this game. download it from the Ovi Store

2010-02-02T11:27:00.000-08:00

I could never work out how to solve a Rubik's Cube, now it seems my phone can do it!! its no surprise my smart phone is smarter than me!! but goes to show what can be done with 3 year old technology!!

Nokias quiet comeback

2010-02-01T11:46:00.000-08:00

BBC News

2010-02-01T11:20:00.000-08:00

Despite me liking Nokia phones, one thing that has always bugged me is the fact the custom T9 directory cannot be edited. until now. Nokia beta labs have released a cool new app that allows just this.
Find it here

My N97 Review

2009-07-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

Lets start with the history of my nokia smart phones. It started 4 years ago when the choice was symbian or windows mobile. I opted for the symbian 3230, a phone crippled by network butchering. This was a lesson learnt and I vowed never to get another nokia phone after no support from nokia or the network with regard to the bugs created by network added software, but after doing the unmentionable to fix the problems, it turned out to be quite a good introduction to smartphone applications. A couple of years later, Nokia announced the N95 with revolutionary features that offered me everything and more from a smart phone, this phone changed my view of nokia, I became quite a fan of S60 and recommended it to everyone. 2 years on and I still like the phone.

This brings us to the n97, since the n95 a lot has changed in the world of smart phones, apple showed the world what can be done with an operating system and educating its users with the possibilities of adding applications and Google is hot on apples heals with Android.

Nokia have had 2 years to study how the competition is taking some of its share in the smartphone market and the device Nokia choose to fight back with is the N97.

So onto the review. First I backed up my n95 expecting the transfer everything to the N97 via the memory card but after inserting the card, I couldn't figure out how to do this, so I tried the switch option in the n95, I selected transfer everything. Only half the contents transferred and no contacts! The only way I could get this to work was to do one thing at a time! Not the seamless start I was hoping for! Next came connecting to the net. This seemed a bit better than with the n95 but after clicking on the boingo application I found the network settings had a new access point that was locked into the number one default, it seems the only way to remove this is to factory reset the handset! I don't want to use the app but i'm prevented from removing it? During the set up, I was prompted to download a new email app, so I did, only to find the homescreen email widget defaulted to the dated pre installed client, it took me 13 days before I found out how to get the new email client onto the homescreen widget. The widgets themselves I really like and the option to add 4 top friends to a widget it great, you can simply call or text with just a couple of clicks.

The major selling points for me with this phone is the compass and fm transmitter, firstly the compass is great for navigating on foot, but there's a big problem here, the handset needs to be swung round in a figure of eight direction to calibrate the compass! What better way to highlight the fact you're carrying an expensive handset worth stealing! The fm transmitter was also a let down for me. My car aerial is positioned on the back of my car and no matter what frequency I chose, I couldn't get a decent sound. Maybe it'll work well with the the aerial at the front of the car?

The web browsing is a lot better with th N97 over the N95, I like the way its possible to flick up and down a page and see it scroll by, this works well in facebook too (accessible from a homescreen widget with live feeds). One of the inconsistencies with the N97 is although it features the ability to scroll through pages in this manor is it doesn't work the same way for everything and a lot of the older parts of the UI require the need to drag the scroll bar up and down on the right of the screen. Another inconsistency is the single click double click issue! After 2 weeks I still didn't get my head round what I was supposed to be double clicking on or if it was just the touch screen that didn't react to my first click!

After a couple of days of using the phone, nokia released its first over the air firmware update and I have to say I was impressed with this, it all went well and it restored all my data without a problem. The whole process was a lot faster than updating my N95 via the pc.

What I found odd was the fact the new ovi maps 3 wasn't included in this update as it came out a day or two later? This lead to another problem, I drove to wales for the weekend and on setting off I searched for the postcode but at every turning the voice wanted me to turn round. On stopping, I discovered my starting location was the first destination in the list! Not the most straight forward experience getting the new ovi maps to work!

Usb charging, sounds great! As I have a usb car charger, I didn't bother taking the mains charger away for the weekend but not long after setting off, I noticed the charge light was off, after an hour and a half I checked the battery level and it was fully charged which was a relief as I know how the gps kills the battery in my n95. But an hour later the battery died! My N95 does this, showing a full battery then dyeing without the indicator droping one bar! On ariving at the B&B, the owner was on her laptop and luckely she let me plug in for an hour or so. But nothing! I later discovered that usb charging from a pc/laptop doesn't work if the battery it totally flat! Aaahhhhhh.

VoIP, Nokia seemed to of only included the sip profile in this phone with no option to make a internet call. On emailing nokia care I was given nonsense instructions as if they hadn't actually read my email, I replied and heard nothing, I emailed again and still nothing!

The full qwerty is quite good and the space bar being off to one side didn't bother me. Using the touch screen for typing was a better experience than I imagined, but having said that, switching back to my N95 proved just how fast I can text on 9 keys and the full qwerty was of no real advantage to me.

Now if I had purchased this handset myself, i'd of spent more time configuring everything just as I like it, no matter how long this took, I don't mind putting in a bit of effort to learn and make things work as they should but I guess only having 2 weeks to get the most out of the phone made me use it more like a non tech savvy user. Once the everyday user finds something not to work right, then that'll be the last time they'll try and use it. First impressions are what counts, if its not easy to use, the general user isn't going to use it. This leads on to who nokia is marketing this handset at? Symbian fans will adjust to the quirks and love what it offers but I cannot imaging anyone new to smart phones will share in the same love shown by iphone users for its simplicity. I recently emailed a friend of mine to ask how she's getting on with her 5800, she's had at least 3 symbian phones to my knowledge so its fare to expect she likes them and knows how to get the most out of them? So the questions were:
1: how easy is it to add applications?
Never tried..
2: have you used the nokia Ovi store?
what's that?
3: how do you get on with nokia maps? have you used the voice guidance?
maps not great, not enough detail, does it do voice guidance, didnt know that.
4: is transferring music easy? do you use the supplied pc software?
not done any yet.

I feel this is typical of most nokia users, Nokia used symbian for the first time 8 years ago yet the public seem to think installing apps is something apple invented 2 years ago? I feel nokia has done a really poor job of promoting just how much their phones can do and this is being hampered by buggy software and a confusing UI? This is changing but is it too little too late? When I look back to my first smart phone and think how much has changed, well, its not really that much. Improved features but still the same frustration trying to get things set up!

It reminds me of the days when Sega ruled the videogames world, they seemed unstoppable until the big boys arived in the form of Sony with its playstation. Where is Sega now? Reduced to a software developer! But nokia don't just have apple to deal with, there's Google intent on making a big dent in Nokia's smartphone market.

My final problem is with the N97's camera lens cover, but that's a whole new discussion of its own!

introduction

2009-07-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

My First post!!
suppose i better say a bit about me. I've been into Cycling for well over 27 years. when i was around 14, i got my fist BMX, this was the start of my love for 2 wheels, from then on, i've grown into mountain biking, i currently ride a 2002 Specialized Enduro and a 2009 Globe San Francisco (upgraded with alfine gearing). during last years Gadget Show they featured a UK Bike company that had built the worlds first 22" wheeled bike (the faction zeitgeist), i was intrigued and had to order one! ok, so i'm a bit old to be getting back into BMX but what the hell!!
I'm also into gadgets, not so much purchasing every new device that comes along but i like to keep on top of current trends. i have a modest AV set up centered on a Philips ambilight LCD TV, 7.1 sound amp, and a PS3 mainly for my Blu-ray consumption.