The PhoneBoy Blog

Apps I Miss on Nokia Handsets

PhoneBoy — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:44:26 +0000

I’ve had my Apple iPhone 3GS about a week now. While I’ve been generally happy with the experience so far, there are a few apps that don’t have quite have an analog on the iPhone, or don’t operate quite the same way. They have required a change in how I do things. Here are the top three areas outside of multitasking itself.

Podcasting

Aside from the lack of multitasking, which I still think is a fair trade for a much more stable phone, the single biggest change to my workflow is how Podcasting works on the iPhone. On most recent Nokia handsets, I can use the not-perfect, but serviceable, built-in Podcasting application. I can manage and download podcasts right from the phone, whether I am using WiFi, 3G, or EDGE. Granted, the experience could be a bit more integrated with the built-in Music Player, but it worked fairly well.

On the iPhone? If you want to be able to listen to podcasts and be able to listen to them in the background, you’re pretty much stuck with using iTunes on your PC or Mac. They recently added the “download more episodes” link, but that takes you to iTunes–a separate application from the iPod–and you are prevented from downloading podcasts over 3G when the MP3 file is over 10mb.

Fortunately, there’s an app for that: RSSPlayer. It is an application that allows you to search for podcasts or enter in an RSS URL. It will download podcasts right to the phone and allow you to manage the podcasts–something you can’t do with the regular iPod app. However, it maintains a separate database from that which was synced with iTunes. And, perhaps more importantly, due to the lack of multitasking, the podcasts downloaded with RSSPlayer can’t be played in the iPod, thus listening to podcasts is a foreground-only process.

Twitter

Gravity is the best Twitter app on Nokia handsets, hands down. It’s so good, I bought it for 3 different handsets. Jan Ole Suhr is constantly upgrading and tweaking this application, adding new features such as the ability to post to ping.fm, forward tweets as SMS, and send information and pictures via a number of third party services. That and the app looks as good as any iPhone app out there.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of Twitter clients on the iPhone. I have used the free TweetDeck, and not-free Tweetie and Birdfeed. I have settled on Birdfeed because it handles working offline and gives me an idea of where I left off in reading my tweetstream. It also allows me to read a tweet on one of my accounts and respond to it using another.

You would think that the lack of multitasking would be a problem if I wanted to, say, read a link that was tweeted. The way Birdfeed handles this is that it opens a web browser right in the application itself, presumably using the built-in Safari engine. I can read the article and easily get back to Twitter. It’s elegant.

Audials Mobile

Right before I bought my iPhone, the folks from Audials sent me a review copy of their Audials Mobile for Nokia devices. Think of it like the service blip.fm, except you have to pay for the application (roughly 8 GBP). On the plus side, the app actually downloads the songs right to your phone for later playback, in unencrypted MP3 format.

The app does exactly what it says on the tin and is fairly easy to use. You use the app to search for the artist or genre you want. You select the songs you want, they download, you listen. I recommend using the plugin pack to find even more music.

Aside from some minor usability niggles, like you can only play one song at a time, I have found songs to be not labled correctly. For example, the Escape Song (e.g. If You Like Pina Coladas) was not by Jimmy Buffet, but Rupert Holmes. Also, you’re not always sure what version you’ll end up with. All in all, though, it’s worth the money (if I had to pay for it).

Given that this app essentially bypasses iTunes, you can be assured this app–or one like it–will never show on the App Store. One can use any number of other applications to find new music, but it’s streaming and doesn’t play in the background like it would on Nokia handsets.

This work originally came from The PhoneBoy Blog and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Fingerprint: e37ac627f3d973694c212ff9430d215a

Why The iPhone Doesn’t Multitask

PhoneBoy — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:11:47 +0000

I’ve had my iPhone 3GS for a few days now. It is turning out to be everything I expected. Perhaps because I did my homework before buying. I went into it with my eyes wideopen.

One thing I knew going into buying this handset was that the iPhone’s ability to multitask was mostly non-existent. The iPod function would play music in the background, Microsoft Exchange syncing would occur in the background. Built-in apps (and some third party apps) would appear to resume where they left off.

There are times where the ability to multitask would be useful. Streaming music over 3G with one app and using Trapster to look for known speed traps is one (FYI, the new release that’s compatible with 3.0 is HOT). Using something like a chat client and “some other app” is another. I’m sure you can name about a gajillion others.

We often treat our smart phones like computers. They are, in a sense, but they aren’t nearly as full powered as your desktop or laptop computer is. Consider that my personal computer is a first generation MacBook with 2 gigs of RAM and an external screen attached. Surely I can run–and see–a number of apps at once. It also has the benefit of a hard drive that allows me to use virtual memory to run more apps.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 3GS supposedly has 256mb of RAM. One of my first work laptops I had at Nokia had that much RAM. But unlike that laptop, the iPhone 3GS doesn’t have a hard drive for using virtual memory. Sure, you could use the flash memory for this purpose, but do you want to wear out the flash in your phone that much faster?

The Nokia E71 has only half the RAM of the iPhone: 128mb! Yes, it multitasks. I can tell you that phone starts bogging down when more than a couple of applications are running on it at the same time. The phone crashes or freezes and needs to be power cycled. Regularly.

While there are plenty of perfectly valid reasons to multitask, our mobile platforms today don’t have enough RAM–or CPU–for the task. Apple, having a singular focus on an excellent user experience, decided not to allow third party apps to run in the background. By focusing most of the memory and CPU on only one primary task–and a controlled set of others–Apple ensures your iPhone experience will be smooth. That isn’t to say your phone won’t crash, but it happens much less frequently.

And you know what? I think it’s a lack of multitasking is an acceptable tradeoff. My phone is more reliable. It doesn’t randomly freeze. It does what I’m asking it to do when I ask it to do it. It’s the way most people expect their phone to behave. Apple will support multitasking when our mobile platforms have a bit more memory, CPU horsepower, and, of course, better battery life.

Comments

13 July 2009, Jeremey writes: Agreed, and I don't think people have fully grasped the push notification model or the power available there.
13 July 2009, David Beckemeyer writes: I'd be okay if they never open up multiasking as a free-for-all. I'm okay with those apps that want to mutitask to require an extra fee and extra testing and certification for exactly the reasons you state. Franky, people have forgotten how to program for relibability, for pacemaker type reliability. We don' thave to. The OS recovers all our leaked memory for us when we restart the app, and computes have so much memory etc that poor practices can operate in real life without much trouble. As you note, not so on a smaller machine, where memory, CPU, and battery power consumption matter. I've written apps for Nokia that run in the background reliably for months on end, don't consume all the memory, or burn up the battery, etc. But you have to REALLY work at it and have all those things at the forefront of the design and implementation - and that's not the way most people write apps. Most people don't even know enough about the guts of the machine to know how to write that kind of code.
13 July 2009, PhoneBoy writes: You're right, David. Nobody does the work to develop apps--mobile or otherwise--that are CPU, memory, and power efficient. Heck, even the OS vendors can't get this right (yes, I'm looking at you, Microsoft and Nokia).
13 July 2009, Andy Abramson writes: Trapster and push notification would be very, very cool.
13 July 2009, PhoneBoy writes: It does today, it just only gives you new traps reported within a 30 mile radius (give or take). If it could do push based on your GPS location, that would be hot :)

iPhone In The House

PhoneBoy — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:31:59 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve spent my own money on any phone. One of the benefits of having worked for Nokia for 10 years, I suppose. I could have easily continued to use my supply of Nokia phones until the standards changed or they all broke. Instead, I decided to go iPhone, or more specifically, iPhone 3GS.

Now, I only have had the phone for only 12 hours or so, so it’s difficult to have a fully formed opinion about the device. However, I like what I’m seeing so far. Most of what I am focusing on right now is things I do everyday.

I’m actually typing this blog post on an iPhone thanks to the Wordpress app that I downloaded from the App Store. Typing in general on this thing will take some getting used to, but thanks to landscape mode and Apple’s intelligent spell checker as you type, it’s better than I thought. I wish every iPhone app supported landscape mode typing.

The App Store is great–to he point of being downright dangerous to your pocketbook. I was able to find a number of cool apps very easily. Tweetie is a great Twitter app, I like the RSSPlayer app. Other suggestions I will try in the coming days.

I’m finding the lack of multitasking on the iPhone to be less of an issue than I thought it would be. Most apps (at least the built-in ones) seem to intelligently pick up right where you left off. One problem I can already see is not being able to multitask in a call–something I do on my Nokia E71 often enough. The important apps multitask–namely the music and sync email.

The hardware is slick, no doubt. I like the Oleophobic screen, which makes it much easier to clean off. I like that there is a small switch to change the phone to silent mode. The camera is being tested, as is battery life. I took a sample picture using the iPhone 3GS camera and attached it to the end of the post. The Wordpress app did resize it, I’ll have to post it to Flickr later on.

One thing that is working better than expected is the Stereo Bluetooth. Unlike my Nokia E71 where dropouts were common, it seems to work flawlessly with the iPhone 3GS. WiFi also seems to work better, but more testing is clearly needed. Certainly Apple’s networking stack is far less retarded than it is on Nokia handsets.

In short, I am liking it so far. I’m relearning how to do everything and I am finding it relatively easy to figure it all out. I can see why people love their iPhones.

Comments

8 July 2009, James writes: Hey, just so you know, while you're on a call you can, in a sense, 'multi-task'. If you hit the home button you can launch and use any apps while still on the call (if you have 3G or WiFi that is).
8 July 2009, Paul M. Watson writes: You can multi-task in a call. You can launch apps., look up contacts, surf the web etc. while a call is on. It puts a glowing green bar at the top of the screen when a call is active. Tapping it returns to the call app. UI.
8 July 2009, David McDonald writes: Glad to hear you are enjoying your new iPhone. You can actually make a voice call and run other apps, I've often done this to check on a calendar entry while talking to someone on the phone. In that case the iPhone displays a green bar at the top of screen to show you still have an active call. I'm currently on the iPhone 3G, but will upgrade to 3GS as soon as O2 allow me to. Cheers.
8 July 2009, Mauricio Reyes writes: I guess it's now iPhoneboy ;-) You will find that you can multi-task with Apple's own apps. While on a phone call, you can jump to another app (even send an email) while the call is in progress, phone app runs in the background. The whole background process issue was Apple restricting what 3rd party app people could do, thereby protecting battery performance, security, general aloofness etc...
8 July 2009, Lucie Osh writes: Have an upgraded iPod Touch - love it. I bought it last year primarily for music, to replace an iPod Nano, but have used it for so much more. The app store is wonderful and it does take self-control to avoid running up a big bill. The other reason I'm commenting is that your cat looks almost exactly like my cat, body type and all. Mine is named Cleo and she's nine years old. Her favorite activity, aside from eating, is chasing paper wads. She runs over to the printer whenever I turn it on, hoping I'll make a paper wad for her.
8 July 2009, PhoneBoy writes: Duh, I didn't try the obvious: hit the home button in the call! Ok, that's cool, thanks, everyone! Lucie: Toby (my cat) used to like paper wads as well (he liked playing cards, too) but he's about twice as old as Cleo and has grown lazy.
8 July 2009, Stuart writes: Always interesting to see a new users perspective. Congrats on your choice / desire to try something new. Recommendations for you. Try the WSJ, USAToday, NYT apps. You may like Twitterfon or TweetDeck. Kindle is worth trying. There's some games too which are just amazing - if you have the time. However the portfolio of apps I use everyday remains relatively small.
10 July 2009, tco writes: the wordpress app is pretty slick....will the blog be renamed iPhoneboy?
13 July 2009, PhoneBoy writes: I doubt I'll rename the blog iPhoneBoy :)

What’s With The Encryption in the iPhone 3GS?

PhoneBoy — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:32:15 +0000

To the right, you can see the small blurb that exists on Apple’s website about the built-in encryption feature on the iPhone 3GS. Wanting to find out more, I of course tried searching Apple’s website. There’s not much about it other than it’s there.

I asked some iPhone developers about this feature. In short, there isn’t much to the feature. It is transparent, always happening, and not controllable by any APIs. It can’t be turned off, it can’t be turned on. It’s always happening, always there.

On one hand, I like the simplicity and transparency of the feature. I like that it is not possible to programatically affect the encryption in any way. However, it bothers me that there isn’t a lot of details about the encryption on the website. What kind of encryption is being done? How long is the encryption key? How often is the encryption key changed? What is being done to protect the encryption key from being read either programatically or by hardware hacking methods? Does the “remote wipe” function simply cause the encryption key to be forgotten, rending the device memory complete gibberish? Is the remote wipe function controllable from ActiveSync?

Answers to these kinds of questions would undoubtedly make it easier for the iPhone 3GS to be accepted into enterprise environments. They could know, with a fair degree of certainty, that these devices have secure, encrypted storage that isn’t subject to being decrypted and read in an authorized manner.

Inside iPhone 3.0: Fix too-strict passcode lock settings for Exchange users (tuaw.com)
Does Apple Want iPhone 3GS Buyers to Go Blind or Die of Boredom? [Blockquote] (i.gizmodo.com)
iPhone Devs, start talking back to Apple! The Unofficial iPhone SDK Feedback Project is here. (thenextweb.com)
iPhone OS 3.0 adopts some BlackBerry-like security (macworld.com)
Emoji for iChat adds… emoji to iChat (tuaw.com)

Comments

4 July 2009, Jonathan Greene writes: If you have a MobileMe account you can find your phone of lost and initiate the remote wipe. Check it out on me.com if you have an account.
4 July 2009, Ollysk2 writes: I'm kind of bummed that they wouldn't extend the encryption back to the regular 3G as well. I understand that they can't with the hardware encryption, but at least some good software encryption would be nice. As for the secrecy about the encryption, that is just stupid.. Surely someone at Apple understands cryptography well enough to know that the best encryption is publicly documented encryption? (They need to go back and read the reasoning behind PGP encryption).
4 July 2009, PhoneBoy writes: MobileMe doesn't work on a corporate scale. Certainly on a personal one. Apple is not known for being terribly open, Olly, so this isn't a huge shock. Software encryption slows things down a bit, which is probably why they didn't backport it to the 3G (and first-gen).
7 July 2009, Eric Hanke writes: OK. You received your phone. Where are the pics and your initial comments regarding the device?
7 July 2009, What’s With The Encryption in the iPhone 3GS? - Sheryl - FriendFeed writes: [...] FriendFeed Sheryl What’s With The Encryption in the iPhone 3GS? - http://phoneboy.com/3137... 12 minutes ago from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share Dameon always asks the best [...]
8 July 2009, Wolverine writes: Actually, Apple has documented the security to a decent level of detail; you can read all about it here: http://images.apple.com/iphone/business/docs/iPhone_Security_Overview.pdf It doesn't answer all of PhoneBoy's questions, but it's a start...btw, they use AES 256 bit encoding.

Inbox Liquidation Part 50

PhoneBoy — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:07:23 +0000

I spent the afternoon in Starbucks going through my work inbox. It’s still got too many items in it, but it now has less than my personal Gmail. Now it’s time to turn my attention to my personal Gmail inbox and crank out another Inbox Liquidation post:

Psiloc Cuts Prices during the Summer: During the summer, you can 1 S60 3rd edition application from Psiloc and get a second one at half off. If you buy an app for an older Nokia-type phone or a UIQ device, buy your apps for 5.99 EUR (or just under 9 USD). Psiloc has a lot of great apps. I’ve personally purchased Psiloc Connect for the N95 8GB and been very happy with it.

David Blaine’s Street Magic: See A Card app for iPhone: For $1.99, you too can amaze your friends and perform one of David Blaine’s famous card tricks using your iPhone, or so the press release goes. But let’s be honest: it’s more impressive with an actual deck of cards than it is with an iPhone app. I guess I’ll have to try it once my iPhone comes off backorder.

Your Streelights Bring You WiFi: Duratel has a very clever solution: hide those unsightly antennas for mobile phones and WiFi inside the light poles. Have to say I like this, if only to shut the NIMBYs up. Now if only AT&T would deploy a few of these in my neighborhood.

Spy On Your Employees/Spouses With FlexiSpy: It’s available for a lot of phones, including Nokia, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and iPhone. I’ll just let you read the site and decide if you think it’s a good idea. Whether it is legal or not is another thing entirely.

Park Your Number With NumberGarage: If you’re moving out of an area and you don’t want to lose that number, a service like NumberGarage is helpful. You can essentially port the number to them. For a nominal fee, they will keep the number alive for you. The PARK service just parks the number, the FORWARD service will forward calls to your number to a different one. It’s a clever service, but their PARK service needs to announce a forwarding number, just like your phone company does when they move your service to a different location.

David Blaine now douching up your iPhone (mobilecrunch.com)
I Ordered an iPhone, or Why Hell Froze Over Today (phoneboy.com)
How sweet it is: Apple’s new iPhone a tasty update (thestar.com)
David Blaine Brings His Magic to the iPhone, Fails to Disappear (geardiary.com)
Thwarted Techno Lust (warrenellis.com)

I Ordered an iPhone, or Why Hell Froze Over Today

PhoneBoy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:44:16 +0000

Despite my previous objections with the way Apple controls the App Store, not to mention my general preference for buttons over a completely touch interface, I am throwing in the towel, putting down my credit card, and buying an iPhone 3GS 32GB. Yes, I realize to some this means that hell must have frozen over and the apocalypse must be coming. What changed?

The most obvious change? I no longer work for Nokia, for one. Not that working for Nokia gave me exceptional access to the latest Nokia gear, but I did get a few handsets from them. I sport my Nokia E71 every day and occasionally use the others for various functions.

I can’t say it was one thing that pushed me over the edge. It was a lot of little things that added up to my ultimate decision to buy an iPhone 3GS. This isn’t a complete list, but here goes:

It’s Faster: One issue I have with my E71 is how slow it is when it comes to rendering web pages, not to mention other “random’ slowdowns that crop up with the phone. The iPhone 3GS has both a faster processor and twice the memory of the iPhone 3G. Those things will make a difference.

More Storage: I have a hard time conceiving how I will fill 32gb, but I’m sure I will find a way.

It’s an iPod: Actually, this part isn’t as key to me, as I don’t spend a lot of time listening to music and the like. However, I am big on podcasts. While Nokia has an app on the phone for handling podcasts, it has a number of issues. Also, for the rare times I actually do want to sync music to my Nokia phones, it is excruciatingly slow. Even Nokia’s current flagship handset takes forever to sync. Apple has this down with their iPods, iPhones, and iTunes. It all works together nicely.

It Takes Decent Video: Unlike my Nokia E71, this takes video that is on-par with my Nokia N95 8GB. This demo video that Kevin Tofel took from JKOnTheRun took was enough to convince me that it was decent.

It’s A Better Camera: It’s only a 3 megapixel camera, but it has autofocus and the ability to direct the focus with a tap on, say, someone’s face. The MacBreak Weekly gang was raving about it. I won’t have flash but, then again, the flash on the Nokia E71 is pretty worthless.

Cut and Paste: Ok, some of my earliest Nokia devices had this feature, but it’s nice to see Apple provide this feature in the iPhone 3.0 software. Hopefully it is better than the Cut and Paste on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, which suffers from S60 5th Edition and a lack of buttons.

Tethering; Ok, even my old Nokia featurephones from 2003 could do this, but it’s nice to see Apple getting with the program and adding support for this useful feature.

Stereo Bluetooth: Ever since I bought a stereo bluetooth headset, my workouts at the Y have been much better. Up until the iPhone 3GS, stereo bluetooth was simply not an option on iPhone. Now it is.

Device Encryption: This feature I didn’t even know about until I started looking on Apple’s site for things I had previously thought were worthwhile. There’s a blurb about hardware encryption on the More Features page, but there’s precious little details about what it does. If it does what Check Point’s Full Disk Encryption does for my Nokia handsets, that would be good. More information is needed.

Free WiFi from AT&T: I have been finding myself in Starbucks more and more as of late. Now that they’re all AT&T hotspots, the ability to hop-on their WiFi for free and with less hassle is a bonus.

It’s The Apps, Stupid: And, of course, the best reason of all to get a smartphone these days is the applications. While I will for sure miss Gravity, my favorite Twitter client for Nokia devices, there are plenty of fine replacements on iPhone. Not to mention replacements for some of the other apps I use, not to mention new apps I haven’t been able to try to date because I lacked an iPhone.

Of course, this is before I get the iPhone. Apple hasn’t shipped the order yet. I suspect with the Independence Day holiday, I might not get it before Monday. Assuming they’re not out of stock or anything, I should get it sometime next week. I’ll keep refreshing the order status page like an impatient geek, looking for word on when my new toy will arrive.

Nokia 5800 Xpress Music VS iPhone (ithoughts.de)
How sweet it is: Apple’s new iPhone a tasty update (thestar.com)
iPhone 3GS? Not Enough to Justify the Cost (and AT&T Sucks) (smarterware.org)
Nokia 5800 XpressMusic the No. 1 contract phone in Europe? (allaboutsymbian.com)
Battle of the smartphones (bbc.co.uk)

Advertisement: Emergency Cell Phones

Comments

2 July 2009, luca writes: Let me add another reason: you don't work for Nokia anymore so you don't feel guilty :-)
2 July 2009, tate writes: Ha Ha my sentiments exactly... I still love Nokia, not so much S60. But picked one up myself. No regrets so far.
2 July 2009, Bob writes: I read the article comparing the iPhone to the Nokia 5800. One thing that really struck me was: >>This might be the most important point: Even when the Nokia has a lot of features, my girlfriend still >>reaches out for my iPhone if she wants to look something up on the web. I think this is the general factor that leads to the iPhone as generating a lot more Internet traffic than anything else. It's actually possible to use the Internet on it.
2 July 2009, PhoneBoy writes: Even my wife has said she wants to play with my iPhone when I get it. She'd have one if it didn't cost $80/mo for the required service plan.
2 July 2009, PhoneBoy writes: No guilt of not eating the dogfood, that's true.
2 July 2009, Dave Michels writes: I am shocked, sad, and disappointed. I think we were the last 2 holdouts. I am waiting for nexgen Android.
2 July 2009, PhoneBoy writes: I doubt we are the last holdouts in this area. :)
2 July 2009, Inbox Liquidation Part 50 writes: [...] I Ordered an iPhone, or Why Hell Froze Over Today (phoneboy.com) [...]
2 July 2009, Sheryl writes: Hell has frozen over! But, I understand why it took until now and the attention you spent inspectigating. Good for you. I hope you enjoy it. I still live on my Bold, but have a touch so iphone centrics can tell me I'm lame. See Dave and Dameon, you're not the last hold outs. :)
2 July 2009, Marc writes: Despite being quite the techie, my iPhone 3GS 32gb is my first iPod/iPhone/smartphone (my first MP3 player was a Sansa FUZE 4gb, that I bought less than a year ago.) Call me nit-picky, but each time Apple would release a newer version of either, I would find a significant reason to wait. Last time around tethering was not officially supported. Before that, it was no 3G. With both the Nano iPods and previous iPhones it was the lack of removable storage, too - I think 32gb should hold me over just fine. Until now, the last Apple product I had owned was a Quadra 630 back in 1994.
3 July 2009, PhoneBoy writes: Nothing wrong with only owning a touch, Sheryl. Marc, the lack of removable storage was kind of an issue for me at first, but it's 32gb. It's more than I use today.
3 July 2009, David Beckemeyer writes: I got an iPhone originally got development not expecting to actually use it (or like it) for myself - for many of the same reasons you listed in the past. I was very surprised. I still don't like the many ways it is closed, but I accept it now because of all it is and does, how it raises the bar. And it does raise the bar, not because it looks cool, has a touch screen etc. Not for any of the reasons most people (and apples competitors) think. I'll be curious to hear if on a few months your opinion of your experience and whether your stated reasons Here for wanting in stand the yet of time and whether in fact some unexpected likes and dislikes emerge.
3 July 2009, PhoneBoy writes: The Nokia E71 is my current workhorse phone, and I've used it as my primary handset for most of the last 7 months. It will be interesting to see if I can say that about the iPhone 3GS in 6 months.
4 July 2009, Jerald writes: Hey Dameon, I've been loving my iPhone 3G since I acquired it last November. This is the first handset that I truly enjoy, even more than any of the Nokia handsets that I had when I was working there. The first thing I did was jailbreak it so I could use it for "tethering". It will be interesting how AT&T will enable this. With my Samsung Blackjack, it cost extra to enable tethering. Now, I join the iPhone to my laptop's ad-hoc wireless network and set the laptop's network connections to use the iPhone as the HTTP(s) and SOCKS proxy. It's good enough to get email while driving cross-country. See http://www.iphonemodem.com/ for the way that I have been doing it. See http://tinyurl.com/mgyxhe for a simple way to do this either through Bluetooth or through the USB cable connection Talk to you soon! Jerald
6 July 2009, Jeremey writes: I've been "bi-phonal" for about a year and a half, carrying an E71 in one pocket and an original iPhone in the other. The voice on the iPhone sucked, and the E71's shone. In most other respects, the iPhone was the winner, but there were days when it would annoy. Well, no more. I upgraded to the 3GS and the E71 sits on my desk. The extra speed, storage, and big improvement in camera have sold me, and the voice quality is dramatically better (maybe I had a crappy original? I dunno). And of course the apps blow Symbian's offerings away. (I work for Nokia)

There Oughta Be A Law Against This

PhoneBoy — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 06:03:14 +0000

Last weekend, I seriously flirted with the idea of getting an iPhone 3GS. Serious enough that I actually went into an AT&T Store, played with one for a few minute, and actually tried to buy one. But I couldn’t pull the trigger. Not that I didn’t want to, but AT&T did not allow me to.

Let me explain. In AT&T jargon, I am what you call a Corporate Responsibility User. In short, my employer pays the bill directly. Good thing, too, because my bill isn’t exactly cheap with the voice, data, and international calling/roaming addons that I have. The downside to this arrangement is that I am unable to purchase a phone from directly from an AT&T store, even if I pay with my own money.

The reason? Pretty much any phone I buy will involve a change of some sort to my account. As a CRU, I am not allowed to make any changes to my account. Heck, I can’t even call AT&T and complain about service issues as I can’t even get past the initial account check since I don’t have the “secret” information.

In the case of an iPhone purchase, the changes needed to my account would not affect the monthly rate. I have an unlimited data plan already. It would, however, add a contract, which is something I haven’t had on my line in a while. Working for Nokia does have some advantages, since I could get much better phones than AT&T was offering.

Even if I wanted to pay full price for the handset either directly from Apple or from AT&T, because pretty much any handset requires an account change of some sort, I am screwed. I cannot buy it from Apple or AT&T directly. I have to go through my employer, which I plan on doing for the iPhone 3GS within the next few days.

Can someone please explain why AT&T–or any operator for that matter–has to know what kind of handset I have? Shouldn’t handsets conform to the relevant standards and that be enough for the operators? How come this tying of phones to service provider isn’t illegal everywhere?

If an operator tried to tie a phone to a specific landline network, it would be illegal in the United States, thanks to the Carterfone ruling. How come when we add a wireless radio to the phone, that rule suddenly doesn’t apply?

I’m not saying that carriers can’t sell subsidized phones in exchange for a contract commitment. That’s their choice. But making it so I cannot buy a phone outright because it is inexorably tied to my service? It should be illegal.

Advertisement: Cell Phone Batteries

Comments

28 June 2009, Jason writes: Wait. You work for Nokia and you have/want an iPhone? Does not compute. ;)
28 June 2009, Sharon writes: Can you buy the full priced phone - no obligation, no plan and then use your existing SIM card? --Sharon
28 June 2009, PhoneBoy writes: I officially stopped working for Nokia in April when my division of Nokia was acquired by Check Point Software. No need to worry about NOT having a Nokia phone anymore. ;)
28 June 2009, PhoneBoy writes: I was not going to buy the phone no-obligation since I have no desire to pay $700 for a phone. Even if you do, you still have to go through some sort of activation process to use the phone. That process involves a carrier--in this case AT&T--making some changes on their end so the phone can be activated for use. Changes I can't make because I am a CRU. Even if they did let me walk out of the store with the phone in-hand, it would be a nice, shiny brick.
28 June 2009, Marc writes: I'm re-reading this and trying to get my head around your dilemma. My initial (albeit not complete) scattered thoughts on the matter - finding a relative who has AT&T service and have the iPhone added to their account initially...or perhaps getting a AT&T 3G-capable handset and swapping its SIM card with that of the iPhone...hmmmm. Once the phone is purchased (by whomever under a 2 yr agreement) after 30 days, you can break contract for 175.00 ETF. Heck, if the person who purchases it via the AT&T website is a new customer, by using the BING-assisted 35% off deal, (see TechCrunch post) you could save about 104.00 on the 3GS 32gb (and get Cashback after 60 days from purchase date) then cancel. The ETF is lowered 5.00 for every month that is completed. Ok, so numbers-wise, here goes: iPhone 3GS would then cost 300.00+ to purchase...plus 2 months service(140+ minimum)...then BING Cashback of 100.00+ (after 60 days)...then 165.00 ETF (after 2 months passed)...and you own the iPhone 3GS 32gb for about 515.00 invested when the dust settles. Once you then 'own' the phone out of contract, you could jailbreak it (if option to do so is ready and go to T-Mobile) or you could take a AT&T 3G sim from a handset that your company pays for and place it in the iPhone, no? Sorry if so scattered here, just wanted to help somehow.
28 June 2009, PhoneBoy writes: My entire point is that one should not have to go through all this trouble just to acquire the device. You should just be able to walk into a store, present your cash/check/credit card, and walk out with the device of your choice. This kind of transaction should not be complicated.
28 June 2009, Marc writes: 100% Agree. I especially don't like handing over my SS# for the credit check, as I've been told there are other ways to perform said check.
28 June 2009, Juergen writes: Actually, the reason is quite simple, at least to me who frequently gets asked "Why can't I buy $foo-phone, who cares what the corporate standard is": If anybody was able to buy what he likes, then you'd see a race start... A gets a shiny new Nokia, now B wants to have something better and gets a Sony, C thinks "I'm geekier, I want a G1", D gets an iPhone 3G, E gets the 3GS 16GB just to show that he can, now A thinks "Hey, my phone is lame, I want the 3GS 32GB NOW!!!1!1eleven!"...
29 June 2009, spg writes: it has been way too long that carterfone has not yet been implemented for cell phones. countries that have always sold service and phones seperately tend to have per minute rates at a small fraction of those that do the 2 year contract/sub. phone thing. but i believe the reality has as much to do with the american consumer accepting the practices of the operators as much as the actions of the oiperators themselves. you can save a ton of money going with the smaller unknown preapid MVNO's(such as pageplus or STI mobile) and using second hand unlocked phones. however in the USA almost no one would have a clue what you are talking about if you suggest they do so. in europe it is the small prepaid MVNO that have driven down prices for everyone. but over there the consumer has had a lot of interest in using them to save money.
29 June 2009, PhoneBoy writes: For the prepaid thing to work, you have to know what your usage patterns are so you know how frequently to top up and whether or not you're getting a good deal. I guarantee you most people have no clue how many minutes they use in a month. And, of course, you have to only want voice minutes. It is damn near impossible to get prepaid data at anything resembling a good price, not withstanding some of the tricks you've pointed out earlier that MAY or MAY NOT work ;)
29 June 2009, Sharon writes: Another option that worked for me when I tested the iphone (eventually I decided to hold my old BB) was to "get" an iphone and switch the SIM. No extra cost. No account modification. See also http://securitypie.com/unfortunately-i-cant-use-an-iphone/ --Sharon
30 June 2009, spg writes: my suggestion for thoose who do not know how much they use but think they may save on prepaid. switch to prepaid when the contract ends, than on the first month that they would be better of bundled switch back. many people will never get to that month, particularly if they go with an opoerator like pageplus. even if they definatly want a bundled package page plus now offers 1500 minutes plus 1500 texts per month for $39.99 this is much cheaper than the big players. also vigin mobile and boost both have unlimited nationwide plans for $49.99 per month. the only great data deal that i know of is STI mobile which i have personally on an unlocked formerally verizon smart phone and works great; it is even possible to tether.
30 June 2009, PhoneBoy writes: Verizon phones are "unlocked" from what I understand anyway. :) STI Mobile is a Sprint MVNO, Pageplus is a Verizon one. It might be worthwhile to get a cheap PagePlus phone for emergencies.
30 June 2009, tco writes: Back in the day @ CHKP this was not the case. The corporate account has been locked down. This is the choice of the company. Not really an AT&T thing.
30 June 2009, PhoneBoy writes: To some extent, that is the choice of the corporate sponsor (in this case, CHKP), but changing a device should involve changing the account in any way. The service (and device) are separate things. Can you imagine calling your local exchange carrier every time you changed the telephone handset in your house?
30 June 2009, spg writes: the verizon phone i use was actually never locked; but i did have to modify the PRL(primary roaming list) to match sprints and make a number of other 'flash' changes for the data to work properly. also since STI does not offically support phones not purchased through them(pageplus does though; they will assist with getting any CDMA phone working) it was neccasary to buy an sti mobile phone activate it and than move all the connection data including the ESN, ESID and MSID to my other phone. as far as STI is concerned i am still using the phone i purchased from them. i pay 0.19 cents per day for unlimited data. if you have any verizon phone lying around you can call page plus at any time to instantly activate it, there is no charge for activation and you get $2.00 in free airtime.
30 June 2009, PhoneBoy writes: You have just described, in a nutshell, everything that is wrong with the way phones are sold in this country. To make a phone purchased for one carrier work on another should not involve major surgery. You should be able to plug in a SIM card and go.
1 July 2009, spg writes: even in most of europe(italy is an exception - all sales of locked phones are banned) if you buy a carrier subsdiesed phone it is also locked to the carrier you bought it from. the big difference is that lots of people unlock the locked phones(there are plenty of shops both here and there that can do it in minutes or sometimes seconds for a small fee)as well as pay the full price to get one that was never locked or associated with any carrier. the main reason to do this is to use a bargin MVNO or even a major carrier that offering much cheaper pricing if you do not take a subsidiesed phone. this largly comes out of an old practice in europe where phone shops would often 'buy back' the phone when a customer signed a new 2 year contract esentially filling the customers pocket with cash. at one time this was very popular and largely something that drove the carriers to offer the cheaper plans for 'bring you own phone' customers. i have asked a couple times in phone shops here in the US if they would buy back my phone if i signed a two year contract thast included a free phnes and they locked at me like i was absolutely crazy. if enough people asked this question thing may start to change; i am sure the carriers would much rather offer device nuetral plans that are cheaper than to have store manager kicking cash back to customers who keep using there old phone.

Inbox Liquidation, Part 49

PhoneBoy — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:43:09 +0000

It’s that time again where I sift through the debris in my inbox and pick five or so things to write briefly about. It’s kind of like Stefan Constantinescu’s series called Trimming in Public except I only write about the things that interest me. I think I’ll also take a cue and give it a cute name: “Inbox Liquidation”

Trapster Goes iPhone 3.0 and Android: While this isn’t a service I’ve used in quite a while, I love the idea of a user-generated speed trap tracking system. Trapster has been around for at least a year and now supports the iPhone 3.0 firmware, exploiting to great effect the new mapping APIs as well as the background notification services, making it much quicker to report traps as well as have the ability to receive trap alerts without having to run the Trapster application in the foreground! Of course, if you have an Android phone, you’re covered as well since you can run the app in the background.

ShoZu Going Pay, Sort Of: ShoZu is an application that takes pictures from your phone and automatically puts it in social networks and the like online. Their app had been free, but it looks like they will move the application to the various phone application stores and charge for the app. They are already doing this for the iPhone version of the app. It’s an interesting way to pay for what is essentially a “service”–buy an app to access said service. Not sure how this is going to play with ShoZu users, or how it’s going to increase their user base, but it will be interesting to see.

The Nokia Glock Model 40: My dad sent me this picture. It gives the phrase “sidetalking” a whole new meaning, if you catch my drift.

OnRelay Brings Fixed Mobile Convergence to Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1: OnRelay is announcing on 23 June 2009 that they are collaborating with Sony Ericsson to bring OnRelay’s Mobile PBX software onto the Sony Ericsson device. My response: So what? This might have been interesting several years ago, but the world has already converged on the mobile phone. PBXes do nothing for me, nor do they do anything for most of the people I work with.

Watch Out Buying Stuff From Ovi Store!

PhoneBoy — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:57:17 +0000

While I was on my trip to Israel, I had to factory default my Nokia E71 because it was starting to act funny. While reinstalling RoadSync, Gravity, and most of my other apps wasn’t a big deal, as I keep copies on my MicroSD card for just this reason, reinstalling one of them–one I bought from Nokia’s Ovi Store–turned out to be not possible.

While I grumble with the fact that mobile apps are tied to the IMEI of the handset–think of it as a unique serial number for a GSM-based mobile phone–it’s a fact of life I’ve grown used to. Some application providers do not allow you to move applications between handsets, others do. Either way, getting an application reinstalled on the same device you purchased it for should be doable.

I had saved the installation SIS file for JoikuSpot on my MicroSD card, so I reinstalled it. However, it was not automatically licensed, so it came up in demo mode. I next tried to go to the Ovi Store on that very same E71 I purchased it on. I went to the “My Stuff” section in the Ovi Store app:

Yup, there’s JoikuSpot. I click on it:

Hey wait, didn’t I buy this app already? From this phone? Why would I want to buy it again. Nowhere on this page does it give me the option to redownload. Nokia, you know I bought this app, why won’t you let me download it?

I checked my email for the receipt to see if there was a license key:

Nope, not there. So I go to Ovi Store on the web. There is nothing in their FAQ about what happens after you download an app. What? Ok, time for the contact page. It appears to be a general Ovi contact form. Nothing about botched orders, order status, or anything on this contact page.

Clearly, Nokia didn’t think this part out. And I know I’m not the only one who has had problems. Matt Miller had issues getting his app redownloaded as did many of Ricky Cadden’s readers.

I can’t believe that Nokia had absolutely no foresight that a download failure might happen or someone might have to reformat their phone and redownload an app. There is absolutely no provisions made for these situations other than contacting Nokia Care, which who knows how long that will take to properly respond.

Having worked for Nokia and met some of the people in the Care organization, I know that people inside Nokia care about these things and are likely as frustrated as us end users are over the stupidity of this situation. That being said, until Nokia makes it so you can easily redownload purchased apps from the Ovi Store and/or provide the license code as part of the purchase process, I cannot and will not recommend that anyone by any apps from the Ovi Store.

Hopefully, someone had a happy ending with one of these experiences. Did anyone either get their money back or get another chance to redownload their app from the Ovi Store? Let me know your thoughts.

Advertisement: Emergency Cell Phones

Adesso Wireless Media Center Keyboard with Optical Trackball

PhoneBoy — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:11:37 +0000

Keyboards are a rather personal thing. You either like them or you don’t and there is plenty of wiggle room depending on what is important to you.

Adesso’s PR firm sent me a Wireless Media Center Keyboard with Optical Trackball to review. It is geared for people with media center PCs, though it works ok with my Mac as well.

The unit comes with a USB dongle that blinks blue whenever you push keys on your keyboard. It communicates with the keyboard over 2.4 Ghz, which is also used by Bluetooth and WiFi. I haven’t noticed any interference problems as of yet, but the keyboard and mouse are less than 1 foot apart in my normal usage. Supposedly it works up to 100 feet away, but unless you had Frank’s 2000 inch TV hooked up to your computer, I doubt you could actually see what you were typing on the computer from that far away.

The keyboard has some media keys to control audio, the TV channel, and the volume. Surprisingly, most of these keys actually work on iTunes on the Mac just fine. The channel buttons seem to function as a sort of page-up/page-down kind of thing. There are also a row of 8 buttons along the top that don’t appear to do anything on the Mac, but are supposedly for Windows Media Center .

The other important feature this keyboard has is a track bar, scroll wheel, and mouse. They work well enough, but I would have preferred the buttons to be to either side of the trackball (e.g. for left and right clicks) instead of being on the opposite side of the keyboard from the trackball!

I find that certain keys on this keyboard tend to require a bit more force to ensure they register properly, like the right shift key and the spacebar. This is not a unique problem to this keyboard as I find that many modern keyboards suffer from this “mushmellow” syndrome. I also find some keys are put in somewhat odd spots, which often happens when keyboards are made smaller.

What’s the verdict for $74.99 US? I like the wire-free operation, but it’s not necessary as I’m usually sitting at a desk anyway. I’m also not as big on controlling media from my keyboard. It would be great for that, of course, but its not something I do with my computer on a regular basis. It’s not a great fit for me, but if I needed a keyboard for a media center PC, I’d consider getting this one.

What Is The Secret of Social Networking?

PhoneBoy — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:42:49 +0000

If you’ve seen the movie Soylent Green, or even if you haven’t, you know what the punchline to this story is. Even if you do know the punchline, read on.

Humans are undeniably social creatures who crave connections to other humans. Email, IM, Twitter, Facebook, Plurk, SMS, and many others are services that, at their core, serve one of our most basic needs as humans: to connect with other humans.

As geeks, technologists, marketers, or what-have-you, it’s real easy to lose sight of the people and focus on the technology and what it enables. Or get into endless debates why service X is better than service Y for a specific purpose.

While I was traveling to Israel, in one of the rare moments where I actually had time to peek at Twitter, I saw a comment from Lee Dryburgh, who questioned the popularity of Twitter:

Twitter is just slow public IM coupled with SMS+RSS.I still fail to see the greatness in Twitter as a specific platform or technology.:(

My immediate response, pretty much says it all:

@leedryburgh Why Twitter is popular is like Soylent Green: it’s people. Without people, it’s nothing.

Why Twitter became popular is the subject of some speculation. From my point of view, it doesn’t matter what caused Twitter to become wildly popular. The very fact there is such a mass of people using Twitter makes it matter. Even if there is a superior technology to Twitter, if few people use the technology, it doesn’t really matter.

I have settled on both Twitter and Facebook as the “social networks” I use on a regular basis. I may have started using Twitter for merely technical reasons, and initially left because of them, but I came back for the people. The reason I joined and started using Facebook regularly was the same–the people.

I’ll say it again: Social networking is like Soylent Green: it’s people. Without people, social networking is nothing. Let’s not forget that.

Comments

17 June 2009, Be Kind. Be True. Be Real. Be You. | Stardust Global Ventures - Digital Media Advisors writes: [...] First, my good friend Dameon wrote What Is The Secret of Social Networking? [...]
21 June 2009, Web 2.0 turned the digital divide into a social divide « Fredzimny’s CCCCC Blog writes: [...] What Is The Secret of Social Networking? (phoneboy.com) Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Faculty Summit 2008 Day 1: OpenSocial APIBlog #7Create a Winning Social Media Strategy For Your BrandMorning Xtra: Miley Cyrus Draws Twitterers Ire, iPhone Plan Price Drop [...]
22 June 2009, NumberGarage Matt writes: I, like you, stick mainly with Twitter and Facebook for my personal use. I use both for very different purposes. Since Facebook is a walled garden I keep it to communicate with friends and family. I rarely add someone who I have never met personally. Twitter, for me, is all about sharing and exchanging ideas that cover a broad swath of topics. Most of the topics are tech related and would bore and confuse my facebook friends to death. In fact, I had to disable my twitter from updating my facebook status for that reason.

What Will The Emerging Nokia Look Like?

PhoneBoy — Sun, 24 May 2009 08:08:39 +0000

A friend of mine’s post got me thinking about what I’m hearing from my friends who, technically, still work for Nokia, though they have no job. They were the people that either were not offered a job at Check Point Software when they bought our business from Nokia or declined to take an offer.

I won’t get into the specifics of what I’ve heard, but it isn’t good. The double whammy of the global recession and market pressures from Apple and RIM is shaking Nokia to its very core. Nokia is shedding people, reorganizing, and hopefully, trying to get more focused.

While I don’t truly have any inside information, I suspect we’ll see Nokia announce more layoffs over the next several months. We will hear more about how Nokia is refocusing. The company that emerges from this process, which I suspect will take a couple of years or more, will be very different than the one I spent 10 years at. Hopefully leaner, meaner, and hungrier, prepared to properly address triple-threat of RIM, Apple, and the emerging threat of Google via Androio.

What will this company look like? What will this company do? And will it be too late? It all remains to be seen.

Advertisement: Emergency Cell Phones

Comments

28 May 2009, Texrat writes: Thanks for the acknowledgment! I agree the overhaul is necessary, but I'm not sure it was started correctly. Hopefully that will improve... I just wanted to stay there and be PART OF the transformation. : /
29 May 2009, Stuart writes: A few years.... won't be fast enough. There is a technology gap already, there's an increasing user gap and the core values in "connecting people" need to be reinvented. Apple is about "creative energy", by contrast Nokia's passion is much deeper. Their positioning and strategic intent won't let them go after Apple. However, they are incredibly slow to recognize the shift from telecom to mobile social networks in terms of power. They appear to have even less understanding of the metamediaries that are emerging and the impact of the cloud. Nokia has to think ahead with new people and consider how they change the culture. They should start with a mini team and let them loose on the problem for six months. This is not consultants etc. It is people that understand what "connecting people" really means. So far there is a lot of copycat going on and they will fail at it.
29 May 2009, Texrat writes: Stuart, there are many people in Nokia who get all that (I was one, so was Dameon, but so were plenty of others in positions of leadership)-- the problem has been one of execution, not raw knowledge or awareness. Nokia just cannot seem to get out of its own way.
29 May 2009, Stuart writes: Texrat, I agree there are many inside that get elements. The leadership can't or doesn't. I don't really make the distinction between execution and knowledge. Knowledge comes from asking better smarter questions faster. Leadership comes when people execute on the answers. Including the answer... we must move faster. Those answers include setting the benchmarks or hurdles for performance and design. Plus those that question and act learn faster. The problem in my view has to trace to the leadership. Naturally, I am only an outsider and Nokia is / has been a highly successful company. I don't know if Ovi will be a complete failure. It clearly is off to a poor start. A new playbook will only come from new management and coaches. Current management has plenty of excuses for the moment. I would not invest money in Nokia today. Yet the "connecting people" I remain highly passionate about. On execution they lost me about 2 years ago to the day. Within the year I'd equipped my family with iPhones etc. As a futurist and scenario planner I'd even spoken at Nokia HQ years ago. I know they were exposed to what was possible long ago. It's looking a lot like a collective failure to me right now.
29 May 2009, Texrat writes: I certainly can't argue with your perception. From the inside we could all see why and where the gears were rusted, and we knew what the oil looked like-- there were just too many hurdles in between...
29 May 2009, PhoneBoy writes: The one observation I'll add is that while there are many people "in charge" at Nokia, nobody is truly calling the shots and tries to please everybody. As a result, Nokia puts out products that often compete with each other and lack a common, unified vision. Each product is a silo in and of itself, not part of a larger ecosystem.
29 May 2009, Texrat writes: Man, isn't that the truth! And OPK supports the "strategy". He defended it at a Dallas visit last year.
29 May 2009, PhoneBoy writes: Seems like he's just repeating the same failed strategy of his predecessors.
30 May 2009, NF writes: Now that I have been out of Nokia for about six weeks, I am starting to think that Nokia reminds me of DEC. They both got very successful and that success blinded them to move to the next things. DEC was great doing mini-computers and then the VAX. But they never were able to move beyond the VAX to workstations. Nokia was very successful doing digital GSM phones, colors, multiple models, 3G, etc., but has never learned how do really develop software to compete with the likes of Apple and RIM. Last weeks problems with OVI going live after many years of preparation, isn't a good sign. The CNET video where they joked about Nokia being surprised how much traffic there was given their almost 40% market share, while amusing, seems to me that they were not really expecting it to be successful. The senior management doesn't really take this Internet stuff seriously.

Clearing Inbox Debris

PhoneBoy — Fri, 22 May 2009 08:27:35 +0000

It’s that time again:

FreeConferencing.com Launches: Until they do something to equalize inter-carrier compensation between most civilized parts of the United States and rural locations, services like FreeConferenceCall.com and now FreeConferencing.com will continue to exist and be profitable. By hosting these services in, say, rural Iowa, they actually make a small amount of money per minute on incoming calls. Anyway, FreeConferencing.com is a way to do a one-to-many call, complete with a web-based console to manage the call.

Vonage Trying To Act Like Mobile Phone Carriers: Vonage, the VoIP landline replacement service provider that refuses to die, is now offering a deal where you can sign up and not pay for equipment, shipping, or activation. The catch? You have to sign a two year agreement complete with early termination fees that are, according to my calculations, worse than a mobile phone contract.

iPopperz Fashion Earphones: Personally not my thing, but these are relatively inexpensive, in-ear haedphones with a number of styles, colors, and whatnot. I would consider buying the black, green, and black pair. One cool thing: they sell replacement earpads. Granted, there is a huge amount of markup there, but it’s the first time I’ve seen them available.

Bad Experience on DeFi Mobile: I briefly wrote about DeFi Mobile in October. Wasn’t sure how well the service was going to be when it went live, but someone forwarded me some correspondence to and from the company related to their experience. In short: it was bad voice quality and improper CallerID. Anyone have a good experience with DeFi Mobile?

Qwest Offering Free WiFi Nationwide: If you happen to live in an area where Qwest is your local exchange carrier and you get high speed Internet from them, now you can take it with you–sort of. Qwest has signed a deal with AT&T to provide Qwest customers free WiFi at 17,000 AT&T operated WiFi hotspots. Personally, I think it’s worth $9.95 a month for Boingo, which offers WiFi at AT&T locations and a whole bunch more!

Advertisement: Cell Phone Batteries

Comments

23 May 2009, Andy Abramson writes: Re: DeFi Mobile---are they around? It has been months since I even heard about them. Re: Vonage--I'm at least liking the fact that the new management team is trying to be different and newer. re: Qwest-They have to wish they had been bought. I still think someone, likely Verizon gobbles them up at some point, but do they ever need a mobile play. re: Free Conference Calling---My prediction-Skype wipes that market up in a few years. The paid stuff ends up at COL (Citrix OnLine) which was HighDefConferencing.com, a former client.
24 May 2009, spg writes: when DeFi first came out I inquired about whether i could really call any phone in any country or if it was a fancy way of wording 'VOIP cals to any country' and i specifically picked a couple desitinations i know to be super expensive. they replied with a 'quote' from the marketing dept. and nothing specific to the destinations i asked about. all aditional inquires via email went unanswered and my forum posts asking questions were never posted. i notice that the forum is 100% positive posts now; so they obvoisely moderate out all else. more recently i have noticed they have a list of countries taht can not be called; this list grows almost every day. for me the one amazing thing about this service was the unlimited calls to any country. that made this an interesting service to be used from a single location for 'cost savings on otherwise expensive international calls' that i believe has a much bigger market than the limited number of people who would use it from public WiFi spots. of course with a growing list of countries that can not be called that attraction is disappearing.
24 May 2009, spg writes: i just checked the website and the list of unsported countries has now been replaced with a short list of supported countries.
29 May 2009, Matt writes: I had no idea Qwest was still around. They were my provider when I lived in Montana.
12 June 2009, jiya bingo live free writes: For me the one amazing thing about this service was the unlimited calls to any country.that made this an interesting service to be used from a single location.

USB 2.0 to 3D Audio Sound Card

PhoneBoy — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:40:55 +0000

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, as the folks from Budget Gadgets sent me one of these a while ago: a USB 2.0 to 3D Audio Sound Card. The upshot of this device is that it converts an analog headset and microphone to USB, which is nice on computers that don’t offer these analog input, such as my old Mac Mini.

This device does not need any USB drivers as it is treated like a regular USB sound device, which most operating systems recognize immediately. I plugged it into a Windows XP computer and tested it with Skype, which worked flawlessly.

The price is right at about $8, including shipping. If you want to save 5% off this and other cool things you might buy at Budget Gadgets–and they have a number of nifty items that I want to purchase–use the coupon code: DM5OFF12

One word of warning: since items come from Hong Kong, the shipping can take a few weeks to reach the US.

Comments

26 May 2009, Graves On SOHO VoIP » Magic Jack: Secrets Of Success? writes: [...] might well compare the MJ dongle to a common USB audio interface like the one that Phoneboy blogged about recently. I’ve used these myself. They cost well under $10 in single unit quantities. Imagine what [...]

It’s Midnight, Do You Know What Your Corporate Security Policy Is?

PhoneBoy — Wed, 20 May 2009 07:56:01 +0000

Recently, I was asked to complete a security awareness training at Check Point. It is considered a mandatory exercise for all employees. It consists of watching a brief presentation, taking a short multiple-choice test, virtually signing the security policy document, and providing a user validation question and answer.

The entire process took no more than 20 minutes. After having watched the presentation, I can tell you, with a fair degree of certainty what the different levels of classification are, what generally falls into each level of classification, and what my responsibilities are with respect to handling data in that classification. It was all done with clear language using examples I feel most people could relate to.

It is exactly the kind of policy presentation that any serious company should have. The reason: employees are often the weakest link in security. Educating employees on what the policy is vital to ensure corporate assets are protected.

Oh wait, you don’t have a security policy? Well now, that is a problem.

The PhoneBoy Blog

Apps I Miss on Nokia Handsets

Related Posts

Why The iPhone Doesn’t Multitask

Comments

Related Posts

iPhone In The House

Comments

Related Posts

What’s With The Encryption in the iPhone 3GS?

Comments

Related Posts

Inbox Liquidation Part 50

Related Posts

I Ordered an iPhone, or Why Hell Froze Over Today

Comments

Related Posts

There Oughta Be A Law Against This

Comments

Related Posts

Inbox Liquidation, Part 49

Related Posts

Watch Out Buying Stuff From Ovi Store!

Related Posts

Adesso Wireless Media Center Keyboard with Optical Trackball

Related Posts

What Is The Secret of Social Networking?

Comments

Related Posts

What Will The Emerging Nokia Look Like?

Comments

Related Posts

Clearing Inbox Debris

Comments

Related Posts

USB 2.0 to 3D Audio Sound Card

Comments

Related Posts

It’s Midnight, Do You Know What Your Corporate Security Policy Is?

Related Posts

The PhoneBoy Blog

Apps I Miss on Nokia Handsets

Related Posts

Why The iPhone Doesn’t Multitask

Comments

Related Posts

iPhone In The House

Comments

Related Posts

What’s With The Encryption in the iPhone 3GS?

Related articles by Zemanta

Comments

Related Posts

Inbox Liquidation Part 50

Related articles by Zemanta

Related Posts

I Ordered an iPhone, or Why Hell Froze Over Today

Related articles by Zemanta

Comments

Related Posts

There Oughta Be A Law Against This

Comments

Related Posts

Inbox Liquidation, Part 49

Related Posts

Watch Out Buying Stuff From Ovi Store!

Related Posts

Adesso Wireless Media Center Keyboard with Optical Trackball

Related Posts

What Is The Secret of Social Networking?

Comments

Related Posts

What Will The Emerging Nokia Look Like?

Comments

Related Posts

Clearing Inbox Debris

Comments

Related Posts

USB 2.0 to 3D Audio Sound Card

Comments

Related Posts

It’s Midnight, Do You Know What Your Corporate Security Policy Is?

Related Posts