A1000blog

Switched to HTC P3600

Dear subscribers, commenters, and lurkers. It is by now well over a month since I switched to a HTC P3600, also dubbed Triton. The A1000 has served me well, but I wanted  more features. The P3600 offers, after some add-ons, virtually everyting I need. That includes 3G, HSDPA, WiFi, OK camera, an abundance of applications. Basically a lot of the Microsoft stuff sucks, but I can live with that.

I intended to announce my shift here together with an indication of how I would continue to share my mobile experiences. But I have been so busy with other stuff - so I do not know right now. I will be back here whenever I decide on how to continue.

Right now it is most likely that my son Milton (age 12) will inheret the A1000. It has been upgraded in terms of software, and with a new (used) screen because I cracked the old one last summer.

Thank you all for reading, commenting and in other ways contributing to this blog.

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Tried Wayfinder

For various reasons I realised that Wayfinder runs on the A1000. Because I happen to have a Bluetooth GPS receiver I decided to give Wayfinder a try. This post as not a full blown review, but might help you to decide if Wayfinder is for you.

In sum, Wayfinder is an easy install and works surprisingly well. But it is so dependent on mobile access that I decided to not buy it after the 5 day trial expired.

After skimming through the information at their website I signed up be sending myself an SMS that contained an installation link. To my great surprise the installation (over the 3G network) worked flawlessly. Took a couple of minutes and reqired a couple of separate downloads and installs. It was equally easy to hook up and apply my BT GPS receiver (the built in A1000 GPS worked too, but with less good precision). I installed the Swedish language pack and the instructions came out load and clear.

My decision was to just use Wayfinder, without exploring all of its capabilities. It took me some experimentation to figure out how Route planning/navigation worked. I have used Tom Tom (V3) before and Wafínder has a somewhat different terminology and ways of doing things. In any case it was pretty ease to find a target and drive from where I was to where I wanted to go.

As with Tom Tom I quickly found at that too often the destinations I really needed to find my way to (on the country side of Sweden) was unknown to Wayfinder. On the other hand I got great help to find places like Systembolag and gas stations. On feature that I never tried, but seems great, is to select a destination through the Web interface and have it SMS:ed to the phone.

Maps where swiftly downloaded as needed, that is, when the phone had mobile access. Unfortunately, especially on the countryside, the 3 coverage is lousy and I got no maps. This is the main reason I decided not to pay for continued use of Wayfinder. One is supposed to be able to pre-download maps, but that is an hassle (and, I believe, is only possible for city maps).

If Wayfinder offered an option to preload the phone with maps of, say the whole Scandinavia, then I would probably have paid. Especially as the license is valid for other platforms. As I previosly have said, I will move to another phone/pda any month now.

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Demo

This morning I have the privilege to share my knowledge at the last session of IFL's (www.ifl.se) Marketing Executive program. The subject is Marketing 2.0, including blogging and podcasting.

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Today I am presenting for the ad agency Tempel (www.tempel.se).

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Pod2Mob promising danger

I learned yesterday from Adam Curry's Daily Source Code (DSC #361) about Pod2Mob. As it seems Pod2Mob streams podcasts to any cell phone (US providers only) that have downloaded and installed the Pod2Mob. In other words, you have to listen live. In any case it just illustrates how podcasting is embraced by the mobile phone world.

(Whereas it is free for the listerners, the business model is based on advertising. And here comes Adam's point. Pod2Mob illegaly advertises on (or right before) the podcasting episodes. That really upset him. My guess is not only becuase its both illegal and quite unfair, but also since it is a direct competitor of the Podshow Network (which when it is officially released will insert ads after the explicit consent from member podcasters).

My initial reaction was that Pod2Mob does a bad thing with their ad insertion, but their technology idea is really interesting. Then I started to think about when does the advertising context end and when does the content start. Similar thoughts are frequent in the DSC:s comments (also on Currys blog). Have to consider this more...

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Demo

This morning I am giving a presentation for SACO (www.saco.se). Nice people, mostly communication professionals from the member union organizations.

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Wireless podcasting

According to cell phones etc. the US carrier Rogers now offer podcast subscription directly to the mobile phone using mobilcast from melodeo. In other words you can bypass the PC as a download central. Which, by the way, you can do with Windows Mobile 5 and any feedreader that runs under that OS. Sure enough it is far away from my grabs. First of all I have a Swedish provider. Then the A1000 is not supported (currently only the Motorola ROKR, Motorola RAZR, Motorola V360, Sony Ericsson W600).

Anyway, we will se more of this, that is direct subscription from the phone.

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Demo

Today, in Växjö, it is all about e-marketing! Meet the future. They are right here.

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