A1000blog

A1000blog gets a wireless edition

Today I am happy to release a wireless edition of A1000blog for mobile wireless devices. Via the URL http://mobile.typepad.com/a1000blog/mob you may read the eight most recent posts. That "mob" page is without sidebars and category links (because they point to pages inside the full version). As a result the lighter edition is about 30kbyte. I am also considering to add a separate page with useful A1000-related web sites that offer wireless editions, e.g. WAP versions.

Please let me know if you find this step useful and if you have any suggestions for improvements.

Still no voice recorder

While preparing for making podcasts I searched again for an application that can make audio recordings on the A1000. VITO SoundExplorer is an MP3 audio player/recorder for the p910/900/800 (same operating system as the A1000). But when I tried the new version today in my A1000 it simply aborts after asking for a serial number. That should not happen because it's a trial version, so something is not working.

A1000blog linking around

Yesterday I got another mail from a A1000-related Web site developer. I think he is the third visitor giving me friendly feedback and asks if I could link to his site.

Originally I put the list of forums and sites on my blog roll for my own convenience. That is, I used the list as a kind of favourite list (spelling as a courtesy to the many UK visitors :-). In the beginning that meant about three sites which was OK for me. Now the list is expanding and I have no intention to build a full-service-A1000 site (others do that better).

In addition I´ve noticed that I spend less and less time reading/participating in the forums. One reasons is that I´m quite busy working (with other things), another is probably that I don´t have the same need as I originally did.

I´ll probably clean up the list later on, but for the moment it´s there and may expand as well as shrink...

My screen is protected

About twenty years ago I purchased a cool wristwatch. Don´t remember the make, but the glass had a touch screen interface. Besides showing the time the watch was a calculator, a timer and more. Was fun for about 6 months, then I scratched it and touching the screen didn´t work anymore.

With this in memory I was quite concerned about not damaging my A1000. Even before I bought my own I saw several postings discussing screen protectors. The users were discussing different brands and even home made solutions. Just to be on the safe side I kept the original protection film on my screen. But it was no good. Finally I decided to buy one.

My choice was the Ultra Clear Screen Protector from Brando Workshop (10 USD including shipping). From a lurkers point of view many forum participants seemed satisfied with it. Ordering the protector from Brando was very easy. I laid the order about 23:00 on the 13:th of January. Within a few hours I got an e-mail from them because I forgot to enter the name of the City where I wanted the shipping. I recall that they suggested about two weeks shipping time to Sweden, but I got it after a week. Well, them, as I bought a protector for my PDA as well.

Attaching the protector to the phone was easy, but I had to redo it a couple of times to remove dust and some bubbles. Tip: use a piece of scotch tape to remove the dust. My experience is that you have to put the protector on the screen to see the dust (after cleaning it first as much as you can). Then slowly pull upp the protector, lift of the dust, and fold back the protector.

The result? Great! Crystal clear and I am not afraid of scratching the screen.

The power of moblogging

Just a small reflection. At this point in time, after a special meeting, I have unique information...

With the A1000 sharing my knowledge is just a click away.

But, I'm sorry - you'll have to wait.

Sending xMS from the contact book

In a previous post I wrote that I couldn't send SMS/MMS directly from the contact book. Thanks to a comment by "Jon", my state of mind has since changed - hence this update post. As the manual says (who reads manuals these days :-): "Tap the icon for the call or the message you want".

Are mobile nets Inter?

First a brief remark. Some people believe that "inter" in Internet stands for International network. That is a misperception. Inter here means between. That is, a system that connects different computer networks. (International flights connects different countries). Hence, "mobile Internet" should mean mobile access to this system that connects different networks. (Internet is a vague term for many ideas of technically complicated systems - let us disregard that here).

User "FonzCam" in 3G forum made a comment about Handy Day 2005's feature that gives you weather info (via GPRS from some server on the Internet). Quote "as long as you are on 3UK and they don't offer open 'net access this feature isn't going to work".

When I began browsing 3G forums about a year ago it didn't take long until I realized that 3's UK customers had no open access to the Internet. The forum posters refer to the "walled garden". I have not bothered to check out what 3 allow in other countries, or how other UMTS operators does it, but in Sweden 3's customers have reasonable access to the Internet.

Most likely the underlying reason for 3UK's wall is money. That is, operators can more easily charge for content if all other providers, i.e. those on the Internet, are kept outside the wall. (China has another wall - for political reasons.)

But, the lesson from non-mobile online systems (e.g. Compuserve, Prodigy and AOL) teach us one thing. Walled proprietary systems did not survive. Mind here that they initally were more multimodal and content rich than the Internet.

But walls for keeping outsiders out seems to bee good (useful, acceptable and profitable). That is, arrangements where customers have to pay to get inside in order to get access to extra value provided within the wall. Note, this is the opposite of what 3UK does - keeping insiders in. What is good for 3UK is bad for epocware (the makers of Handy Day) and AccuWeather.

Future will tell if we will see more, or less, walled mobile gardens.

Recording all calls

Not yet for the A1000, but Natural Widgets has released Natural Recorder for the Series 60. Hopefully other platforms will be supported soon. Can´t wait.

(picked up via doHeadlines in my A1000 from my-symbian's RSS-feed)

Why my interest for newsreaders?

Recently I reviewed three newsreaders; the bad, the okay and the good. Actually, those are the only ones I know run under Symbian/UIQ. There is a reason for why I start with newsreaders instead of games, productivity tools, Web browsers, etc.

Newsreaders are frequently associated with blogging. Anything that is related to blogging is interesting, because it is an exploding phenomenon. But newsfeeds are also increasingly used by all types of content providers. And that motivates my interest.

From a mobile user of information perspective, where airwave bytes are expensive, I see newsfeeds as an extremely convenient way to match needs with possibilities. Whereas operators and other players may put up mobile information portals and charge for the content, newsreaders add a cheap and flexible alternative.

For me this is still an early hunch. But now, with a good newsreader at hand, I will be able to compare alternatives and see what happens.

To be continued...

So far very good

As I write this I´ve had the A1000 for about 10 days. But it took only a couple of days before I decided that I really liked my new phone. Speaking of "phone" - I´m not sure what to call the A1000. Is it a phone, a PDA, a MP3-player or just a converged device?

Because I normally carry around my laptop it has been OK with only a phone. But I also wanted a MP3-player plus a quick way to access my contact information and calendar. The experiment with a PDA (Toshiba e750) did not work out very well, mainly because of it´s lousy battery. The e750 did not last a day without re-charging. Worse, it lost data if the battery went totally dead. The NEC e616 gave me contacts and calendar (until I hit the 200 entries max), but it did not really function as a MP3-player.

But with the A1000 I must say I got it all. There are some annoying things, which I will report on later on. But generally - it is a great device. My impression seems to be in rhyme with what other users have found - at least that´s my interpretation of what is said in the discussions forums I occasionally follow.