a multi-tasked stream of consciousness or perhaps just emails to myself
CrunchGear is running a few videos on Android and aside from the obvious homage to iPhone, the level of customization and sleekness of the UI is very appealing.
Seems google has taken much of the investment made in iPhone apps directly for the Android platform. They’ve also kept a few goodies for themselves – maps include street view and I heard the guy say built in compass … Android as a true PND? Interesting indeed…
Technorati Tags: google, android, mobile, nokia, apple, iphone
I first caught a glimpse of this at Mobile World Congress and was immediately interested.
At the time, I was using the N95 and N810 for my media consumption and a stereo bluetooth headset seemed like just the thing. This particular headset is worn like a necklace and includes a dogtag controller for managing connections, calls and playback. The display is easy to read, quite bright and carries a lot of detail (song name, caller ID etc). The BH-903 is very comfortable to wear as well – at least around your neck. As you may have seen, the default ear buds are a very unusual shape:
I have no idea who has ears shaped like that, but I had a heck of a time getting the buds to stay in and as a result the volume was really lacking. I finally switched them over to what I discovered to be the standard round shape felt covers from the box. My experience immediately changed for the better and I’ve had no issues since.
The controls on the dogtag let you control your music and take calls very easily. I’ve noticed that the display only receives active song info from the nokia music player (at least not from mystrands). When you make or take a call, music pauses and then resumes when the call ends which happens quite elegantly.
The sound quality is fine. I’d love to say it’s better but I’ve been using a pair a Shure in-ear ear phones for a long time and upgraded to the SE420 model not so long ago. To compare a multi-function device to a single purpose high end one is not totally fair. Let’s just say the Shure experience is vastly superior, but I can’t make or take calls too easily. Call quality is great! I’ve had calls on the train and outside and no one has commented about extra noise or wind. I’ve been able to hear just fine as well … basic boxes to check for a phone call but very important regardless.
Speaking of quality and important details….
Stereo Bluetooth for music remains a work in progress!
It is incredibly frustrating to have the sound cut out and stall (while the music actually continues to play) when you are rocking out. Unfortunately this happens regularly!! I can’t figure out what causes it either which has left me just accepting this as a critical flaw. I have not had any issues on calls – just music so I’m guessing the amount of data transferring between phone and headset just becomes too much every so often.
The BH-903 has great potential and I am continuing to use it even with the audio skips for my commute … for now. I can see going back to the Shure’s (which are in my bag) because they just sound amazing. I don’t usually do that many calls on the train so I can manage the relative inconvenience when it pop’s up.
Technorati Tags: nokia, mobile, bluetooth, a2dp, bh-903, bh903, headset
I’ve never really been a fan of Opera or Windows Mobile, but Matt’s video here makes both look quite compelling. I had a few moments of hands on time with Matt’s Advantage when we traveled to Barcelona earlier in the year and it’s a very serious (in a good way) piece of hardware.
I’ve just started to use Spinvox recently but immediately see the value in how it works. If you are not familiar with the service, you forward your voicemail over in a similar manner to the way you would with GrandCentral and Spinvox handles the rest.
Once your call diverts are configured you should begin to receive both email and text notifications for new messages – with the text from the voicemail! You can see an example here with this message from my wife:
There’s a shortcut built in to the text and email which lets you jump to that message when (or if) you call in to listen. Thus far, the speech to text has been pretty solid. I have seen some oddball translations though I am honestly not that surprised as the same words (my town Katonah for example) give people I speak to a hard time as well.
The full text feature gives you fully searable voicemail in your inbox and on your device which I’ve yet to take real advantage of in my short test but fully expect to find benefit searching through Gmail. Seeing the messages saves the time of even having to call to retrieve messages in the first place.
The only real gotcha for me here is that there’s an audible signoff when someone leave you a message whic would be fine if this were a free service. Perhaps a reduced fee is under consideration for allowing the spinvox signoff is in order. I am not very comfortable offering an ad on my voicemail for business or personal calls.
The true ideal here is for Spinvox to integrate with GrandCentral or perhaps Ribbit when they launch. The text integration is killer but it’s only one of many advanced features I’d like to have with my voice services.
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spinvox
Great news about the soon to be released update to Nokia Maps …
As part of the Ovi brand of Internet services, which includes the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage gaming platform, Maps on Ovi will allow users to plan their trips on their desktop or laptop and then synchronize (automatically or manually) it with their smartphones. Conversely, if you’re already out on the road, you can record routes and points of interest on your handset and then upload them to the Ovi service when you return home to share with family and friends. The interface on Web side is similar to what you’d see on your phone for ease of use and a more seamless experience. [Crave]
This is a very compelling feature and something I am very glad to see coming. As I noted a while back, connecting GPS from the web to device is a killer feature. It confirms the need for the device itself to be connected, which of course is the case when it’s a handset. I’m looking forward to getting to try this … plan on the desktop, sync to the mobile. Should be ready this summer!
Technorati Tags: nokia, maps, gps, navigation, travel, ovi, sync
As you can see here, I’ve got the Nokia N82 along with the BH-903 and have to say my early impressions of both pieces are excellent! I was only semi-interested in the original flavor of the N82, but now here in my hand and in black, it’s sweet!
I’ll be posting more soon but here’s a few points of interest:
So far, the only bummer I know of is that there’s no NAM edition which means 2100 UMTS (Europe) only for the time being. I don’t have 3G at my house, but HSDPA will be missed when in the city.
Here’s a free idea. I can’t imagine I am even the first to suggest this either but there is clearly a need for devices catered to middle aged eyes.
In my daily travels I see more older people struggling to read their blackberries using the largest font and less than a foot from their face. It seems silly that we as people need to struggle like this just because the device guys have decided a 2.x inch screen is the way to for everyone. Not only does the larger font reduce the additional (and helpful) information it makes reading thing more difficult. Lines and paragraphs wrap poorly and it seems to take people a longer time to process.
While there a few devices that cater to seniors, these tend to eliminate functions rather than simply work in a slightly larger package. There’s plenty of room for a slightly larger device which still fits in your pocket or bag.
I still have some time to go myself and am fortunate enough to not yet need glasses… Though the clock is ticking.
Technorati Tags: Mobileuser experience
This is a great way to start the week … Go Mossberg! I love the smackdown on broadband … sub 1MB connections are unacceptable! Nice slide in for the 3G iPhone as welll …
Technorati Tags: mossberg, mediacenter, appletv, iphone
In the past week, I’ve been gently ribbed a bit by some people at work regarding the number of gadgets I’ve got working but the best was the guy next to me on my return flight from Chicago who broke our in-flight silence with ” I think you win for the most number of gadgets of any person I’ve ever sat next too!” I know my usage is far from normal cash international loan payday servicesno cash advance fee credit card,0 advance card cash credit,cash advance credit cardadvance cash loan online paydayadvance cash faxing no online,advance cash faxing loan no payday,no faxing cash advancecash advance new yorkcash loan payday quickcash america payday loan,instant cash payday loan,cash loan paydayadvance cash day loan pay payday,pay day cash advance,advance cash day loan payadvance cash day loan payfast faxless cash advance,fast cash advance,easy fast cash advanceadvance cash chicago settlement,pre settlement cash advance,advance cash settlementadvance cash loan payday today,advance cash cash loan loan payday quick,advance cash loan paydaypayday cash loancash til payday loanadvance america cash,ace advance america cash,advance america cash advancecash advance servicecash in advanceovernight cash advance,advance cash loan overnight,advance cash overnightpayday loan cash advance loancash advance servicesfirst cash advance houston tx,first cash advance,first time cash advancecash fast loan paydaysame day cash advance,same day cash advance loanadvance bad cash credit services,cash advance for people with bad credit,bad credit cash advancecash till payday loanadvance cash loan payday quickadvance cash faxing no,no faxing required cash advance,no faxing savings account cash advancesultan online casinofree online baccaratfull pay video pokeronline game gambling casinofree online craps,casino craps free gambling online,craps free online playcasino roulette download,roulette casino game,casino roulettefree backgammon,backgammon download free online play,free backgammon gameplay blackjacklearn to play crapsplay free roulettevideo poker tournamentsfree video pokerfree casino bonusonline video pokerwinning at video pokerfree online casino game craps,online casino craps,casino craps gambling onlinefree casino playcasino secure online gamblingno deposit free money casinoblack jack betting strategyplay free online slotsnew online casinouk best casino online compared to mainstream, so here’s the basic rundown of what I carry and what’s getting used actively.
As you might expect I’ve got a few pieces of Nokia gear … The N95-3 is my main phone and I use the iPhone SIM as I’ve been doing for months now. The N810 connects on my commute most days in both direction for enhanced internet consumption and multimedia. It’s not uncommon to see me using the phone and tablet at the same time for different net connections (sharing the N95’s data feed). I also carry a Blackberry Curve for work and use that pretty regularly through the day — fortunately (and currently) my mail does not heat up until later in the day, so I’m left to more personal news gathering for the morning commute. I can easily move between things and often am working with two at once.
In my bag, I’m carrying a few additional phones. Currently the N81 8GB and the N95-1. I don’t actively use either and had them with me in Barcelona and I think I’m just keeping that going a bit, but I’m also a “you never know” kind of guy so 4 phones (2 with SIM cards) is cool with me. The past few weeks I’ve also using a Zune 8GB which I really like for music.
I’m packing quite a few accessories like the Stowaway Sierra Bluetooth Keyboard (awesome on planes!), 2 Proporta Chargers and an Airport Express as well as plenty of USB cables, memory cards and adapters. The Airport lets me easily share a wireless connection with everything so I only get a single charge in a hotel … it also covers another just in case scenario and let’s me potentially share a potentially limited connection in a conference situation for work.
In a related aside, I used about 1.6GB of data last month on ATT through one SIM….
Technorati Tags:
3.5G, AT&T, Canola, HSDPA, Internet Tablet, Jaiku, Metro North, mobile, N-Series, N81, N810, N95, Nokia, S60, Travel, wireless
What’s the deal with FON? When I planned my trip to Barcelona recently I thought for sure I’d be able to take advantage of Free wifi in Fon’s home country.
Like a good Fonero, I made sure my FON was active and sharing well in advance yet when I arrived in Spain, I found ZERO Foneros through my travels. My N810 and N95 were actively connected most of the time and when they were not connected I was usually looking to connect. Whle most of the trip was spent in the conference area, I did walk around Barcelona and Vilanova and yet I still found nothing …
If there’s no sharing and tons of free Fons out there (according to FON) whats the model exactly? I’m happy to have got8ten a free router from them as they “expanded” into the US, but I’m thinking the hardware is going to evolve into a weekend hacking project since there’s clearly no benefit to maintaining an account with FON.
Technorati Tags: FON, Free, Broken, wifi, travel
I’ve had a pair of Shure EC4 in-ear phones for a few years and I recently shorted out my second pair. I’m not sure what the deal is with my usage, but I tend to kill mobile headsets and earphones far too easily.
Tonight while waiting in Atlanta I decided to go for it and upgrade my listening experience. I was holding off on getting another high end pair of earphones but after a few days with some low end and cheap Denon’s from Target I couldn’t take it anymore. I have a full week of travel ahead and had some time to kill in the airport tonight…
The Shure SE420 Earphones 
They run about $350 so I hope my wife is not reading this while on vacation with the kids! The price defines the experience though … Having tested the full line of Ultimate Ears Including their $500+ pair of 10 Pro’s I’m very pleased with my decision. Shure has restyled their entire line of earphones so they work better over the ear (wrapped as you might see a professional musician wear) and are now modular in design as well. The modularity allows for various accessories to be attached including their phone attachment which I can definitely see adding now that I get how this all works. With my previous set, the phone piece would have made a substantially longer mess of cable, but the base line is quite short so adding a new piece for a phone mic and call button is both easy and logical to do. This will actually kill my quest for a pair of multipoint bluetooth earphones so I can use them across my small army of mobile gear… Perhaps another post is warranted for this topic.
I’ve been jamming to a variety of music – electonic, hip hop and jazz on a Zune 8GB and am very pleased with the results. The Nokia N810 was next as I do a lot of watching and listening and soon the N95 where I expect to be using the aforementioned phone adapter.
Shure’s earphones are in-ear and sound isolating – not noise canceling. I much prefer this method as the sound is focused the environment remains unaltered. I can’t hear anything going on around me on the plane as I type this … and I was unable to hear anything in the airport either. I’m saying this as a positive and an extra bonus is that you don’t have to jack the volume causing potenial damage to your ears.
You should be careful if you plan on walking around a high traffic area.
All in all – a solid purchase. I’m very pleased with this upgrade and looking forward to many hours of happy listening with my new Shure SE420 Earphones
Technorati Tags: shure, earphones, travel, zune, nokia, n95, n810, music, video
I’m back from Barcelona and attempting to catch up with posts I want to write, people I need to contact and a bit of reality as I head back to work tomorrow. While I’m reflecting though I wanted to note a few things …
This was my first conference attended as a member of the press and it’s something I’d definitely seek out in the future. You get access, access access! Aside from my pre-arranged meetings with Nokia I was able to seek out a few companies and even get meetings in an ad-hoc manner that would not have been possible if my badge just read attendee.
While I had prepared to connect so I could blog and stream live things were considerably more challenging during the time than I perhaps would have admitted to myself in advance. I’ve learned some good lessons though and need to perhaps be a bit more realistic with what I think I can do in a day … It’s hard to see everything and blog it while you go. international connectivity is a while other hurdle to clear as well. I was not able to get a Yoigo (3G pre-pay) sim until after the Nokia Keynote on Tuesday and getting even my initial thoughts up proved challenging with the event wifi which I think we can all agree was vastly underpowered. Once I did get a 3G card, I was connected as constantly as was possible — the sheer number of people doing the same thing made high speeds challenging at times and so anything more than email or photo uploads was pretty hard. Hotel access was limited – and apparently I’ve got the power to take the place down as noted by my travel companions: Andy Abramson, Alec Saunders, Alan Reiter, Stowe Boyd, Esme Vos, Matt Miller, Darla Mack and Oliver Starr. I can assure you all once more there’s nothing crazy running on my system … LOL!
My mobile kit worked flawlessly. I left armed with my Nokia N95-3, the N95-1 and N81 as phone and data candidates. The Nokia N810 as my primary data machine and two Proporta Mobile Power packs to keep everything running until late into the evening which they did in spades. Pat Phelan of MaxRoad hooked me up with a MaxRoam SIM which I used on the N95-3 for both local calling and calls home. It was my first experience with this service and it’s something I’d definitely use again. Call quality was great – many thanks to Pat!
My FON router was on in advance of the trip and I fully expected to see FON hotspots in Spain, but I never saw any which strikes me as odd… a post on this is brewing. Boingo was generous enough to provide a mobile account and this I used continuously from the time we connected in Madrid en route to Barcelona. The N810’s Boing o client popped up from the background and authenticated as I needed in the MWC event area. It worked so well I’m actually looking forward to a Boingo expansion in the US so I can use it more regularly… The only change I’d make to the kit I packed is the addition of an external keyboard. I owned the Stowaway ultraportable, but opted not to take it as I honestly don’t like it that much. The Nokia Tablet’s 2008OS also has a nasty bug with it which echos most characters you type. On the way home I tried Matt Miller’s Stowaway Sierra and immediately ordered it from the Madrid Airport. It arrived today and I’ve been testing it this afternoon. No more echo, and a very solid typing platform with only a minor increase in size and weight.
All in all, Barcelona was killer! I was able to connect with quite a few people I’d only seen through twitter and jaiku which really proves the power of social networking. I had a blast and would love to get back to Spain for some relaxed traveling with my wife and kids. The food and wine are wonderful and the people certainly warm and inviting.
Many more posts to come … hopefully sooner than later!
Technorati Tags:
3G, Boingo, Internet Tablet, Jaiku, mobile, Mobile World Congress, N810, N95, Nokia, OS2008, Proporta, Qik, Streaming, Travel, video, WiFi, FON, Twitter
One of the more exciting devices at the Mobile World Congress last week was the Sony Xperia X1. At least until I got a closer look …
The hardware is actually really nice. The demo guy I encountered though was nervous about letting anyone get too close and it seemed the more I watched the less there was to actually see. Form factor seemed like an N95 open and expanded, though the screen was 800×480 so I’m thinking the actual size is a bit wider to accommodate the pixels. As you can see in the following video I was not allowed to get too close for a comparison with the Nokia N810 which I had at the ready.
Pricing was unknown, but I’d be surprised if it was less than $800 and closer to $1000. It has every band for 3G including TMO USA’s 1700 which is nice to see…
From other videos I’ve seen around this product is really only final in hardware. Sony’s UI team still has a long way to go to make this more than the HTC Touch which has a very light shell running on top of Windows Mobile. Sony seems to have included a few tricks here – the panels and a media player which is more like that on the PSP, but otherwise it’s Windows Mobile 6 under the hood…
Technorati Tags:
mobile, Mobile World Congress, N-Series, N810, Sony
Yahoo announced OneConnect an amazingly cool service today that looks like a truly killer mobile social connector.  OneConnect will allow you to view and participate across social networks in a a way much like Jaiku does now – though it seems like it will work for most of your existing social services. It´s not ready for release quite yet and details of exactly how it works were hard to confirm, but here´s a video of what you can expect.Â
I´m very excited by this and see that Yahoo! has finally come forward with something exciting in mobile. Because the mobile is something you always have with you it´s truly the key piece in staying connected. That the OneConnect service will work with and outside the Yahoo! ecosystem is what makes it truly compelling. This application goes well beyond my notion of lifestreaming and looks like it will truly change the way in which we connect.Â
Just got an email with some light details on what to expect from the S60 team at MWC:
S60 will be making its presence felt at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. With its own section in the Nokia stand in Hall 8, Nokia S60 promoters will be showing the business opportunities and technology trends that S60 offers.
The S60 demos will cover
- S60 touch UI and sensor technologies
- S60 Internet browsing experience
- S60 Internet innovation enablers
- S60 native development platform
- S60 and Internet Community Services
- S60 Device Showcase
- Tune my S60
Of course I’m very interested in the Touch UI and the devices, but I am now very intrigued by Internet innovation enablers, and S60 and Internet Community Services. The press briefing is on February 11 at 1pm. Stay tuned for more!
Technorati Tags: S60, Mobile World Congress, MWC, Nokia, touch
I started pulling my gear together tonight and as you can see here I’ve got a lot of goodies ready to go.
On the software side I’m ready with Qik, Flixwagon, Fon, Boingo and Devicescape as well as mobile blogging via Maemo Wordpy on the Nokia N810 so I’m feeling good about my travel kit.
If you are going to be there, let’s try to meet up! I’m really looking forward to meeting as many people as possible!
Technorati Tags:
GPS, HSDPA, Internet Tablet, iPhone, LD-3W, Maemo, mobile, N-Series, N810, N95, Nokia, Proporta, Streaming, Travel, Barcelona, Mobile World Congress, Qik
I am not sure when this kicked in, but great news for Metro NY travelers… the MTA site has been mobilized. I was just browsing for my train tomorrow as I am getting an earlier start and noticed the new mobile call out. Here’s what it looks like from my N95:
Phone browsers should be redirected to the mobile site automatically. I checked out the direct URL in the hopes that this might work on other devices like my Nokia Tablet, but the URL, http://mobile.useablenet.com/mt/http://www.mta.info does not seem to like anything but phones. Upon further investigation, I was able to use the actual schedule page on my tablet which is really the only part I care about anyway. I can’t understand why they would not simply offer an open m.mta.info instead, but that was clearly not my decision to make.
Technorati Tags:
N810, N95, Travel, MTA, Metro North, Commute
In my experience the ability to begin broadcasting, inform your friends and maintain a dialog is both incredibly social but amazingly powerful! I’ve been dabbling with Qik and Flixwagon and this area of mobile development is simply fantastic. When I covered the Web2 Summit last fall, my coverage was limited to 1 min videos (the file size limit from Shozu) and they had to upload afterwards. It was hardly slow, but there were a few steps involved to publish and I could not interactive with the audience in real time – taking questions or monitoring comments.
The game has completely changed now. Both Qik and Flixwagon offer live streaming in a few clicks … open the app, stream. In case you missed it, Flixwagon worked with MTV to cover yesterday’s Super Tuesday event. The World Economic Forum in Davos featured videos from Scoble, Loic Le Meur and others. Next week you’ll be seeing a lot of video from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona which I’ll be attending and streaming!
Thanks Stefan!
Devicescape received a nice update to 2.0 today and allows secure and simple access to paid and free hotspots automatically. I’ve added a few hidden APs from the office as well as my home network to my list to start combined with my Boingo Mobile and FON credentials so I can easily connect my N95 pretty much anywhere I want to go! The update does not yet include a new client for the Nokia Tablet, but I’m sure that’s coming soon.
For consumers, Devicescape 2.0 provides immediate access from any device to millions of hotspot locations. Access to free and open hotspots requires no sign up. It simply works right “out of the box.†Also, the service is easily extensible to password protected networks and credentials can be entered once on the fly on the device or in advance via a web site. You can even add your home network and securely share with friends. Additionally, Devicescape constantly seeks hotspots, and notifies users when they have a secure and verified Wi-Fi connection. [Devicescape]
devicescape, boingo, fon, hotspot, connection manager, travel, nokia, n95, internet tablet
Stefan noted an awesome new application today called JoikuSpot Light which of course is in beta but solves a need quite a few power users have been seeking. If you carry a few different devices like I do but only have one SIM, it can be tricky to use more than one at a time when you are away from wifi.
I realize this is not for everyone, but the ability to convert my 3.5G HSDPA signal into an accessible WiFi access point is truly killer. I can now openly share my data service with multiple devices simultaneously. I was alerted to Stefan’s post over Jaiku during my morning commute and was able to download the app directly to my N95. A few minutes later I had it installed and my N800 was connected. I also happened to have the N81 8GB in my bag so I popped that out and activated WiFi. Within a matter of minutes I had three devices sharing the same network connection!
While DUN is a great way to connect between a two devices, the option to go broader is very appealing to me. Increasingly more devices have WiFi inside and this extends the range of where you can consider using things goodies. As of right now there’s really only one negative which is that your openly broadcasting your WiFi signal. This is somewhat solved by that fact that the signal strength is not massively powerful. I don’t know whether this is an intentional notion to conserve power or a limitation of the device. Regardless it would certainly make me feel better to see the ability to either hide my AP or simply enable some security.
JoikuSpot runs a simple captive portal that offers a bit of branding (perhaps a reason the AP is open) which is fine, but it actually eats your initial browser request so keep that in mind. This is a free application and if it’s going to stay that way through the (currently) ad-less portal than I am good with that.
Here’s a quick pic of JoikuSpot in action on my N95. You can see there’s some active traffic which is my laptop snagging the screenshot above.
Technorati Tags: joikuspot, wifi, nokia, n95, s60, hsdpa, mobile, hotspot