My Mobile Musings

News - Just added article posts to my twitter feed!

2009-02-09T09:05:00.003-05:00

Well, the subject pretty much sums it up,

I am now officially posting articles from my blog to my twitter feed via twitterfeed.com

I know i don't post much, but hopefully I can find some additional writers for my blog!

MyMobileMusings on Twitter

2009-01-29T21:58:00.001-05:00

Check out my new twitter feed at twitter.com/MyMobileMusings - I have been updating that a few times a day, check out my tweets on the right side of the page!

Evernote Windows Tip: Send To Evernote

2009-01-13T11:43:00.007-05:00

I love Evernote. Plain and simple. I could go on and on about why I love Evernote, and how many times It has come in handy.

I know what many of you are thinking "Wow, another notebook app" but that's not what makes it special. In my line of work we throw around the word High Availability.

High Availability: High availability is a system design protocol and associated implementation that ensures a certain absolute degree of operational continuity ...

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_availability

Basically, the key is to have access to the data when you need it. The same can apply to Evernote. Evernote for windows/mac synchronizes every hour by default with the server. That means your notes are there even when you arent online. Beyond that, you can also access them online from any mobile phone, or any internet connection. There is also a version for Windows Mobile and the iPhone which gives you even more flexibility.

Adding notes to Evernote is amazingly simple:

Firefox and IE web clippers let you clip selected text or an entire site with one button press which makes it so easy to save useful information. (Tip: Create a notebook with your online SN - make this your default notebook to add notes from websites)
Email Notes - With your Evernote account comes a custom email address. Anything sent to this address automagically is added to your default evernote notebook (Login to evernote.com, under settings is your email address)
Screen Clipper - Evernote for Windows remaps your print screen button to run the evernote screen clipper utility. With this you can clip a screenshot to evernote, save to file, or even copy to clipboard. This utlity is a GREAT improvement over the default windows copy to clipboard printscreen function. (Tip: After selecting the size of your screenshot, right click to toggle drawing mode - GREAT for adding notes on a tablet PC)
Windows Mobile / iPhone App - How many of you have your phone with you at all times? With the evernote mobile software, its easy to add a note (Editing is obviously a bit of a burden right now, but they have made substantial improvments recently to the software, and continue to work on them, we should see something shortly from them)

For windows however, there is one function so obvious I'm amazed they missed it: "Send to Evernote". How often do you want to simply add a note from MS word, or from your desktop? Lifehacker has a great article on how to customize windows "Send To" menu here: Customize Windows Send To Menu

Instructions after the Jump

Here are the steps (Windows XP):

Start > Run > "C:\Program Files\Evernote\Evernote3" (without the quotes)
Right-Click on Evernote.exe and select "Create Shortcut"
Rename the shortcut something like "Evernote - New Note"
Copy/Cut the shortcut
Start > Run > "C:\Documents and Settings\SendTo\" (replace the userID with your login id)
Paste the shortcut you created into that directory

You're done!

Tip - Using the D-Pad on a Touch Pro/Fuze Explained

2008-11-26T16:24:00.003-05:00

As an AT&T Fuze owner. I too have been annoyed at the Left/Right buttons on the D-Pad. I thought "Great, it must be a defective phone, I'll have to RMA it eventually....." While stumbling around WMpoweruser.com I came across this article.

I just tried it out, and can say that it does in fact work much better! That was something that bothered me for a while!

(Full credit for image to wmpoweruser.com )

Phone Disassemble Guides

2008-11-20T11:11:00.003-05:00

While stumbling around the internet. I came across one of those websites you just have to bookmark (or Evernote in my case). ForMyMobile.co.uk has a list of mobile phone disassembly guides.

Complete list of phones by manufacturer after the jump.

LG

Motorola

Nokia

O2

O2 XDA Orbit

Samsung

Siemens

Siemens SX1

Sony Ericsson

AT&T Fuze Watch - November 10, 2008

2008-11-10T15:37:00.003-05:00

Just made contact with my source at AT&T. They Fuze's are IN STOCK!!!!! They are FOR SALE!!! I'll be on my way to purchase one in an hour after getting off from work... Expect a full review once I've had some time with this phone

AT&T a Pimp?

2008-11-05T13:12:00.005-05:00

Just too funny not to post. I was checking the AT&T site today, praying to find the Fuze listed, when I noticed that something wasn't right on the page....

Nice, I think I'll take the Nokia 6085. Though I don't know, Do I want no commitment for $179.99, or do I want a 2 year contract?
I just bought a house, so free sounds pretty tempting to me, but then again, from the looks of her I'm thinking she's a bit high maintenance.....

AT&T Fuze Watch - Update

2008-11-04T16:33:00.004-05:00

So After much debate a few weeks back, I decided to hold out for the HTC Touch Pro (AT&T Fuze) Instead of buying a Sony Ericsson W760 (Sorry Sony, But I want a keyboard again!).

As stated previously, the release date for the Fuze was supposedly today. I called my contact at AT&T last night, and he confirmed that he does have the phone, and loves it. He also suspected that he had the phone in stock in the store. Meaning that they had them, but he was not allowed to sell them. There does appear to be a lot of activity within AT&T to get this phone released. But it looks like the phone will not come out today.

On a side note, the blackberry bold DID come out today. Its a nice phone, I don't use blackberrys, Ii never have, but it is still a nice phone.

I'll try to keep ya'll posted on the Fuze when it is releaed. For more information, check out this thread on AT&T's website. Try to look past all the flaming on that thread.

(That brings me to a WHOLE other topic, seriously, why flame? I hate trolls on forums).

New AT&T Phones Now Available!

2008-10-15T10:36:00.005-04:00

I know I haven't been posting recently, Sorry! I'm buying a house and taking classes to finish my degree, I haven't forgotten about this blog, I have a LOT of articles to write, but the time is the problem!

Anyway, Just an update on the AT&T line up. As of 2 days ago, AT&T has added 2 nice phones to their lineup. (For anyone who complains about AT&T phone selection, give me a BREAK! Show me one other US phone provider who offers a wider selection of phones than AT&T!)

Pantech Matrix (Also available in Navy Blue)

Ah, an upgrade to the infamous Pantech Duo. Honestly, I was SERIOUSLY considering purchasing a Pantech Duo because i really feel that there is a viable need for the keypad AND a qwerty keyboard. Nobody likes entering phone numbers on a qwerty keyboard in a car or walking down the street! There is just something about operating a phone with one thumb that makes it so easy, and without it, a touch screen simply doesn't give enough feedback when entering numbers (personally). Alas, the Pantech Duo had too many hardware and several software issues for me to justify burning a 2 year contract on a phone that i would only use for about a month before upgrading to something better on eBay! The Duo did however run a windows mobile OS, this made it useful. Take a look at the new Pantech Matrix specs here.

What they don't really mention is that the new pantech matrix runs a proprietary OS! What gives??? Oh that's right, because people complained about how unstable windows mobile was on the phone (what a surprise, you know!). So instead they have a phone with limited potential now, but I'm sure the stability and performance has increased on the phone.

My final verdict on the phone: Its an upgrade on the duo design, If i were a teenager with little technical computer knowledge, I'd be all over this phone. If you're looking to get your kid a phone with a qwerty keyboard for cheap, this is the phone for you, otherwise, keep on looking!

Sony Ericsson W760 (Also available in Red)

Ahh!!! The W760 is out finally!! I have been waiting for this phone since the beginning of summer! It is a fantastic phone, see my previous articles about the phone for more information.

The price seems about right for the power of this phone. If i was not hell-bent on a qwerty keyboard. I would be all over this phone like white on rice (Yes, I did even consider purchasing the phone and returning it within the 30-day guarantee, but I'm too honest to do that!)

Best Buy Selling Ubuntu - How easy it to find online?

2008-10-06T12:16:00.004-04:00

As most of you know, I'm a huge supporter of Linux. I believe in a better Operating System not controlled by one company. Ubuntu is my favorite flavor of Linux simply because it was designed to bring Linux to the world. Sure some parts of Ubuntu are not perfect, but for the average user, it is a breath of fresh air!

This past weekend, I was stumbling around the internet, and I came across a link to Best Buy's website. Best Buy is now selling Ubuntu! What a huge success for Linux! Check it out here.

Now I started to look around at the page, look at the breadcrumbs:

Best Buy > Computers > Software & Games > Operating Systems > Product Info

Try going back to the Operating Systems category list. Look for Ubuntu in the list! Its not there!!! What gives Best Buy? Afraid that a $19.99 list Operating System will outsell Mac OS X Leopard for $129.99 or M$ Vista Home Basic with SP1 (Full) for $199.99?

I'd be scared too! Who knows, maybe that entire library of software you sell might just stop making your company a nice profit!

Nokia 5310 Disassembled

2008-09-30T16:31:00.004-04:00

Thought this would make for a great post. Full credit to formymobile.co.uk. Complete instructions and more after the jump.

If you require a new screen, phone cover and screwdrivers, they can be purchased here: http://www.formymobile.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=5310lcd

Tools required: Torx 6 screwdriver

First remove the battery cover, battery and memory card.

Run your fingernail around the edge of the join of the camera surround and back cover to unclip it.

With the camera surround removed your phone will now look like below. Now remove the two screws you can see.

Now run your fingernail around the edge of the front cover to unclip it. You'll now be able to see two more screws. Remove these.

Now lift away the keypad. It'll come away without much force. Again, you'll reveal two more screws you need to remove.

Pull the back of the phone away from the main body of the phone.

Your phone will now look like below.

Turn the phone over. Unclip the two metal clips (circled in green) and a ribbon (circled in red). The ribbon attaches like a plug and socket. Simply lift it up to unplug it.

A ribbon attaches the LCD to the PCB. Unplug this just like the ribbon in the last stage. Now separate the phone into two parts again

Your phone will now look like below.

You can now remove the LCD and replace with new. Reverse the whole procedure for reassembly.

If you have any questions about Nokia 5310 Xpress Music disassembly, email rob.lee@formymobile.co.uk. The official service manual for this phone may also help you with further Nokia 5310 Xpress Music disassembly. Click here for details

AT&T Q4 2008 Release Dates

2008-09-22T10:44:00.006-04:00

So according to Tauren Blog, AT&T Has released a list of upcoming release dates for the fourth quarter of 2008. These dates seem to line up with dates I've previously heard from my sources at AT&T and discussions on the internet.

Here is a list of them (since that page is a bit difficult to read)

Arranged By Launch Date / Links to GSM Arena Specs Pages. Prices mentioned were found on PhoneDone.com

List after the jump.

September 18

Motorola V3xx J* (Platinum)

September 23

Motorola V3xx J* (Red)

September 25

Samsung A637 (White) - $49.99

October 2

Blackberry Pearl (Oyster Pink)
Nokia 2600 (Black)
Motorola V9X (Charcoal) - $199.99

October 7

Motorola V3xx J* (Pink)
Sony Ericsson W760a ( Black / Red) ~ Looks like my prediction was off by a Month - $129.99

October 14

Pantech C740 (Red / Navy / Green) - $79.99

October 16

Motorola V3xx J* (Lavender)

October 21

Blackberry 8320 - Curve with WiFi (Blue)
LG C8630
Samsung i900 Omnia

October 23

HTC Fuze ~ AKA Touch Pro!!
Nokia 6650 (Silver / Red) - $129.99

October 28

LG CP150

* - Same as the V3xx with Janus Music Key Addition (WTF??)

BlackBerry Bold AT&T Release Date

2008-09-04T12:53:00.007-04:00

Just spoke to my source working for AT&T. The anticipated release date for the new Blackberry Bold is October 1, 2008. Shame Blackberry's don't have the best reception in the valleys around where I live.......

Here is a list of the specs:

BlackBerry Bold Smartphone Features & Specs

Size - Length: 114mm, Width: 66mm, Thickness: 14mm
Weight (with battery) - 133g (same as the 88xx series. I can attest to it!)
Memory - 1GB on-board (storage) and 128 MB Flash (applications)
Battery - 1500mAhr lithium cell
Est. Battery Life - Standby: 13 days, Talk Time: 5 hours
Network Support - UMTS: 2100 / 1900 / 850MHz, GSM: 1900 / 1800 / 900 / 850 MHz, GPRS, EDGE and HDSPA networks
Wi-Fi - 803.11a/b/g enabled
Display - HVGA, 480 x 320 pixels, Transmissive TFT LCD, supports over 65k colors
Media Player, Video Support - DivX 4, Div X 5 & 6 are partially supported, XviD is partially supported, H.263, H.264 and WMV3
Media Player, Audio Support - .3gp, MP3, WMA9 (.wma/.asf), WMA9 Pro/WMA 10, MIDI, AMR-NB, Professional AAC/AAC+/eAAC+
Media Player, Audio - BlackBerry Media Sync allows you to transfer your desktop iTunes music to your BlackBerry!!!
Camera - 2.0MP, 5 x digital zoom (with flash of course)
GPS - internal GPS with extended ephemeris, BB Maps is standard
Bluetooth - Bluetooth v2.0, all the normal stuff and Bluetooth Stereo Audio via A2DP and AVCRP
USB Port - Enables charging and high-speed data synchronizations via USB "A" to mini-USB "B" cable (I can personally say moving files back and forth is now lightning quick!)
Browser - HTML browsing, View Movies/Clips from websites built for mobile streaming, RSS feed support

Specifications courtesy of Crackberry.com

Additional Updates

My source also informed me that there is a crappy Nokia coming out within the next two weeks, possibly the Nokia 3555?

Nokia 3555 Specs

Technical Specifications
Network:	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 / WCDMA 1700 / 2100
Form Factor:	Clamshell
Dimensions:	99 x 43 x 18 mm
Weight:	96 g
Antenna:	Internal
Navigation:	5-Way Keypad
Battery Type:	1020 mAh Li-Ion
Talk Time:	3.40
Standby Time:	264
Memory:	30.0 MB
Expandable Memory:	microSD / TransFlash

Imaging
Main Screen:	262000 colors (TFT) 128 x 160 px
External Screen:	2 colors (LCD) 65 x 98 px
Camera:	0.3 MP / 640 x 480 px / 4X Zoom / Video Recorder

Audio
MP3 Player:	MP3 / MP4 / AAC / eAAC+ / WMA
FM Radio:
Speakerphone:
Push-To-Talk:

Multimedia
Wallpapers:	128 x 160 px
Screen Savers:	128 x 160 px
Ring Tones:	64 chord / MP3
Themes:
Games:	J2ME
Streaming Multimedia:	MPEG-4 / H.263

Messaging
SMS:
EMS:
MMS:
Email:
Chat:	AOL / ICQ / Yahoo!
Predictive Text:	T9

	<a href='http://ads.mobiledia.com/adclick.php?n=a00994bc' target='_blank'><img src='http://ads.mobiledia.com/adview.php?what=zone:11&amp;n=a00994bc' border='0' alt=''></a>
Applications
Phonebook Capacity:	1000
Calendar:
To-Do List:
WAP:	2.0 (xHTML)
Voice Commands:
Calculator:

Connectivity
Bluetooth:	2.0 (A2DP / DUN / FTP / HFP / HSP / OPP / SPP)
Infrared Port:
High-Speed Data:	GPRS (Class 10) / EDGE
Wi-Fi:
GPS:
PC Sync:	Micro-USB

Specs Courtesy Of mobiledia.com

No sign yet of the AT&T Fuze (HTC Touch Pro).... Sadly

Mobile Computing Musing -Battery Life

2008-08-26T23:24:00.001-04:00

It ain't "Mobile" unless it lasts over 4 hours of continual use on a single charge.
(unless you fly, then you need at least 8!)

If you want to upgrade your Laptop for almost nothing, buy a bigger or a replacement battery. The price is worth it for usually less than $80 online, you can enjoy hours free of that annoying power cords!

Smallest Thumb Drive I've ever seen - only $49.99

2008-07-01T13:16:00.003-04:00

I remember my first thumb drive. It was a dell 64MB generic thumb drive. Included with my Dell Inspiron 5100. Ah that little bugger was useful for the first few weeks, but I rarely used it. Fast forward a few years to my AutoCad class at Udel, and i found out that my poor thumb drive couldn't even fit into the slot! The plastic case of the desktop computer at my school was too close to the usb drive for my drive to fit into the slot!!

Fast-forward even more to today, my how things have changed. More after the jump.

This Pico USB drive measures a mere 31.3 x 12.4 x 3.4 mm, and holds 8GB of storage!!! The case is a polished chrome that looks absolutely beautiful! And to top it off it is shock and water resistant! It has a data transfer speed of about 30mb/second.

I am amazed at how small this bugger is! Just 6 months ago I purchased a 4 gig sandisk for around $50 from BestBuy (I had to use up all those gift cards on something!). This sucker is for sale for $49.99 from thinkgeek!

What can you store on your 8gigs of storage?

Roughly 150 crappy amateur porn video collection
That collection of 15,000 pictures of yourself using fruit in a creative way
2000 mp3s from your bluegrass music collection
Your entire collection of over 2500 erotica pdf bookz
Over 800 hours of phone recordings from that girl you're stalking
Complete wiki of your entire life and the life of all your friends since the day you were born!
Pirated Copies of Windows 3.1/95/98/NT/2000/XP and Vista with some room to spare!

The possiblities are endless with all that storage!

Portable Data Storage - Next Generation?

2008-06-26T10:49:00.016-04:00

Ah, Thumb Drives. First introduced in 2000 at a whopping total 8MiB of storage! The amount of storage has grown over the years, approaching 1TB of storage. And the number of reads/writes has increased. There are more uses for a thumb drive than I can shake a stick at! But one possible use is severely limited: portable storage space, accessible by a variety of hardware.

Question: Name one portable storage format that can be accessed by your cellphone, pda, and computer?

Answer after the jump.

In reality, you currently cannot access data on your thumb drive if it does not have a usb port!
When was the last time you saw a PDA/Smartphone/Cellphone with a USB port? NEVER

Senario: You want to set up a spreadsheet to keep track of your automotive finances, How could you do with that spreadsheet.

keep it on your home computer, updating it when you come home. But we all know there is a good chance you may forget to do it, or you put it off and toss it in the ever-growing to-do pile. But if you are vigiliant this could work.... for a few months.
save it to your thumb drive. Cool - now you can update it from any where with access to a computer/laptop with a USB port. But you STILL have to remember to do it, there is a good chance you'll forget, or at least slip up at some point.
save it on an online storage site like google docs. Great, now your options have slightly opened up, all you need is access to the internet, and a browser/application that is capable of opening/saving the document. Still limits your chances of remembering to do it, but still a much higher chance of accessing the data.
Save the file to a portable wireless storage device accessable by any device. Hmmm.....

That last one is the hangup. Thumb drives are close, they make for terrific storage. I currently have 5 gigs worth of storage on my keychain. But I RARELY access the data on those drives. I personally rarely remember to or care to update the data on the drive.

Ask yourself, How often do you access data on your dive? Which is easier:

physically plugging a drive into a computer then opening the file you want.
Turn on the computer/pda/phone and accessing the drive as if it were physically connected and yet it is still sitting on your keychain in the other room

After doing a long search online, I have only come up with two options for wireless portable storage:

Eye-Fi 2GB wifi SD card. - Great concept, but limited features and not-functional when not installed in a digital camera or other SD-card slot.
Seagate D.A.V.E. (Digital Audio Video Experience) - Too large to fit in your pocket, plenty of storage, bluetooth and wifi capability. Portable, but not quite portable enough.

My proposal: Bluetooth chip built into a thumb drive with a rechargeable power supply!

Really the concept is quite simple. We already have all the technology ready. We have small bluetooth chips, small usb-rechargeable power supplies, and plenty of thumb drive storage. Why not merge them all together to make a USB rechargeable bluetooth data storage drive.

I personally could think of several new uses for these type of thumb drives:

Personal Finance information - maintain your finances the second you use them
Todo Lists/Agendas - can we say shopping lists???
Portable Music Library - Driving down the road, listen to that song you love without digging for a CD or thumb drive in your car!

Please let me know your thoughts and ideas. Is there already something on the market? I can't find anything like this anywhere.

Lack of Recent posts

2008-06-25T10:50:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone!

I apologize for not updating this blog for the past week. My google adsense was recently disabled for no apparent reason, and I have been working on several projects.

I will be posting several articles soon. Including a detailed mobile musing the new iPhone and LG Vu. I also am working on another mobile musing about the Nokia-Symbian acquisition. Check back soon for a new update

Anyone else notice how fast google is to activate an Adsense account, and yet how slow they are to respond to an appeal after disabling an account? Wonderful customer service. The page said i should get a response in up to 48 hours. 7 days later I filed a new appeal and have still not heard back anything.

I may update this page with updates from google.

- Mike

The Dangers of Lithium Polymer Batteries

2008-06-13T10:49:00.006-04:00

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Lithium Polymer batteries are quite dangerous! More after the jump.

Lithium-ion polymer batteries, Polymer Lithium Ion, or more commonly lithium polymer batteries (abbreviated Li-poly, Li-Pol, LiPo, LIP, PLI or LiP) are rechargeable batteries which have technologically evolved from lithium-ion batteries. Ultimately, the lithium-salt electrolyte is not held in an organic solvent as in the lithium-ion design, but in a solid polymer composite such as polyethylene oxide or polyacrylonitrile. The advantages of Li-poly over the lithium-ion design include lower cost manufacturing and being more robust to physical damage. Lithium-ion polymer batteries started appearing in consumer electronics around 1996.
[Source: Wikipedia]

Try this: Open your cellphone battery cover, look for the battery type..... Good chance that it is a Lithium Polymer Battery!

Treehugger.com has a terrific review on Lithium Polymer batteries here.

How To Repair A Broken LCD

2008-06-11T15:14:00.012-04:00

A Broken LCD screen is a very common issue. Fortunately its quite simple to fix on most standard PDA's. For only a few bucks, you can really save yourself hundreds by repairing instead of replacing an entire PDA. Here is my recent experience replacing the LCD screen on my HP iPAQ 4355. Read the entire how-to after the jump.

Please note this is a basic overview, I am not held responsible for any damages done to your hardware. Do not attempt unless you are willing to accept a total loss!

Obtain replacement LCD screen on Ebay (Mine was $50 shipped from HongKong):
Tip: to find your LCD screen
- search eBay for your PDA model number and the word "LCD" in the title.
- Look through results for replacement screens.
- Sometimes the descriptions in the auction also include the actual part number used for that screen, if so, grab that number and write it down.
- Search eBay again using the part numbers you find from your previous search
Using a small Torx (T6) screwdriver, or whatever bit you need for your unit. Remove battery and all screws (There should only be 4 or 5 screws - see the red circles on the iPAQ below for screw locations)
Tip:
- A majority of electronics I have fixed use Torx T6 screws
- I like to use foam (in this case the shipping material from the screen) to hold the screws in their approximate locations to make it easy to reassemble.
- Some PDA's like the Palm V used a gasket seal and no screws, a Heatgun was required for these. Read several online tutorials before attempting.
Using a small flat-head screwdriver, or a special tool (sometimes provided with replacement screens on ebay) to CAREFULLY pry open the body
Tip:
- Try to do it as carefully as possible so not as to damage the plastic
- I usually like to start around the data cable plug, it tends to be a little easier to pry open
- As visible in the picture, the red circles show some of the clips holding the top to the bottom.
- Once you have it most of the way off, there may be a screw or a clip in the middle of the PDA near the keyboard if your's has one. If you are pulling and the top does not want to come, check for another clip or screw that you may have missed! Do not force it too hard!
Remove the motherboard/LCD screen from the bottom case. Unplug the LCD/Digitizer screen (circled in red)
Tip:
- The motherboard may also be secured with screws, or in this case, several more clips
- Be careful around any plug, or input into the device, they are usually snuggly fit into the case housing. You must pull up and out from the opposite side of the board.
Remove old screen (after unplugging from motherboard!). Install new screen.
Tip:
- The motherboard may also be secured with screws, or in this case, several more clips
- Be careful around any plug, or input into the device, they are usually snuggly fit into the case housing. You must pull up and out from the opposite side of the board.

Reassemble PDA, Power on! If all goes well the screen should look/work perfectly.
Tip:
- Be sure to be careful when installing board and screen back into the back case housing. Make sure all plugs, and transmitters/antennas are seated properly before installing front case
- Your screen should fit snugly. There should be no problem reassembling the unit. The only thing that *MAY* be different is a slightly looser seal between the top and bottom housings.

News: Cingular/AT&T Network Down!

2008-06-09T14:17:00.008-04:00

Just wanted to put out a notice. This is the first time in almost 10 years with Cingular/AT&T that I have ever encountered a "Network Busy" Error on my phone. I confirmed with my other friends that have AT&T here in the Northern Delaware/Pennsylvania region and we are all getting a "Network Busy" error message on our phones!

Its 2:20pm right now, and I have been unable to place a call since 8:30 this morning when I first noticed the issue. I was able to get 1 call through at 8:30 but have been unable to make a call or receive a call since then.

When calling from my office phone to my cellphone I am getting a quick busy tone, no voice mail or anything!

[update! - 6/9/2008 - 2:45pm]
- No mention of this on any other blogs, no mention of it on the AT&T forums. Co-worker who also has Cingular, was able to call his wife with no problem at noon today. What is going on? Anyone have any ideas?

[update! - 6/9/2008 - 6:15pm]
Friend called, surprisingly the phone rang! Looks like they fixed the phone calls.

[update! - 6/9/2008 - 10:10pm]
Text messaging still works, but there is a major delay (few minutes) when receiving texts.

[update! - 6/10/2008 - 11:00am]
My friend Dan informed me that the news reported a main fiber-optic line was cut, causing the outage:

AT&T: Cell service issues Monday
Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Last Updated: 06/10/2008 06:41:05 AM EDT

AT&T Wireless customers in central Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey might have experienced problems with their cell phone service.
Ellen Webner, spokeswoman for AT&T, said the problem could be attributed to a fiber-optic line being cut. There was no problem with AT&T's network or individual phones affected.
Technicians worked on the problem throughout the day and most service should have been restored by the end of Monday, Webner said.

[source]

Tsk Tsk AT&T, where is the disaster recovery? Isn't it amazing how quickly an entire system can go down. We really are at the mercy of these main-lines.

Acer Jumps into the UMPC Crowd

2008-06-05T16:46:00.005-04:00

So it seems Acer has just released its own UMPC answer to the eeepc: The Aspire One. According to the register it was released with a price of £199 so its a bit more expensive than the eepc, but the specs are quite nice:

1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor
512MB DDR2 h33MHz
8.9inch 1024 x 600 LED-backlit display
0.3mp webcam
8GB Solid State Linux OR 80GB Harddrive Windoze XP Home
3-cell battery
Intel 945GSE chipset
HD Audio
802.11b/g wifi (Where's the N??)
3 USB 2.0 Ports
VGA Output
2 MiniPCI Slots

Not a bad laptop, but its still first generation from Acer. I still say give these laptops a year before jumping on board and buying one. There is guaranteed to be kinks they have to work out. With laptops these small, how much wear and tear can these things take? If they are anything like Dell Inspirion laptops, they won't last more than a year!

The specs aren't bad, but I would say it isn't worth that price, maybe charge £149 and we'll talk.

Affordable GPS Units - New doesn't always mean Improved!

2008-06-04T13:15:00.018-04:00

Yesterday, I was searching for a cheap GPS for my gorgeous girlfriend, Raimy, for her road trip with her friend from Latvia. She wanted something like my Mio C220 if not the exact same thing, her only condition really was that it could avoid tolls, calculate fastest/shortest/and economical routes, and would cost less than $150. "No Problem!" my naive self said. Recently I had helped my grandfather purchase a $160 Garmin nüvi 200. After about 10 minutes with the GPS I was shocked at how limited that GPS was! The navigation was easy and yet so limited at the same time. For someone with little computer experience, the learning curve might not be too steep, but my god, the thing lacked TOO many features to list! Note that my first ever GPS is a Mio C220 and it was a Christmas gift received this past Christmas from my parents (Thanks Mom!)

So my assumption was to look up my GPS and look for maybe an upgrade or a newer one. After some quick research on Amazon, I discovered the upgrade to my C220 was the Mio Digiwalker C230. But at a price of $160, and the fact I was having a hard time locating one, I decided to look at what else Mio had to offer, and came across the Mio Moov 200. Here is a list of the specs side by side:


Model	Mio Digiwalker C220	Mio Digiwalker C230	Mio Moov 200
Release Date	February, 2007	September, 2007	March, 2008
CPU	Samsung 400mhz	Samsung 400mhz	Samsung 400mhz
Screen	3.5inch TFT (320 x 240)	3.5inch TFT (320 x 240)	3.5inch TFT (320 x 240)
RAM	1GB (SD)	1GB (Internal)	1GB
Map Data	Full maps of the U.S. Preloaded	MioMap v3 Preloaded US Map	MioMap2008 and TeleAtlas Maps
POI	Over 3.5 million	Over 750,000	Over 3.5 Million
GPS	20-channel SiRFstarIII, WAAS enabled	20-channel SiRFstarIII, WAAS enabled	20-channel SiRFstarIII, InstantFixII
Text-to-speech (Spoken Street Names)	No	Yes	Yes
Battery	Lion 1200mAh	Lion 800mAh	Lion 720mAH
Weight	110g	144g	136g
Dimensions(W x H x D)	4.2" x 3.1" x 0.9"	3.5" x 3.3" x 0.9"	3.8" x 3.3" x 0.7"

All are pretty fairly matched, Except for a few things. First off, the battery life has gone down on over time! Oh well, who uses that! Notice the Moov has the new InstantFixII gps. Hopefully that will fix the location tracking issues when moving. But the thing that interested me the most was the points of interest! What good is a gps unit if you can't find the nearest bar or bathroom!! After some further investigation it turns out that the C230 installed the entire application and POI on the internal memory, and due to size limitations they simply cut out the most "irrelevant" points, cutting it down to 900,000 POIs. Come ON! Thats a boatload of information lost right there! That factor alone was enough for me to think twice about recommending the upgrade from my C220 to the C230 for Raimy.

Do your research before buying, A great place I always recommend to start your research is to read the reviews on amazon.com!!! That is where i found my first tipoff about the points of interest on the C230.

In the end I told Raimy to buy a Mio Moov 200. For the price ($150 on sale almost everywhere) you can't get a better GPS for the features included. I'll write a review later.

Camera Phones - Several Sony Ericsson Examples

2008-06-02T15:49:00.008-04:00

On a weekend trip to the Tanger Outlets in Lancaster, PA I came across this. A perfect opportunity to show off the quality of probably what I consider the WORST camera on a phone in 2006. This was taken with my W760i 2mp camera. Note the white balance was turned on for florescent lighting, so there is a bit of a blue tint to it. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, Garfield, assuming the position.

............What the HELL were those ride designers thinking???

Click on the picture for a higher resolution version of the image. Now sure it may not be the best quality picture, but its still QUITE amazing considering the fact that the walkman phones are NOT a true example of the quality picture a Sony Ericsson phone can take (The Sony Ericsson K series phones have a much better quality camera).

Take a look at a picture from Sony Ericsson T637 taken in September 2005. What a HUGE difference in camera quality 2 years makes (the phone was released in 2004 I believe). Ladies and Gentlemen, I present the finest Multi Vitamin Tablets ever found in a farmers market:

Who knew a cat scratcher can also be used a multi-vitamin-tablet!

Camera phones are a wonderful novelty when the situation calls for it. But they still can't be used for night time pictures!! O, how I can not WAIT for the day the average camera phone can replace the daily needs of a digital camera.

Since I felt the urge to make one, Here's my first ever FAIL (I hate them, but I had to) picture, found at the same farmers market as the Multi-Vitamin Tablet, only 3 years later:

Don't Worry! The poor turtle survived his ordeal. About 20 minutes later when we walked past on the way out he was floating around his prison cell right-side up again.

Maybe I should just start a blog dedicated completely to the randomness I find at that small farmers market........

Hell is in NYC, according to the iPhone

2008-05-30T13:31:00.005-04:00

Horray for easter eggs!! Thats one thing I rarely see on phones. I love subtle programmer humor. Some Apple programmer decided to add New York, NY as a location when you enter "Hell" into the maps function.

[Source]

W760 Update: USA Release Information

2008-05-28T13:15:00.007-04:00

The other day my Sony Ericsson W710i speaker (the main one used for calls) stopped working when answering calls, only after answering the call again or returning a call did the speaker start working! Oh well, I want a new phone anyway, and my AT&T Contract is over, so I can get a new contract phone anytime I want. Course as you readers know I want the W760, So i started doing some research a few days ago. From my one AT&T source I heard they were going to be releasing a series of phones in late summer (August?). Unfortunately NOBODY has a list online!

After a quick search of blogs, I found that 99% of blogs relating to any phone release date are all chatting about the June release date of the 3G iPhone. Who cares! Most people who own an iPhone are stuck under contract anyway, already screwed by their anxiety to buy the first generation (or two?) of a new product from a company that has ZERO experience designing phones!

Then after a bit more digging, I discovered this Blog Article:

Sony Ericsson Partners With Usher To Make Big North American Splash

By Tricia Duryee - Wed 28 May 2008 12:32 PM PST
Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC) is making a big splash in New York City today with Usher, the Grammy Award-winning artist the mobile-phone maker has picked to market its Sony Ericsson’s Walkman music phones in the U.S., Canada and 20 European countries. “It’s the first big partnership in North America we’ve done,” said Karen Morris, VP of Marketing for Sony Ericsson North America. “Globally, we’ve done things with Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. But this time, we have aligned it with the [U.S.] portfolio we are bringing to the marketplace, and Usher has such broad appeal.”
Usher discussed details of the partnership and made a surprise announcement this afternoon in New York, following yesterday’s release of Usher’s new album “Here I Stand.” Sony Ericsson is the title sponsor for Usher’s North American tour later this year, and the partnership will include access to exclusive content on Walkman phones, and contests, such as winning a chance to meet Usher on a video shoot, and getting VIP tickets for a concert. Fans will also be able to vote on what other band Usher will go on tour with, although Usher will have the final say. The content will be limited to one wallpaper on the phone right now, but will include ringtones and full-album downloads later this year, Morris said. Release.

Sony Ericsson had the No. 1 selling GSM handset in the country in March (the Sony Walkman w580), but generally is at a disadvantage in the U.S. since it doesn’t produce any CDMA phones, and among the top carriers, only works directly with AT&T (NYSE: T). Still, Morris said Sony Ericsson will be putting increased emphasis on the North American market, by bringing out a broad portfolio, including different form factors, different colors and a broad range of mid-tier to high-end phones. In August, the company expects to launch the first U.S. 3G Walkman slider called the w760. Around that time, it will also be launching the w350 flip phone, that will come out right in time for back-to-school through AT&T, which will be priced between $30 to $50 with a two-year contract. It probably doesn’t hurt that Usher uses the w350 in the first 20 seconds of his video for his hit single: “Love in This Club.”

[source]

FINALLY!! The Sony Ericsson Walkman Phones will come into the spotlight in the US! There you have it! The W760 / W350 should be coming out in August, just in time to make it into the mainstream market and on the wishlist of every tween/teen for Christmas. I'd say that sounds about right to me. Hopefully I can make it till August before I buy.

Then the question becomes "Do I buy the first release, or wait a few months for the production kinks to be worked out....."