Tag: mobile

Essential accessories for iPhone

Yes, iPhone is still more than 2 months away but I already know what accessories I would be buying or looking for when it is finally out on the street.

  • Carrying case – During the MacWorld keynote, Steve Job did not mention whether a carrying case will be included in the iPhone package. Most probable reason is that they are still in the design stage so they have nothing to show yet. But given the history of iPod carrying case Apple includes in the box, I would imagine it will be just functional and will create a huge 3rd party market. Ideally, the case has to be thin but well made so not to increase the bulk of the iPhone. Somehow the case has to made taking the iPhone out easy so the chance of dropping the phone would be minimum. And most importantly, the headphone jack has to be accessible while the phone are inside or outside the case.
  • Screen protector – Assuming that Apple is not using the ultra tough coating invented by TDK, some type of screen protector that allows the touch screen to be used is needed.
  • Bluetooth stereo headphones – Apple is providing a wired stereo headphone with microphone as accessory but I am hoping the iPhone will support A2DP Bluetooth profile so a wireless Bluetooth headphones can be used instead.
  • Solar/Battery charger – The battery in the iPhone is not changeable like in the iPod. I don't think it is an issue since there are plenty of ways to charge it up (e.g. from desktop computer via USB cable, power charger from wall socket or car socket, etc.) but for those situations where electrical power is unavailable (let's say I'm on a beach) then a solar recharger would come in handy.

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Life line

For a 21st century family like us, internet connection is just part of life's essential services. So when we lost connection to the online world around 7:40 last night, we didn't know what to do with ourselves with all these 'free' time!

Time Warner didn't think it's an area problem and the earliest they can send an engineer out to check is next Wednesday! We would have moved out for a day by then so that's rather pointless!

And with our ongoing problem with signing up with Comcast @ our new apartment, we may not get TV and internet for at least another week!

How would we survive?

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Push, baby. Push!

It has been a while since my last proper geek post, so I just have to do one to balance the 'force'.

E61 on Titanium PowerBook

E61 on Titanium PowerBook

After the saga I had with getting Blackberry Connect to work with my E61, I was more or less given up on push email on my phone. I've been getting emails via POP and IMAP but the native email client on E61 sucks at dealing with lost connection/reconnection. Once it detects a data connection is lost, the automatic retrieval schedule will be switched off and requires to be switched on again manually. WTF?

But thanks to e-series.org blog, I've found Mail2Web last week. It's a free Exchange mail service and the best thing about it (apart from being free) is that they also expose the mobile synchronisation URL so once I installed Mail for Exchange on my E61, I was able to get push email on my phone. Moreover, Mail for Exchange works just fine with spotty connection. It will just reconnection, re-sync without any complaints. The only downside with it is that it drains battery slightly faster than the native clients since it is pretty 'chatty' with the Exchange server and thus uses a bit of juices. Not a big deal since I have chargers at home and at the office but it may be a big deal for some people.

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Screen protector

Since I got my Nokia E61 last month, I've been resisting the urge to put a screen protector on its screen. My logic is that since it does not has a touch screen, like the Treo 650, it is built much less flexible so subsequently requires less protection.

Well, that part is true but unfortunately things (read face and hand) still come into contact with the screen and leave oil and dirty on it. Keeping it clean almost becomes a ritual before and after every usage. So finally I gave up and ordered some screen protector last week. Originally I wanted to get some from BoxWave whose screen protector I used on my Treo and was impressed by it. Their screen protector is not the normal thin, very flexible, and very sticky type. Rather it is constructed with thicker than normal clear plastic, making it much stiffer and easier to apply to screen without any bubbles. Also it uses a mild adhesive that attracts almost no dust during the application process. Unfortunately BoxWave doesn't have one that fit the E61 yet but after some searching on forums I came across another company that makes similar screen protector called Martin Fields.

When I opened the package, I was relived that Martin Fields' screen protector is very similar to BoxWave's. After cleaning the E61 screen with screen cleaner, I applied the screen protector with ease and got no bubble or dust. The size is almost perfectly fitted to the actual screen so there is very little gap remains unprotected. Clarity-wise it is very good and unless one looks very closely it is almost undetectable.

So now I can use my phone without worrying about making the screen dirty.

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Flash!

On Thursday night I pucked up the courage to flash my E61's firmware. Why? One of the thing that has bugged me since the beginning is the inability to set the name ordering in the Contacts application. Even though there are three choices, Last name First name, Last name, First name, and First name Last name, only the first one works whichever you choose. It was finally tracked down to the English-Chinese firmware that my E61 has and it makes sense because chinese names are always last name first.

Anyway, when I read a post at HowardForums on how to flash the firmware with clear and concise instruction, I was tempted. After downloading all the apps and patches required and installed them (there are a few), I finally took the plunge at around mid-night on Friday to flash my phone to the English-Netherland firmware.

The flashing took only about 10 minutes and it worked perfectly. Though I was definitely crossing my fingers the whole time, hoping my phone would still be working at the end. After the flashing was completed, I then spent another hour or so putting all my settings back and installed all the apps. Crucially, the name ordering settings now work so I have First name Last name showing in the Contacts list.

Now, Nokia just needs to release firmware updates to fix some of the other bugs…

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