Category: Gadgets
April 30, 2008
Nokia N95 GPS Tip on AT&T
Do you have a Nokia N95? Do you want to use GPS? Does the GPS seem very slow? If so, check out these couple of tips to see if you can speed it up. Mine is fast now, and works indoors.
First, check what your current settings are for positioning. These are found pretty deep down in the menus at: "Menu->Tools->Settings->General->Positioning->Positioning Methods". Is GPS on? Is assisted GPS on? What about Network Based?
Network based will work much like the iPhone currently works. It'll get you the general area, and might be close by accident. GPS is the true GPS. Assisted GPS, however, is what didn't work for me. Until I added Nokia's positioning server. This setting is under Positioning->Positioning Server->Server address. I made mine "supl.nokia.com" and now I can get a very accurate position indoors.
If your phone didn't need this or already had a setting, let us know what it is. Mine, which I just got from Amazon a week ago, didn't have any of this set up at all.
Also, if you want to tag images in a lighter way than ShoZu, try out Nokia's beta application, Location Tagger. The site implies this will eventually be in the firmware, but for now it's a beta application that runs in the background.
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(0)November 30, 2007
The Big Switch
So, as some may know, I've had an Apple iPhone for quite a while. I got it on one of the prepay plans because I wasn't sure if the coverage would be good enough for my needs and I didn't want to be stuck with two years at $70 per month. In addition, I've still be carrying my Verizon LG VX9800 ("The V") and the Sprint LG Musiq.
Well, two days ago (from the start of this writing) I ported my Verizon number over to the iPhone. Nothing is as simple as it sounds, though.
Read the rest of "The Big Switch"August 30, 2007
Bad FON!
A while back, FON was offering their small WiFi router for free. So, naturally, I signed up and got it. It came rather quickly, which was great. A few months later, I finally got around to actually trying it out. I hadn't tried earlier partly because it only has a single Ethernet port, which means it works as just a WiFi access point.
The idea behind the router is that it serves up two named networks. One is for your use, which isn't limited in bandwidth. This one also is protected with encryption and a password. I don't think you can turn this off, for the very reason that FON exists. The other named network is the public one that doesn't have encryption. However, to use it, you have to provide either a password to a web page much like public access points that require payment, or provide payment to use it.
Read the rest of "Bad FON!"
August 14, 2007
Mobile Email Clients
So, I've got two phones now with email clients. The first phone is the relatively new LG Muziq from Sprint. The second phone is the Apple iPhone. Neither one of these solutions is even attempting to try to be as good as a Blackberry. The last Blackberry I used was the RIM 950 pager style and sized Blackberry many years ago. I had it for quite a while, running a Microsoft Exchange server at my home to support it. It would be at least a couple of years after I had it before they would start to support anything else.
One might be inclined to ask why I got rid of it and the service. As it turns out, with a Blackberry you can get and send email from anywhere. That is exactly the most annoying feature. Do you really want to be responding to email while out to dinner, in bed, waiting for a movie to start (ok, maybe here), and other unspeakable places (did you wash your hands first? really?). Seriously, though, between that and the constant vibrating on my hip when email would come in, I ultimately decided it wasn't really worth it. It took more than a month for the vibrating feeling to go away.
And yet I now carry two phones with full email abilities. This mini-comparison is decidedly incomplete, but there are a number of interesting features of both clients.
Read the rest of "Mobile Email Clients"July 31, 2007
Disc Required to Sync iPhone!?
So, I'm now having some strange trouble syncing my iPhone. The first dialog, as can be seen, might imply that the device is hung or something. It's not; all of the apps are responsive still. The second dialog that comes up, though, is a but funnier.
Yes, you're seeing that right! The disc can't be found. One might be inclined to ask, "What disc?"
Resetting the iPhone itself made no difference. Restarting iTunes seems to have made it so that the iPhone won't appear when it's plugged in. There is still access to the photos, of course.
Rebooting, of course, solved the problem. Given the memory use of the iTunesHelper process now compared to before the reboot, I think it had hung or had some other problem. Still, a bit annoying and the error dialogs that came in pairs were completely unhelpful.
UPDATEE: Good thing this wasn't an ongoing issue since v1.0.1 of the firmware came out ... and is now on my phone!
My Apple iPhone Discoveries
So, one of my first discoveries you'll see in the little Google Photos Flash thing. Every single thing is completely covered with plastic when you pull it out of the box! This makes a huge pile of plastic. The strange part is that none of the corners are covered. Aren't the corners most prone to problems?Anyway, that's a bit silly. The useful stuff follows...
Read the rest of "My Apple iPhone Discoveries"July 28, 2007
Sprint Navigation: Too Many Failures
So, having had the Samsung UpStage for a few months now, I've certainly tried to use the Sprint Navigation application on it a few times. All attempts have been both useless and extremely frustrating. I'll compare this to using the Google Maps widget on the Apple iPhone.
Read the rest of "Sprint Navigation: Too Many Failures"July 22, 2007
The LG Muziq (aka LX570) from Sprint
So, Sprint is at it again with their Ambassador program, sending out some more handsets. This one, strangely, basically replaces the Samsung UpStage. Although the service was supposed to go a bit longer on that, it's being terminated. I'm not terribly upset by this, though. The LG Muziq is, from what I can tell, a superior handset in many ways.It is not my intention of this post to be a full review, however. I think I'll be able to get to that, just not right now. The above Flash thing will show a number of images of the phone and comparison with other phones, such as the LG VX9800 (aka The V), the Samsung UpStage, and the Apple iPhone.
Read the rest of "The LG Muziq (aka LX570) from Sprint"June 27, 2007
iMania: No, It's Not Perfect
Ok, this is about the iPhone. Sorry.
With that out of the way, I can talk a little more about my own thoughts on it. As what must be the most hyped device in history, there is no way it can live up to everyone's expectations. It's not going to be perfect. If it was, they wouldn't have set up for firmware upgrades via iTunes (which is, itself, nicer than taking a phone in to the store but not as nice as the firmware upgrades that can be done over the air on most modern handsets).
The other carriers have all been increasing their own marketing campaigns, many of which have anti-iPhone things to say. They'll be trying even harder than consumers to find problems with it to bash it, and Apple since Apple has apparently signed a 5 year exclusive. Thing is, that exclusive will likely hurt Apple more than it helps AT&T (but it will certainly help AT&T).
Read the rest of "iMania: No, It's Not Perfect"June 24, 2007
A Month Goes Fast
Once again, things have gotten very busy. This has been true more so with stuff outside of work than stuff in work. That is to say, work is keeping me busy but personal life is overwhelming my time.
That's not to say things aren't going well. They are. Very well. Now, you'd think that this would give me lots of good stuff to blog about. It has. It just hasn't left me with the time to blog about it. So, many things go by without comments.
Speaking of comments, the comment spam has been enormous lately. I've got the protection turned up pretty high, but a bunch still gets through. If you try to leave a comment and it never appears, it may have gotten lost in the mix. A direct email can fix that, for now. I'm hoping that Movable Type 4 will actually do more to allow valid comments to get through.
Read the rest of "A Month Goes Fast"