SFO (3G + bluetooth tethering)

I’m currently waiting to board my flight. I was trying to find free wi-fi service but my search turned out nothing. Hmm.. 3G coverage looks good, how can I connect my laptop to my phone and use it as a modem.The blackjack can act as a USB modem. As (bad) luck would have it, I forgot to bring my phone proprietary usb cable. So bluetooth is the only way.

I can connect ActiveSync but it only allows sharing the laptops connection, not the other way around. There is a way to connect from the PC to a bluetooth device as a Personal Area Network. However, my phone rejected this connection although it identified itseld as a PAN device. Fortunately, googling on my phone revealed the how-to. It turns out that buried in the /Windows folder of my phone, there is a small app called internetsharing. I have to use this app to connect my phone as a PAN device then connect again from my PC. That’s not bad. it’s actually very simple. Speed is good for browsing and email.

Why isn’t this small program on the Blackjack’s application menu?

alone

Tonight, A and the kids will be flying out of the country. It’s only for two weeks and then I’m going to join them. I will be home alone for the first time in years.

Somehow, I feel strange and I’m not sure what I’m going to do tomorrow. I can’t sleep last night just thinking about it. Not that I think I will miss them too terribly (I will miss them but it’s only for two weeks and I can reach them almost anytime in the meantime). It just feels bland. I think the trip back from the airport will be a particularly peculiar one.

edit: I should try to find a Wii this weekend

3G in Napa…

but not in Palo Alto?

Motorola KRZR

My dad has always been a fan of Motorola flip phones since the MicroTAC 8700 to the current mass favorite RAZR. While I like some Motorola phones especially their sturdy older models, I’m not too impressed with their newer lines and I don’t really like flip mechanism anymore. I guess cell phone preferences are a matter of personal taste.

Anyway, his RAZR is really in a terrible shape. It was wet with sea water once (a long story) and the metallic keypad had developed some rust (!?!). Most Java apps wouldn’t run correctly either (including the ones supplied on the phones). I think it has something to do with it having a really old firmware. He has had the phone since early after it was released and I think the firmware is just old and buggy. He just never played with the Java apps there to confirm that it never was working correctly since he bought it.

So with the KRZR being the new Motorola flip model, I set out to find one for him. The KRZR is not yet released by the GSM operators in the US so I looked at eBay and asian cell phone stores for unlocked European/Asian version. A post on Craigslist tipped me that Motorola itself had an online store selling their unlocked phones and they were having a discount during the holiday. So bought it from Motorola direct with official 1 year warranty (my credit card added 1 extra year to that) for less than I would’ve paid for without warranty from eBay or the stores and my dad got an early christmas present.

There is nothing special about the phone itself (at least to me). Basically it is like a RAZR. Btw, if RAZR is to be a short for ‘razor‘, what is KRZR short for? I couldn’t find any suitable word except for ‘crazier‘. Anyway, it’s like a RAZR but skinnier and a litle longer and a little thicker. The back side is coated with rubberized layer while the front side is in glossy lacquered finish. I think it looks better than the RAZR but the glossy finish will attract fingerprints and sticking dust like crazy especially in the humid SE Asia where it will be used.

Feature wise, I think it was decent for a Motorola phone. It has a 4-band GSM radio with EDGE. Call quality is good and inline with other decent newer GSM phones. Same with battery life. User interface is not as good as Nokia phones or even Sony Ericsson phones but this one is also kinda personal. My dad having owned only Motorola cell phones likes the UI just fine. Camera is 2MP (unlike the CDMA version which is 1.3MP) and in my opinion surprisingly decent. Maybe not as good as the best ones I’ve seen and I haven’t seen too many but definitely decent and serviceable as a phone camera. I’ve used only HTC and Samsung phone cameras which are terrible so I might be very impressionable. Btw, if the phone is in camera mode when it’s flipped closed, the camera is still on and the display move to the secondary LCD so the camera lens and the LCD is facing the same way. I didn’t know that flip phones with secondary LCD do that. Good for taking a picture of your own face instead of looking at the reflective metal thingy on other phones.

Supposedly it’s also a decent music phone. It supports A2DP bluetooth profile although I couldn’t make it work with my cheapo Logitech stereo bluetooth headphones. The built-in speaker is loud and clear. It also takes a microSD card for storage expansion. I bought a Corsair 2GB card for my dad and it seems to work fine with the phone. The current software does not allow MP3s from the microSD card to be used as ringtone. Only MP3s from phone memory can. This is not very convenient althogh I read a firmware upgrade changed that.

Now the phone has a mini-USB as its only port. So it’s used for charging, synching with a PC and yes, for a headphone plug as well for wired headphones. Not very convenient especially when I can’t make it work with my bluetooth headphones. Regular bluetooth headsets for handsfree talking does work fine however.

So overall it’s a good phone. For the price, it’s not the phone that I’d get for myself. But as a comparison, between the RAZR 2 years ago when first introduced and this phone now, I think the KRZR is still a better phone. Imho, the RAZR then was an average phone in a very fashionable shell (for that time) while the KRZR now is an good above average phone in a slightly less fasionable shell for the present. That should make Motorola fans like my dad happy.

disclaimer: I am not a phone/tech reviewer and this is not a review. I have not used many cell phones and I am not qualified to make an objective review/comparison.

A Watch

My watch is broken. My wife accidently dropped it on the floor and looks like it knocked many things loose in it. It wasn’t a great watch in the first place. It was an inexpensive Skagen quartz watch. I bought it because I needed a watch and I liked the way it looked at that time.

Anyway, it seems like I need a new watch. Or rather, I want a new watch. I am not a watch connoisseur and I am not too familiar with the different qualities and movements of today’s watches. I have two that I am considering right now. One is a Seiko 5 Military Automatic watch. Another is a Japan Seiko Perpetual Calendar quartz.

The first one has a Seiko in-house automatic movement (made in Singapore or in rare cases, Japan) and day-date function. It a decent basic movement that cannot be hand-wound. The watch has some water (100 feet which I was told is about the same pressure as water coming out of a shower) and shock resistant. I think it can be acquired for less than $100 from Asia or eBay.

The second obviously has a quartz movement. It does have day-date perpetual calendar that does not need to be reset until 2100. The particular model I want is made in japan and has the simple classic stainless steel casing popularized by the Rolex Oyster (but not originated by Rolex, I think). Unfortunately this watch is impossible to find in the US and still hard to get from Asia (online or in-store). And if available, it probably will cost $300-$400 new. Kinda steep for a simple stainless steel quartz watch.

Right now i’m leaning towards the first one. However, I’m going to wait for a while before I actually make a purchase.

More experience with the Blackjack

Now that I have a few days with my new phone, I am able to make some more observations:

• 3G rocks! But… coverage and signal strength is not nearly ubiquitous, at least not in the south bay area. I notice that my phone indicate 3G in about 50% of the time (of the time I check). However, 50% of the time that I’m using it, it occasionally drops down to EDGE or even (gasps) GPRS!! Of course having ~1 mbps download speed on a phone is mighty impressive.
• The Java midlet issue that I wrote about looks common with newer Cingular phones. The option to allow connectivity for the whole session is missing. I read that it’s only missing on unsigned applications (unsigned by Cingular that is). I can’t test since I don’t have any Cingular signed Java app and too cheap to buy one. Could it be a bug or could it be ‘feature’ so apps not licensed or bought through Cingular would be crippled?
• I like the wheel. the click is a bit stiff and I’m still trying to get use to it but I like it.
• Battery life is terrible. No wonder it comes standard with 2 batteries. The battery is just 1000mA and 3G sucks life out of it. Not sure whether staying in 3G or the constant switching off and on 3G drains the most. There is a way to force the phone on GSM meaning it will stay on EDGE. But what’s the point of getting a 3G phone then?
• I miss the flexibility and the numbers of applications that can run on a PPC phone. I don’t miss the lack of usability. I can do things faster with one hand on the Blackjack than with two hands on my Cingular 8125. I definitely do not miss the misbehaving task/alert behaviour on the Cingular 8125. What’s the point of a PDA functionality if alerts/reminders do not work correctly?
• On the other hand, the included Task and Calendar applications with the Blackjack (probably common with all WM5 smartphones) are very basic. Too basic. I need to edit plenty of stuffs from my desktop Outlook.

This is not related to the Blackjack but I found out that by going to the Premier site, I am already eligible for another upgrade. I wonder if I can keep on upgrading and getting all of those free phones. I am tempted to try it. Hm…

New Phone (with mini review)

I mentioned that I broke my Cingular 8125. While the cost of fixing the digitizer has gone down, it’s still significant. I also found out that less than a year through my contract, I was already eligible for an upgrade. I guess this is the advantage of Cingular Premier with the place I work with. I was following the development of the Cingular 8525 (aka HTC Hermes).
However, a friend just recently acquired an HTC S620 (or the Dash for T-Mobile) Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone. Cingular also announced the Samsung Blackjack (SGH-I607), a similar smartphone which was to be released at the same day as the Cingular 8525. When they are available (on the midnight of the release day) I finally got to choose. I chose the Samsung Blackjack. Not only that it’s half the price. It’s much lighter and sleeker as well. There were times when I almost regretted carrying my 8125 because of the bulk and weight. I also wanted to try a Windows Mobile Smartphone instead of a Pocket PC phone.

There are plenty of reviews on this phone already so I just want to share my subjective likes and dislikes. I like the phone and I will probably keep it although the phone is not perfect at it is. I hope I won’t find any unpleasant surprise.

Likes:

1. The overall package. The phone is very slim and attractive. I like the black color and while the screen and keys are small, they are very shart and usable.
2. It’s better phone. The Samsung Blackjack (and I guess the rest of the Windows Mobile phones) is a much better phone than a Pocket PC phone. Most phone related operations are very simple and easy to do with one hand.
3. 3G! I’ve seen friends’ EV-DO phones enviously while I had to resort to Cingular’s EDGE. The Samsung Blackjack supports Cingular’s HSDPA network and while it’s connected to 3G, it’s blazing fast. However, Cingular’s 3G network is not yet widely deployed. On my short experience, I can get to 3G in about 50% of the time I’m in the south bay area.

Dislikes:

1. MicroSD and proprietary port. In a few short years, I have bought CF, SD and miniSD cards. Now I will need to pony up for a microSD card fot the phone. I also would not be able to use any of my miniUSB cables/chargers since the Blackjack use a proprietary port for charging, connectivity and headphone/headset jack.
2. No wi-fi. I like wifi. It’s fast and it has lower latency than EDGE or HSDPA. I can network my phone to my home PC or laptop easily with wi-fi. However, I made the decision to get the Blackjack knowing it has no wi-fi so I guess I can’t really complain.
3. This is my biggest gripe so far and this is 100% Cingular’s fault. The Java Midlet Manager software includedhas been ‘customized’ by cingular. For some reason, they made it necessary to press OK everytime the java application wants to access the network. The option to allow connection for the whole session has been removed. This ‘feature’ renders some applications (like gmail mobile and google maps mobile) almost useless. I installed an IBM JVM for smartphone with mixed results. While the IBM’s software behaves correctly regarding the network connectivity, some other behavior like soft keys mappings are not correct. I guess either there will be other compatible Midlet Manager I can install (maybe an updated IBM version or Cingular finally comes to its senses) or there will be a hacked ROM for the Blackjack without this limitation.