Category: nokia

Posted on

Well, not having much success…

I have been using a Vodafone USB 3G stick with my Sony VAIO UX1XN with some success now. However downside is that it sticks out the side and I do worry it might break off (which would be annoying).

I do have a T-Mobile phone and a 3G data plan with them, which allows me to use my phone as a modem. This has worked fine on my Mac, but I decided it would be good to use it with my UX1XN.

However I not having much sucess.

I first tried the Nokia N series software, which required about 100MB of stuff to be downloaded…

This eventually installed, and after I had paired with my Nokia N95, I expected things to go smoothly.

However it failed to make a connection as it said that the modem was being used by another application.

This unhelpful error was because the modem drivers needed resinstalling and the help unhelpfully said that, but didn’t say how to do it!

So after a few attempts, I gave up and used System Restore to rid myself of the Nokia software.

I then tried the standard Nokia software (which also works with N series phones) and alas everytime I tried to to get a connection, the Bluetooth software would case a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).

Using Windows Me I would get BSOD all the time, with Windows XP it was quite a rare occurence. On Windows Vista on the UX1XN I get them all the time, I keep having Windows Me flashbacks.

After a couple of attempts, I decided to use the VAIO Update feature to see what new drivers  were available.

So have spent the best part of a day, downloading updates and installing them. The automatic updates took their time, but there were a bundle of non-automatic updates, most of which consisted of:

Download update

Uninstall software

Restart

Install new software

Restart

It wouldn’t be so bad, but Windows Vista on the UX1XN takes an age to start up.

Getting there, final update being installed, will try Nokia software again!

Posted on

Was Kyte.tv killing my Nokia N73?

Recently my Nokia N73 has been crashing and for no apparent reason. Often I hadn’t even been using it for anything!

So suspecting that it may be down to a recent application, I checked which applications I had recently installed and there was the Kyte.tv application.

Hmmm…

I removed the application and so far the phone hasn’t crashed.  Strange as it wasn’t running at the time.

Hmmm…

Posted on

Where did my Flash player go…

So there I was browsing on the Nokia N810 when I noticed that I couldn’t play any Flash movies or animations.

Now initially I thought maybe the Nokia N810 didn’t come with a Flash player installed, but I was sure I had seen Flash animations before on the device and after checking the Nokia website it said that it came with Flash Player Version 9 installed.

Web Browsing 

Browser based on Mozilla technology with state-of-the-art web standard support including AJAX

Page navigation with scrolling, panning or using hardware buttons, zooming in and out of web sites.

Full desktop Adobe® Flash® 9 plugin, including video and audio streaming

But it seemed to be “missing” on my Nokia N810.

So I did a Google search and that came to nothing, no one else seemed to have the same problem. It wasn’t mentioned in the FAQ on the Nokia site either.

It was looking like I was going to need to reset the device and start over.

As a last resort I started checking the browser settings and there it was the Flash player was unchecked (as was the browser video player.

Checked the checkbox for the Flash player and yes now it works.

Now I didn’t switch it off and I don’t know how it got switched off, but it was off.

Now it’s back on again.

Posted on

So where is the video out then?

If you have a Nokia N95 8GB model which came with Spiderman 3 you will know that it came with a composite video AV cable (well in the UK it does) which not only allows you to connect your Nokia N95 to a television, but also allows you to show what you are doing. This video out can also be captured using the right equipment. This video out is a really useful feature.

One of the disappoining non-features of the Nokia N810 is that there is no video out, so any video on there has to be watched on the small screen (nice screen, but it’s not very big).

Alas this also means that I can’t capture screen video this way either.

Hmm, a wasted opportunity methinks.

Posted on

Nokia N810 GPS

I have been playing about with a Nokia N810 for a few weeks now and only today did I manage to get the GPS working at which point five minutes later the battery gave out.

So I didn’t really get a chance to play as much as I would like.

Like most GPS devices you do need to leave it for a while watching the sky before it can work out where it is.

Once it did, there I was correct on the map.

Alas there is no included navigation software on the Nokia N810, you need to purchase additional software at €99 for that, and at that kind of price I would choose a dedicated satnav system.

Where I think the GPS will be useful is when you are lost and not quite sure where your destination is.

Charging the N810 up again and I might have another play tomorrow.

Posted on

Vodafone N95 Nightmare – Resolved

Back on Friday I blogged about a Vodafone nightmare that James Whatley was having in relation to a non-functioning Nokia N95.

Well it seems I am not the only one who suffers nightmare customer service from Vodafone.

James’ problem got resolved pretty quickly in the end.

Today SMSTextNews posted an update on how this happened and the response from Vodafone.

Hello there Mr Whatley, my name’s Amy and I’m calling from Vodafone. I hope you don’t mind me getting in contact like this, I’ve just been reading your blog…

Well James got his new Nokia N95 pretty quickly.

Just shows the power and influence a blog can have, well the influence a large and well-read blog like SMSTextNews can have.

Glad to hear that the N95 phone situation was sorted in the end…

Now about that 4GB Nokia N95….

Posted on

Vodafone Nightmare

Well it seems I am not the only one who suffers nightmare customer service from Vodafone.

Back in June 2004 I had a nightmare trying to order a 3G datacard from Vodafone, so much so that I basically nearly gave up even trying.

Well it seems four years later, customer service at Vodafone still leaves a lot to be desired.

James Whatley of SMSTextNews found his Nokia N95 wasn’t working, so he called Vodafone customer service, his phone was still under guarantee and he had insurance, so it should have been a simpe process, shouldn’t it…

What follows is an account of two hours of my life from the early evening of last night (Thursday).

Vodafone have pissed me off. Their insurance company more so – they are CLEARLY a 3rd party with nothing to do with Vodafone and as such, let them down on an almost spectacular level.

That aside – VF’s CS has seen better days.

If this issue is not resolved by the weekend, I am off to 3.

You heard it here first.

Read the whole story on the full blog entry.

To be honest reading that story doesn’t surprise me one bit, like James, when you are use to good customer service, when you have a bad experience, it really throws you and you can’t understand why they don’t just “get it”.

Hopefully Vodafone may realise that one bad experience for a customer results in lost sales or transfers to another network.

In case you are wondering, who do I use as my mobile phone provider, well it’s T-Mobile.

Posted on

Silver or Black

After my personal mobile phone gave up the ghost I decided it was time to get a new phone. I have a Nokia N73 through work though so haven’t been entirely phoneless. But I need a phone for personal use.

I discounted the iPhone almost immediately, in the main as a) the phone was expensive at £269; b) the phone plans were expensive with the cheapest one at £35 per month; c) you can’t use the iPhone as a Bluetooth modem which means that I couldn’t use it with my laptop; and finally d) it uses EDGE and not 3G which means that even if I could use it as a modem it would be very slow and internet on the phone would be slow.

I quite like the Nokia N73, but I have one of those and I don’t really want two!

I did consider the N95, but with rumours of an N96 and wanting something with a slightly better battery life, I decided to go with a different phone.

After much thought and looking, I decided to go with the LG Viewty. I went with T-Mobile as they are one of the few UK mobile phone service providers which allow you to use the phone as a modem with your laptop and I wanted that over a separate USB 3G Modem.

Alas when I went into the shop they were out of stock. So I ordered online, only to make a mistake with my bank details so when they made the charge to the card it was refused! After phoning and correcting the mistake I found out that the phone was now out of stock, but would be back in stock soon.

Ten days later I get an e-mail saying that the black one would be back in stock soon, but the silver model was available now.

Silver, I didn’t know it was available in silver.

A quick internet search revealed that the silver model was newer, hmm, choices, silver now or black later.

Well after thinking about it for a couple of minutes I decided to go with the silver model. Phoned T-Mobile to let them know, when they told me…

“the black one is back in stock”

Aaarrrgh, silver or black, silver or black.

Decisions.

Choices.

In the end I decided with the silver one, as it was newer.

Hopefully it may arrive today, but it should be here by Monday. Only problem I have is I will need to get another memory card format as it uses Micro SD whereas my other phones have or use Mini SD or Memory Stick Duo.

Posted on

It’s alive!

My Nokia N73 usually behaves itself.

It rings when someone calls.

It uploads photographs to Flickr when asked.

It will even let itself be used as a 3G modem.

It’s a good little phone.

But!

And there is always a but, sometimes it decides that it’s going to do what it wants and have some fun.

Today was one of those days.

I received a text, it appeared that my phone had taken one of the photographs I had taken, created a MMS and sent it to a recipient in my address book.

Later in the day it decided to upgrade my Jaiku presence without me asking, fair enough.

I tried to play a video clip with it, it told me it didn’t have enough memory.

Okay, so I exited the video application and left the phone alone.

Ten minutes later (obviously bored) my phone  decided it wanted to watch the video and started playing it!

I wouldn’t be surprised if it phoned and ordered pizza for itself.

Nokia N73

Posted on

“Think Jaiku is losing to Twitter? Wait till Android Devices Start Shipping”

Excellent blog article on though Twitter is winning the battle in the numbers game, Jaiku will win the war once Android starts shipping.

What if Google where to build Jaiku into Android as the standard phone Address Book? As soon as Android devices started to ship, Jaiku (whatever form it takes in the future) would gain hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of users rapidly. This isn’t as crazy an idea as it sounds. As I’ve posted before, Jaiku was originally conceived as a location and status aware address book; many Nokia users who have the Jaiku S60 client application installed already use the service in this way.

Read the full blog entry, makes for interesting reading.

Personally I much prefer Jaiku over Twitter, the RSS and the comments allow for me a much deeper richer experience, more importantly as well it allows for interactivity much more easily than Twitter.

Of course I don’t like the 504 errors (who does) and that bird, but hopefully with a day off tomorrow (what am I going to do) Jaiku will get better and we’ll see less of them.

Follow me on Jaiku.