MobileViews Blog

Category: Mobile Phones

  • Nokia iSync Info Page

    I haven’t used a non-Windows Mobile phone in years. However, the last Nokia I tried was the venerable 3650 (a Series 60 phone) and I liked it a lot during the time I used it. So, the combination of my interest in the new Nokia N95 and John’s comment about Nokia sync support on Macs being poor gave me pause for thought. I still don’t have a definitive answer. However, I did find that Nokia posted what looks like iSync plug-ins for use with some of their newer phones with Macs linked below.
    Nokia – iSync

    If anyone has experience using this Mac plug-ins with the targeted Nokia phones, please let us know how they worked for you.

  • Email Documents to Google Docs

    I’m sure the feature has been around for a while but I only noticed this evening that you can create document files in Google Docs by sending email to it. After logging in to Google Docs, click on the Upload link to read detailed information about how you can bring in foreign files (Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel, for example) into Google Docs. If you move your eyes down the page a bit more, you’ll see instructions on how to create text documents by email (no spreadsheets yet). It works like this: Google assigns a unique email address to you in the form of username-secretstring@prod.writely.com (Google bought Writely to get their web based word processing techology). You can then either send a simple text email file or an attachment. The text on the subject line becomes the Google Docs document name. And, the text body or attached document file becomes the document text (translated to HTML).

    The availability of QWERTY thumb keyboards on current generation phones makes this a simple and convenient way to quickly create easily accessible documents without the need to sync the mobile device by tethering it to a desktop or notebook computer. And, since I view the battle with Microsoft’s ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center to be a losing one, anything that gets me away from those sync solutions is a good thing.

  • gubb.net: Lists to Go

    I find lists very useful. So, I use Ilium ListPro, Excel Mobile, Tasks, and (with some embarrassment admitting this), 3×5 index cards (I buy ’em in bulk). I also use Wikis a lot to jot down information in a semi-structured way. But, I didn’t really see any web based solution that worked with my phone the way I wanted to work.

    Today, however, I learned about gubb.net. Like many things that I find interesting and useful, it does variations on a single theme: Manage lists online. What really impressed me though were the options it gave me from a mobile perspective. You can use SMS like other mobile services do. But, I don’t like to use SMS because my provider charges for each one and I generally do not use SMS enough to justify an add-on service with more SMS units. You can also use email to add to or request a list. Now, this is something that seemed very useful to me. It would let me add to a list even in a disconnected mode (e.g., on a flight somewhere) because I could just add things to a list in email messages and then send them off when connectivity was reestablished. It also has a nice simple mobile formatted site at http://gubb.net/m. This stripped down site looks and works fine on my Smartphone. And, it works from a desktop too. So, you can use it even when in bandwidth challenged situations (e.g., on a notebook connected to the net via an EDGE connection).

    I’m looking forward to seeing how this site’s service develops.

  • Digital Photography Weblog: 13 best tips for Improving CameraPhone Pictures

    Just ran across an interesting entry in the Digital Photography Weblog…

    13 best tips for Improving CameraPhone Pictures

    I’m a huge fan of cameraphones even though the ones I’ve tried don’t even come close to the quality of a conventional digital camera. I even wrote a couple of cameraphone hacks for the book Digital Photography Hacks. You can find a free PDF of one of the hacks I wrote for that book that discusses creating panoramic scenes using cameraphone photos at: Get the Big Picture with a Little Cameraphone.

  • Getting Out of Cell Phone Contracts

    Yesterday’s USA Today had an article titled…

    Consumer website offers tips, guides on getting out of contract

    …that features info from Meghann Marco from The Consumerist website who provides tips on ways to get out of cellphone contracts without incurring a penalty. There are actually three related articles on page 5B in the March 15 (Thursday) issue. The impetus for these contract breaking articles is, of course, the impending release of the Apple iPhone sometime this summer.

  • Jott.com: Speech to Text via Email

    In case you missed Frank McPherson’s comment on my previous blog rant on both speech and handwriting recognition losing to thumb keyboards…

    Frank mentioned a web service I had not heard of before: Jott.com (not to be confused with JotSpot which has a jot.com URL).
    Founded by two ex-Microsoft-ies, this web service lets you call it from your mobile phone, transforms your voice message into text, and then emails the text back to you.

    I’m tempted to try it except for one little problem… I’m always leery of giving out my phone number to any web service. The thought of a security breach that reveals all phone numbers stored by a service or an errant piece of software that starts dialing madly concerns me a lot (obviously). The Jott service requires you to provide your phone number. It probably uses Caller ID to identify you to determine which email address to send text of your voice message.

    If you are less paranoid than me and have tried this service, let me know how it is working for you.

    BTW, you can find Frank’s own blog covering mobile technology at: Pocket pC Hints and Tips.