Have you ever wanted to get more precise information about your cell phone’s signal strength. This Popular Science article briefly describes what the Field Test Mode is and how to interpret its value.
Popular Science: Stop Dropped Calls
The article links to this 4-page PDF file that provides detailed instructions on how to find this value on dozens of phones.
wpsantennas.com Cellular Phone Field Test Modes (PDF file)
I’ve been a user and fan of Microsoft Windows Mobile (aka Windows CE) Handheld PCs, Pocket PCs, and Smartphones since 1996. I’ve used either a Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition or a Smartphone as my phone for nearly five years now. However, I really really want an Apple iPhone. Take a look at Apple’s Phil Schiller demonstrating it for CBS News if you wonder why.
CBS News: Apple’s Phil Schiller demonstrates the iPhone
That said, there is a “But…” in this train of thought. There are a couple of big issues for me and, I suspect, for others too.
First, the Apple iPhone will be available exclusively through Cingular in the US (soon to be merged into the AT&T Wireless brand). They are the largest mobile phone carrier in the US. But, they aren’t my carrier. And, neither Cingular nor AT&T Wireless have had great acclaim from their customers in the recent past. Take a look at RCRWireless’ discussion of Consumer Reports’ survey of 18,000 mobile phone customers. The title of the article is: Consumer Reports’ subscribers give Cingular, Sprint Nextel coal for the holidays.
Second, there is an issue about the dreaded MRC (Monthly Recurring Cost). The way it looks to me is that I would want their lowest cost voice plan with their unlimted data plan. I’m guessing this will be $40 + $40 = $80. My current plan is $30 for voice and $30 for unlimited data (also EDGE) plus unlimited WiFi at Starbucks, Borders Books, and Kinko/FedEx locations. That’s $60/month. That means that annual service cost would jump from $720/year to $960/year. Over the course of a two-year contract, this comes out to $1,440 vs. $1,920.
Third, Apple has verified that they will not allow 3rd party applications to be installed. Since they use the Safari browser, I guess you could argue that you can use web apps (maybe even AJAX-ified web apps). But, there are still plenty of times I know I will be out of EDGE or WiFi signal range and be app-less. Of course, the built-in apps look nice. I don’t install many apps on my Pocket PC or Smartphone. But, the ones I do have installed have become invaluable to me. I would need them or something like them on my iPhone.
My guess at the moment is that I’m going to have to pass on the Apple iPhone for 2007. I hope one of the other carriers picks up the iPhone in 2008/2009 and has a reasonable voice+data plan for me to consider.
Apple announced the…
…today. I usually don’t buy into market-speak hyperbole. But, wow, the iPhone sure looks like a winner. The Microsoft Windows Mobile product group has a lot of head scratching and catching up to do now.
Couple of items…
Yahoo! announced a beta release of their application for phones.
The problem is that it supports a relatively small set of phones from Nokia, RIM, and Samsung. So, if you use a Palm OS, Windows Mobile, or even some other Nokia or Samsung phone, you are out of luck. This is one of the reasons I don’t like client-side applications for accessing web portals.
So, you just got a new shiny cameraphone to replace the, uh, old shiny cameraphone. Don’t take the same old 1 or 2Â megapixel photos with it. Try stitching a couple of photos together on your desktop or notebook and create a panoramic photo. I wrote a litte hack for Derrick Story’s…
…book in the popular O’Reilly Hacks series back in 2004 that tells you how to create panoramic photos using a cameraphone. And, they have provided it as a free hack available on the web. You can find the full hack linked at…
Today’s mobile freebie is a video service (in beta) for mobile devices…
The service works sign-up indicates it works on all four of the largest mobile carriers in the US (AT&T Wireless/Cingular, Sprint PCS, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless).
Here comes my caveat: Part of the sign-up process requires providing your mobile phone number. That makes sense. But, I’m wary of handing over a mobile phone number to a company I don’t know much about. However, according to their press release, 20,000 people per week have been signing up since October. So, perhaps, my reservation is a minority opinion.
If you’ve been using it, let me know how it is working for you.
