3 posts tagged “nokia”
Thanks to the complete and utter uselessness of some of the 'essential' gadgets I took away with me to Glastonbury this year, the blogging has fallen somewhat short! I shall endeavour to catch up forthwith...
In the meantime - if gadgets are your thing - take a look at this post that I wrote for SMS Text News last Wednesday, (in the car, en route to the festival - in fact I believe it was somewhere between this video and this picture to be precise), outlining just a few(!) of the technological wonders that I was packing in my rucksack...
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Evening readers, Whatley here, writing this on my laptop en route to Pilton for the festival that is known as Glastonbury.
As you know from my last post, the multitude of tools available to the modern day, festival going mobile geek really is quite something... So here, for your pleasure, is a quick rundown of what I am taking with me, starting with the hardware...
Handsets:
I’ve packed my N95, my N95 8GB and my E61i. The E61i is perfect as an ‘emergency’ as the battery on that baby is HUGE and it lasts FOREVER, (well – about 5 days). So if it all goes pear-shaped I can resort to using that. The N95s I’m going to tag-team throughout the day/festival. One to carry with me and one to charge. Speaking of chargers...
Power:
When it comes to keeping the batteries fully topped up, I’ve covered all bases with this one. I’ve got a Nokia DC-8 battery charger, bought this today, £25. Steep, but I’m a sucker for the branded stuff. :-) It’s worked ok so far.
I’ve also got a Free Loader Solar Charger – this thing gets kudos just for the fact that out of all of the chargers, this was the only one that came with a Nintendo DS adaptor. Which made my girlfriend very happy indeed; Mario Kart for her while I type this passing Stonehenge, (fact).
Finally I have a ‘GoHello’ wind-up charger and, as Ben Smith so rightly said in the last podcast, "they ain’t called 'wind-ups' for nothing" ...seriously, I’ve got nothing out of this thing yet. Nothing. Boo.
On top of all that lot, I’ve got four N95 batteries. All (currently) fully charged. So we shall see how long they last!
Software:
Well, stuff like Qik, Google Maps, VOX, SpinVox, Moblog etc... I kinda covered this last time round. I want to talk about the new stuff. Since writing that original piece I’ve acquired two pieces of software; both of which have – so far – impressed me much.
First up is ‘ViewRanger’.
I downloaded this in the week and first take I thought ‘What a load of
rubbish’. However... THEN I downloaded the Glastonbury specific maps –
aka ‘Worthy Farm’ – and WOW, was I impressed! Check out this screenshot:
You can see that they’ve pre-loaded the app with the relative ‘points of interest’ – heh – and if I hit ‘GPS’ it’ll tell me where I am. Rock on. Can’t wait to use this properly.
The other piece of software is from Orange. It’s called ‘GlastoNav’ and at first I really couldn’t get this to work..
..however, once they ironed out the gremlins etc this little app has turned out to be very handy indeed. Not only can I look at the (much richer interpretation) of the map, but also I can plan my schedule for the event... and THEN I can share that schedule with my fellow festival-goers!
That – so far – has again, really impressed me. :-)
For actual ‘mobile’ stuff, that’s all. But, I have also been given some other cool pieces of gadgetry to use/play with. One is the Flip, which I think Ewan has spoken about a fair amount – my only problem with this is that once my hour of recording is up, I can’t upload it until I get to a USB connection. Bah! We’ll see how I get on with that one... The other piece of REALLY COOL stuff I’ve been given is the Loc8tor which, hand on heart, is the best thing yet (in theory anyway).
I attach the small part to something I might lose (i.e. the other half) and then, if I do lose her, I switch the big part on and it beeps to tell me how close I am etc... I had a play before I left the house and it rocked my socks. So... again, we’ll see how we get on.
That’s it from me, I’m nearly at Glastonbury and my laptop is about to die. Thanks to Ben Smith for editing this for me and putting the media in etc... You can keep up with my exploits at http://www.glastonblog.co.uk.
See you soon!
J.
or - "A rant about Convergence, or lack thereof"
Right, if you're reading this and you have any idea of the kind of person I am, you know how I feel about my mobile phone. You know I love it, you know I'm never far from it and you know that above all, if I could, I'd use it for just about everything.
This last point is the kicker for me.
To give you a rough idea of what I'm talking about, here are just some of the things I use my phone for:
- My Contacts/Address Book
- My Calendar/Diary
- Gaming
- Internet
- MP3/Music Player
- Camera
- Video Camera
- Directions/Maps/GPS
- TV/Video Player
- Blogging
- Micro-Blogging
- Tube Map
- Instant Messaging
- Etc, etc...
Because I carry my N95 8GB (pictured above, right) in my pocket, quite a small
device take note, I don't have to carry an iPod, a Nintendo, a TV, a Camera, a TomTom, a PC, a map... it goes on;
All of these things (and many others) are no longer in my pockets thanks to this one handy little handset.
Why? Well this is, in part, dowm to the innovation of the team at Nokia.
However it is also mainly down to my own personal preference. Nokia have enabled me to do all these things and have since empowered me to stop carrying all of these other devices.
I don't like carrying lots of things in my pockets. At best, I will leave the house with my keys, my phone and my bankcard. Only those three items.
Right then. Keeping all the above in mind, let's direct our attention for a moment to this thing:
Is it... My First Calculator?
Is it a the latest toy from The Early Learning Centre?
Is it, per chance, a new phone maybe?
No. No. And No.
That, there, is Barclays 'PIN Sentry'.
Excusing the ridiculous name for a second, let's take a look at what it's for.
Any time I want to log into MY internet banking, I have to put my Debit Card into that contraption, enter my PIN number and then, and only then, will my bank allow me to log into MY account.
First up, the whole sodding point of having internet banking, to my mind, is so that I can access my account from anywhere where there is INTERNET. Until they truly crack mobile internet banking (and trust me - on the basis of this - they are a long way off) then this really is the only option.for anyone wanting to access their account anywhere... (short of actually going into a branch, but really, does anyone do that anymore?).
Second, I get the whole security aspect of it all, but really, I mean really I already have a unique 12 digit number, 8 digit secret password AND a five digit passcode. DO I really NEED more security? Surely there has to be line drawn between security to entry and barriers to entry right?!
...Sigh...
Next point - it is clear, from the points laid out above, that I LIKE convergence. I want one device to do everything for me...
...Of convergence, I am a fan.
I do not want to be carrying that stupid, stupid piece of plastic around with me everywhere I go just in case I might want to log in to my internet banking. Idiots. Really.
Just no joined-up thinking whatsoever.
Finally... This post has been a long time coming, Barclays started introducing this towards the end of last year, (as did a few other banks, so I've been told), so I apologise if it seems a bit late in the day as it were... But yes, the final point -
I've actually spoken to Barclays and I've outlined my point of view. As a result, I have now been opted-out of this new system and my PIN Sentry is happily gathering dust in a draw somewhere in my room.
WOO!
If you're a Barclays customer and you find this whole idea completely absurd then I would urge you to do the same.
Call your bank, tell them they're idiots and get yourself opted out... the opportunity cost of this, just so you know, means that you will be unable to set up any 'new payees'. I'm happy to live with this, don't often pay new people and if and when the situation does arise I simply call the bank and get them to do it for me.
Here endeth the rant.
........
On a lighter note - have been working my backside off lately, (super exciting new project for SpinVox), so next weekend I'm going to head off down to Pilton to a little music festival you may've heard of...
Next weekend I'm headed back to Glastonbury.
And I can't WAIT!
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Read about my Glastonbury Mobile Geek plans over on SMS Text News and yes, you guessed it, just like last year, I'll be blogging the whole thing from my mobile phone, (although I doubt very much I'll be doing any internet banking).
;)
Alright folks,
Happened to be passing through London town yesterday and, whilst I was Jaikuing away, my new friend Steve from S60Blogger requested some photos of the BRAND NEW Nokia Flagship Store on Regent Street...
WOOP WOOP!
These I took and, after eventually uploading them to my Flickr (via ShoZu - my new favourite app) for the world to see, I thought I'd post some here... see below
And also, to show that there's no favouritism, I also followed through on Stefan from Intomobile's request for a QIK video tour too!
Big love to Ricky Cadden, Symbian-Guru, who reported on these FIRST over at SMS Text News and then again over at Symbian Guru.
Top Bombin' Chap!
