My High Tech Blog

I am looking for a new phone. A high spec model, It can be on a new number, and I want a monthly contract, 18 months will do.

If I was to walk into any phone shop in the high street and make the above statement, I would have sales people bowing at my feet with the sound of cash registers ringing in their ears.

Sorry, I'm showing my age now, cash registers go beep now don't they.

Ah! but not so fast, You sales people are going to have to earn your commission. I have some exacting requirements. As follows

+ Not on the O2 network. No O2 at my house.

+ Not a Windows mobile device (I've already got one of those, never again).

+ I must be able to send and receive email. Push email not necessary.

+ It must do web browsing in a satisfactory manner (be able to render the majority of web pages)

+ it must have a good diary, or be able to install a good 3rd party diary program.

+ it must link up with a mac, including syncing up with the iCal diary and address book.

+ basic office functionally, but if I can transfer files to the mac, then that is not such an essential requirement.

+ It's my own phone, not for work so I want it to do some wizzy stuff with audio and video.

+ One final requirement, if at all possible, I want to be able to call other people and talk to them, and for them to call me in return.

As a member of the ZDNet community, I have to admit to being a techie kind of guy.......OK a geek!...... So I do admit to have done some research on my own and I have a good idea of where I might be going. But I don't want to weigh down the sales people with this burden. I wish to hear their own professional advice. In case they know something I might have missed. It is after all their job.

So the other day I walk into a well known high street mobile phone retailer. A young lady comes out from behind the desks and asks if I require assistance. So I say I am in the market for a new phone (her eyes light up), then I go through my requirements. Her face start to drop. She admits to me that she is new to this business. I have no problem in this, everyone has to start somewhere, so I thank her for her honesty and then let on that I do already know one or two thing about mobile phones and I've come into the shop to look at the models in the flesh so to speak.

We then spend the next 10 minutes talking through the various models and their pros and cons. I realise I am doing most of the talking. It becomes clear to me that the phones in the store are not really what I am wanting, I say so to the young sale assistant and apologising for wasting her time. "Oh know" she says in reply. "I've learnt more from you than I did from the company training". "How can that be" I say, "we've only been talking for a few minutes". To which she replied, "Yes, but the company training was a 20 minute lecture".

I smile sweetly, wish her well in her chosen career, which I suspect will not selling mobile phones. and leave. She was not the only person to learn from our conversation.

I have a MacBook laptop and a PDA phone running Windows Mobile 5. I have diary and contact details on both. I use Missing Sync for Windows Mobile from Mark/Space inc.

I'm not trying to do anything clever, All software is up to date, I am asking every piece of software and hardware to do what it is advertised as being designed to do. basically I want to sync the MacBook and the PDA.

Not a difficult task I would have said, not in this day and age. I've been doing this sort of thing since I had a Psion 3a. Though I didn't have the MacBook in those days.

My MacBook reminded me this morning that it had been a few days since I last sync'd my PDA, so I thought I will just connect the two up, click the "SYNC" button and be on my way in a few minutes.

It is now lunch time and despite many attempts (I lost count after 15) I still not yet been able to sync the two devices together without errors being reported. I've gone through the knowledge base articles, tried all the hints and tips even gazed cross-eyed at the log trying to work out what " unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x20026a44 " means.

So far from what I can make out, the problems appears to be when I modify an entry on one device. The other device complains saying there have been a change.

Sorry, did I miss something somewhere? Isn't that is the whole point of the exercise. This stuff is suppose to make my life easier. We are suppose to laugh at those wandering around with Filofaxes, not envy them. ------ GRUMP!

I'm sure most here have heard the trouble the BBC got themselves into when the iPlayer didn't work on the Apple Mac platform. A problem they are solving in their own time.

But I bet not many have spotted the Classic FM issue. The independent national radio station dedicated to classical music has a web site with all the usual stuff, including being able to listen the live output. They also have this service which they've been pushing called "My Classic FM". What they describe as a personalised online radio player, sub divided into 7 sub strands and as you use it, it learns (so the blurb says) your musical preferences and adjusts the music it plays black to your tastes.

So I thought I would give it a try. So I click on the link on and ...... This service is not supported on the Mac platform.

Has anyone got the address for Ofcom?

When Stevie Jobs stood on stage and announced the original iPhone (doesn't that guy have a suit?). I was not the most enthused. Too much eye candy and not enough function was my thinking. One year later and my opinions have changed.

I have a re-badged HTC Windows mobile phone on the UK Orange network and...well....sorry it just isn't working out for me. I need a phone and a PDA but carrying two separate devices was something I didn't want to do. So 18 months ago I bought the HTC TyTn thinking it was the answer to my prayers. Sadly my hopes and dreams were not fulfilled. I think the closest I've been to throwing it against a brick wall was when it crashed just as I went to answer an incoming call.

You will notice a very important number in the above paragraph - 18 -. Yes my phone contract lock-in period has expired, so I am now being bombarded with letters, emails and text messages offering me juicy deals to stay with my current network.

So with this in mind, perhaps this iPhone is worth another look. I've been looking over the shoulder of the early adopters and fiddling with the heavily fingerprinted phone chained to the foundations in Carphone Warehouse, and you know, this over hyped and over priced gadget might have a future after all.

Now Mr Jobs (still no suit I notice) has listened to the feedback and brought out the 3G version, reduced the price and more third party applications are being written. Combined with this new MobileMe syncing service, I've got to say it is getting very tempting.

BUT !

Yes, there is a very big but, it prevents me from running down the high street and joining the queue outside the Carphone Warehouse.

O2

That is the problem. The iPhone in the UK is locked to the O2 network. I've not got a problem with O2 the company. My problem is that O2 have chosen to spread their phone masts a little too thinly around the area of my home. If I was to walk down the garden, and stand on top of my son's garden slide, I might just get a signal strong enough to have a conversation. Apart from the odd looks I get from the neighbours, this is sort of do-able in June, but callers to my company phone will hear the answering machine a lot more when I am at home and it is raining.

So my own phone must NOT be on the O2 network. Vodafone or Orange is great, Using those networks I can climb into the under stairs cupboard and chat for hours if I felt so inclined. So Sorry Mr Jobs, I will not be contributing towards your new suit just yet.

Is there anybody here who is across what is going on at Evesham Technology. I have heard that they have finally gone into liquidation.

Channel Register have mentioned it

www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/01/04/evesham_technology_liquidated/