cellphone

See the accompanying UBC mobile brief wiki for notes to this presentation which I gave to the UBC Faculty of Land and Food Sciences on January 13, 2009 (note that this presentation was prepared using the 280 Slides web app which i highly recommend!)

Details have yet to be finalized, but it looks like I'll be going to a Nokia Mobile workshop (paid for by Nokia, including carbon offsets!) September 10-14,2008 being organzied by Nokia's WOMWorld folks. Sounds like fun. Maybe I can lead a session on Mobile Muse and SIFTTool.

Here's a portion of their invite:

QUOTE

It's taking place in September between the 11th and 14th, and will be the first of its kind hosted by Nokia. We're contacting everyone from creative's, designers, video producers to open source software bloggers and mobile tech pioneers. There will be a number of workshops that'll see discussion with participants, and with Nokia guys, about the future of different online arenas and mobile technology. Workshops that we hope you'd like to join in with and make yourself heard.

END QUOTE

In the meantime, time to start my travel research. If anybody has been to Helsinki, love to have the following questions answered by a Helsinki person:

1. Where can I get a pay as you go SIM Card with several gigs (2GB or higher) of data so I can blog, flickr, youtube, et with my Nokia N95-1 while at the workshop?
2. Can somebody recommend the best place to rent a bicycle in Helsinki? I am a "born again" bicyclist who's been commuting to work for 16 months 5 days a week and who has taken thousands of photos from an N95 and uploaded to Qik while bicycling. So I'd want to do the same in Helsinki.

There are far more important issues to deal with than the Rogers iPhone rates (e.g. the ridiculousness of Bill C-61, global warming, etc) but I was forced to comment after I received the exact same email from MS&L Digital (Rogers' American PR firm) that Tris Hussey received: (my current plan is to invoke the "Ian Bell option", i.e. import a unlocked 3G iPhone from France and buy a r*poff 1GB/month data plan from Rogers which gets around the 3 year contract!)

QUOTE (from Tris' blog which he received permission to post, the email I received is identical, anybody else get the exact same email?)

Hello,

My name is Nicole Burguess and I’m writing on behalf of Rogers to give you some additional information about the Rogers rate plans available for the iPhone.

The iPhone 3G bundles released June 27 are not the only price plans available to customers, they are the high value plans that allow Rogers customers to use the device to its fullest and offer considerable savings over separate voice and data plans that exist in market today.

That said, Rogers customers have more choices available to them and can use their existing voice and smartphone data plans if they wish. For example, they can select from the new data pricing (ranging from $30 for 300MB to $100 for 6GB or $50 Flex Rate plan) and add a voice plan, or they can choose a combined voice and data plan to best suit their individual needs.

Customers are not required to take the value packs, and can order most other features a la carte, such as $7 for Caller ID.

Existing customers can keep their existing voice service plan and pick a separate data plan (not in the iPhone 3G bundle) to meet their needs. They will need to check their upgrade eligibility, but any customer with a monthly service fee that is over $30 can upgrade to an iPhone 3G at $199 (for the 8GB model). Other options outside the iPhone bundle may be available depending on the customer’s individual information.

If you have any questions, please let me know and I will do my best to help you.

Sincerely,

Nicole Burguess

Account Executive | MS&L Digital

END QUOTE

Here's my response:

Hi Nicole:

Thank-you for your email but it does not respond to the concerns that many people including myself have namely:

1. Why are the contracts 3 years for the iPhone rather than 2 years or 1 year like they are elsewhere in the world?

2. Why is data so much more expensive for the iPhone than AT&T plans? Why is there no unlimited option? I can guess at reasons but this is something that Rogers in my opinion needs to make clear. I have been using a Fido "grandfathered data plan" for unlimited EDGE data for $50 a month. Until Rogers communicates clearly why an unlimited 3G data plan at a price of $100/month or less is nonviable, the lack of an affordable unlimited data plan is indefensible.

3. The lack of reasonably priced data plans is hindering Canada business which in the end hinders Rogers.

I'll be blogging the above and your response (unless you ask me otherwise) at rolandtanglao.com.

Cheers!

...Roland Tanglao +1 604 729 7924

p.s. Canadian idealists (of which I am not one) would be outraged that Rogers is reaching out to Canadian bloggers using an American PR firm (I realize you have a satellite office in Toronto but your headquarters are in the USA). I "googled" your firm and was encourage to find out that you have a social media practise and that you were behind the GM FastLane blog; hopefully you will influence Rogers to engage in social media and to clearly communicate in a timely fashion; something they have been incapable of in the past.

So the questions start:

1. Is there a bandwidth cap?
2. Are 3rd party applications like ShoZu and Qik (if ShoZu and Qik don't port to the iPhone others will) allowed?

IF

ShoZu-like and Qik-like applications appear on the iPhone 3G and they work well and Rogers allows them with a reasonable bandwidth cap (reasonable to my multi-media creation needs is 2GB YMMV :-) !!!),

THEN (it's not a r*poff, hurrah!) AND I'll get a 3G iPhone (since net-net, it's only about $10 a month more to pay than my current $50 per month grandfathered EDGE Fido plan).

The only thing that still gives me pause is the 3 year contract but I can live with it if the apps are there!

So I guess I don't buy one on my birthday but wait to see if the 3rd party apps that I want appear and if Rogers allows them.

From Wirelessnorth.ca » Blog Archive » Rogers iPhone pricing plans revealed: 3years $3440:

QUOTE

$199 + 36months x $90 = $3440 and that’s if you buy the cheap one. Don’t forget the GST/PST.

However, you’ll probably realize you are likely to spend at least that much on cellphone service in the next three years, no matter what your plan.

END QUOTE

The ongoing Fido (and Rogers) r*poff continues. The math: 0.10/0.15 = 66.67%. In a world where every other form of electronic messaging is decreasing in price, Rogers and Fido continue to raise their messaging prices. Needless to say the knock on effect for businesses and innovation and Canada is a net negative. I h*te SMS but it's essential for today's real time business and this is a tax by a member of the Canadian bandwidth oligopoly on businesses and consumers.

From Options you can add:

QUOTE

U.S. TEXT MESSAGING RATE CHANGE

Please note that effective July 15, 2008, the rate for sending a text message from Canada to the United States is changing to $0.25 (from $0.15). This change also applies to Text messaging options and certain Value packs, as text messages sent to the United States will no longer be included in the options. Pricing does not include applicable taxes.

Visit fido.ca/text for text messaging rates and other important information.

...

International text message Options

25 international text messages $4

50 international text messages $7

END QUOTE

Rogers implements kludgey SMS "you are now getting r*pped off" alert system instead of reasonable data plans. Title says it all. Instead of wasting money on designing, implementing and telling customers about this system, why not have reasonable cost data plans e.g. $50/month for 1GB, $60 for 2GB (and if there are good business and technical reasons why you can't do this even though other countries can, please communicate them)? Oh well now you know why billing software is a billion dollar business.

From Rogers and Fido Data Alerts | Canadian iPhone User - iPhoneUser.ca: (via Tod Maffin)

QUOTE

There is a new feature from Fido and Rogers that is available now to all subscribers. The system will automatically send you a text message to alert you when you are using pay per use data. This is especially important for people using an iPhone.

This is even more important for those who are using the $7 unlimited surfing plan. The system will tell you if you are incurring pay per use data charges. If you don't get a text, you should be fine. If you do, watch out and stop using data.

You will receive a warning text at thresholds such as:
- $10, 20, 50, 75, 100

This is available right now for people who are not on any sort of data plan. It will begin working on May 18th for those on a data plan such as the $7 plan.

END QUOTE

Rogers charges extra per kilobyte for the bult-in email app? This is really bad. I hope Howard got that wrong. Otherwise a lot of email junkies (if they can figure out how to configure their S60 email client, it's not easy) will be unpleasantly surprised by VERY VERY large data bills!

Is the "deep packet inspection" guy a Rogers employee? I can think of other techniques to detect third party apps, like hacking the S60 3G and EDGE communications software stack to check if the app is built in and if so to send some sort of "validation packet" which the Rogers gateway detects and removes (thanks to JeffG's friend for that idea!), many ways to skin this cat, all futile, innovation sapping and time consuming in the end, better to spend the energy on innovation than bogus packet inspection and billing software IMHO!

Anyways, compared to the rest of the world, as I said in my previous post, these plans are a r*poff and the N95 Browser while awesome compared to the pathetic browser in the rest of Rogers' phones (cf. any Motorola phone browser) is really inferior to the iPhone browser.

Again, my recommendation: Just say no to "browser only" data plans and "3rd party application bandwidth" taxes! Buy a 3rd party unlocked phone and get the $65 PC Card plan and enjoy your freedom!

From HowardChui.com: Batteries included » Rogers launches Nokia n95 8GB:

QUOTE

One of the data plans available for it is 20 bucks a month, unlimited on device browsing (using Nokia’s terrific s60 browser), 2500SMS, “100’s” of MMS (the Rogers guy’s words) and unlimited web email. If you sign up on a 3 year then you also get unlimited Vision. The $7 unlimited on device browsing plan is also available.

If you add your own apps or use the Nokia email client (for POP or iMAP) then data is billed per kb (so don’t use your Slingbox unless you have WiFi). I asked how they can differentiate between the different types of data. One guy said they use deep packet inspection (the same thing Rogers uses to throttle bittorrent).

There are the typical Rogers customizations; separate Vision app, Music store that doesn’t work with the built-in music player, that sort of thing. It also appears to come with Telenav (which you have to pay to use) - Nokia’s mapping program is also available.

While I’m not thrilled with the customizations, I’m lukewarm about the plans. The data plans are incredibly limiting but the n95 has a pretty good browser so that makes things a little easier to bear.

END QUOTE

The N82 was released today with great fanfare (rightly so since it's the first Nokia with a real flash!) and some fun video but nobody has told me whether it can pass the "Roland Challenge" and the "Roland ShoZu Challenge". I'm hoping the latest Nokias like the N95-3 and the N82 pass because of their increased RAM.

p.s. in case you forgot, here's the Roland Challenge: take 50 pictures in 30 minutes of random stuff and see if the phone or camera app crashes (without any 3rd party software installed and a freshly formatted 2Gig or larger card)

p.p.s. and here's the Roland ShoZu Challenge: Repeat the Roland Challenge but install ShoZu first and set ShoZu to auto-upload and again let me know if ShoZu, camera app or the phone crashes

YES! Drupal running on S60 mobile phones! Have to try this, guess I'll have to get a S60 device with as much RAM as an E90!

From PHP running on Mobile Web Server - Developer Discussion Boards:

QUOTE

PAMP stands for Personal Apache, MySQL, PHP, so yes, the full LAMP stack will be made available for S60 smart phones. In addition, there will be PHP extension modules that provide access to the core functionality of the phone. And on top of PAMP you can basically install any LAMP based content management system. For instance, Drupal can be installed off the shelf. Yes, a fair amount of memory is needed and it's still pretty experimental stuff, but it runs quite nicely on E90. So, if you are in the neighbourhood, join us in Las Vegas Johan

END QUOTE

UPDATE: here's the FeedM8 badge

Another mobile RSS service to try: FeedM8 (requires verification code: [FM8327-55]).This one allows you to make money and is Canadian (Tris Hussey at blognation has the full FeedM8 scoop). We'll see! I'm skeptical (I believe in making money indirectly instead of directly off of "creating compelling constantly").

Mystery solved. Courtesy of Boris' update #2 to his iPhone post and David Pogue's graphic. iPhone has normal SIM Slot with a normal SIM but it can only be unlocked from iTunes

UPDATE: The SIM functionality (there appears to be no user replaceable SIM) appears to be controlled through the iTunes store. Very interesting. 

I am not a cellphone hardware engineer but it seems ridiculous to support EDGE and support CDMA which is what Boris is implying ("If the iPhone is, indeed, a CDMA phone, then the whole will the iPhone be locked to Cingular question is a bit moot: without SIM cards, you can't take it to another network.") but hey we could both be wrong. More likely, the iPhone is GSM and uses EDGE data and the SIM instead of being user replaceable is hardwired in the first version of the iPhone. The soap opera continues :-) !

FROM The Mossberg Solution - WSJ.com:

QUOTE

But the iPhone has a major drawback: the cellphone network it uses. It only works with AT&T (formerly Cingular), won't come in models that use Verizon or Sprint and can't use the digital cards (called SIM cards) that would allow it to run on T-Mobile's network. So, the phone can be a poor choice unless you are in areas where AT&T's coverage is good. It does work overseas, but only via an AT&T roaming plan.

In addition, even when you have great AT&T coverage, the iPhone can't run on AT&T's fastest cellular data network. Instead, it uses a pokey network called EDGE, which is far slower than the fastest networks from Verizon or Sprint that power many other smart phones. And the initial iPhone model cannot be upgraded to use the faster networks.

END QUOTE

Awesome vision (I am not a fan of Lifeblog (his previous vision) but I am fan of Christian! And of course I am a fan of Series 60 which was one of Christian's first visions!). Go Christian go! Wouldn't it be cool if Christian Lindholm built this OS at a startup around an open source core like Linux and wouldn't it be cool if Nokia bought that OS and used it on future phones? This would blow the iPhone out of the water. In the long run, this is what has to be done if the iPod-ization of mobile phones is to be avoided IMHO (but hey I could be wrong :-) !)

FROM ChristianLindholm.com: My speech at MEX, The SW Transformer A Vision for a mobile OS:

QUOTE

I was asked by Marek Pawlowski from PMM to give a keynote at the MEX conference, a small mobile user experience conference. It is great small conference with key people in mobile user experience.

My brief for the talk was this manifesto:

"Manifesto point #4:

Handsets, applications and services should be more aware of the user's physical environment and adapt to provide the most appropriate interface for sound and visual conditions. We think multi-modal interfaces should be supported on many more mobile devices and can dramatically improve the user experience."

Summary:

We are at a stage where a new mobile operating system should be created. One that enables the creation of a cheap monoblock enabling best of breed convergence of mobility and computing. I envision an OS that morphs to accommodate both moving use and mobile use. Focused use and multi-tasking. I call it a Transformer OS.

One way to think of this is to think of RSS in terms of comand. Each command or feature in the user experience is wrapped into a meta language of context. This language of context will drive the use cases and the rendering. We do not only separate funtion and presentation we make function and context interdependant.

With such an operating system we would tear down classic application boundaries: like calling, camera, idle, and calendar into a fluid dynamic environment. The operating system is broader than the footprint of the silicon. It extends into the environment and the network.

I think this kind of device and system could be a massive hit in emerging markets where they choose a mobile before they buy a computer.

END QUOTE

It would be cool if somebody actually implemented a system where we could move GSM SIMs to CDMA phones and vice versa so with one SIM or R-UIM you could use mobile phones from CDMA or GSM suppliers or networks but the odds of that happening I'd imagine are the same as the odds were of Betamax winning over VHS :-) ! [And yes I know that CDMA technology is used by 3G GSM!]

FROM Removable User Identity Module - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia via email from David

QUOTE

Removable User Identity Module (R-UIM), a card developed for CDMA handsets that is equivalent to the GSM SIM and 3G USIM except that it is capable of working in both CDMA and GSM phones and networks. It is physically compatible with GSM SIMs and can fit into existing GSM phones as it is an extension of the GSM 11.11 standard

END QUOTE

EMAIL FROM David:

QUOTE

It seems that not only are R-UIMs the equivalent to SIMs, according to the Wikipedia article they're actually compatible with SIMs and can be placed into GSM phones:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removable_User_Identity_Module

It can actually store provisioning information for both types of networks:

http://www.china.org.cn/english/BAT/109251.htm http://www.cdmatech.com/products/ruim.jsp

Technically, the R-UIM is basically kind of like of an extension of a SIM card that is defined in the "GSM 11.11" standard:

http://www.ttfn.net/techno/smartcards/gsm11-11.pdf http://www.3gpp2.org/Public_html/specs/CS0023-0.pdf

Perhaps the CRTC should simply say that all providers in Canada (regardless of the underlying network) must use R-UIMs?

END QUOTE

The KRZR K1 shortcuts just keep on coming :-) Close the flip. Then, hold the up or down volume key & then hit the camera key to change ring style from Loud to vibrate to silent to the many other ring styles.

I am sure this is not news to the Moto fanatics out there but it's news to me! Nifty feature but not really useful to me. Because I'd prefer a 1 key shortcut to toggle between general and pager. I don't really care about silent and the other ring style combinations!

Courtesy of the Hill and Knowlton (Hill and Knowlton Blog) Motorola Bloggers Relation Program, I picked up my free trial Motorola KRZR K1 phone (complete with new phone number and unfortunately locked to Rogers) yesterday. Bottom line so far: for the power multi-media creator user, Nokia's phones are much better and I would pay my own money for a Nokia N95 or N93 or my mythical N999, I wouldn't pay my own money for the KRZR.

Cool

1. Came in an awesome aluminum briefcase
2. Great form factor and light weight
3. USB Charging
4. Text Auto Complete even with ITAP turned off
5. Camera has a nice mirror for self portraits

NOT COOL:

1. Cheesy Operating System (ugly to me but YMMV)
2. Adapter for normal headphones must be unplugged to answer a call!
3. no flash for camera - Nokia flash is not great but better than nothing. Sony Ericsson flashes are much better!
4. the web browser doesn't allow you to change the home page (Rogers bug not Motorola bug?)
5. the web browser is primitive and bad - sorry to be harsh, but compared to Nokia's Web kit browser or Opera, this browser is a toy: it doesn't support upload of attachments to mobile gmail, no way to enter a URL to surf to (you have to create a bookmark), many, many problems
6. ShoZu doesn't work on this phone (Rogers bug?). A phone without ShoZu is like a phone without sunshine :-) !
7. No WiFi - I wouldn't pay my own money for a phone without WiFi
8. No obvious way to upload your photos or videos without going through USB or Bluetooth "chain of pain" - I prefer ShoZu but there's no support to upload photos to flickr and photos and video to Vox which the built in Nokia gallery app on all recent N series phones does
9. Voice Recognition doesn't work for all commands (e,g, I can't turn off Bluetooth with a voice command)

Best "Why you should buy an unlocked phone" rant ever!

FROM AAS Feature: Unlocking the Mobile Phone: Why we need to go SIM-Free:

QUOTE

How to free the phone

This is all easier said than done, of course, and much of the change has to be cultural as well as technical or legal. Here are three suggestions that would help bring about this change:

- Phone-locking should be completely illegal.

- Phone network operators should not be allowed to sell phones.

- "Free" phones should not be called free, but labelled exactly like any other product bought on installments with the real total price and interest rate clearly marked on all advertising.

As the Finnish example showed though, the phone operators have a tremendous lobbying power which is difficult to overcome. While we're waiting for enough politicians to realise and accept that the operators are worth taking on, we can make a difference right now by doing the following:

1. Don't buy phones from operators

2. Don't sign long term contracts with operators

3. Buy phones SIM-free from high street and online electronics retailers and other non-operator shops

The more we do those three things, the less power the operators have, and the freer, cheaper and better the phone world becomes.

END QUOTE

David Ayre likes his Blackberry Pearl and found an unexpected bonus: watching video on his 45 minute (one way) commute into Bryght!

Stefan's a dreamer about mobile phones and apps just like me, except that he's much younger and more strident (in a good way!). Sometimes I think he's already secretly :-) working for Nokia. +1 to Stefan and keep the dreams and wonderful posts coming in 2007!

As for these 20 resolutions, most of them mirror the requests I made in my Nokia N999 post. In my excerpt below, I have deleted the ones that don't resonate with me and kept the ones that I agree with!

Bonus dreams: 1. a cool Nokia store in Vancouver at their R&D labs in Burnaby a suburb of Vancouver. Let's get real users who pay with their own money into the Burnaby lab! Show them the unlocked phones and they will come with their wallets open; especially the large population of Canadians of Chinese and South Asian heritage in the Vancouver area who are well aware of the cool Nokia phones that are available elsewhere but not in Canada. I know this is a dream because the carriers (specifically Rogers, Telus and Bell) will never let Nokia do this but it can't hurt to ask!

2. a standard tripod jack and microphone jack (as Steve Garfield requested)

3. The Burnaby lab's local profile is shall we say far too "stealth"-like in the community. Could we please have a public blog or two or three from Nokia Vancouver? I don't think it's too much to expect from a lab that developed the N91 and has hundreds of employees! Especially now that there are dozens of public blogs from other Nokia labs!

FROM Ring Nokia: 20 New Year's Resolutions I have for Nokia (read the whole thing):

QUOTE

...

3. S60 needs to become componentized in order to offer the best experience for users. One shouldn’t need an entire firmware upgrade just to upgrade the music player application, or the web browser. The core of S60 should remain the core and all other peripheral applications should be made into components; similar to what Microsoft does with Windows XP embedded. I use Opera for Mobile because I’ll never be able to use the web browser you have locked in to S60v3FP1. 4. The PIM needs a retooling. Get all the design engineers a Treo 680 and make them use that as their exclusive device for a month. I’m not saying Palm is better than Symbian, what I am saying is that certain aspects of their operating system are done so well it’s amazing that no one has yet to emulate it. 5. 2.5 mm headphone jacks are useless, when was the last time you walked into a store and you saw them sell headphones with a 2.5 mm jack? If you’re going to sell a music phone then make sure it has a 3.5 mm jack. The 5300 was a disgrace. I want to meet the design team who decided to market a phone specifically tailored for music and not include a headphone jack. 6. Pop port has got to go away. Mini USB is the future, and so far a lot of the devices you seem to be cranking out as of recent have said interface. Continue this trend. 7. Relating to number 6: Mini USB should also take place of the charger. Why should we have to plug one cable in to charge and one cable in to sync? Look at the iPod if you want to know what I’m talking about.

...

9. A team needs to be created to begin porting VLC over to Symbian as well as for the Internet Tablet. Real Player is absolute nonsense and can’t handle nearly as many file formats as VLC can. Not to mention VLC will stream any file format. While you’re at it, start adding SMB support so I can access my files over my network! 10. Begin a marketing blitz in America to show consumers the advantages of going unlocked. 11. Sony Ericson phones use XEON based camera flash technology while you’re still using LED’s. It’s about time you switched, people can tell a difference in the quality. 12. Call Canon or Nikon and license their CMOS sensors to put into your Camera Phones. You guys rock at making phones, time to admit that you can’t make the best optics engines and call in the pros.

...

14. I expect you to release a lot more phones with a full blown QWERTY keyboard running your latest version of S60. 15. The Nokia N95 is the first of many cell phones to come with a discrete graphics processor. Take advantage of this and create a slick 3D operating system that will wow people. The whole icons in a grid thing has been done since the 20th century. Time to move on.

...

18. Announce an international warranty so people can feel comfortable importing a Nokia phone from Europe yet having it be serviceable in the United States. 19. Every device you sell that contains S60 should be able to view and edit office documents and read PDF’s regardless of being an E or N series product.

END QUOTE

ShoZu rocks! With the N91 and WiFi, you can set it up so that if you live in a "sea of WiFi" (i.e. spend most of your time at places with WiFi like I do), that it will automatically upload photos and videos over WiFi to flickr or wherever you want. No r*poff GPRS or 3G data plan needed.

Shozu is great on the N91 .... when it works. Unfortunately even though I am using the latest firmware on the N91 and the latest version of ShoZu, reformatted the Hard Drive, crossed my 't's and dotted my 'i's and tried throwing salt over my left shoulder :-( ShoZu starts freezing the phone after 50 or so photos.

I don't think my phone is a lemon :( Everything else works! My unfortunate reality is that adding ShoZu to the mix, destabilizes my N91. Lifeblog (even though I hate its 10 photos at a time limitation) works so it's not the WiFi stack (or so it would appear).

I blame ShoZu's tight integration with the operating system. My guess is that ShoZu has some sort of event handler or interrupt or some such operating system integration which is buggy or problematic in Symbian Series 60 v3. I figure it's a V3 issue since I uploaded over GPRS thousands of photos with ShoZu and the 7610 and N70 (both of which are v2 phones) without this instability.

Lazyweb HELP! I'll buy whoever fixes my problem lunch. Until then, I'll keep doing the ShoZu reset dance every 50 or so photos.