Samsung have missed a trick with the Jet

Samsung recently launched the Samsung Jet S8000 handset. It is a bloody amazing phone. I've really been in 2 minds for the past month about getting this as my new phone or going for the HTC Magic, which lacks rather a few nice features the Jet does have (hi res screen, FM radio, standard headphone jack)

Why have the missed a trick? They have gone for their own proprietary OS and web browser, which in itself is not a bad OS. But where they lose is not the operating system itself but the tons of applications that are available and will be available for Android as additional downloads. It's what makes the iphone and Andriod phones great. People want choice and options, not limitations, especially silly software limitations.

I really really want the Jet, I would get uit without a doubt if it ran Android. Hell I would even get it if there was a chance I could install Android on it myself (I've seen the odd blog of people managing to install Android on other Samsung handsets). But seeing as this one is still so new to market I don't think anyone's been able to do it, it won't be me - I'd have tech knowledge for it.

Great phone, has all the features I want just not the apps. What a shame.

Come on Samsung - Android for the Jet, you know we want it!

Requesting PAC codes from O2 via the carphonewarehouse

My existing contract with O2/carephonewarehouse expires in a month's time. About 6 weeks ago I started getting reminders via text, snail mail and cold call to convince me to get my free upgrades so they could continue milking me for a wad of cash every month.

Fair enough. I started looking around and decided my best bet was to move to Vodafone. That way I get the handset I want (Samsung Jet or HTC Magic Android) and my wife gets her Nokia 5800 and we pay £15 per month less than we currently pay.

I go see a guy in the Vodafone shop and I make sure that there are no tricks or pitfalls in moving. All is good, all I need to do is get the PAC codes from my existing supplier. Sounds easy don't it?

So I go to the CPW shop one floor down - "Sorry we can't give out PAC codes in store". Fine, I get home and give Customer services a call (see more details of this procedure later on).

ME:"Hi, can I have my PAC codes please?"
A: "Sorry, you need to phone back next week when your contract is within 1 month of expiring"

Annoying, but no particular rush. So I wait an extra week, look at few more Jet reviews and finally today on the day they said I could, call them up to request my PAC code.

I call the customer services number off the CPW website. Menu Options...
#3
#5
#1
#3, had to also punch in my mobile number on one these options too
#1
#2
#1, then asked for a pin code I have no idea what it is and finally a human being.

Luckily there's no wait and after answering a few security questions I request the PAC codes.
Oh but wait,
"we can do this, that and the next thing, to get you to stay with us"
"Sorry, no. I'm going cheaper and getting the handsets I want."
"what phone you want?" so I say google phone. I say I would like a iphone 3GS but I'm not paying £73 pm. "I can do you a 3G for £35" - no thanks not interested in overpaying for a phone lacking in features. So...

To get your PAC code you need to write to this address...
ME: "Really, why didn't the guy last week tell me that?"
A: "We are not allowed to give out the address too soon"

Not only do I have to write to them to give notice of the disconnection but I have to provide 2 reference numbers (1 for each number being disconnected) which he reads to me.

Ok, all done.
ME: "When will I get the PAC code?"
A: "Within 48 hours of the letter being processed."
ME: "How will i get it?"
A: "It will be texted to you."

So let me get this right...

I have to phone them, firstly to get codes which I must put in a letter I must write to them, to tell them I don't want to renew my contract when it expires next month and to get a code texted to me so I can move to another provider. Sounds reasonable!?

Why the hell are they dragging this out. they are going to get their last month's line rental for the entire month anyway.

I'm sending the letter now, twice. Registered mail and 1st Class.

I'll post again when I get the response to see how long the process takes after they've received the Letter.

As you may well know from previous posts I have little love for CPW and their customer service after their broadband fiasco.

I love how I can upgrade and get hooked up to a new contract 2 months before my contact expires, but need to jump through 9 hoops to get out of a contract no sooner than 30 days of it expiring.

Charles D, you fail again at customer service and customer retention.

Wish me luck!

Well Not Bad, Today I received my PAC code txt as promised just 2 days after sending the registered letter. Thanks CPW it's been fun.

HTC Magic and Google Android here I come.... or maybe still the Samsung Jet?

vodafone: HTC Magic or Samsung Jet?

My contract is up for renewal and it's come down to a decision between these 2 phones. I really can't choose. I have a about a week to decide before I request my PAC code from my existing carrier.

I really like the jet but I'm a little weary of their own OS. As it's also so new to market I have no idea that that super fast processor is going to do to the battery life.

On the other hand the Magic also very cool. a sleek responsive OS and all the Google functions I could wish for.

I was in the Vodafone store today and had a play with both units. They were both equally impressive, although the Samsung test drive was a little limiting since it had no sim card in it and was not connected to the wireless.

The HTC touch screen typing was put to the test and passed with flying colours. the on screen keyboard was easy to use, accurate and responsive to my test types.

Both OS were very slick and responsive and really nothing to choose between them.

Similarities - both units have... GPS, UTMS+, USB, touch screen, Google apps etc etc.

I need to test the typing on the Jet via finger.

I've also had a chance to play with an iPhone this week and to be totally honest I was not all that impressed. I can see why if was the rage when it was 1st release but the others have caught up in the interface race and surpassed it on features. Definitely not worth the cash they asking for.

Trimble AllSport GPS for Blackberry bold

A few days ago I did another google for GPS Blackberry apps to track my running progress. I managed to stumble across the Trimble Outdoors website and found a trial version of a piece of software they offer called AllSport GPS. So I downloaded it to my device and waited to go for the a run later that evening.

The interface is neat, clean and simple to use. The 1st screen has a number of options for the type of activity required. Similar to the screenshot below


The Next screen looks something like this

The useful little GPS indicator tells you when it's locked in and ready to go.

The unit seemed to be rather accurate with both pace and distance and after adding my weight in the advanced options it even told me how many calories I was burning.

Afterwards I uploaded the run to the free web account that I'd registered with them I was able to login and view the fruits of my laboured run. I was then able to make the the trip public, which allows for the embedded content below to be published as per below.



Overall pretty impressive. I've managed to find a similar application for the HTC Magic Android. So will be able to compare features in a few weeks time.


Overall very impressed with the offering. Only one thing bugs me a bit... I have no idea when the trial of the software expires. I've had no reminders. I hope they don't just start charging it my mobile bill!

Windows 7 RC1 experience

I have an HP nc8430 laptop with 2GB of ram. When I inherited it, it had Vista on it so I promptly replaced it with 2008 server and setup as a desktop.

This worked reasonably well for a while but lately I've been getting serious typing lag in outlook 2007 (SP2) that made using e-mail almost impossible. Start-up times were diabolical. 10 mins at least before I could get to write an e-mail or open Firefox.

So I decided to give Windows 7 RC1 a whirl. I did a clean install to a new partition. The 1st problem, rather surprisingly, was the it did not detect my rather bog standard ATI 700 graphics card! There were a number of other drivers missing too. I managed to get the important ones installed and off I went. However I have now had for 2 days solid the most annoying mouse lag and jittering.

I have no choice but to flatten all installs and go back to XP since I cannot get a stable and usable environment from any of the newer MS offerings. Ubuntu 8.04, 8.10, 9.04 and Mint Linux have had no such problems installed on the same laptop.

Windows 7, although impressive in places, has failed at the basics and that is unacceptable from my point of view. A wholly disappointing experience.

Using Blackberry Bold (9000) gps with bbtracker to monitor training runs

A few months back I started running again. It's been tough. But one of the good things about it is that without any extra cost I've been able to monitor my progress and track my runs with gps via bbtracker on my Blackberry Bold 9000 & I'm able to export the tracks to google earth.

But for me the best bit is tracking my progress via kilometre split times. Giving me a km time split so I can see where I'm fastest, slowest and compare it to my average. I've placed all the data into a excel spreadsheet and have graphed the information so it looks all nice and pretty.

It gives me real time data too. So while I'm running I can look at my km split times and compare them to my average or goal. I've always had trouble pacing myself while jogging so for me this is very useful.

My bbtracker options
1st I needed to find a pretty accurate setting for bbtracker to get meaningful information out of the tracks.

I've set the sample interval to 4 seconds, which seems pretty good. Any longer and it throws out the km split times.

Blackberry Settings
I experimented with the GPS option of having Location Aiding on and off. It's definitely better with it on, which is the default.

Then all I do is start a track, wait for signal and head off with the thing bouncing around in my pocket.

It does struggle a little, especially with trees. But it does not lose signal but rather skews the plot of Google earth, so I'll find that the track is 3 or 4 meters to the right of my actual location on the map.

The other problem is that I've then used the ruler option in Google Earth to accurately measure my actual path and found that on most occasion my run appears to be about 200 meters shorter on the Blackberry. But that's not a problem really as it appears consistent so when comparing run against run and my individual progress it's not a problem. oddly it's about 200 meters on my 5km, 7km and 10 km path. So it's not consistently out, which leads me to believe it related to the tracking problems with trees.

Recording the km splits is a little bit of manual process. I've a spreadsheet with the time cells set to date/time. Then on bbtracker I have to scroll the plot point to each km and note the time (scroll up and down for big jumps, then left right to get more accurate, selecting the time when it 1st changes to the next km).

Anyway it will just have to do until I get the $$$ together for a Garmin 405 watch.

Tweetdeck (via Adobe Air) and Ubuntu x64 (Jaunty) Fix

After my X64 Jaunty install I was having trouble with launching of Tweetdeck via Adobe Air. It would install ok without any errors but then when Launching it would open as a black page and not ask for my Twitter account details. Luckily I stumble across the solution on posted via the Ubuntu Forums and it worked. Yay!

tweetdeck_in_64_bit_ubuntu

Note: for some reason, and I'm not 100% the broblem is related, but I was unable to open any BBC Flash content Movies (live feeds or BBC iPlayer) after doing the above bits. Any attempt to do so would result in Firefox closing unexpectedly. However the problem rectified itself after a reboot of Jaunty.

"Oh Noes!", you you say? Yes, me too. Are we really going down the Windows 'reboot' solution for everything? I hope not. :p