Following on from Darky's post RE: mobile phones.

[Thalass]

I've been laughing at that lately. I have a Nokia N82 from 2007, which has a 5MP camera, and a second camera facing the user! I even have skype on it! Revolutionary!

 

:P

 

 

[shags_j]

I've been laughing at that lately. I have a Nokia N82 from 2007, which has a 5MP camera, and a second camera facing the user! I even have skype on it! Revolutionary!:P

I know. I've been saying the same things around here. My N97 is awesome compare to Iphone hardware wise.

 

I do agree the Iphone has an easier to use interface and nokia software (pc side) has a bit to be desired but the rest is excellent.

 

 

[eightyknots]

I've been laughing at that lately. I have a Nokia N82 from 2007, which has a 5MP camera, and a second camera facing the user! I even have skype on it! Revolutionary!:P

How amazing: a phone that has gone full circle!!

 

It has internet capability so that you can use Skype, so that you can phone someone over the internet.

 

That's great: a phone you can use for talking with!

 

 

[flying dog]

Ok folks,

 

I have my new toy.

 

HTC Desire.

 

Am having fun learning all about it.

 

I downloaded a "Aviation weather" app, but don't know how to set it up.

 

Can I use my airservices Australia account to get the weather reports or is it something different?

 

 

[Russ]

Costed one out at telstra the other day..........$990...( 2 yr wty included )

 

Then googled...........sydney company.......$300 less, went back into telstra told them of my findings............telstra dropped their price $200...........their now price is $790.

 

Might go back again, and squeeze em a bit more..........let's see.

 

 

[justinm001]

i wish nokia started selling 5110's again.

 

Twas the unbreakable/never fail phone :(

 

 

[Admin]

Well, I got my new phone yesterday...a Samsung Galaxy S...bloody beautiful...only thing is need a 1 week course in operating it which I assume is like the HTC Desire. The Galaxy screen is 2nd to none though.

 

So now I can see what the site looks like on one of these phones so I will make some small changes...the nav bar which doesn't display properly on a smart phone and a more lighter and faster style that users can choose to use or they can keep using this one with the colours and graphics.

 

With me working so much now the site's aviation news is taking a back seat as I just run out of time each day, so I had a look at these iPads today...hope to get one next week so I can do the news whilst I am in the train going to and from work...it is just wasted time sitting in a train so hopefully that will satisfy the site users that are aviation news buffs

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

Well, I got my new phone yesterday...a Samsung Galaxy S...bloody beautiful...only thing is need a 1 week course in operating it which I assume is like the HTC Desire. The Galaxy screen is 2nd to none though.

I'd be interested to hear more about your experience with it Ian.

 

My old phone is on its last legs and while I've been slowly looking at what would replace both it an my Palm, the need has suddenly become more urgent this week, as the battery in my phone now looks like it will die in the very near future and I don't want to buy another battery for a phone that is already misbehaving.

 

I'm currently down to a short-list of HTC Desire or Samsumg Galaxy S and have downloaded the user manuals to read through. The trouble with manuals is that they still don't tell you everything and sometimes leave out bits that I consider important.

 

I have no interest in Facebook or Twitter, but do have an acquaintance with LinkedIn. It would be good to use this site from the phone too. I want to be able to synchronise my data with apps on my laptop,and not have it on Google's or Samsung's servers. It's my data, not theirs! Lastly, the other key requirement is to be able to "tether" my laptop (ie. use the phone to provide mobile Internet access for my laptop). Some carriers block this feature, despite it being a phone capability, but I don't know that status for either Optus or Telstra.

 

 

[Admin]

It's eqrly days David but initial response is it is extremely good. I think that the Desire or galaxy or whatever are much the muchness when it comes to the userability as they are Android and the apps are all basically the same with the exception of some proprietry ones however the apps list is growing and what one does my guess is you will find an app that does the same whether it is HTC or Samsung.

 

These were my thoughts so I went for the only thing that was specifically different and that was the hardware. The reason for the Samsung is the 4" screen and the screen clarity is far better then the Desire. The Galaxy also allows for a 32gig sd card plus has 16gig onboard...these are all hardware things that differentiate the phones. I could end up being wrong about the apps but they were my thoughts.

 

The final consideration was the network. Yes Telstra has NextG but there really isn't that much between Telstra and Optus now. telstra have just been fined millions of dollars by the ACCC for false advertising that their NextG network covers more then Optus (to do with the 1900 vs 2100 bands). The pure NextG network only covers around 50% not the 97% they are reporting and across both of them they have pretty much the same 3g coverage now. I am with Optus Business so my phone connection gets priority connection and speed over Personal plus I got 3 months free (not the 2 for private) for buying on-line and as I have other Optus mobiles I also got a further $5 off, so a $49 x 24mth plan actually costs me $38.50 per month for $450 worth of calls and 1gig a month of Internet traffic. There were no great incentives for me with Telstra so that ruled the Desire out as well.

 

Hope this helps...going out to get my Ipad at lunch time today...may even get an IRon for the wife

 

 

[Admin]

Hey this iPad thing is cool...give it 5 years and they will replace laptops. Not good on cache so every page has to reload costing you more in traffic, no flash support on web sites but I will be able to keep the aviation news section current much better whilst on the train to and from work

 

This post is made from the ipad

 

 

[Tomo]

Lastly, the other key requirement is to be able to "tether" my laptop (ie. use the phone to provide mobile Internet access for my laptop). Some carriers block this feature, despite it being a phone capability, but I don't know that status for either Optus or Telstra.

I know this is probably going to just make you roll your eyes, But!

 

My brother can tether his laptop to his phone, and so on. He even controls the music coming out of his laptop with his phone, and vice versa, if he wants.

 

Internet tethering is done quite simply, either by USB or Bluetooth.

 

Also a heads up on the new G4 iPhone, the service is better than the older one, and also the wifi signal strength. If you get one, and want to continue using your old sim, you just chop it to size - being careful of course! But it works fine.

 

Just got a new screen for a fella who broke his 3GS for $9 - that's the glass bit. Can't even do that for my old Nokia!

 

Look around for prices though, and don't get ripped off.

 

 

[winsor68]

The final consideration was the network. Yes Telstra has NextG but there really isn't that much between Telstra and Optus now.

I HATE TELSTRA... but should point out that the difference between Telstra and any rival is VERY VERY noticeable in rural Qld... Telstra (and again I HATE TELSTRA) is the only carrier that gets full coverage even in the township of Mackay where I live.... So as much as I HATE TELSTRA... all our phones are with them.

 

But don't worry Ian... if you come to Queensland for the Monto Flyin next year I will lend you my hateful Telstra phone to ring home... Unless by some miracle things improve for the other carriers now Telstra is starting to get some notice for its hateful anti-competitive practices which I am sure extends up here to keeping its rivals from attaining coverage for much of rural Australia.

 

Winsor68

 

 

[Gibbo]

Used my HTC HD2 with 'google maps' and 'google latitude' so someone could track my progress today. Worked a absolute treat and was nice to know that someone knew where I was all the time.. They were able to track me in real time with just a google web page gadget (marginal weather to say the least). I simply typed a short message into Google maps as plan changed so they new what I was doing at all times. Takes the concept of a flight note to another level.

 

I am using NextG and it did'nt drop the signal the entire trip.

 

I would highly recommend this to anyone. How many CFI's would like to know where their students are on their first solo nav?

 

EDIT: Google maps and Lattitude work on all Smartphones. Nokia, I(junky)Phone, ect. If no GPS will give location based on Cell tower calculations within xKilometers.

 

 

[justinm001]

what o/s does the samsung use ?

 

 

[Gibbo]

what o/s does the samsung use ?

Depends on the model.. Android (Java with Linux), MS windows mobile and symbian in some cases.

 

What model do you have?

 

 

[Admin]

The Samsung Galaxy S i9000 is Android v2.1...upgrade to v2.2 soon

 

 

[coljones]

Don't complain to us about the lack of alternative service in your area complain to the providers or to the ACCC or to the Minister. It is not a Telstra dastardly trick being pulled but a dastardly trick by to carriers who won't provide you with services. Your Telstra phone works doesn't it? The carriers don't "get" a service, they either they provide one or they don't. Go whinge to Optus just don't whinge to me!!!

 

 

[Tomo]

EDIT: Google maps and Lattitude work on all Smartphones. Nokia, I(junky)Phone, ect. If no GPS will give location based on Cell tower calculations within xKilometers.

Do you know How much data this sort of thing uses?

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

Don't complain to us about the lack of alternative service in your area complain to the providers or to the ACCC or to the Minister. It is not a Telstra dastardly trick being pulled but a dastardly trick by to carriers who won't provide you with services. Your Telstra phone works doesn't it? The carriers don't "get" a service, they either they provide one or they don't. Go whinge to Optus just don't whinge to me!!!

I also find that Optus network provides poor coverage in a number of areas including where I mainly work, while the Telstra coverage is better. When the company I work for decided at a corporate level to change to Optus our mobile phone and SMS alerting communications became unreliable and undependable. Complaining to Optus, even at a corporate level resulted in some signal boosters being put in one site and at another site being told - "...change back to Telstra".

 

I know first hand, from carrying both an Optus network phone and a Telstra network phone concurrently that Telstra coverage in regional areas is better. In capital cities it is much the same and I often experienced holes in both networks that often did not co-incide.

 

By the way, I got ribbed unmercifully by workmates for carrying two mobiles as well as a pager and my Palm:laugh:.

 

That leaves me with hobson's choice at the moment... Optus only has the Samsung and Telstra is exclusive with HTC Desire, so choice of phone also makes default choice of network, unless I buy the phone, pay for unlock, pay for early contract termination and change networks.... ACCC says nothing about that

 

That said, if the Samsung was a lot better than the Desire, I would be very tempted, however a smartphone with poor network coverage isn't as acceptable as the old dumb phones. Still, this is another reason that the phone has to have the data on it and not just be a thin client.

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

Telstra is exclusive with HTC Desire, so choice of phone also makes default choice of network, unless I buy the phone, pay for unlock, pay for early contract termination and change networks.... ACCC says nothing about that

Or buy it unlocked from overseas. I got mine for $620 including shipping from the UK, completely unlocked and no Telstra bloatware. Must cheaper overall plus no hassle of unlocking.

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

I know this is probably going to just make you roll your eyes, But!...

Yes Tomo. I've looked very closely at the iPhone, but have ruled it out despite having the best screen. The Samsung also has a super AMOLED screen at slightly less resolution and the Desire used to have a super AMOLED screen, but HTC switched to a Sony super LCD screen due to shortage of supply. The Sony screen has lower contrast, but is less prone to "burn-in" and is reputed to give longer battery life.

 

Flash is an anathema to Apple, and while I'm not in love with it, Flash has become a defacto standard. Simply not supporting it is just denying reality. Web sites will not substantially convert to HTML-5 for quite a few years and Flash isn't going away as HTML-5 does not provide a complete replacement, so they will co-exist.

 

I just don't like Apple's arrogant attitude and closed shop business model. I'm a great supporter of Open Source, so Android is my choice of O/S.

 

Security models are interesting and there's a lot of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) talked about the different models. Despite Apple's closed app market with supposedly vetted apps, they let through some nasties. There's bad apps in the Android market too, so no net sum gain. I don't think anyne except Apple knows the internal security model of iOS, but Android is published. Apps written in Java each run in their own instance of a Java Virtual Machine. That is a good security model, provided you don't just blindly install apps without checking what permissions and data access they request, and that is specified in the application meta-data (Manifest file).

 

The Desire clearly indicates how to synchronise contacts and calendar with MS OutLook on a PC via USB and HTC-Sync. While there's some info in Wikipedia about the Samsung being able to interact with MS Exchange, there's nothing I've found in skimming the manual that talks about synchronising with anything except web servers (ie. Facebook, Twitter and Samsung's Bada Servers). This raises an interesting point, as Samsung's ability to combine email and calendar sources appears to be via Samsung's Bada Servers. ie. network based and the phone acts as a thin client. Not to be confused with the ability to directly connect separately to email servers from the phone, but not combined.

 

My conclusion to-date is there is no ideal phone, but I'm leaning toward the Desire at the moment, despite its drawbacks. Pity about the downgraded screen. There's no info about when that happened and my son bought a Desire a month ago, so I've had a few minutes playing with it, and it looks good.

 

 

[Admin]

David, on a price check I did I found the Galaxy for sale unlocked from an Australian dealer for around $675...I didn't price check the Desire though.

 

In my figures I worked out that if I were to buy one outright and then attribute that over 24 months = $28.13 per month. So if I take the $38.50 per month over 24 months that I am paying for my plan it meant that the plan itself was costing me just over $10 per month for $450 worth of calls and 1gig of data traffic.

 

If I were to buy the phone outright and then take up a BYO plan it would cost me a lot more as all they do with BYO plans is give you something extra. However, with the extra it may enable you to do a costing on your actual phone use and then enable you to take a lower monthly price plan with the extra, whether it be extra $x worth of calls or etc.

 

The question is priority on which phone and the cost of that priority to get the phone you prefer mixed in with the different plan options from your choice of carrier.

 

I personally am very interested to see what my data usage is per month as this is one of the priorities for me as well. The phone with 1gig of data is with Optus and the Ipad with 1 gig of data is with Telstra - I went with Telstra for the Ipad to ensure I got coverage wherever I was however the Ipad is pre-purchase data. Telstra offer 1 gig for $20 but Optus offer 2 gig for the same price so the mix here is data usage and network and with Telstra pre-pay I will be able to test both with the phone and Ipad. If the Optus phone gives me the connectivity I need and I use more then 1 gig of data on the Ipad I will be able to safely know what choices I do really have.

 

Has anyone really stopped and given any thought how much our communications cost us each month with Internet, Home Phone, Mobile Phone, (TV if applicable)...this that and everything else across our whole family...the mortgage is looking really cheap for what you get these days :big_grin:

 

 

[coljones]

Bloatware?

 

Or buy it unlocked from overseas. I got mine for $620 including shipping from the UK, completely unlocked and no Telstra bloatware. Must cheaper overall plus no hassle of unlocking.

Please define "bloatware", is this a technical term? Which particular parts of the Telstra "enhancements" didn't you like? and why not.

 

Cheers

 

Col

 

 

[Admin]

David, the Super AMOLED screen uses a lot less power which is why the Galaxy has a long battery life compared to the Desire.

 

I started my phone off with syncing it to Outlook by simply plugging it in to my PC and the s/ware that comes with the Galaxy does it all for you...it is not very unlike iTunes with the way you can access apps and s/ware upgrades (does it automatically). When I first plugged it in it asked if I wanted to sync with my Outlook Contacts etc. I am sure though that there may be other Android apps that will also allow you to do this...just a guess.

 

 

[Russ]

Query.............if one purchases an "unlocked" phone from anywhere.......does one just drop your existing sim card into it........and bobs your uncle. :confused: