Vodafone Ireland are launching the iPhone in a few days time.
However the "standard" iPhone plans won't offer all the features that they could do. If you want "tethering" you're expected to pay more.
Most smart phones have bluetooth, so if you're stuck somewhere with a dodgy internet connection you can use your phone as a modem. For some stupid reason the Apple iPhone does not have this feature enabled by default, so you have to get it turned on by carriers.
Vodafone Ireland want to charge an extra €10 / month for this!! (The cost varies depending on the plan type)
So even if you have a data plan already ie. you're already paying them for bandwidth, they want an extra €10 / month to turn on an option.
Vodafone Ireland have announced today that the iPhone and iPhone 3GS will be available from March 25th 2010.
What is semi-interesting is that Vodafone are pitching the device at their full range of clients ie. both pre-paid and monthly and also business users.
They're also going to be offering "tethering" which allows you to use your iPhone as a modem.
Though "tethering" is a "special" feature on the iPhone it's standard on most "smart" phones, such as the Nokia N95, for example.
The pricing seems to be quite competitive, but how well that will integrate with existing contracts is not at all clear. In our case, for example, we have about 15 handsets with Vodafone. I don't see why I'd want to pay a premium just for an iPhone - which I already have, as I bought an unlocked one from Expansys.
Trying to make sense of the pricing options on the Vodafone site would give you grey hair!
The price of the actual handsets (same model) vary from FREE to around €99 for the 8 Gb 3G, while the 32 GB 3GS can cost up to €300.
It's also not clear if the handsets will be 100% locked to Vodafone's network, which would render the incompatible with Maxroam and other services when travelling overseas.
I got back from Rome earlier this afternoon. If I could find the cable for my camera I'd upload photos, but failing that I'll use a card reader to pull them off it ...
Rome was fantastic, so now I have to get geared up for Sydney ..
On the phone side ...
I'm currently using a backup phone, but can't use my E71!!
Why?
Because Three still haven't given us the unlock codes!!!
So not only did they manage to disconnect me from the world last week (and seemingly they didn't "allow" several or our numbers to be ported, so some of my staff were left in "limbo") but now I can't even use my phone!
Three win the prize for most inept and useless company I've dealt with ever. Seriously.
If you want to get a mobile phone DO NOT use these jokers!
When I got my Nokia E71 back before Christmas I immediately fell in love with the device. One of the options that we setup was MFE (Mail for Exchange) which was pretty functional, although a bit limited.
However while we were working on our Hosted Exchange service launch Paul came across a really nice bit of software that takes the E71 and Microsoft Exchange 2007 to a whole new level.
The software - RoadSync - is really cool and makes full use of ActiveSync on Exchange server 2007. Basically it means that you can get "email push" without having to spend a fortune on expensive addons for your Exchange server.
Configuring RoadSync is pretty easy. You just enter your login details on the device you're using and off you go.
If you're connecting into an Exchange Server 2007 setup, like we are, then you can turn the synchronisation to use ActiveSync, which means that you'll get your email on your phone almost instantly.
The other features that give RoadSync that extra "edge" are its support for HTML emails (MFE simply can't handle them) and sub-folder support. Since I get so much email every day I have a rather complex set of rules to filter emails off to different folders depending on subject lines, senders and addressees. MFE simply cannot deal with the subfolders, whereas RoadSync does a reasonable job of it.
All in all moving my business email onto my phone has made things a lot easier. I don't feel as "tied" to my desktop / laptop as before and can receive emails easily while on the move. While admittedly a lot of this would have been possible on my N95 the full keyboard on the E71 takes "possible" to "comfortable", which in my mind is a pretty important difference.
The only problem with any of the mobile email software seems to be an inability to handle multiple Exchange accounts, which is understandable. Unfortunately it means that I can't move my personal email onto our Hosted Exchange cluster, which I wouldn't mind doing ...
Since upgrading to the E71 I've found myself using online services on my phone a LOT more. There are two reasons for this:
The data plan we are now makes it a loss expensive to use and abuse web services
The full QWERTY keyboard
One of the things that I would love to be able to do is blog directly from my E71.
For some odd reason Nokia did away with the LifeBlog application in their newer phones, so I haven't had much luck finding a usable replacement.
Most of the Symbian software options for blogging are either ancient and don't work with MovableType 4.* or simply are not compatible with MT at all.
There probably are some wonderful software tools out there that are compatible with both the E71 and Movable Type, but I haven't had much luck in finding them.
If anyone knows of any solutions please let me know!
As I mentioned the other day, Three have given me a nice new Nokia E71 to replace the N96.
I've only had the phone for a few days, but so far I am very very impressed.
First off there is the build quality.
The N96 felt like it was cheap and nasty, while the E71 feels like it was built to last. Take a look at the back of it: The back is metal, while the N96's was weak plastic. This may seem like a silly thing to focus on, but if the back of your phone falls off it can cause issues!
You'll also notice that the E71 sports a 3.2 megapixel camera. Compared to the camera that comes with the N96 or N95, the E71's camera is quite underpowered and performs very badly in low lighting conditions even with its builtin Flash.
However the E71 is not designed for snapping photos. It's a business smartphone.
And this is where it gets interesting.
The phone has a full QWERTY keyboard, so you can use it for email and sms very easily. It takes a bit of getting used to, but even after a couple of short days playing around with it you soon discover the joys of having access to your email on the phone.
The Mail for Exchange application that Nokia provides is quite easy to setup and allows you to poll your office Exchange server as often as you like, while also offering you "peak" and "off peak" profiles ie. more often during working hours and less frequently in the evening and at weekends.
There are, however, two minor issues with the software:
It only shows you what is in your inbox folder, so you can't see any of your filtered emails. A lot of my more important emails get filtered off into subfolders so that I can find them easily. Unfortunately I can't see them on my phone
While the software allows you to set a signature on your outgoing emails the length is very limited. A possible solution would be to setup the "common" part of the signature on the server itself, but I haven't got round to that as yet
You also need to be very careful with your connection options. I have a wireless network both at home and in the office, so it makes sense to use them when I'm there and not use the data from my provider (Three).
By default all the "net" applications that come preinstalled on the phone will use the Three connection, but you can easily set them to "ask" before connecting, which could save you on your phone bill if your plan doesn't include a huge amount of data.
The phone's interface is, for lack of a better word, lovely.
Having a number of buttons on the phone to access common applications makes things just that little bit easier. You can still browse through the installed software like you would on other Nokia phones, but you can associate actions and applications with the nice little buttons that are on the front of the phone: The battery life on the E71 is also a bonus.
If you've been using phones like the N95 for a while you get used to having a charger with you at all times, whereas with the E71 that should be a thing of the past - it still need charging, but simply not as often. According to Nokia the E71 has a standby time of up to 20 days!
I might find issues and problems with the E71 as I use it more over time, but so far I am very happy with it.
It's slim and fits into pockets easily
I've also ordered a larger memory stick for it, so that I can abuse it as a storage device as well!
Michele tweeted, "RT @FakeIsraelMFA: Mossad has evidence Terror Boat Rachel Corrie is carrying IRA Terrorists who plan to join the Hamas to invade Britain ..."
Michele tweeted, "@dereklawless well a lot of iPhone / Android users think that apps are the answer to everything whereas a functional mobile site would be"
Michele tweeted, "@UtterDomain :) I'm just glad they refunded me so quickly"
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