Parece que los señores de Simyo (del que ya hemos dicho alguna cosa) están vendiendo en su portal los Iphone liberados al módico precio de 599€

Esto va a ser divertido: Veremos lo que hace Movistar al respeto y como empieza el carrusel de precios de iphone segunda mano. De momento parece que symio no le está dando demasiado bombo...

Yo seguiré con mi teléfono antediluviano, pero para el que tenga ganas de gastar:

https://www.simyo.es/simyo/portal/store/list-handset#iphone-3g

I'm having some fun testing a Samsung i600 (a.k.a. Blackjack) windows mobile smartphone edition. I will probably sell it to someone else who has more respect for Microsoft software, but the Samsung hardware is top notch nonetheless, and I'm liking the device more and more.

Samsung tries very hard to disguise windows on this mobile, and the result is very good, frankly. Just like Nokia's Symbian 3rd edition mobiles, this Samsung i600 comes with no automatic keylock, which is INSANE.

Third parties are always to the rescue, and here is a perfect freeware solution, Automatic keylock. I also installed Dataviz Documents to Go 6 onto the Samsung, and it is top notch software too, not like the Mobile Office 6 crap Microsoft sells which cannot create new documents, only open them (WTF!!), and it also cannot do simple things like copy & paste.

Usability dregraded to 0, on a new shinny 2007 version. Anyway, bad feelings apart, did I said I like the Samsung i600? If only I had not my ultra useful Nokia E61...

Para formatear un teléfono (hard reset) samsung sgh i600v como los que proporciona Vodafone, hay que hacer un ejercicio de dedos muy interesante. Primero de todo apagar el teléfono, y a continuación pulsar simultáneamente TODO esto:

• Arriba
• Ok (si tienes un dedo gordo pues ya están estos dos)
• Número 0
• Botón volver (el del lateral debajo de la rueda) 
• Sin soltar todo esto dejar pulsado el botón de encendido (igual necesitas un pié) 

As if I were a teenager, yesterday I found an mp3 song that I hadn't heard in maybe ten years and a smile came to my face when I imagined that it could be played in my mobile when I need a loud tone (I am on of those who preffer having it silent all the time)

So I passed the MP3 directly to the mobile but it failed, the mobile can play it but can't be set as ringtone. Rapidly browsed my default existing tones and I saw some AAC files, and I thought to myself... Isn't iTunes importing CD's by default in AAC format? .... and YES

So if you want to set as ringtone one or several mp3 files, open iTunes and go to:

Preferences->Advanced->Import

and select Import using: AAC codec

Then select all the files you want to convert and select the menu:

Advanced -> Convert selection to AAC

Now you can send the converted files to your mobile via bluetooth/whatever, save the file, and set it as ringtone :)

NOTE: That works for my old but useful Nokia 6630 with GPS and TomTom. I don't know much about which manufacturers are accepting AAC format, maybe your mobile is even accepting MP3 directly as ringtone.

I have been searching for a good rss reader since I switched my Nokia N800 for a Nokia 770, as the latter doesn't come with a default application for handling news feeds. And since I had already found a truly perfect image viewer, this became the last software I needed to complete what was a fantastic mobile computer by the way.

I am a big fan of Google Reader, to the point that I stopped using Netnewswire, one of the best Mac OSX apps in my opinion. Being able to use the same interface regardless of the computer you may be using at any given time is a winner feature for me, and that's also the reason I wasn't very fond on the Nokia N800 reader, despite the nice software it really is.

But Google Reader doesn't behave very well on the Nokia 770, not well at all... No problem, someone in a forum pointed me to a better solution: http://readermini.com, which is Google Reader with a simpler interface!

Really, it is a web service where you login with your Google Reader account and it opens up your feed suscriptions, with a lighter web 2.0 experience but not loosing any of the functionalities you are used to. I won't try to explain for 20 more lines how well readermini.com behaves... just try yourself! And besides, someone has worked out a great video demonstration which is published everywhere, so here it is another instance of it :-)

readermini.com has definetly found a home in my Nokia 770, but will it be able to replace Google Reader on my desktop computer? I think so, at least I will try it for a week and tell you about it.

Nokia had a relative success selling the first incarnation of its Internet tablet concept: the Nokia 770.

Quietly and without much advertising, the company managed to grab the attention of a lot of geeks (mostly in the Linux domain) who quickly saw a device full of software hackabilities (a.k.a. possibilities). That is exactly the level of attention that Palm pretends/needs to make the Foleo the start of a successful line of products, but if they do not opensource its... well, that's another post.

I was just discovering the Nokia 770 marvels (thanks to my fellow Serantes) when Nokia released a powerful successor, the N800. I luckily had the money, so it was a no brainier... three weeks later, I sold it and bought a 770 plus a 30Gb Ipod video with the money earned... Why picking up an older device? Here are my reasons:

• I didn't feel comfortable carrying a 400 euro plus accessories device as I would be carrying a cheaper one. I bought the Nokia 700 for 150 euro, and guess what, that number doesn't bother me, should the gadget get lost or stolen. 
• The N800 is too sexy for me, really, I was worried about its paintings and screen from the very first moment I hold it in my hands. I just had to buy a (very elegant by the way) leather cover from Boxwave and a screen protector, but these came at the expense of adding bulkiness to the device and increasing its monetary value. The leather case made also absurdly difficult to click on the left buttons. Not the same story with his old brother the 770, this little baby is just perfectly black-sober (no more paintings suffering) and has a sturdy front cover, so it doesn't need a case. It also feels lighter and far more pocketable. 
• I find the Nokia 770 battery more durable than the N800 by leaps and bounds... I don't know if it was just a problem with my N800 unit or if Maemo 2007 sucks more power (I had the autoconnect wifi off if you wonder). I can browse the web 4 hours non-stop, twice the time that my first tablet did. 
• The 770 has bigger/better placed buttons, this is immensely important as you will need them constantly. The N800 zoom button is awfully shaped and there is the power button... you need long sharpen nails to click on this.
• Maemo 2006 is almost identical to 2007, at least for my needs: browse the web with opera, listen/download podcasts with gpodder, gmail, radio streamming and the marvellous fbreader for e-books.
• The music handling experience with the N800 struck my nerves every time: I needed 14 clicks to get to play the song that I wanted regardless of the music player I used. Compare that with a 4 click's ipod experience. The same applies to the 770, of course. 

So why I'm happier with my 770 now? You know, it's not the new kid on the block anymore, but it handles very well everything i want it for, and for music I can trust on the Ipod any time. But most of all, it is inexpensive by now, truly pocketable and has a glorious screen and very good battery life. The 770 is sturdier, I feel I can treat it more rudely than its handsome brother, I can close it with a slap of his cover and put it without worry in my bag, instantly... I don't know, it just feels way more pocketable to me.

Of course, the N800 has more power and twice the memory, it handles better multitasking and plays videos smoother (since its first firmware upgrade). It is definitely quicker, but not enough to put to shame the 770. It also has 2 sd slots and FM radio but... all in all, as I didn't see it as a road warrior at the time, all that superiorness was sitting on a shelve every day... What's that raw power when you don't barely use it? So I think I'll stick with my Nokia 770 for a long time, at least until a Zaurus C1000 comes along my way...

Hace tiempo que no publicaba, pero os aseguro que esta vez ha sido por una buena causa... estoy configurando mi nuevo gadget, un Nokia e61, que finalmente y por lo que estoy viendo va a conseguir una cosa impensable... ¡desterrar de mi vida los dispositivos PalmOS!

Falta muy poco para que eso ocurra, un par de aplicaciones no más, pero ya no hay vuelta atrás :-) Prometo hacer un review más adelante, cuando tenga una base estable de aplicaciones instaladas, ya que no quiero publicar la enésima versión del artículo "mira cómo es este gadget recién salido de fábrica".

Así que de momento aprovecho para comentar un truquillo para poder ejecutar correctamente el nuevo cliente J2ME de gmail: resulta que una vez instalado no deja de dar errores de conexión y no hay manera de acceder al correo. La solución, nada obvia, es que has de configurar tu cuenta Gmail con idioma inglés (configuraciones -> general -> idiomas). Después de esto, al cliente de la e61 se le pasan todos los males.

Si te quieres conectar a internet utilizando tu móvil Vodafone via blueetooth (también es posible hacerlo vía infrarrojos, aunque es más lento que el caballo del malo) aquí van algunas observaciones antes de que te empiezes a tirar de los pelos:

1. Asegurate que tu móvil tiene acceso a Internet
2. En el menu del móvil dirigete a: Herramientas » Ajustes » Conexión » Paquetes de datos » Punto de acceso. Aquí debes tener airtelnet.es. Sin esta línea no conectarás.
3. Ahora en tu mac, abre las Preferencias del sistema » Blueetoth. Selecciona tu móvil y pincha el botón Configurar (o pulsa sobre configurar nuevo dispositivo si todavía no lo tienes vinculado)
4. Elige Acceder a internet mediante la conexión de datos del teléfono » Opción 2: Utilizar una conexión directa (GPRS, 1xRTT) tal y como se muestra en la imágen:
   
5. Proporciona estos datos de conexión: Nombre de usuario: vodafone Contraseña: vodafone Cadena CID GPRS: *99***1# En el desplegable de script de módem, si tienes un teléfono nokia, lo más probable es que sea Nokia infrarred. Si tienes un modelo no soportado o un teléfono de otra marca que tampoco tiene un script de módem que funcione puedes mirar de descargar más scripts de http://www.taniwha.org.uk/ y copiar los ficheros en /Library/Modem Scripts
   
6. Con esto ya tendrías que poder conectarte (a un precio de escándalo), para hacerlo, vete a Aplicaciones » Conexión a Intenet
   

Este procedimiento ha funcionado para un Nokia E61 y un 6630