Nokia 770 and bluetooth Personal Area Networks

They don’t mix.  At least not without a lot of tweaking while in R&D mode.  I really meant to mention this in my earlier post about bluetooth PAN on the TMobile Dash, but didn’t.  I must be getting old.  Regardless, unless you are a linux wiz, or just not overly concerned about hacking the 770, there really isn’t any easy way to get it working with a bluetooth personal area network.  If someone figures out an easy way to do it, please let me know.

Here’s a how to from the maemo wiki if you’re feeling up to it.  Good luck!

T-Mobile’s smartphone siren song

I’ve gone back to a T-Mobile device, despite the less than impressive EDGE data speeds.

Let me explain.  For a while now I’ve had issues with the Verizon phone provided by my employer.  It had pretty poor reception at my house, as well as no reception at all in the eastern part of the area I sometimes work in.  Plus no bells and whistles at all, in fact it was the most basic of cell phones.  For the longest time this was fine.  I didn’t really need a fancy smartphone because I was stuck in my little hole all day, easy to get a hold of via email or deskphone.  In fact, I think the only reason my employer continued to supply me a phone is because I had one before the merger.

All this changed a few months ago.  Now I’m spending more time on the road (as evidenced by the fewer updates to this blog) and a phone with at least email abilities would be very handy.  Along with one that actually works as a phone over our entire region.  That’s where T-Mobile comes back into the picture.  They’ve got the same crummy coverage at my home, maybe even worse than Verizon, but T-Mobile has much better coverage in the eastern parts of our region.  Plus I really wanted a Windows based phone so I could use Orb, Shozu, Soonr, and Slingmedia‘s remote player with the least amount of hassle.

If you remove all the Blackberrys (not Windows based) and the Windows based Palm devices (too big, too slow, and in my opinion, too ugly) and all the touch screen, slide out keyboard phones (again, too big, and I plan on keeping this device in a pocket, not hanging from my belt) You’re left with the Motorola Q from Sprint, the Samsung Blackjack from Cingular, or the Dash from T-Mobile.

I’ll tell you right away that the Nokia 770 doesn’t like the Personal Area Network connection that the Dash uses for sharing its broadband connection, but everything else works like a champ.  If any major issues pop up I’ll be sure to post about them, but for the time being, I am very happy with my new phone.

T-Mobile and EDGE = Slow

I picked up a T-Mobile MDA while on vacation. The place we were staying didn’t have internet access. Or, to be more accurate, they had wifi access, it just wasn’t strong enough to reach the suite I was staying in. So I got a T-Mobile data plan using their edge service. I was hoping to use this service along with my nokia 770 to stay in touch with friends back home and keep up with work email so it wouldn’t be so overwhelming when I returned to the office.
The first issue was with the nokia 770. It paired up and worked exactly once. Since then it hasn’t successfully connected to the internet via the MDA. OK, I can use the MDA’s browser in a pinch, except that the mobile internet explorer is possibly the worst browser in existence. It locks the pages to a certain width so you end up scrolling forever and usually it doesn’t show the field you need to get logged in or download the app you want. Also the MDA itself is terribly slow. I’m constantly tapping icons at least twice before applications actually open. All in all a bad experience and I will be canceling the service today at lunch.
I figure next time I need internet access I’ll go to a cafe and sign up for whatever hot spot service they may be using.