- Re: The Digest V1 # 611 (7)

- RE: Q re web-access in San Diego/US

- Re: new TubeRoute released

- Re: new Tube Route released

- Re: new TubeRoute released

- P910 Task Sync

- psion5 toolbar

- P910 - Email folders & speakerphone

- Sounds like....

Date: 18 Oct 2004 14:41:27 +0100
From: Rolf Brunsting
Subject: Re: The Digest V1 # 611 (7)

Dear Itamar,

<< Instruction booklet is heavy, abt. 200 pages, and one does need to read it as it is not that easy to just pick it up and start using it >>

I only checked the instruction manual for GPRS and Bluetooth when I bought my P800 as I hadn't used these two before. The rest was so Psion-like that I didn't need the instruction manual. I started to read the manual a few weeks after purchase in order to see whether I'd missed some features.

<< I transfered the contact details from my T610 over and needed 3 to 4 hours to make corrections as the phone numbers did not transfer to the correct place (I had names and numbers only ) >>

You don't describe how you transferred them. Could be that what you've experienced is the result of the transfer method rather than an error
of the T610 or P910.

<< I added voice dial to some of the numbers, and it is now possible to give a voice dial to one of the numbers of a contact while at the T610 you first had to enter the contact and than whether you want to call
the "house" or "work" number >>

I don't know whether the SonyEricsson T610 supports voice dialing as I haven't used one. But it sounds strange to me to have to give a voice command to select the contact and a second command to select the
number. We've both used a Nokia 6130 and it links voice dial commands to numbers only.

<< On my T610 I had handy shortcuts to the most used functions which I as yet did not find om the P910 >>

Which isn't surprising as shortcuts were an Ericsson feature first introduced on their high-end phones years ago. Later phones simply inherited the feature (shared software base) including the T610. You've now switched to a Symbian OS phone with UIQ user interface. Both are
the result of a collaboration and it's not be expected that all features that are typically Ericsson, typically Nokia or typically Motorola can be retained.

<< The T610 had many more ringtones which on the P910 seem to be very limited >>

There's no need for a wide range of ringtones as the P910 allows you to use WAV, MIDI, AIF and MP3 sound files as ringtones. Go on the web and you can find millions of sound files you can use. The ringtone I use on my P800 is the theme from the 1968 BBC radio play of Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings, meaning that I have the Lord of the Ringtones.

<< With my old PDA when I was in a certain application and switched the machine off, upon switching it on again the PDA was still in the same program. Not so with the P910 >>

Well ... the P910 isn't a miniature laptop computer. Nor is it a mobile phone, nor a PDA. And it isn't a digital camera either. The P910 is a mixture of these four devices types. Each device type has its own conventions which are partly based on ergonomics and partly based on historical developments. The QWERTY keyboard lay-out was introduced to slow down typists so that the mechanism of the early typewriters didn't jam. We no longer need to be slowed down but our computer keyboards still have the QWERTY lay-out. Cameras have the shutter release button on the right hand side as we're holding the camera with our right hand and support it with our left hand.

As the P910 is a mixture you can't escape some of these device conventions coming into conflict with each other. PDAs work as you describe - switch one on and you're back at the point where you were when you switched it off. Which isn't true for mobile phones - they're always at the main screen and the top level of the menu structure when activated. As most people are going to use the P910 more as a phone
than as a PDA it's logical for the P910 to behave like a mobile phone.

Besides, it's questionable whether he PDA convention is a such handy feature. It's only nice to be back at the word processor when I want to continue with the document where I left off. I don't want to do that in the majority of cases as I activate the PDA to look for the details of
a contact, to cross out a To-Do or to enter a new appointment in the diary.

<< The calendar is missing several quite essential features : >>

I'm inclined to say that it isn't missing these features as you're now using a SonyEricsson P910 rather than a Psion Series 5mx or Psion-Teklogix netBook. It's a different device from a different
company rather than the latest device in a long line of Psion products. The P910's Calendar application therefore has the features SonyEricsson thinks it needs to have. Psion had different ideas about this - see Psion's Agenda. Whether you, personally, are going to miss some of the features that were in Agenda but aren't in Calendar depends on whether you used them (regularly).

Regarding your list of features, you obviously didn't check your EPOC Digest archive as I wrote a review of my P800 in which I mentioned the differences between Agenda and Calendar.

<< there is no list view >>

There's no List View in Agenda either as the views is supports are Day, Week, Busy, Year Planner, Anniversary and To-Do.

<<  there is no "go to date" function to jump to a specific date >>

It's easy to enter dates using a keyboard - simply type the numbers. It's less easy to do that using a pen, even when you use 'spinners' for the entry fields. It can actually be easier in the majority of cases to move to a particular date by scrolling through the month view till you're at the right month and to select the date. Which may look illogical now but can become obvious when you count the number of
screen taps.

<< there is no entry without time. There is an "appointment", a "reminder" and an "all day" event. The last one highlights all the
times in a vertical line >>

Psion's Agenda is the only diary application I know that supports untimed entries. And I don't think that the v.Calendar exchange
standard supports them either. Now, I'm not going to say that untimed entries are useless. But they do create a problem when you want to exchange or synchronise them with other diary applications. Beam an untimed entry from Psion Agenda via infrared to P910 Calendar and becomes a reminder timed at 12:00 am. Beam the reminder back to the Psion and it becomes a 12:00 am timed entry. This is the only way Psion's untimed entries can be treated by other applications - tag a default time on to them.

I don't miss having Psion's untimed entries but do miss the way Agenda treated events. They were a special class of untimed entries in Agenda which I mainly used to record exhibitions at museums, art galleries, etc. which might be worth seeing. Set a repeat for the duration of the exhibition and you know what's on for a particular date. Though I can use the P800's All Day Event entry they have the disadvantage that they reserve the whole day. Which doesn't work very well when you
synchronise your P800 with the company's central diary system. When your colleagues want to check whether you're free for a 2-hour meeting next Wednesday they'll see that you're fully booked that day. While the only thing you wanted to record is that there's an interesting exhibition at the Valkhof Museum in Nijmegen from November 12th 2004 to February 20th 2005.

<< there is no "to-do" in the calendar program, these are in a separate program called "Tasks" and can be copied or moved to the calendar. This will than show in the calendar as a reminder. However, and this is a
big minus, reminders do not move from day to day if you don't take care of them as in the EPOC agenda. You will loose sight of it as it stays
on the due date only ... It means you have to look at two programs and leave them in the Task program >>

This is one of these things you can keep talking about till Kingdom comes as the question whether Agenda does it right can only be answered by : That depends.

While you can display your tasks in other views, like Day View, in Agenda this feature is set on a per task list (or task category) basis. Any task you add to the list/category is automatically shown in other views. The practical limitation is the number of tasks you can display in Day View without scrolling. You can't see all your tasks at a glance when you've got too many lists and/or too many tasks per list. I know somebody who had 26 To-Do lists in and an average of 10 To-Do's per list. He didn't show any of them in other views as he'd scroll himself mad, he always switched to Agenda's To-Do View. A solution is to split
a list/category in two. The first list/category contains the task you want to show in other views, the second one those tasks that are shown in To-Do View only. As the P910 has a smaller screen than a Psion
you're going to scroll more when you've got a fair number of entries per day. The solution to reduce screen clutter and scrolling is similar to the two-lists idea - allow people to display tasks in Calendar on a per-task basis. Though the Tasks/Calendar combination on the P910 works differently the effect is the same.

As for displaying a To-Do on its due date only, that's what most people do when using a paper diary. When they have to deliver a progress
report on the 20th they'll enter 'Progress Report - Dibberburg Project' on the 20th (possibly with a reminder on the 15th). Those who mention the report on each day, right up to the 20th, belong to a rare breed on humans. Think of all the corrections you need to make when a due date
is changed. Most PDAs and desktop PIM applications mirror this behaviour. When you can display tasks in the diary you'll see them displayed on their due date. Pocket PC devices, for example, allow you to display your appointments for today as well as the tasks that are
due for today on a single screen. When you want to see all your tasks, irrespective of their due date, you go to the task management application. Psion's Agenda is the odd one out in this respect. I therefore don't find it strange that the P800, P900 and P910 conform to a concensus that has been established. After all, it's not only former Psion users SonyEricsson wants to attract.

<< After downloading and installing SMan, the recommended free file manager, I now noted that programs do stay in memory when exiting them without closing. Interestingly enough, most resident programs (id not check them all yet) do not have a "quit" function and stay in memory until you remove them with the help of the Task manager in SMan >>

These applications don't need a [Quit] button because they don't stay in memory once launched. Nor are they closed down the moment you launch another application. Applications stay active in memory for as long as there are sufficient resources available for them. You can therefore write a note or check your diary while downloading your e-mail or retrieving a web page. You may note, however, that retrieving the web page demanded more resources than were available so that the P910
closed down an application in order to release resources. You'll find that, for example, the Tasks application is no longer active because it's launched when you want to use it. While you could switch directly to Tasks before you retrieved the web page. This means that you can't run out of memory on a P910 like you can on a Psion. You had to close down application yourself on a Psion while the P910 does this automatically.

---
Kind Regards,
Rolf Brunsting - Darp - Netherlands

Date: 19 Oct 2004 22:34:59 +0100
From: Edward Hasbrouck
Subject: RE: Q re web-access in San Diego/US

It's an undocumented and unadvertised feature, but T-Mobile USA offers unlimited GPRS/GSM "WAP" access at no additional charge on all their monthly voice mobile-phone (cell phone) plansin the USA.  (I do *not* know if this applies to prepaid palns.)

Actually, they don't know or care if you are using it for WAP or Web access -- the only limitation is that the only ports open
are port 80 (WAP/Web) and those for DNS, POP, SMTP, and IMAP.

If you need all ports (e.g. for SSH), it's an extra US$20/month.
You can also add WiFi access (e.g. from a netBook with a WiFi card) to all T-Mobile hot spots in the USA for US$20/month.

The gateway is "wap.voicestream.com".

It isn't as fast as 56K dial-up access, but obviously it's a lot more flexible.  I have no financial interest in T-Mobile, but I think it's the best deal in the USA for mobile data.



If you need help setting it up with your phone, let me know.



--------------------
Edward Hasbrouck
edward....ttp://hasbrouck.org
+1-415-824-0214

"The Practical Nomad: How to Travel Around the World" (3rd edition, February 2004)
"The Practical Nomad Guide to the Online Travel Marketplace"
http://www.practicalnomad.com

Date: 19 Oct 2004 22:49:12 +0100
From: Alan Morris
Subject: Re: new TubeRoute released

John Morris <john.morris41....orld.com> wrote:-

> To Chris Handley:  I'm sorry, but was the tag line "P.S.  I'm
> sure Rolf B will still have fun finding some fault or other
> with it ;-)" really necessary?

It was probably necessary John.  Rolf B is unlike any other person that I've communicated with from The Netherlands.

He was unnecessarily critical of Chris's programming skills in the past, with an unpleasant tone to his comments.

Any bugs found in new software should be sent direct to the programmer, who has produced software for the benefit of others, and not on list as Rolf B has in the past.

When I've reported a software bug or a request for an improved approach directly to a programmer, they have always responded with thanks.

Many folk on this Digest have on list (and off-list with myself) raised criticism in the way Rolf B produces very lengthy opinions.  He generally never responds without going over the top.

I have occasionally not posted as I did not want Rolf B to rant on about my postings.  I don't like complaining about posters, but what does Rolf B add to this Digest that is on topic or in reply to a question with helpful advise.

He reminds me of a line manager I knew years ago.  He would enter the rest room and start-up a controversial topic and once a heated discussion was underway, would leave.  Eventually we realised what was happening.

--
Alan R Morris, G4ENS.
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK.
Using a Psion netBook & Nokia 6210e.

Date: 20 Oct 2004 00:22:49 +0100
From: Bob <1bobbyr2....k.net>
Subject: Re: new Tube Route released

HI Chris, I answered my own question on your Tube Route program.  I just downloaded the folder.

I noticed Julie and many of you have the P800s and P900s and P910s.  I have been looking here in the states especially with my provider T-Mobile and they don't have them.  The only place that I see them is on the Web anyway. At the exchange rate though it seems like they are close to $1000 or there abouts.  Not sure that I could swing for one at this time, but they look cool.  They did sell the Nikia 9200s here for a time and stopped selling those, of course they are out of date anyway.  You folks in the UK are way ahead of us here in the states anyway as far as handheld communication goes. You don't see anywhere near the text messaging here as you do there.  When I was in England everyone was texting everyone else in restaurants, cars, and walking through town. We would go out to eat with our cousin and she would be texting all through dinner.  I do think that's a little bit over the top though :o).

Thanks,
Bob

Date: 20 Oct 2004 00:28:09 +0100
From: Chris S Handley
Subject: Re: new TubeRoute released

Norbert Fernkorn wrote:
> Who is the programmer of TubeRoute?

me :-)

> Next Week I'm in Honkong again.
> Is it possible to create a TubeRoute map for Honkong?
> Or - how can I do it by myself?

Sorry, but I can't offer to create a database myself, particularly at short notice, BUT it is quite possible for you to do it with just a map for reference...

While I am biased, I have been told by one person that it was very easy to do, and both he & another person said it was quick to do, so it can't be that bad!  (Which was one design aim of TubeRoute:)

---
Chris Handley

=========================

Bob wrote:
> I have downloaded your new TubeRoute, even thought in the
> states, I travel to England quite often as my wife is from
> England.  So the Tube thing is kind of cool.  I downloaded it
> looks like line 4 for example, do you have to do the same for
> all of it, download all the lines on your .sis file or is
> there a way to down load the whole think as a package or
> folder of its own. If not I can download it all and make a
> folder for it. 

I'm afraid that you've completely lost me, since (for starters) I'm not sure what you mean by "lines" or "line 4".

The TubeRoute *program* comes as a single SIS installation file.  But you must download & install each city database separately - you will obviously want to get the London database.

Each city databases is a collection of files which have been ZIPed.  There is no SIS installation (for technical reasons), but instead you should just extract the files (and ensure your unZIP program creates the folders).  You should get a TubeRoute folder, which should be put at the root of a disk, although that isn't essential.

When you run TubeRoute, it will probably ask you where the city database is.  If it doesn't then you need to go to the Files menu, and then select Open database.  Simply make it go to the TubeRoute folder you previously extracted, and in there you should find the relevant city database.

---
Chris Handley

P.S.  The "technical reasons" why I can't make city databases SIS installable is that each city database would require a different UID allocated by Symbian.  Using a single UID would cause the first city database to be deleted when a second city database was installed!  I'd appreciate any suggestions about overcoming this problem, perhaps with a bit of PKG magic.

Date: 20 Oct 2004 09:30:47 +0100
From: Grant Mearns
Subject: P910 Task Sync

One of the things that is most obvious to me regarding the P910 is just how little it has changed from the P800. So many of the annoying little quirks are still present.

I get on very well with the Tasks application, particularly so with the addition of Handy Day to compliment it. However, when tasks are sync'd with Outlook any items that have been altered on the PC move from their designated folder to the 'unfiled' folder. This is fine if there are only a few items in the list, but very unhelpful when the number grows to 50 or more...

After much time spent alterting categories and refining the master category list in Outlook I've given up. All of my tasks now have to reside in the 'unfiled' folder.

Has anyone figured out how to resolve this small but very unhelpful issue?

Kind regards

Grant

Date: 20 Oct 2004 10:48:24 +0100
From: Anthony Ross
Subject: psion5 toolbar

I am unable (suddenly) to bring up the tool bar when I press the left hand side of the screen, also the edit, and zoom. All that appears is the browse folders response (list of files & folders). The RHS is fine so I can close files and also the screen display showing docs & system. Is there a keypress which will bring up the toolbar? By trial and error I have found the keypresses for copy and various other functions.

Thanks for any help

Tony Ross

Date: 20 Oct 2004 16:24:55 +0100
From: Itamar Engelsman
Subject: P910 - Email folders & speakerphone

I checked this and it is possible to create new folders, although these are "local" folders. You cannot, as in the EPOC machines, create a sub-folder of other folders. like a "digest" folder as a sbu-folder of "Inbox". I think you can create as many folders as you like.

A questio :  When dialing a number with the flap closed the phone will switch to speakerphone when you open the flap during the conversation. How can you set the phone to speakerphone if you dialed with the flap open ?

Best regards,
Itamar Engelsman
London, UK

Date: 20 Oct 2004 17:05:09 +0100
From: Kevin Thorne
Subject: Sounds like....

Franco Cozzani wrote:

<What I would like like to see produced - and miss much from the demise of "our" Epoc machines is:

* something in the form factor of the OQO, the old Psion 5MX, the Jornadas 720 / 728,
* perhaps a bit smaller than the Psion 7/Netbook, but larger than the Revo and the Sony UX 50, but
* with a fully usable touch-type keyboard
* an OS which is at the same time powerful enough for managing files, sophisticated PIM, instant on/off, auto saving and going back to appls, has rather powerful Word & Excel-like appls + good communication
* larger battery life than a laptop.>

I've got the perfect machine for your requirements above - it's called the Psion 5mx ;-)  You can get one (made up from new parts) from Clove every now and then.

Regards
Kevin Thorne