- Which mobile phone do you prefer to augment your 5mx

- RE: 9500 vs 5mx

- PP9

- Comms and Infrared

- www.iyhy.com

- (25 reasons) 9500 keyboard

- Re: Infrared problem

- Re: netPad MMC Cards

- Re: Mobile Phone batery life

- Psions vs Mobile Phones

- 9500 & 9300/9300i

- SE P990

- Comparator, 25 reasons - battery life,

- Happy Holidays

- Re: DOS emulator

Date: 22 Dec 2005 00:01:26 +0100
From: Christopher Holly <address truncated>
Subject: Which mobile phone do you prefer to augment your 5mx

I may someday go to a Nokia 9500. I need to see one in real life to see if i will like typing class notes and letters on it as well as I like my 5mx. In the meantime, is there a recent generation cell phone out there that would make up for my lack of WiFi access or that would act as a modem for my 5mx?

--
Chris Holly
830 S. Fess Ave.
Bloomington, IN  47401-4946
812-339-0938

Date: 22 Dec 2005 01:29:11 +0100
From: Alan Morris <address truncated>
Subject: RE: 9500 vs 5mx

Chris S Handley  wrote:-

||> > a DOS emulator - for me this is a number 1 critical program ||>
||> I am very curious as to why anyone would still need a DOS ||> program(s?), which must be 10 (if not 15) years old by now! ||>  It must be something extremely obscure for no-one to have ||> written a suitable replacement in the intervening time?

To satisfy your curiousity Chris, my 'obscure' application is a DOS word processor.  It's a British product that started life on the first personal computers on their C-90 data tapes.  I started using it on floppy disk using 16KB CBMs.  It progressed to the Sirus 1, Dec Rainbow and IBM PC and later on the pre-IBM Apricot.

It was continuously being copied by Wordperfect, about 6 months after a new set of features arrived.  I have it on all my Windows computers.

I sold it to many architects and quantity surveyors over about 15 years. Then they were being forced to use Word, but I frequently had the secretaries and typists on the phone asking, 'how can I do .... in Word, like I do in Wordcraft?'  The answer was always, 'you can't'.

I've often commented about Wordcraft's ability to renumber paragraphs and references, which M$ Word can't do.  Every time I'm always told that Word can, but when I ask how, I never get an answer that works.

Example:

3.4.a.iii   Fit the widget as in paragraph 2.1.b.iv but with the button facing down.

When the whole document is renumbered 2.1 becomes 2.3 but the referenced 2.1.b.iv is not changed to 2.3.b.iv in Word, as it is in Wordcraft.

Also Psion Word can't do it!

Alan Morris.

Date: 22 Dec 2005 04:10:07 +0100
From: Steve Litchfield <address truncated>
Subject: PP9

>>I end up with a 9500 with that PP9 dangling from a cable to the 9500.

Well, I was thinking about any of those Nokia-compatible phone chargers that you can buy, running off AA or PP9s or similar. I think fully charging a 9500 would basically drain a set, though, hence 'emergency'. The 9500 will last absolutely ages (many days, even weeks) on a charge though, especially if you turn IR, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (or even phone) off 8-)

Is there ANY non-power-accessible journey in the world, of any type that wouldn't finish within a day or so? In 3 years of P800/P900/9210/9500 user, I've NEVER ONCE thought 'Damn, I've exhausted my palmtop's battery, if only it had used AAs'.... 8-)))

..........................
Steve Litchfield, 3-Lib, http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/, software and features for Psion/Symbian handhelds and smartphones. Journalism: sub-editor and/or senior contributor to: Palmtop User - http://www.palmtop.co.uk/ and PDA Essentials magazine in the UK. Also reviews editor for AllAboutSymbian - http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/

Date: 22 Dec 2005 04:14:27 +0100
From: Jakfish <address truncated>
Subject: Comms and Infrared

I'm trying to hook up my Mako to a variety of terminal programs through 
Comms and its IrDA, and I can't make it work.

The other computers/handhelds connect fine with each other via IR--it's 
Comms that is problematic.  I can connect Comms with a serial cable to  these computers, but with its infrared setting, it's giving me fits.

For one thing, there doesn't seem to be baud adjustment nor other  tweakable settings that come with the Cable menu.

What am I doing wrong, and if I can't adjust the Infrared settings in  Comms, then does anyone know their defaults?

Any help would be a big help,
Jake

Date: 22 Dec 2005 06:41:39 +0100
From: Simon Jeffree <address truncated>
Subject: www.iyhy.com

Answer to: Itamar Englesman
Subject: www.iyhy.com

<< Are you still able to use the options on a page once read via this website ?  For example, could i use it to do online banking ? >>

Well, it only shows (& will follow) the links.  It wont do any of the clever stuff like javascript, etc.  It certainly doesn't work with my bank (Natonwide) & I suspect it would be the same for all of them.  These banking sites all seem to be created by the sort of idiot webauthors who seem to populate the big corporates.  They don't have a clue about standards & device agnostisism & they just can't resist using every little extra feature of I.E. beyond simple HTML.

I've always found it so painful using a banking website on anything other than I.E. on a PC that I've just given up.

There is another similar HTML proxy site you could try:
http://phonifier.com/
This is designed specifically for phones & it can do pictures as well.

Regards,
Simon Jeffree

Date: 22 Dec 2005 06:42:00 +0100
From: Simon Jeffree <address truncated>
Subject: (25 reasons) 9500 keyboard

This started out as a response to Steve Litchfield's challenge to Martin Maxwell to see who could write 10 words into their respective devices the quickest.  It ended up as an in depth usability study of the 9500's keyboard when compared to that of the 5mx.

(Incidentally, thanks Martin for that excellent analysis of your reasons why you're sticking with your 5mx)

>>>and opening it for typing is just as fast as pulling the stylo out from the P900 and much faster than setting up and pair the external keyboard. If you want to capture the moment before your short term memory decides to abort the handover of a nugget of information to your long

>I'll bet I can get 10 words into my 9500 from a standing start faster than you and your Psion. The keyboard's not *that* much worse 8-)

Steve, you may well be quicker with those initial 10 words (although I doubt it) but you would probably not be so accurate.

But anyway, this misses the important thing for me, which is that the keyboard on the 9500 requires so much more concentration than that of the 5mx.  It diverts too much of my brain power away from what I'm thinking about that I forget what I was going to type anyway.  I find this makes it very difficult to use in meetings, as I can't listen & type at the same time on the 9500, but I can on the 5mx.

I have to keep looking away from the screen & down to the keyboard to aim my fingers visually at the right key, because I can't rely on feeling the keys.

Then I have to keep looking back up at the screen to read what I've typed & check it because there are so many mistakes due to hitting the wrong key or mis-hitting the right key.

With the proper 5mx keyboard, I could feel when I didn't hit the right key successfully & I press 'Delete' immediately (again without looking) & retry the keypress.  This all happens without interrupting the flow of information in my mind.

Although do I press the space bar between words, it often doesn't register, either because I needed a heavier push or because it is so short, I'm not sure.  Again, this requires a lot of re-reading what I've typed.

When I do hit the wrong key & have to press 'Delete', I have to aim very carefully because if I aim a little too high, I will hit the 'My own' key, which will do something completely unrelated (again interrupting my train of thought) & if I aim too low, I hit the 'Return' key, which, depending on the application, I might *really* not want to do before I'm ready.

There are no key combinations to move the cursor to the top or bottom of a document, or the start or end of a line. (Also, see next para.)

The 'Chr' key has two functions; 1, as a modifier key & 2, as an action key.  I often find myself holding it down while thinking what other key needs to be pressed with it to acheive the desired action (More often than not, one of the missing cursor movement functions mentioned in the previous para.) then, when I realise my mistake & release it, the "Insert character" tabbed pick-box comes up!

If I go as far as pressing one of the cursor keys in a subconcious attempt to effect the missing cursor movement (because that's the logical key combination, right?) I get something completely unrelated, like toggling the bluetooth state!  Another unwelcome interruption to my train of thought!

To get the oft-used curly brackets symbols, or the less frequent 'pipe' symbol, I have to use the 'Chr' key to throw up the "Insert character" pick-box.

I find the round joypad next to the cursor keys, awkward to use.  Not because of the usual reasons for these things, like insufficient reponsiveness or a lack of feel.  In fact I think Nokia have done a brilliant job in those respects.  It has excellent tactile feedback & because it sticks out above the rest of the keyboard, it is easy to locate by feel, without having to look at it.  However, it is let down by the fact that it's round.  The problem is that there's nothing about the way it feels to distinguish between two adjacent directions.  For example, to move up, you have to press it at the north position.  If your finger wanders round a bit & you accidentally press it at the northwest position, it won't feel any different but you're now at the transition between 'up' & 'right' directions. & you might end up actually moving right.

Also, despite its good action, I still find it fiddly trying to press the joypad in without accidentally selecting one of the directions.  This would be OK because you can use the 'Return' key instead, to carry out the selected action, except that you can't in the 'Web' application.

When scrolling around a document using the cursor keys (because of the problem with the joypad) I often find my finger wanders across to another key.  I can't feel when this happens, because the keyboard is too flat & I'm busy reading the document, so I can't see it happening either.  So I end up accidentally pressing 'm' or '/', or moving in the wrong direction.

Unlike the mirky 5mx screen, the 9500 has a wonderful screen that that is really easy to read in all lighting conditions.  But this is totally spoilt by the fact that the keyboard is not backlit & so you can't type on it in low or zero light conditions.  However, there is a workaround & that is to partially close the case so that the screen lights up the keyboard.

Appologies for such a long post, but it frustrates me that too often the real usability of the Psions & the poor usability of the newer devices is overlooked in favour of the features of the newer devices, regardless of whether those features are actually necessary.

I myself have migrated over to a 9500 & I'm generally very pleased with it, but even after nearly a year, I still curse its keyboard & missing features compared to my trusty old 5mx, so I just needed to get that off my chest.

Regards,
Simon Jeffree

Date: 22 Dec 2005 07:15:49 +0100
From: Marcus von Cube <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Infrared problem

Hello Chris,

I don't think it's the hardware of the card, but it's always a good start to run your mBook off the charger to be sure that there is enough power to drive both the card and the IR transmitter.

If that doesn't help (which I assume), then you might probably have something installed on your card that doesn't work with your current operating system. If there is a "System" folder on the CF, try to rename it to e. g. "System1" and try again. If IR transmitting then works, you have something to look at more closely.

The other possible problem might be that you have software installed on *the other* CF which is
missing if you swap cards. Can you beam contacts without any card installed?

Marcus

http://www.mvcsys.de

Date: 22 Dec 2005 07:29:12 +0100
From: Marcus von Cube <address truncated>
Subject: Re: netPad MMC Cards

Hi PRAR,

>What large (>128Mb) MMC cards work well with a netPad?

The netPad accepts SD storage cards as an alternative. I just checked with a SunDisk SD Ultra II 256MB which worked fine. My standard setup includes a Chinese 128MB SD Card from "extreme memory".

Marcus

http://www.mvcsys.de

Date: 22 Dec 2005 08:17:11 +0100
From: Michael Robins <address truncated>
Subject: Re: Mobile Phone batery life

My experience is that, in the UK, a reltively new mobile phone will last several days switched on, so long as you don't make any calls on it !  Once you make & recieve calls the battery is quickly drained.  I believe the battery usage is also dependant on how close you are to the mobile base station mast - mobile phones adjust thier power output for for the minumun required, so if the mast is several miles away the power used is higher than if it is next door.  Lots of other factors apply, I am sure Rolf B will oblige with details ;-)

I will also use this as an opputuntty to wish all the Digest members and especially the Administrators a Happy Christmas and a good New Year.  'Long Live the spirit of Psion'

MikeR

> From: Woody B <address truncated>
> Subject: OT Mobilephone Battery Life
>
> Talking to a friend and I mentioned this list and that most of the members are located in Europe/Asia and many seem to use a Mobilephone as the main/only phone. We started discussing that concept (not yet a reality in the USA) and I was asked if the non- US mobilephone batteries last longer than ours. My phone has a battery rated at 3-3.5 hours but if on all day and I make a few calls, the battery seems to be gone and I have to recharge. Just looking for fact or comments. Thanks, WoodyB

Date: 22 Dec 2005 10:50:57 +0100
From: Phil Aypee <address truncated>
Subject: Psions vs Mobile Phones

Hi Folks,

Armin’s point about battery life is very well taken, at least by me.

Recently I was in hospital (I’ve now caught {sic}diabetes) and something that runs on replaceable AAs for long periods is highly desirable there. I took my 3mx and, though I was there less than a week, I doubt that a rechargeable mobile phone would have lasted that long with my use *_even_* if such a thing were allowed. As it was less than a week the batteries were never changed. That would stretch a 5mx - it once stretched this 5mx but - AAs are common, even in hospital.

Add to that  the simple fact that I neither have nor want nor need a mobile phone and it becomes obvious that the Psions, 3a/3c/3mx and 5/5mx, are ideal for me, better than any phone (and I do need a handheld). My, this, 5mx is now my main machine and has a Kingston 2 GigaByte CF card though my SiBO machines are still used continually.

I *do* use NiMH (rechargeable) batteries but, as I use alkaline AAs for other purposes (CD player, etc.), I always have spares with me. In hospital I put a pair in the 3mx on the first day. If I’d forgotten it wouldn’t have mattered as I still had the alkalines, I just wanted the NiMHs charged at home.

And I don’t have a car. ; ¬)

It may be that there are machines at least as suitable for my purposes as the Psions but I’d find it pointless to change. The Psions are about the ideal size, have more-than-adequate software available, can do all I want and are fairly stable. I don’t want to have to learn a new system - ever now!

Happy Hogmanay,
Phil.

“If love is the answer,
could you rephrase the question?”

http://aypee1.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/index.html

Date: 22 Dec 2005 11:30:19 +0100
From: Franco Cozzani <address truncated>
Subject: 9500 & 9300/9300i

Hello everybody.
Can anyone among the people in love with these nifty machines comment on the lack of an illuminated thumb-board?
In view of their intended on-the-move use, and of the fact that most phones do have illuminated keys, is this an hindrance? Is this very much irritating or is it something that one quickly puts up with?
Any rumour that Nokia might correct this? The specs of the announced 9300i do not clarify it to my best understanding.
Season's greetings.

> Franco COZZANI
> Brussels
>

Date: 22 Dec 2005 11:49:51 +0100
From: Franco Cozzani <address truncated>
Subject: SE P990

Answer to Itamar Engelsmann

Dear Itamar,
in a recent posting you wondered about the lack of news on the P990 front and expressed some reserves on the screen size.
1. Lack of news on the P990: you are correct, a veil of silence fell down the web, after the initial excitement and one or two prototype reviews. I guess/hope there is nothing bad with that, other than SE needed to announce the phone very early into its development, and that its OS is still fairly unstable. Let us hope that the indicated release date of Q1 2006 is maintained, for I plan to buy one.
2. Screen size: you are right, the screen does look quite smaller than that of your P910. But the small keyboard (which is lighted!) looks better than the micro one on the P910 and I see no way how one could possibly accomodate such a keyboard other than in the Palm Treo form factor. Could you+other P910 users perhaps comment, on their experience, on whether you/they find more preferable a better keyboard and a smaller screen or a micro keyboard (or none) and a larger screen?

Season's greetings.

Franco COZZANI
Brussels

Date: 22 Dec 2005 17:42:28 +0100
From: Itamar Engelsman <address truncated>
Subject: Comparator, 25 reasons - battery life,

Answer to: Steve Litchfield

Re.: Comparator - Hi Steve, thanks for your continued great work, it is surely much appreciated. Thinking about it for a little while I think one of the main reasons for choosing a P910 (type of) phone above the Communicator range of Nokia is the size and weight. It weighs over 40% more and is almost 30% longer. If it was my only PDA I would most probably opt for the Nokia, but the P910 in combination with my mBook I find still a better option. However, I think that with the P990 SE made the mistake of reducing the size of the screen and I could see myself in future moving to the Nokia communicators. By the way, interesting to note that at the moment Vodaphone, the largest provider in the UK I believe, only have the 9300 on their website and not the 9500.
I ran your Comparator again just  now and you will hardly believe it, winner is the 9500 with 200 points, runner-up the P910 with ... 199 points <BG>. Just about right in light of my words above.

Answer to: Armin Podtschaske

Re.: 25 reasons - battery life - My solution to this problem was to buy a second battery for my P910. With 2 batteries I must be very far away not to be able to finish the day without a flat battery on my phone. Yes, the power concept of the 5MX is great, but how long would your phone last on 2x AA batteries ?

Best regards,
Itamar Engelsman
London, UK

Date: 22 Dec 2005 17:42:35 +0100
From: Joe Fell <address truncated>
Subject: Happy Holidays

Users of the Solun astronomy program will be looking forward to seeing Santa and some reindeer on the sky display over the next few days.



email address is

Date: 22 Dec 2005 22:24:40 +0100
From: Melvin Woody <address truncated>
Subject: Re: DOS emulator

Chris Handley wrote:

> I am very curious as to why anyone would still need a DOS > program(s?), which must be 10 (if not 15) years old by now!  It must > be something extremely obscure for no-one to have written a suitable > replacement in the intervening time?
>
> --- Chris Handley


I would love to be able to use VDE [a text editor written in machine language that works like Wordstar and can emulate almost all current formats (WP, WS, MSWord, etc.) as needed] together with Smartkey, a keyboard remapper that doubles my typing speed by enabling me to remap the keyboard so as to allow me to insert whole words or even paragraphs into a document with two keystrokes and to change files of those mappings simply and at will.  But I got hung up trying to install the dos emulator because, as I recall, I need an earlier version of MSDOS or DRDOS than I could find around the house.  (I tried this a couple of months ago, before a trip to Europe and my memory may be imperfect.
   So, I have two questions:
1. Is there a psion keyboard program comparable to Smartkey?  I downloaded something called "Remapper" for the mbook some months back. But as I recall, it was rather limited in scope and utility.  (But here again, my memory has faded.)
2. Does anyone who uses the dos emulator for Psion have any suggestions about how to get hold of an appropriate version of DOS?

Sincerely

J. Melvin Woody
Professor