Each time I think that we are making progress in the telecoms sector (mobile technology especially), things keep springing up to confirm that not much has changed.

A few weeks back at Zain was a reminder that we are not yet out of the dark ages. I was told that if I obtained a full-internet data SIM, I would have only WAP access should I use the SIM on a smartphone instead of on a USB modem. Nothing I said could dissuade the customer care operators.

That very day, I proved them wrong by accessing full internet via a Zain SIM on a smartphone.

I remember sending someone to Gloworld at Opebi to have a Glo SIM activated for GPRS and 3G services months ago. I had requested GPRS activation by phone, and I was told it would be done within 48 hours. Of course, that never happened, so I had to send someone to them.

But we got the shock of our lives when the customer care lady that attended to my emissary said and insisted that the Sony Ericsson P990i which the SIM was in was not a 3G device! But the P990i is a 3G device.

This reminded me of an acquaintance who went to that same Gloworld a few years back to have his Sony Ericsson P910 configured for Glo GPRS, but was told that the smartphone would not work with Glo GPRS. I took the phone, and had it configured and browsing under 10 minutes!

It also reminds me of a call I made to Glo customer care back when I was using the Nokia 9500 Communicator as my primary phone. I had fax service activated on my Glo line. The customer care officer I spoke with asked me how I connected my phone to PC to send and receive fax. When I told her that I sent and received fax directly on the 9500, she responded, “That is not possible”. Nothing I said convinced her, though I had received and sent a couple of faxes directly on that device. But the 9500 was designed to do that. I didn’t even have to tweak it to do that; it sent and received faxes straight out of the box.

What is this infernal ignorance that pervades the customer care services of our telecoms operators? I have tales from MTN, Celtel, and Starcomms customer care people too.

Honestly, this general ignorance of their industry by customer services personnel is shameful and unpardonable. These operators seem to put in next to no resources in training and keeping their customer care officers up-to-date.

Netx time a customer care officer tells you something, please be sure to take it with a pinch of salt. In all probability, the hapless guy or gal has no idea what you are enquiring about.

I’ve been playing with Nokia’s touchscreen device, the 5800, for some time now. I believe a review is in order. Part one is a couple of screenshots from the device:

Standby screen on the 5800

The 5800 main menu

Browsing the web on the built-in browser in landscape mode

The Download app folder, from where users can try out and purchase 3rd party applications

Next up is my actual review of the device.

Reading through Dayo’s recent experience with his Nokia 5800 reminds me of a couple of times I have been caught in a narrow track. The story I have for today is that of how I came close to bricking my old Palm Treo 700p in December 2007. Here’s the story:

It was almost a nightmare. I had purchased a Treo 700p on the Reltel (now ZOOMmobile) network. On the 8th of December 2007, the adventurous me went visiting Palm’s mobile portal and checked out their software section. There, I was told to download the MyPalm software application if it was my first time downloading software from them. Of course, it was my first time, so I faithfully downloaded and transfered the installation file to my Treo 700p.

Trouble started when I initiated the installation procedure. The 700p simply reset and right after the Palm logo came up, it reset again, and continued that loop. I did a soft reset (silly, as if that wasn’t what the phone was already doing): nada. I removed the battery: nada. It just went on reseting itself in an unbroken loop.

Every phone user dreads this scenario. Every smartphone owner dreads it more particularly. It can mean the beginning of the end.

After about 15 minutes of unbroken reseting by the Treo 700p, I booted up my laptop and inserted the CD that came with the Treo’s sales box. There, I found a detailed manual (the paper manual contained only information about doing a system reset). On the CD manual, I found the following info:

System Reset
A system reset, also called a safe or warm reset, can be useful if your device loops or freezes during a soft reset. Performing a system reset allows you to get out of the loop and restores limited functionality to your device in order to uninstall a third-party application that’s causing the problem. Note that after a system reset, you must perform a soft reset to restore full functionality, including the wireless features, to your device.

1. Press the Battery Door Release button and slide the battery door downward to remove it from your Treo 700P smart device.
2. While pressing and holding Up on the 5-way navigator, use the tip of the stylus to gently press the reset button on the back of your device.
3. When the logo screen appears, release Up.
4. Delete the third-party application that you suspect is causing the problem.
5. Perform a soft reset.

I followed the steps successfully up to number 3, but I just could not find the offending MyPalm application under applications, and so could not delete it. Eventually, using a file manager I had installed earlier, I sniffed out the rogue application, did the soft reset (step 4), and my 700p was back in good shape.

Phew!

Back then, I had just began my journey down Palm Street, and then this incidence almost truncated my nascent adventure. Thank God the nghtmare was over quickly!

Unfortunately, these encounters do not always have happy endings. Some months ago, I ran a firmware update on my Nokia E90 and bricked it. Solution: a 2-week trip to Nokia Care. But then, that story is for another day…

Some weeks back, I finally got to purchase my long anticipated Nokia 5800 (yes; the touchscreen beauty). Of course, I decided to bring the phone up-to-date by running a firmware update. All went well with the update, but when I attempted browsing on the phone, the built-in browser persistently gave me an error message and refused to load web pages.

I initially thought the firmware update did not install properly and therefore created problems for the phone’s browser. So I decided to repeat the update process. Each time I tried to do this, the software updater kept telling me that my phone has the latest firmware and didn’t give an option to repeat the process. Of course, the problem persisted.

My next trouble-shooting option was to do a factory reset with the hope that this time the problem would go away. Five factory resets after, and the problem was still there, mocking me. You can begin to imagine the mounting frustration that I was going through.

Naturally, I thought of something else. I decided to format my memory card. I thought, “There has to be an application I downloaded to my memory card that is causing this problem”. Memory card wiped clean, but the problem was still there. At this point, one week of not being able to browse or download had passed. I had also run out of trouble shooting ideas. Sigh!

Finally I decided to take the phone to Nokia care centre. A rep collected the phone from me and told me it would be ready in 14 days.
That night, I made an interesting discovery. I had put my SIM in a Nokia E61. When I launched the browser, I got the very same error message that my 5800 gave. It looked like a dream to me!

Several attempts to open a web page resulted in the same error message. I arrived at the office the next day, made my observation known to my other colleagues, and when they attempted to browse on the MTN network using the built-in browser on their Nokia phone, presto – the same problem!

Note that we were all able to browse on the Nokia built-in browsers with SIMs from other networks.

All along, the problem had been MTN. My phone’s trip to Nokia care had been unnecessary.

I rushed to Nokia to retrieve my phone and to tell them that the problem was not the phone but with my service provider. To my amazement, they told me they had already sent the phone to their Abuja office as they don’t have the software for the phone here in Lagos. Why me?

Many people really do believe that I am crazy. They may be right. Afterall, how many people do you know who administer webhosting accounts on their mobile devices? Or upload files (including FTP) on their mobile phones? Or place orders online on their phones? Or run their blogs on their phones? Or run their office on their phones?

Some of my trusty mobile offices over the years. Clockwise from left - Nokia E61, Nokia 9500, Nokia E61i, Sony Ericsson P990i

Yes; I have done (and still do) all the above – to varying degrees. As far back as 2004, I have been at it, pushing the use of mobile devices to their boundaries. You could say that I live on the mobile cutting edge. Living on that cutting edge was how I grew my business over the years.

But what has inspired this article is not the daring story of DomainStandard, but the equally inspiring story of a Sri Lankan young man who has been writing articles, managing WordPress, answering email and so on on just mobile phones. No PC at all. What then have mobile devices become?

Read the article at Me, My Phone and My Blog – A Tale of a Wireless Blogger.

Story via AAS

During a recent visit to a nearby Zain centre, I was told that using Zain data (GPRS/EDGE/3G) on my Nokia E90 communicator would limit me to just WAP. The implication is that I would not be able to check my emails using a mail client, for example.

It sounded crazy then, and it still does – especially now that I have satisfied myself that they were either bluffing in order to sell their USB modems or they were ignorant.

Yesterday, I tried things out for myself and successfully browsed the web on my Sony Ericsson T650i. The T650i is 3G-enabled, but Zain 3G was nowhere in sight, so I had to settle for creepy-crawly GPRS (and boy, did it crawl!)

Browsing MobilityNigeria.com over Zain's GPRS connection

After satisfying myself that the coinnection worked, I opened up the T650i’s built-in mail client, configured it to use Zain’s access point, and after a few moments, I was connected and downloading new mails to my phone.

Connected to my mail server and receiving mails over Zain's GPRS connection

Just for fun, later in the day, I popped the SIM into my Nokia E90 communicator, and successfully browsed as well as connected to my mail server.

Again, I used the T650i (connected via USB cable) as a modem to browse the web on PC. But boy, was it sloooowwww! Here’s a pic of the connection:

Am I doing something wrong or has Zain forgotten to implement the restrictions in their policy?

This bit of news is to all Zain pay-as-you-go subscribers. Zain recently announced different data plans and tariffs available on their network. While this is a good move from Zain, there is nothing innovative or attractive about the packages. It’s the same old game of, (“if your competition is offering something, offer the same to keep your existing customers”) that we’ve come to know the Nigerian business terrain for.

In order to get activated you either call Customer Care on 113 or Send an SMS with the word ‘internet phonebrand model’ to 232 e.g. “internet sonyericsson P910i” to receive your settings.

Once the settings have been received via SMS, accept, install or save the settings. If asked for a PIN, please use ’0′ or ’0000′.
Theoretically, you should be able to get 3G in places where Zain claims to have 3G coverage, but don’t bet on it. Zain claims to have 3G coverage in Suru-lere, for example, but I didn’t get any such signal when I attempted to activate the service on my line.

There’s also no 3G at Ojodu, and the EDGE signal has strayed in only once that we can remember. One question we are asking is why Zain expects anyone to use GPRS (and sometimes EDGE) at those very low speeds at the same tariff available for 3G/3.5G on other networks.

For those of who are already using data services on Zain, feel free to comment and let us know your observations.

Find below the data packages and prices of Zain:

Zain One Day (50MB bundled). Cost: N500.00. Activation code: *141*712*3#

Zain Lite (100MB bundled). Cost: N1,000.00. Activation code: *141*712*4#

Zain Pro 24/7 – 30 days Plan (1GB bundled). Cost: N5,000.00. Activation code: *141*712*1#

Zain Max – 30 days Plan (3GB bundled). Cost: N10,000.00. Activation code: *141*712*2#

Here are the results from a shootout between the two top dogs from our last camera shoot-out, the Nokia E90 (3.2 megapixels with flash and autofocus) and Samsung i900 (5 megapixels with flash and autofocus).

We have a few close-ups and some from between 1 metre to 25 metres range.

Flower

These shots were taken from about a metre under a clear afternoon sky:

Left: Nokia E90; Right: Samsung i900

Automobile

The rear of a car taken from about 3 metres under a bright afternoon sky:

Left: Nokia E90; Right: Samsung i900

Christmas Ball

Close-up shot in good afternoon light beside the window indoors. I think I like the way the Omnia’s flash brightens up the ball:

Left: Nokia E90; Right: Samsung i900

Christmas Decorations

Shot also indoors beside an open window on a clear afternoon:

Left: Nokia E90; Right: Samsung i900

Storefront

Shot under a bright afternoon sky from about 20-25 metres. Note the sharper details in the shot by the Omnia (right).

Left: Nokia E90; Right: Samsung i900

Conclusions

In this shoot-out, we see that the E90 put up a good fight, especially in colour rendition of close-ups. But in distance shots, it clearly loses out to the Omnia in sharpness and details (which is where the extra megapixels came in handy).

Dayo and I were at a Zain centre on Monday to make some enquiries on behalf of one of Alireta’s board members who was considering getting a USB modem for her internet usage.

After getting the information we needed, I took the liberty to ask about Zain’s data services in general. I was informed of the data-only SIMs, and told that I needed a USB modem to use one. I tabled my Nokia E90 communicator and explained that both Glo and MTN data SIMs work on it and that I had no doubt that Zain’s data SIM would work fine on it as well.

They were sure the SIMs wouldn’t. I was told that the SIMs were programmed to work with the USB modems only. Not sure whether to laugh or cry, I prodded on. Eventually, the lady attending to me said that even if it worked, I would only be able to use WAP (wireless application protocol).

That was bewildering. To suggest that if I put an internet-enabled SIM in a fully working communicator would limit me to only WAP is just crazy – not to mention el dumbo.

Anyway, I asked if I could pick a data SIM and got an affirmative. I was directed to pay N200 to that effect. I was already at the cashier’s counter when I was called back. It seemed that someone decided (or remembered) that it was wrong to let clients pick data SIMs only. The lady told me I could only pick a data SIM along with a USB modem purchase. “But I don’t need a USB modem; I want to use the SIM on my E90“, I protested. No way.

Dayo and I were out of there in a few moments wondering which dullards make decisions in our telecommunications firms. I asked Dayo why we keep hoping that these firms will get it right someday.

Well, MTN did finally get it right and GloMobile is largely on track as well; so maybe our hope is not futile after all. Perhaps in another 12 months, Zain will understand that to ignore the convergence factor in the mobile universe is just plain stupid.

Of the “Big 3″ GSM networks, Zain has always been the slowest to catch on to anything mobile data anyway. We’ll wait to see them eat humble pie and reverse this policy.

NB: Or, was it just the customer service ladies at that centre who were being ignorant?

Yesterday, Sunday 1st of February 2009 witnessed the premier of two of Anabel Mobile’s Windows Mobile powered smartphones.

The event was held at PC Outlet, The Palms, Victoria Island, and the MobiNaija team was there to see things for ourselves.

Anabel is marketing the PS100 as a “media and entertainment device”, and the PS185Y is touted as a “mobile internet device”. But there is very little to differentiate the two.

Both devices bear similar specs – actually there is no difference between the two devices except for their processors and displays. The PS100 is powered by Samsung ARM9 300MHz Skyworks Pegasus Q, while the PS185Y is powered by Samsung 2442 300MHz Infineon ULC2 processor.

The PS100 has a 2.4inch 240×320 65,000-colour TFT-LCD display, while the PS185Y sports a 2.4inch QVGA TFT display.

Beyond processor and display differences (and both processors are evenly clocked too), virtually everything else on the two phones are the same: camera, memory, audio, battery, and connectivity.

The two devices are compact and very handy (the PS185Y is slightly thinner than the PS100). I had a Windows mobile Samsung i900 “Omnia” with me, and was able to compare it with the PS185Y. The Omnia is longer and wider but thinner. Still, the PS185Y felt good in the hand. One needs to hold it to comprehend.

We played a bit with the interface on the PS185Y, and its good old boring Windows Mobile. The screen wasn’t as responsive as we would have loved, but hey we know many WinMo devices (including my Omnia) whose touchscreen displays are not as responsive as we would love them to be.

With so little differentiation in terms of functionality and features, the idea of a “mobile internet device” versus a “media and entertainment device” is sort of a non-starter.

Finally, both devices are GSM/GPRS. There’s no 3G – and not even EDGE. Come on, guys, this is 2009. How are busy top executives (the target segment of these devices) supposed to check and send emails with attachments, synchronise online and share data via VPN on creepy-crawly GPRS?

The PS100 is being offered for N49,900, while her sister, the PS185Y is going for N64,000 only.

Pictures from the event:

The PS185Y close-up

Tosin and Dayo

Anabel PS185Y side-by-side Samsung i900

Sasha and Tosin at the launch. Tosin says Sasha is her favourite musician

And lastly, here I am beside a shot of the yet-to-be-released PS200 QWERTY device