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O2 Out, T-Mobile In

admin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:18:07 +0000

Last weekend my O2 account expired. Thanks to Apple O2 were forced to unlock my phone which meant I was able to switch to another provider.

After looking around I found a good PAYG deal from T-Mobile. I applied for a free SIM which arrived in two days. Then I topped-up £10 to get free texts and internet in the following month. Out of that top-up I purchased a £5 internet booster that gives me free internet this month. A booster is available for £20 which gives internet for 6 months.

So, depending on my usage this month, I could have free internet for two months for a £5.

Compare that to £35 per month.

If you mainly use data and can switch I can recommend T-Mobile in the UK.

Out of Contract

admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:33:52 +0000

At last, 18 months are over and I can escape my O2 monthly contract. What I really need is a data plan more than anything. I have found a ‘pay as you go’ SIM from O2 with a £7.50 bolt-on for unlimited data. The only issue is the poor 3G coverage with O2. I will keep looking for something else in the meantime.

I did, briefly, think about getting a HTC Hero but having looked at reviews and read about the performance I decided that the iPhone is still the best SmartPhone available.

Microsoft CopyCat

admin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:38:44 +0000

Check out Microsoft’s first store opening. From Windows 7 to their new store Microsoft pretty much copies every Apple innovation. Having been to a few Apple stores and the odd opening I can confirm that Microsoft has just implemented the Apple template. Video link below via Cult of Mac.

http://www.cultofmac.com/video-gape-in-disbelief-at-microsofts-shameless-copying-of-apples-stores/19429

iPhone 3.1

admin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:30:40 +0000

Updated iPhone OS to 3.1. I can now manage my app screens from within iTunes (9.0). New genius features. Seems a bit faster in use as well. Could be my imagination.

Improve Your 3GS Battery Life

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:22:04 +0000

Recently I was dissapointed with the battery life of my iPhone 3GS. When I first got it I was getting over twice the running time of my original 3G. What could be causing this?
Eventualy I remembered that I had turned on the “find my phone” feature under MobileMe. This seems to be the culprit.
Battery life is much better now the setting is off.

Cranky Texting

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:47:21 +0000

Today I left my iPhone at home. All I had was my SonyErricson W302 candy-bar phone that I use for business. As I was worried about where I had left my iPhone and hadn’t turned on ‘Find my Phone’ in my MobileMe account, I decided to text my other half to see if it was at home.

Texting using the W302 seems so cranky now after a year of using the iPhone. With the W302 (with predictive text turned off) you have three letters per key. When I type a word that has double letters or letters combined on the same key I have to wait for the character to register before I can enter another. It feels like it takes ages. The iPhone is much better with its full keyboard.

No wonder ‘old phone’ texting is so abbreviated. Its such a pain.

3G out 3GS in.

admin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:14:29 +0000

It had to be done, and boy am I glad I upgraded. I queued with many others at my local Apple store today. At 0800 the doors opened. Free Starbucks coffee and pastries were being served. I waited my turn and left with a boxed 16Gb White 3GS.
Later after work I swapped my SIM over and restored the phone from the previous phone backup. All my apps, contacts, etc. transfered without issue.
My initial impression; fantastic.

OS 3 Will Have To Do

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:38:17 +0000

O2’s upgrade policy for the recently announced iPhone 3Gs is disappointing with valued customers being forced to ‘buy’ out their existing contract. For me this equates to many hundreds of pounds.

For now I will have to be content with the OS 3 software upgrade. At least I can thank Apple for that.
I can only think that the reason O2 will not improve it’s upgrade offer is because they will soon loose their exclusivity.
I sure hope so.

Bento

admin — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:03:50 +0000

A while ago I was looking for a general tool to store information on the iPhone. I came across Handbase (this has been around since the Palm Pilot days) which I purchased.

Handbase is quiet powerful allowing new databases to be defined and sync’d with a PC. I used it to set up a database for storing all my passwords. This is in-turn encripted via the App.

Now I have discovered Bento for iPhone. I would say that this app would be better suited to most users.

It has nearly all of the power of Handbase but with better functionality and looks. It is also £2.99 as oposed to £5.99 for Handbase.
Bento is still not the tool for creating password databases as it does not include suitable fields.

Earphones and Shuffle

admin — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:27:04 +0000

Since my last post I have managed to get a hold of a pair of the Apple in-ear headphones. These provide a far better listening experience than those supplied with the iPhone. They function almost like isolating earphones and can cut out a lot of background noise. The base level improvement is the most noticeable but also low level sound can be better heard.

In the last few days I also got an iPod Shuffle 3rd Gen. The earphones mentioned above work brilliantly with this device as well. Again the sound is superb and the controls (RH cord) function as expected.

Now that the iPhone is becoming more common in the office where I work I am finding out about all sorts of little applications and utilities. My recent favourites are;

TV Plus - allows me to record TV remotely via a Sky+ box
WiFIFoFum - shows me all the WiFi networks in my close vicinity.
Flixter - shows me what’s on at the movies
Allowance - shows me what call time and texts I have used from my call plan.