3Sync Update

I previously wondered at the SyncML settings setup by default on all the Three phones I’ve ever seen called ‘3Sync’… In conversation with some chaps from Three this was confirmed as an outdated product that was no-longer offered. Inclusion of the settings on handsets appears to be a throwback to those days and nothing more.

Not sure why they haven’t dropped it completely - perhaps Three needs to re-write the specs it sends to Nokia and co.

iPhone UK - the real surprise

OK, so everything panned out pretty much as expected price, tariff and spec-wise.  Nothing doing in Ireland as far as we can tell so far, but it as a long-shot.  Launch is a few weeks later too, but you can’t win them all.

However, the point the first commentators are missing at present is the only real unique thing about O2’s announcement - free and unlimited WiFi use of The Cloud network (one of the UK’s largest).  That’s something the US didn’t get.

X-Series Speed of Connection

I did some simple speed testing today on my X-Series connection using the Mobile Speed Test at DSLReports.com.  The results were:

3G: Between 92 and 104kbit/sec

2G: Between 28 and 32kbit/sec (excluding one apparently anomalous result of 17kbit/sec)

What I ‘d like to know is if the 2G speeds are making use of Orange’s EDGE network or not.  A bit of research seems to suggest that whilst my Nokias are capable of EDGE they can’t report when they’re using it or not, but that EDGE should give closer to around 50kbits/sec speed.

Mum is no longer the word

Plenty of chatter amongst the Apple-interest sites today at an invitation that Apple PR have sent out for the Tues 18th at the Apple Store in Regent Street. Given the ‘Mum is no longer the word’ slogan it seems a UK and/or Euro iPhone is on the cards - I doubt they’d be dragging the great and the good from the tech press to Regent Street to announce the Beatles on iTunes. The Guardian Blog seems to have some additional info saying we’ll get an announcement of a launch date on Tuesday with operator news (probably O2) on the 24th.

Of course if a UK iPhone is in the works, I’d love nothing more than to throw my Three SIM in it and use their data service I know and love, but I won’t be able to do this unless they’re announcing a 3G model - Three get upset if you use your SIM in a 2G handset and it seems that even unlocked iPhones here in the UK will only use EDGE.

UPDATE: But T-Mobile has an EDGE network and it seems to work.  I’ll beg borrow and steal to see if it works on Orange’s EDGE works too.  You know, Orange who do Three’s 2G roaming…

The only ‘unlimited’ that matters is data

Link: Orange brings back unlimited deals

Orange is bringing back its ‘unlimited’ deals [...] ‘Unlimted’ costs £35 on an 18 month contract and gives the subscriber unlimted texts or landline calls.

I’m sure there is some immediate demand for this, but these tariffs and deals are really yesterday’s news. The question is why do away with it previously?

Orange, stop messing around with voice/text combinations and realise that consumer data is what will drive innovation in handsets and services (and therefore revenue) in the next few years.

 

Orange = clueless

With thanks to The Register for a healthy dose of press-release irony:

This morning:  Women say no to pink tech toys

Advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi has put down in black and white what plenty of women around here have been thinking for ages: we want technology but we don’t want it coloured pink or encrusted with fake gemstones.

This afternoon: Orange to turn pink at Xmas to favour young women

Orange UK has shown off the pink LG Shine phone [...] along with a rose-tinted Samsung F210, and salmon-hued W580i and W200i from Sony Ericsson. The mobile phone network said the pink Shine is “sure to appeal to the 85 per cent of young women out there who want a pink handset for Christmas”.

European iPhone to have 16GB and HSDPA?

Nothing to do with Three at all except they definitely won’t have it at launch….

The usual websites [1, 2, 3] are buzzing about an apparently-leaked T-mobile ad showing the specs, tariffs and launch date for the iPhone in Germany. The key bits to get people buzzing are 16GB memory, inclusion of HSDPA, €499 and a 12th November release date, but I’m calling BS…

To my mind it looks too good to be true - with the exception of the 2 megapixel camera it has all the things the fan-boys (OK and me) want to hear. Also:

• The name’s wrong - they call it an ‘iPod’.
• There’s a bit too much information on there… would the ad really list the speed of HSDPA?
• The Apple branding doesn’t look right - AT&T use the little logo alongside the name (). Also, the ‘Revolutionary Phone, Widescreen iPod, Internet In Your Pocket’ text is absent and Apple are pretty consistent in their branding.
• 16GB and HSDPA in the same form factor as the existing product? It feels like a big jump…
• There’s no ‘3G’ indicator around the signal strength.
• Having told the US they didn’t ‘need’ 3G speeds it’s a bit soon to be saying that Europeans do (even if the decision was driven by what could be achieved technically, not consumer’s needs). Anyway there’s an early adopter market in Europe ready to buy into the existing product without all the engineering cost of a new platform just yet, before an upgrade next year to 3G speeds - the desire for better performance may even drive people to upgrade.
• The reports of 02’s upgrades to their infrastructure to support EDGE seem much more reliable and there’s no other reason to upgrade the network unless they have the iPhone (which it looks increasingly like they do) and it still runs on EDGE.

I’ve been saying for a while that I think we’ll get the same iPhone as the US and I’m sticking with that. A memory increase may be on the cards, but it will be introduced into all markets so that will still count as ‘the same’ Having said that the date on this ad seems realistic and the price seems about right too (about £340 if it was 16GB) as the $399 pricing of the current 8GB iPhone and the 16GB Touch translates to £269 in the UK with the VAT.

 

Proporta USB Mobile Device Charger

 

Not strictly Three-related, but I am using with my X-Series phone… This ‘mobile survival kit’ is an iPod Photo-sized battery that re-charges your device via a retractable USB cable with 4-supplied adapters (iPod, SonyEricsson, ‘Old’ Nokia and ‘New’ Nokia) that itself is charged by USB (either from a computer or any other wall or car charger you have). It claims to hold enough oomph to re-charge an N95 completely almost 4 times and an iPod Nano over 11 times.

Whilst I haven’t tested the capacity precisely yet it works a treat on my E61 and iPod - recharging both a few times completely from the 75% charge it ships with (a genius idea which means an instant re-charge is available). I purchased mine for £28 VAT-free at Dixons at Stansted airport before a week of short-flights around Europe and it’s already been a lifesaver - topping up a dying iPod whilst I waited for a delayed plane and my phone whilst I walked around the streets using Google Maps as my guide. Because of the small size it’s no hassle to leave in my laptop bag (hence it goes everywhere with me) and out and about it sits comfortably in a jacket pocket. The retractable cable (part-shown in the picture above) is long enough to allow you to use your phone whilst still charging it from a pocket.

It’s a brilliant bit of kit for a fantastic price when you consider its vast capacity and flexibility - I’m busy throwing my jungle of iGo adaptors and travel chargers away. With one of those travel plug adapters that also has a powered USB socket in it you’d be completely set and able to recharge the Proporta battery when it was convenient to you… No more running home or seeking out the only working plug in the airport.

Recomended.

For more information there’s some proper reviews by proper websites: GeekSugar, PocketNow (great in-use pics), TechShout.com (they have a silver one I’ve not seen for sale) and ShinyShiny. They all seem to like it too.

Take a look at the Proporta ‘Mobile Survival Kit’ mini-site or go straight to their shop.

Is X-Series data filtered?

In the comments on my X-Series review over at SMSTextNews reader ‘DaveB’ commented that he thought Three were filtering the ports over which internet access could be gained.  However this afternoon I tested several ports below 999 using the built-in mail client (via my IMAP mail host which offers a proxy listening on all ports) and then accessed some web pages over port 8080 via the browser.  I’ve also installed Truphone and connected successfully over 3G using port 5062 (TCP and UDP).

So whilst I haven’t asked Three directly, I don’t think there’s any filtering going on… which is a good thing (and in-line with their very common-sense approach over X-Series).

Prediction #3 - 3 Mobile Broadband

Well, here I said:

Shortly after September 3 will launch a ‘mobile broadband’ tariff with the USB modem and Datacard already available internationally. The existing data-only offerings will remain largely unchanged allowing full access by 2G, 3G and 3.5G, but a much more keenly priced tariff of 3.5G-only access with a larger data allowance will be made available for ~£20 per month.

…and today The Register announced 3’s offering as:

At £10 a month, the basic Mobile Broadband package (”Light”) gets you 1GB of data, while £15 gets you 3GB, and £25 up to 7GB. Data usage outside these buckets is charged at 10p/MB. 3 will throw in a free USB modem to existing customers, or £29 if you sign up for eighteen months.

3 will offer the service with five HSDPSA handsets, but using the phone as a modem won’t incur the wrath of the data cops, as it does with some other networks

The score?  Well, it is going to happen so… (!)

• Date: Close enough - it’s ‘about to launch’ and it’s nearly September, but there were some heavy hints at this.
• Hardware:  USB Modem - yes.  Datacard - not mentioned (reckon it will show-up eventually)
• Price: Actually £10 to £25 per month so not far off the £20 considering the £10 package is for 1GB (same as X-Series), but I didn’t expect so many options assuming they’d go for something similar to the Irish offering.

7 out of 10?