Category: Mobile Life

A recent personal experience is yet another proof of how even small features can make or break usability in any product, no matter how good it is. I am away from home quite often so mobile technologies, the Internet and VoIP help me a lot to stay in touch. Since Skype has started to offer video telephony, things have improved even more. However, there was a catch.

We’ve had web cams for quite a while now but we didn’t use them a lot as my better half always felt uncomfortable with that "eye" (lens) staring at her even when not used. So the web cam was always unplugged and stowed away, usually not used again for a long time as it is just too much effort to position the camera and plug it in again before a call. Now Logitech has found a solution to the problem. One of their latest web cam models, the QuickCam Fusion features a lid that can be opened and closed to reveal or hide the lens. A small feature, but it makes Skype’s video service finally usable for us! No more camera positioning and plugging. After the call, the lid is closed and the "eye" is no longer staring at you! Strangely enough, Logitech doesn’t even mention this feature in their production description. Are they aware what they have done?

Now let’s take the lesson into the mobile domain: One of the small things that break the mobile Internet experience for most people is the fact that they have no idea how much it will cost them if they open their mobile phone’s web browser to go to the operator’s portal. Not a single person I asked who’s not regularly using the mobile web could answer this question. It’s unlikely this can be solved anytime soon, no matter how much mobile operators spend on advertising.

A different solution has to be found and actually, it is quite simple: How about having a button on the phone that automatically starts the web browser and directs the user to a pre-programmed page on the operator’s portal? Agreed, this already exists. However, most people hate this button because they feel it’s dangerous as they have no idea how much a press of that button will cost them. This is similar to the fear of the "eye" staring at you. So the only way to take that fear away is to make a subset of the portal free of charge. Sure, operators want to make money but to enter the shop (the portal) must be free and people must be made aware that entering the portal is free.

P.S.: Dear operators, once you do this, do this right! That means: Make the button free of charge for roamers as well!

Debi a.k.a. Mobile Jones has discovered that a lot of people seem to quit one thing or the other this year. She wanted to join the pack and has quit smoking. Good idea 🙂 In a recent podcast recording she asked me what I would quit this year (has it become kind of an obsession with her)? Well, I might just quit blog reading…………… on the PC. My blog reader program (Resconews) on the mobile phone is almost good enough to let me do all my blog reading while on the go. Not much is missing in the software. So what will you quit this year?

Sometimes I download video podcasts I would like to watch and which would also be suitable for watching while on the go on my Nokia N70 mobile. The built in Realplayer, however, does not recognize a lot of different video formats so most of the time, attempts to play such video podcasts on the mobile phone are not very successful. Now I’ve discovered that Apple’s Quicktime player in it’s pro version is able to export video format into the .3gp format which is used by most mobile phones. I gave it a try with a 20 minutes news show which I downloaded as MPEG-4. Reformating to .3gp format took about 3 minutes and the 20MB input file produced a 13MB output file. To my very positive surprise the phone’s built in Realplayer instantly recognized the file and played the 20 minutes video file flawlessly.

When I moved into a new appartment in Paris last summer there were ‘only’ two WLAN networks in the air in the range of my PC except of my own. Today, there are already six (see picture). All of them but one are protected and some even use WPA. Not too bad for a country in which three years ago Minitel was considered state of the art 🙂 The main reason for this explosive growth is probably the fact that a fast DSL connection has become affordable for most people. 20 euros per month for a 20 MBit/s ADSL 2+ connection with an unlimited data volume or 30 euros a month for a subscription that includes a phone flat rate for fixed line calls and TV (both over IP). I wished wireless Internet access via UMTS was already available at a similar price.

The Eurostar in Paris

3G has made it into the digital world

Eurostar track in Britain

University in Stoke on Trent

I am on the move again, this time on my way to Britain with the Eurostar from Paris to London. On the French side, EDGE coverage was quite good (I have no UMTS subscription in France, I can only use the EDGE) and I managed to get most of my work done and eMails out before we even got to the channel tunnel. No coverage in the tunnel, so 20 minutes of rest 🙂 On the other side of the tunnel, UMTS coverage by Orange was quite fantastic. I didn’t see a single network loss. Looks like they must have installed dedicated UMTS coverage for the Eurostar Railway track. Well done Orange!

The coverage from London to Stoke on Trent on the Virgin train was somewhat more patchy, so certainly no dedicated coverage on that track. However, there was 3G coverage in many places during the trip so looks like the UMTS coverage in the U.K. is quite advanced compared to France. Also good UMTS coverage in Stoke by several network operators.

Postal Service in Portugal?

Famous trams in Lisbon

A theater in Lisbon

Eifel elevator in Lisbon

Here are some pictures I took during my current trip to Lisbon in Portugal. My network analyzer shows quite some 3G packet data activities in the UMTS cells my phone uses from the hotel room. Also, I see lots of people in the streets using 3G phones for making phonecalls. The Nokia 6630 seems to be very popular here. As you can see in the pictures though, Lisbon has much more to offer than well functioning and used 3G networks…

Stuart (and me in the mirror)

And Stuart again

Encounter of two mobilists im the real world. Great restaurant (Le Balbuzard Cafe, 54 rue Rene Boulanger, 75010 Paris) choice Stuart (http://blethers.com), thanks!

Sat 21/01/2006 16:05

Sat 21/01/2006 16:05

Moblog from an afternoon in Fontainebleau, France

It’s nice to see that Linux is making it into the vending machines in the Paris metro. I would prefer a "Linux inside" sticker to a kernel panic, though (see picture). Looks like the usual Windows blue screens one can see everyday in the meto will get some kernel panic brothers in the future.

15:40  Dienstag, 3. Januar 2006