New phone

It was time to buy a new phone, my wish list was:

• Compatible with 3G networks.
• Wifi built in.
• Runs Windows Mobile.
• Has a keyboard.
• Built in GPS.
• Available now.

Only one phone met my criteria, the Fujitsu Siemens Pocket LOOK T830. It does have the disadvantage of being a bit bigger than my previous phone (the i-mate JAM) and being quite expensive but other than that it's great.

Around the house I can use it as a Skype phone connected to my wireless network (this also works fine on the road where there is 3G coverage but bends the T&Cs of my unlimited data plan a bit).

The phone doesn't come with any navigation software built in, but Google have just released a native Windows version of Google Local Mobile with built in GPS functionality. It is great fun running it in satellite photo move, zooming right in and watching the flashing dot move around the satellite photo as you walk! I won't be getting any seperate navigation software, I will be sticking to my Tom Tom when driving and Google Maps will be great for getting lost on foot.

My only teething problem so far has been getting the device to sync with the new Mobile Device Center in Windows Vista. The computer would recognise the phone as a guest but would not set up a sync relationship, it kept on saying that the device wasn't recognised and I should disconnect and reconnect it. This problem was solved by upgrading to the latest firmware, but it's not as simple as it sounds. The flash utility for the firmware also failed to work through the Windows Vista Mobile Device Center so I had to dig out my old laptop that still runs Windows XP and used that to flash the firmware. Now all is fine and I sync using my main Vista PC.

Modaco Summer Event

The Modaco summer event last year was so good that I had to go back to this years event, even though it did mean a train ride from Evesham to London this time.

At the Orange UK offices in Paddington I mingled with about 50 other Windows Mobile enthusiasts. We listened to interesting talks from people in the know at Orange and Microsoft as well as some people from smaller companies such as Time Cole at TAO talking about his miniMIXA project which aims to bring multimedia blogging to portable devices.

Disappointment at not winning the raffle prize (an XBox 360 and a years subscription to Orange Broadband) was softened by one of the many freebies we received from the sponsors; a Modaco branded, white-on-white Orange SPV C600. Definitely worth the train ride and £10 donation to charity.

UK 3G coverage

Recently I switched to using a 3G capable phone but have not yet been able to make full use of it as I have not found any 3G network coverage. I found out today that the same phone when using the Vodafone network does get 3G service. This prompted me to investigate how much 3G coverage does differ between the different networks; my results can be found below:

The coverage winner appears to be 3. With each of the other networks providing more sparse coverage there does appear to be quite a few differences in the areas covered so it is worth checking the post codes for the areas you will be using your phone at the links below if you plan to use one of these networks.

Sources:

• T-Mobile (UK) coverage map
• O2 coverage map
• Orange coverage map
• 3 coverage map
• Vodafone coverage map