iPhone, therefore iAm

If you've been hanging around here for long enough, you'll remember my inner turmoil back in mid 2010 when I was trying to choose a new mobile phone. I eventually settled on the HTC Legend, and in the main I've been pretty happy with it. Android is a fairly decent operating system, and the availability of decent apps improved immeasurably in the 18 months that I had the phone. My main gripes were to do with the hardware of the phone itself, rather than the operating system. Firstly, there was nowhere near enough onboard storage (the phone was constantly telling me it was running out of space) and the screen was a bit small for web surfing (and more recently, Kindle reading).

So anyway, my 18 month contract came to an end and it was time for me to choose yet another new phone. Would I go Android again? Or would I, just maybe, finally opt for the iPhone? When the iPhone 4S was released, I was - like everyone else - a bit disappointed by it being just a gradual evolution of the iPhone 4, rather than an all new iPhone 5.

But at the same time as Apple showed the world the iPhone 4S, they also sneaked out - with little fanfare - a cheaper, 8GB version of the iPhone 4. With it being effectively a "last gen" phone with less storage space, Apple were asking a very reasonable price for it.

I'd heard a lot of good things about the Tesco phone network, and in particular their good-value 12 month contracts. I figured if I could manage the upfront cost for a handset, then 12 months would be ideal.

The amount of minutes, texts and data on offer for £25 a month were more than enough, but the handset prices were still a little on the high side. If I wanted the latest-and-greatest iPhone 4S then I'd have to find £335 for the phone itself. However, if I was happy to slum it with an 8GB iPhone 4 it would only be £200. Talking to friends who were still stuck in their iPhone 4 contracts for several more months, but who were still incredibly happy with the performance of the 4, I decided this was the way to go.

And here we are. I've now had the 8GB iPhone 4 for a little under 2 weeks, and I absolutely love it. I realise it's not the 4S, but compared to my wilderness years without any iPhone at all, it is just brilliant. So finally you can hear the end of my "I wish I had an iPhone" moaning. It's here, and it's staying.

Piping hot

As you will almost certainly be aware, I don't have an iPhone. And you will also be aware that I really want an iPhone but can't afford one. So I'm making do with a Nokia E63 smartphone instead, and the biggest frustration with this solution is that I can't avail myself of some of the really useful apps available for the iPhone.

I like the fact that you can upload photos and text to a variety of sources through the iPhone - apps like Evernote, Flickr, Twitter and so on. The iPod Touch (which I love) doesn't have the camera nor the "always on" connectivity so although it has the apps, it doesn't have the hardware.

I've found a fairly decent solution for my Nokia via the wonders of Pixelpipe. You set yourself up with a free account, download the software to your phone and then set up your "pipes" - essentially which services you want to connect to. I've enabled Twitpic, Facebook, Flickr, Evernote and Blogger. You can write text items or attach photos to individual posts and then select their destination. You can upload to all your services simultaneously, or select which pipes you want to use by using a simple tagging system. Once you hit the upload button, your post appears as if by magic on the internet. It all works very well.

Highly recommended for those of us "slumming it" in the land of Symbian...

Decision made

After much faffing (i.e endless hours of internet research and many visits to shops) I've finally decided on my new mobile phone. And the winner is?

This one! (I'm going to make you click this link in a vain effort to create some suspense, rather than just telling you outright).

I've gone with the tried-and-tested Nokia/Symbian S60 platform, combined with the convenience of a QWERTY keyboard, which for an old man like me makes texting, emailing and web browsing considerably easier. Wifi too, which is nice.

I've previously gone on at some length about why I haven't got an iPhone, so don't start asking me about it okay? I know your phone is better than mine.

Pump up the volume

I've had a Nokia N73 mobile phone for about 15 months now, which means it's getting a bit long in the tooth. I don't know about you, my phones seem to take quite a battering - sometimes literally - and when most phone contracts these days are for 18 months, the last six months prior to an upgrade can be a bit touch and go as to whether the phone will survive. Needless to say, I'm not about to spend an extra £7 a month for a luxury like phone insurance either.

So my N73 started playing up the other day. The rocker switch - which controls the earpiece volume when making a call or the zoom when in camera mode - went worryingly flaccid and refused to function. Rather annoyingly, I managed to turn the volume right down and then couldn't turn it back up again. Doh!

Upon opening the phone up (always have a T6 torx to hand I say) I discovered that the microswitch which controlled it had broken right off the mainboard and my soldering is in no way up to the job of replacing it. I sent it off to have it looked at under Nokia's fairly generous 2-year warranty, but they sent it back unrepaired saying that the warranty doesn't cover "physical damage". What the hell does it cover then?

Anyway, I discovered a way round the problem. Go and find that headset that came in the box with your phone (probably still shrink wrapped and unused...) and plug it in. This has a button on it that allows you to control the volume remotely. Get it back to the level that you want, unplug and your problem's solved.

Doesn't fix the camera zoom, but you'll just have to walk closer to your subject... :o)