futsoulja's vox

It's been a while since I posted anything to this blog. The reason... the last month has been a HUGE transition for me and my family. I won't bore you with the details; however I will tell you that I am back in Kuwait :) WhOO HOOO, and soon (as soon as it's available here) I will be purchasing the shiny new E71 and after using it for a good solid week will try and write my first review. Stay tuned.

According to a recent Businesssweek article, the popular London based Carphone Warehouse is coming to the US via a partnership with Best Buy.  

 “American mobile operators should pay close attention. Carphone Warehouse revolutionized the industry in Britain by being the first seller of phones and mobile services not affiliated with any carrier or handset maker.”

Nuff said! Anything that moves us away from the carriers is a very good thing.

Via Businessweek

The European Union has approved mobile phone use in flights over Europe, not to long after we got news of the first permitted mobile call originating on an Emirates flight, certainly, the US is soon to follow suit, but still I keep wondering, is this a good thing or a bad thing. Me, well personally, I would love to be able to use my phone’s data services or multimedia features on long flights.

Recently on a flight from Europe to Atlanta, I had an urge to whip out my n95 and listen to some music; however, I refrained because I did not need the frustration of explaining to the flight attendant that my device has a flight mode. So, what if I never needed to activate flight mode again? Does that mean that future mobile devices will lack this "flight mode" feature? If data services were available to me at 30,000 feet, this would definitely make long flights seem shorter and not so boring!

So, the question I pose is this... is gaining the ability to surf the net, email, chat, use the multimedia features of your device (without drawing attention) and being able to call before you land, worth the frustration of dealing with hundreds of corporate flyers talking business while you're trying to sleep?

I think so... that is what headphones are for, and I’m down with anything that allows me to stay connected. What do you think?

I first saw the news over at http://www.symbian-guru.com/, then it started popping up all over the place and finally I noticed it it on the n-gage blog at http://blog.n-gage.com/archive/getoutandplay/ which stated there will be an "official announcement on Monday.

For now it works on the N81, N82, N95, and N95 8GB. You can download the new application in  two ways, either by launching the n-gage demo on your phone and selecting check availability or by visiting http://www.n-gage.com/.

After you install the app, there will be five games available with a free trial including, System Rush: Evolution, Asphalt 3: Street Rules, Brain Challenge, World Series of Poker, and Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep.

I downloaded Brain Challenge right away and gave it a go. Not a bad way to kill time. If you'd like to connect my n-gage screen name is futsoulja. Now, stop reading this and Get Out and Play!

A new version (v2.01 beta) of Adaptxt, an alternative text input system has been released for s60. I have installed it on my N95 and am currently testing it.

First thoughts: I wrote two test notes using the built in notes app and I can definitely say that Adaptxt is way way faster than T9; however it takes some getting used to. For instance, when you insert a symbol, it does not move recently used symbols to the top of the list. A feature that I really enjoy on S60 phones.

Another thing that annoys me is that I cannot add words manually... I mean without Adaptxt, I can easily switch between T9 and standard text input to add quick abbreviations that I do not wish to add to my dictionary; however with Adaptxt, I must add the word to the dictionary.

Edit: This can be accomplished by holding down the # key.

Overall though, I am very pleased with this app and will most likely purchase it...  after the evaluation period expired of course. :)

http://www.adaptxt.com/

A couple of weeks ago Nokia announced that the s60 ambassador's program is open for applications. As soon as I heard the news I went out to the website and filled out an app. Well apparently I left out my full mailing address as a Nokia employee just sent me an email asking where they can mail my welcome package.

I didn't know that I'd be getting anything tangible! Now I'm exited, I wonder what it'll be!

http://blogs.s60.com/consumed/2008/03/s60_ambassador_program_now_ope_1.html

Good news if you are a mac user and like to keep in touch using Yahoo messenger. The latest version 3.0 beta 3, now supports voice calls.

I usually use Skype or Truphone for this purpose but this will come in handy for calling those friends that only have or prefer to use Yahoo.

http://messenger.yahoo.com/mac.php

Hello readers....  I have decided to start this blog today, today because tomorrow may never come. I have always wanted to have a blog, one of my very own. You see, I have been reading other people's blogs for years now and all the time thinking, I want one of those. Well here it is, it's mine.

So you might be wondering what I will be blogging about. Well I plan to wright about my life together with the main obsessions interests in my life, most notably my fascination with mobile devices (read: my Nokia n95 and any other phone I can get my hands on.)

I hope someone out there enjoys what I write about and if so, please leave a comment.