It was an unusually warm day today here in Blighty (well at least in this part).  I have no ADSL at home at the moment and my parents' broadband was flaky (sort it out Sky, I'm switching to you too and won't put up with that!)  What's a guy supposed to do?  Go on a walk, that's what.  With a Walkman phone.

I could put that brand spanking new Sony Ericsson W595 through its paces while I'm pacing, I thought to myself.  And so I did.  Below are some pictures I took along the way.

Not quite the Pyrenees, but it'll do.

Here's the Pyrenees and here's a bunch of other photos...

I'm still getting to gripes with the handset and have only started to read the manual.  Hopefully any gripes I have with it are down to me not doing things the right way or not understanding how the UI behaves/should work.  Things like the web browser closing down when you bring up another app, or what seems like a long drawn out process trying to switch tasks.

The main task being the music player, the camera (obviously), the phone (you know to actually make a call!) and Google Mail.

Oh, and The Darkside (if you're wondering what that's got to do with the price of carrots) - there's now video on YouTube* of 3's spine-chilling spooktacular.  Was I really scared?  No, not really... I had to speak to quite a few of the undead this week over the phone (Tiscali!) and a couple came to life (well, they sounded quite animated). :-D

*I've yet to see if I'm on there, to be honest I barely remember the 'rusty lift shaft' as I'd drank too much complimentary alcohol (it complimented the alcohol I'd already drunk).  Really fun evening and nothing like what neither I, nor anyone else, was expecting.

Cheers to 3, the 3mobilebuzz gang (you know who you are), I guess Sony Ericsson (presume they had some small hand in it too), the lady that kept topping me up and the guy from Pocket Lint for not knocking me out.  When one's drunk, shortsighted and doesn't have one's glasses - one ends up staring out total strangers thinking they're someone completely different but one can't figure out who!

Always good to see Ben from Mobile Industry News, Abul from adonismobile and Miss Geeky, Melinda.  (BTW Abul, I found the link to the YouTube channel from your blog - cheers!)

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No pictures yet I'm afraid.  Talking about being afraid, I was scared senseless at 3's The Darkside launch last night.  Some mysterious force prevented my camcorder (with nightvision) from working.  When I left my place yesterday my battery meter told me I had over 200 mins of battery life.  However, when I turned it on inside One Marylebone Road it was completely DEAD spooky!

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yes, Google Maps Mobile on the Sony Ericsson  W595.  Like other attendees, I received a brand spanking new phone (guess which one?) and £30 worth of credit on the pre-installed SIM.  Nice!  I've installed Opera Mini and Google Maps - hence this post!

Unfortunately the only version of Maps that works doesn't do GPS (neither does the phone, but I've got a couple of Bluetooth units kicking around).  It does still attempt to find your location utilising mobile phone masts.  It's pretty accurate even on the outskirts of town.  Funny thing is that the dot showing my location is just a couple of houses away from my parents house - which is about a mile away from me.

If i were at their house right now, I'd be pretty damn impressed!  More to come later, I've still got the shakes (trembling with fear still, or too much champagne!)  BTW cheers guys for inviting me, it's always fun and I really wasn't expecting the phone in the goodie bag.. crikey!)

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Just read this on IntoMobile - I think this is one of those things that gets announced a little while after it happened.  GetJar has been prominently featured on Planet 3 now for a good few weeks (at least).

I came across the excellent New York City traffic cam app that way (can't remember the exact name of it but I blogged about it previously).

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...I say that even though my problem isn't resolved!

Using a bit of the ol' grey matter I decided to choose the option for cancellations/upgrades when dialling 3 on 333 this time 'round.  Bingo, straight through to Scotland!

Nice chap, went out of his way to help me despite my problem not being his department (and me explaining that I deliberately chose the wrong option in the hope of speaking to someone not in Mumbai!)

He understood the situation and tried to see if there was anything he could do about it.  He couldn't, but he did really try and didn't suggest anything silly or repeatedly tell me the same thing.  He also has a 3 handset and uses 3 services, that is fundamental to me.  Speaking to someone who isn't a user themselves seems counter-intuitive.

Incidentally I can still use most internet services on my handset but some refuse to work (Jaiku) or have other issues such as web pages taking forever to appear and often getting a 'page cannot be found'-type error.  Google Maps works a.o.k. (but that works even on an old prepay SIM that has no credit it on it!)

Oh and some sites work fine via Opera Mini but not through the Nokia web browser.

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I've had enough of Mumbai.  I want to speak to someone in Scotland or Maidenhead.

What am I waffling on about?  The fun and games that is trying to get something resolved when speaking to people in a call centre half a world away!  On my 3 mobile phone I have X-Series Silver.  It's an internet add-on that's supposedly unlimited but with a fair-use limit of 1GB (or 2GB - depending who you talk to or what Ts&Cs you read).  When you get near to the limit you're sent an SMS to warn you.  However, I only ever get an SMS telling me I've gone over - never an "about to".

Users, including myself, keep getting these messages even if they've not gone anywhere near the limit.  As such, most of us ignore them.  You finally get your bill in and find out you well under.  Of course there should be a way to keep an eye on what you're using - and there was - just not anymore!

I've spoken to two people so far today, presumably in Mumbai.  No matter what, they're stuck with their script and as hard as I try they won't deviate from it.  It's kinda like talking to robots.  It's also funny how their accents become harder to understand the more you press them (or is that just me?)  One minute their English is crystal clear, next minute you have to keep asking them to repeat themselves as they sound like the guy from Channel 4's Phonejacker!

Ho hum.

Ideally I'd have the direct line to the Scottish chap that sorted out a previous internet issue earlier this year.  He knew what the problem was likely to be straight away.  He had the same service on his own handset so had personal experience too.  He didn't suggest any generic "solution" and it was obvious he wasn't stuck with a script.

You'd think I might know someone at 3 that could fast track any issues I have, but I don't!  That's probably a good thing in a way though as I get the same treatment as any other customer.

Back to my search... (excuse any typos, I've got some phoning to do!)

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My sister is halfway through a business trip to China, Hong Kong and Vietnam.  Right now she's in HK and I'm kicking myself that I didn't loan her a Skypephone.  That's the second time I've forgotten since getting my hands on a pair of 3's Skypephones last year.

After her recent trip to New York, where she carried three handsets that didn't work, I don't think I could've persuaded her anyway.  Why did she bring three handsets to the Big Apple?  Let me explain with bullet points:

• her jailbroken iPhone on Vodafone couldn't receive texts for some bizarre reason
• her replacement iPhone 3G on O2 wasn't enabled for roaming (no one in the O2 store warned her of this)
• the Motorola on AT&T's prepaid service that I loaned her was cut off because it hadn't been used in a couple of months

I believe the current trend for one word summaries could sum it up best as: FAIL

In theory, I could've lent her my N73 (for the Far East, not NY) and we could've had 25 mins of video-telephony for free (or thereabouts - I have those included each month and never use 'em!)

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It's a less than an ideal solution, but it worked!

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Oh how I'd like it to be working right now.  I'm tidying up my parent's garden and am expected my sister who is in HK to contact me.  We've already missed one email and a text message.

I hope 3 sort it out as when their Mobile Mail is working it's great.  But with these "issues" I've been encountering, it's kinda useless (an email program that works great some of the time isn't worth it, is it?)

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Whilst I leave the fellas at mBlox, Hotwire PR and McGrath/Power alone for the time being as I'm focusing my attention on Jamba/Jamster.

My latest mobile bill has three texts to the shortcode number 88888.  As you can see from the scan below, these were all supposedly sent around 2.10am on July 31st (I presume my network, 3, considers a day begins and ends at 6am - so in reality this would be the 1st August).

Bill period - 12.08.08

Still with me?  Good.  Okay, here we go...

I went to Mobile Geeks of London on the 31st July* (not in the least bit geeky FWIW) and caught the train home afterwards.  It was the last train and was a sloooow train.  If I remember correctly, it took well over an hour.  As usual, I walked from the station to my flat - that's another 30 odd minutes.  And I had a phone that didn't have that much juice in it nor was I carrying a spare battery.

Why is any of that of relevance?  Glad you asked!  Because I had barely any battery life left on my phone I didn't want to waste it.  I even sent a text to my mum to say that I'd be turning it off (I never turn it off - so wanted to put her mind at ease in the unlikely event anyone tried to ring me at 1am and couldn't get hold of me!)  I then turned it off.  Once I was on the train and found a power outlet I turned it back on and left it to charge.  Would it really make sense for me to text 88888 in order to get myself some Crazy Frog wallpapers or crapola ringtones?

Now for Exhibits 'A' and 'B'... (for those eagle-eyed readers, I sent these on my laptop - not my phone!)

Exhibit 'A' your honour

Exhibit 'B' your honour

Hopefully SWT will look kindly on my admission.  I really didn't have my glasses on, the writing was small and low to the ground.  As far as I know it may've said, "Sure, plug in here if your mobile is near battery death"!

So I ask you fine people of the jury this, would I - someone that never ever feels the need for paying £1.50 for a picture of an ugly "frog" - decide to text the accused not once, but three times?  And when my phone had barely any juice, when I wanted to be able to use it if necessary, on a late night train journey, then walk, home?

Funny thing, I was supposed to have texted 88888 at around 2am on another morning a few months earlier... (NB also 79998 - I think that one's genuine but can't be certain as it's not listed on PP+'s number checker and 68888 which certainly isn't genuine!)

Bill period - 12.04.08

As you may have read from my previous post, Jamba/Jamster were telling me my issue was with 3, and 3 were telling me my issue was with Jamba.  I even entered pleading/begging mode with the 3 CS guy, something along the lines of, I just want to know who is at fault, who can help me and I don't want to be passed the buck any more.  Of course that got me nowhere other than the usual script.  He did say there was no way my phone/SIM could be cloned or my account remotely accessed - so I had to have sent those messages.

Jamba on the other hand say that they received "my" texts but didn't send me anything back.  That got me thinking (yes, I know - that's dangerous!) if Jamba received these texts surely they were meant to provide a service?  Or do they just receive a mass of presumably blank text messages at 2am that their computers log and don't act upon?

I'm tired already!  Got to wind down... (although I may give Jamba another call, globalisation has its benefits sometimes!)

*How's this for a twist..?  That T-shirt I'm wearing in the picture has 888 written on it!

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I've wasted yet more time trying to get to the bottom of strange premium rate messages.  This time they involve Jamster (aka Jamba) and amount to just 40p.  Why waste so much time an effort for 40p?  I'm beginning to ask myself that after two phone calls got me nowhere - with each party blaming the other.

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