[Gllug] sony ericsson mobiles & linux

[Richard Cohen]

On 02/02/06, Rev Simon Rumble <simon at rumble.net> wrote:
>
>
> On 2/2/2006, "Richard Cohen" <vmlinuz at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >SMS sending and receiving is likely to be quite easy, either using
> >off-the-shelf code or your own, since there are clearly defined and
> >relatively simple standards in the GSM extensions to the AT command set
> for
> >it.
>
> Ahh, didn't know there was a standard for it.  Should be fine then.


ETSI - they're not much of a standards body, but they're better than
nothing...

>but one of the things which always impressed me about the SE
> >phones, and SE in general, was their apparent willingness to support
> >standards
>
> I take it that the "Sony" part is in name only then, in that case.
> Certainly doesn't like anything else in their product lines.


I think the SE theory was largely that S provided the style, marketing, etc.
and E provided the tech.  Certainly, having had 2.5 SE phones in a row (the
.5 being an E-branded T68 with SE-branded T68i firmware) I had very little
complaint, and if I hadn't decided to go the smartphone route, and back to
PalmOS, I would almost certainly have one of their newer models, either
Walkman-branded or Symbian-running...

>I haven't spent much time on mobile phone comms recently - except for
> >getting my laptop online using bluetooth to my unmetered-GPRS Treo - but
> I
> >have messed around quite a lot with it in the past...
>
> How do you get unmetered GPRS?  Orange are currently raping me on data
> charges: £4/megabyte!!!


I guess you haven't noticed the subtle hints I've been dropping here for a
while about having moved to Hong Kong last year... For HK$128 (approx £9.27)
a month I get unmetered GPRS and for a total basic bill of just over HK$200
a month they throw in 500 minutes of voice, 20 minutes of international
voice, voicemail etc. (which is charged for here) and the monthly $10 fee
for having your phone work in all the road and train tunnels in HK.  It's
all pretty cheap really - and without having taken a subsidised phone off
them, there's no minimum contract or any nonsense like that - and I've
already migrated this number once (thanks Russell!).  HK really has made
that leap to people not using landlines - I doubt I have landline numbers
for more than 25% of all the people I've met here...

And as a bonus, tomorrow evening I shall be collecting a free (loaned) 3G
phone as part of the 6-month free 3G trial being run by PCCW, the
somewhat-dominant telco, who recently bought a mobile company and are now
planning to roll out 3G under their own brand.

And, for the record, as if anyone cares, the Orange brand was retired here a
while ago, despite HK being the home of Hutchison, the creator of the brand,
in favour of the 3 brand - the former Orange network is now branded as
3-Dualband.  They don't offer particularly good data prices, either on GRPS
or 3G...

Cheers
Richard
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