[Gllug] new mobile phone

[Christopher Hunter]

On Mon, 2008-02-04 at 12:58 +0000, Chris Jones wrote:
> Hi
> 
> Christopher Hunter wrote:
> > No - the battery life's appalling whatever you're doing with it.
> 
> I've not charged mine since Friday and the battery is still half full.
> I can easily drain it in a few hours if I sit outside and read a bunch
> of google news via wifi, and I'm certainly charging the thing more than
> my previous phone, but the phone is significantly more capable.
> Over the weekend it's been sitting idle, or playing mp3s (either through
> the headphones or via the external speakers while I got ready for work
> this morning). I don't think there are any fair tests here and everyone
> wants more battery life.

That's contrary to my experience - the THREE units I tried would seldom
last for more than about 36 hours without a recharge!

> > I found that the GPS receiver is really "deaf" and wouldn't work in most
> > parts of London.
> 
> I've used it successfully a few times to navigate my way home to south
> London in the wee hours, and whenever I'm bored and fiddling with it
> while waiting somewhere in Central London it has acquired a lock (this
> being with the V 20 upgrade. I agree that before that it was pretty piss
> poor because it would require you to stand still for 5 minutes to get a
> lock).
> 
> > cheap (£25) bluetooth GPS receiver that talks to my PDA in the car.  It
> > works everywhere in London, just left on the dashboard of the car!
> 
> You mean that a dedicated GPS device works well when given a clear view
> of the sky? Colour me not-particularly surprised ;)

My point was that the cheap GPS receiver would work where the Nokia
simply wouldn't.

> I don't have a car, so I don't care about using the thing for navigation
> other than on foot where speed is not of the essence, but I have been in
> a cab where the driver was using one for directions (perhaps with an
> external GPS unit though).
> 
> > No.  The FM receiver is largely useless - it has poor sensitivity and
> > selectivity is a joke - tuning to Radio 4 in North London allowed you to
> > hear BBC Radio London as you moved about. 
> 
> I listen to the Radio 4's Today programme on the bus to work every day
> and it's fine right up to when I get into the lift at work and the doors
> close. It's worth noting perhaps that Radio 4 appears twice in the
> listings for London, one of which is much nearer to some other radio
> station than the other.

Being an ex-BBC engineer, I know these things.  Radio 4 for London is on
93.2 MHz from Crystal Palace, and on 93.5 MHz from Wrotham (at much
higher power).  When tuned to 93.5 MHz (the stronger signal here in
Muswell Hill), moving around allowed BBC Radio London and a number of
local pirates to interfere with the Radio 4 signal I wanted to hear.  

A quick bench test with a couple of signal generators suggested that the
receiver in the Nokia (and I tried two of the three I had) had VERY
broad tuning.  In South London, nearer to Crystal Palace, the receiver
found it impossible to discriminate between BBC Radio London (94.9 MHz),
Capital Radio (95.8 MHz) and LBC (97.3 MHz), rendering it completely
useless.
> 
> > No.  It's too quiet in many environments, and is very poor quality.
> 
> I disagree - it's louder than my SE was, and the speakerphone is better.

Maybe I got THREE faulty ones.  They were a real disappointment.

C.


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