Catshanghai

Gizmoproject Update
I have raved about using the Skype alternative, Gizmoproject before. It runs on your cellphone using a java app called Gizmo5. The trouble is that you can no longer buy credit using Paypal, which makes it very diffcult to buy call out credit from China. You can pay using Google Checkout, but that service is unsupported in China. Moneybookers is available as alternative, but I’ve mislaid my online banking logon. While I am waiting for my bank to send this information to me, I am not able to jump through all the rigourous hoops to verify my online identity. Buying top up credit should be as easy as adding credit to a paypal account even if Paypal is not available given its close relationship to Skype. (Skype and Paypal are owned by Ebay).

Also see: http://www.catshanghai.com/blog/2007/11/16/keeping-in-touch-with-family-overseas/

Black Satin Cooked Rom
I spent much of the CNY holiday getting into the black arts of hacking my phone using cooked CD Roms, which run better than the shipped OS. Schap 4.31 is fully featured and works great, but I have just installed Black Satin, which I downloaded from WMBlack.(with help from a proxy) Schap was running slowly when you used Audio Manager as a music player and the battery drained with intermittent use over seven hours. Black Satin is an older cooked Rom that is no longer maintained, but it is very quick and stable. I have reinstalled PocketBreeze and Pocket Informant as PIM plugins on the today screen without any noticeable slowdown. I have also noticed that the battery performance has improved so I am going to stick with Black Satin until something better grabs my attention.

Also see: http://www.catshanghai.com/blog/2008/02/10/hack-your-phone/

Phatware: Calligrapher and PhatPad
I have also been trying out some notetaking applications from Phatware. Calligrapher is an improved version of the transcriber SIP input tool that recognises handwriting. Recognition is pretty good as long as you write in print rather than in cursive handwriting. I have also been using PhatPad, which is a multipage notetaking program with lots more options than the preinstalled notes app. PhatPad is an improvement, because you can have notes with mulitple pages. You can change page backgrounds, ink colour and page sizes. Writing feels quite natural. The biggest deal clincher was that you can save your notes as an image file so your work can be easily shared with others. The software is quite expensive. You can buy each piece of software for $40 or the whole Phatware bundle for $80, which also entitles you to a note organiser called Phatnotes.

Mobile Browsing News
There is lots of cellphone news this week, because the Mobile World Conference is taking place in Barcelona. There are many new handsets being unveiled such as the Nokia N96 and the Modu. There is also a big drive to improve web browsing on cellphones so we are seeing new software releases. I use Internet Explorer on my Windows Mobile handset. It is limited, but pages load quickly enough, because they are served in a compressed mobile friendly format. This is also achieved in Opera 8.65 for Mobiles. Last week I tried two new cellphone browsers, which have just been released called Iris Browser and NetFront. They are both free to download and use for an extended Beta period. They both aim to deliver the full web browsing experience to your cellphone just like on the Iphone. The trouble is that pages took too long to load even on Wifi and both browsers are not very stable. They both crashed a lot. I would like a cellphone browser that served me mobile versions of pages, but also let me view plugins and multimedia such as Flash slideshows and Youtube videos. Apparently, I will need to wait until the release of Opera 9.5 for Mobiles before this becomes a reality.

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Tags: cellphones, Windows Mobile, Gizmoproject, Black Satin, Iris Browser, Netfront, Opera, Phatware, Calligrapher, PhatPad