Disqus - Latest Comments for swing

Re: Exploring Windows Phone 7.5 Refresh

Stephen Wing — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 08:14:37 -0000

James; I found the update was a three part process, and then the Flip to silent & Internet Sharing were then definitely available (though I was using a Lumia 710, not 800). A quick google suggests you should finish the three part update process on firmware 1750.0805.8773.12220 for the Lumia 800 (1600.3031.8773.12121 for the Lumia 710), so it sounds like you may not have finished with updates...

I also found whereas the second update appeared on the phone as soon as the first update completed, the third update took a little while to appear on the phone, so you may find similar...

Re: Do O2’s recent outages highlight the need to have two or more operator accounts for redundancy?

Stephen Wing — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:58:31 -0000

Good point; in other failure scenarios (eg the Voda outage) it would work though...

Re: Do O2’s recent outages highlight the need to have two or more operator accounts for redundancy?

Stephen Wing — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:26:04 -0000

Given our phones all work fine when we go abroad I don't see technology being the challenge here; it's about money (cost to agree terms) and the user experience ("I didn't agree to you charging me")

Re: Do O2’s recent outages highlight the need to have two or more operator accounts for redundancy?

Stephen Wing — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:23:33 -0000

Would I be hampered? Well, probably not (for a day or two), but many not even for a little longer. Like many others, social media and email are more used for communication than actual phone calls, which all work across multiple devices, multiple networks, even WiFi only tablets, so personally I would simply pick up a different device with a different network SIM and keep on going (actually, as I generally get SIM free devices, I wouldn't even need to change device).

As for a strategy, for many years I kept my personal mobile on a different operator to my company-provided phone to provide that little extra redundancy for *personal* calls.

What's interesting is that whilst the O2 outage was going on, I saw many ppl complaining about it via facebook, but I didn't see anyone say "here's a temporary number for me", so maybe they were happy to be reliant upon facebook / twitter as well instead.

You say many people only have one SIM, but on the train each day I see many ppl with two phones (presumably personal / work), or a phone and an iPad, so again, social media is likely to still work even if calls don't (the others have new Kindles so don't benefit from social media access via Kindle that Amazon gave us early adopters) :)

Re: If you give your child your iTunes password, expect them to spend hundreds of dollars

Stephen Wing — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:57:42 -0000

Actually, it's not that simple; even if you keep the password to yourself they can purchase things; if you download a new app (or updates) by providing your iTunes password, there is then a 15 minute (I think this is the figure) period when it's cached and won't ask again.

So, you download Smurfs Village for the little darling, they go straight into the app and select to purchase lots of smurfberries, and it uses the cached credentials to buy it on your card / account.

The only solution is to fully disable in app purchases, though that may not stop the child being able to purchase more apps during the cached period.

It's a while since I've looked into this issue, so things may have changed with the latest iOS releases, but certainly in the past the ability to purchase in app tokens could happen without the password.

So, maybe it is Apple's problem...

Re: Greater Anglia – You Bastards.

Stephen Wing — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:56:35 -0000

As a seasoned traveller, every station should display a "Planned Engineering Works" poster showing times and stations affected. Saying that, my line has works most evenings and I rarely check the boards, and I know they are there, so quite how someone who uses the service once every few months should even know about them I don't know!

I agree it's very scary when the boards show no trains to your destination, although good apps / websites that show timetables should show when the train is replaced by a bus; again, it's still an additional thing most people wouldn't think needed doing beforehand.

As the coach left without you (I'm surprised the station was unmanned as ours are normally swarming with additional staff in this situation), I would write to their Customer Services department, as the delay you then faced may be covered by the Delay Repay compensation scheme (won't get back taxi fare, but may get you at least a sorry)

Re: Public Transport Navigation comes to Lumia courtesy of Nokia Transport

Stephen Wing — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 06:24:10 -0000

Although Nokia have said "in the coming days" for Nokia Public Transport, they also stated "in the coming weeks" for the updates to Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive, so these might take a little longer to appear on handsets.

Re: Europasim Giveaway: Free For Commenters

Stephen Wing — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 07:04:41 -0000

As long as the credit is good for a few months, I'm happy to try one out when travelling later this year...

Re: Nokia Belle: your questions answered

Stephen Wing — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:19:16 -0000

Something tells me the Nokia C6 is unlikely to get Nokia Belle; I assume you mean the Nokia C6-01...

Re: Operator Innovation: One number for all my voice calls

Stephen Wing — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 05:17:02 -0000

Although I agree; Ewan's other key criteria was that people could recognise him from a single outgoing number; if there were an option to use the Company Main Number function as the CLI then it would seem to meet his needs exactly

Re: Operator Innovation: One number for all my voice calls

Stephen Wing — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 04:50:02 -0000

One Net Express seems to combine a single landline number with a single mobile number, allowing you to choice which number is used for outgoing calls, and then supports a hunt group for reaching other phones within the business, but I couldn't spot anything that would set a common outgoing number across those multiple devices (there's a Company Main Number function, but that seems limited to incoming calls only).

It's also not cheap (for this one usage; for the full range of features it offers, it may actually be good value for a small business to use instead of having any landlines / PBX system at all).

Re: Operator Innovation: One number for all my voice calls

Stephen Wing — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 04:40:36 -0000

The other network I was thinking of was T-Mobile (a quick google actually found an MIR rant about the T-Mobile multiSIM offering being close, but not close enough to what you wanted back in 2006!

Orange also have a current offering, but having looked into it (in the past) it involving a faff of sending operator short codes (*#01# type stuff) to swap between phones, whereas the Voda ex-offering rang and texted all phones simultaneously.

http://business.orange.co.u...

Having looked again; some good points (single voicemail across devices, only £3 extra a month, single bill, one outgoing number for both devices *for* *calls* *only*); a few downsides (business contracts only, texts from 2nd phone always have the 2nd phones number on them, not the primary)

So, for calls: good, for texts: not good (fine for the car kit scenario where you would be unlikely to text from the car, but less use for a multi-phone guy like you; and it only supports 2 phones)

Re: Operator Innovation: One number for all my voice calls

Stephen Wing — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 04:00:58 -0000

"It’s just not implemented." ... in the UK.

Across Europe, multisim options are readily available, and only cost a few euros a month for the 2nd (or more) SIMs, which then share the number and the minutes / data bundle too. It may be limited to a single network, but it's a lot better than the scenario you outline. They are commonly used for people where the car has a SIM slot (although I note most car manufacturers have moved to Bluetooth instead nowadays).

Vodafone UK had (may even still have) a multiSIM option, but it wasn't compatible with 3G, so you were limited to GPRS (it was more than a few euros a month too!). I think at least one other UK network supported it for a while, but limited it to Business contracts, so I never looked further, as my multiple usage would have been over personal phone contracts.

A quick check confirms the Vodafone website has an FAQ labelled "What *was* MultiSIM" so I guess it's no longer available.

Shame.

Re: http://wirelessworker.net/post/3161665594

Stephen Wing — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 05:46:19 -0000

Although I completely agree that billing per megabyte is unfriendly, at least Vodafone are starting to lead (in this one example) by providing 25MB of European roaming data as part of their higher tariffs; ok, 25MB isn't a lot, but for many of us on personal holidays; that's probably enough to keep going with "urgent" data needs without costing us more than our current tariffs.

It would be good to see more innovation around roaming data though.

Re: Review: Trill

Stephen Wing — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 04:22:30 -0000

Agreed it's not as nice as some other clients (eg Gravity) but it's getting there, and the developers are willing to take onboard suggestions and ideas. I mentioned it as an alternative to Trill more than to claim it was the best out there.

Re: Review: Trill

Stephen Wing — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 08:07:36 -0000

There's also Socially, which is free and available in the Ovi Store, which supports Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN and FourSquare...

Re: Dell Streak goes Android 2.1

Stephen Wing — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:47:02 -0000

Be nice to win one of these; I played with a number of them pre-release (courtesy of O2 and James Whatley's MGoL) and was overall impressed by the device.

Re: iPhone 4 Price Comparison from 3UK

Stephen Wing — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:16:14 -0000

I note that although it considers the amount of internet data per month, it ignores that most of the other networks are also bundling a similar level of Wi-Fi usage too.

Re: Why isn't my MP3 more like Flickr?

Stephen Wing — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:33:34 -0000

Some of these features make me immediately think of Last.FM, so the problem maybe more about getting a UI and feature rich last.fm client (which can also play local media) than necessarily re-inventing the whole wheel...

Re: Why isn't my MP3 more like Flickr?

Stephen Wing — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 10:33:34 -0000

Re: A Really Mobile Christmas

Stephen Wing — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:21:41 -0000

Athough this is a very good list, I'm surprised there's not a single mention of Android apps...

Re: A Really Mobile Christmas

Stephen Wing — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:21:41 -0000

Athough this is a very good list, I'm surprised there's not a single mention of Android apps...

Re: First impressions of the Samsung H1 360

Stephen Wing — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:40:48 -0000

As I understand it, the Facebook T&Cs prevent apps from accessing and extracting phone numbers (in particular), so although you and I might agree it's something the device should do, like many other devices should do too, it's a limitation placed on them by Facebook.

Re: Vodafone Live!, not available on the N86 [UPDATED]

Stephen Wing — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:51:22 -0000

I agree that all the networks should consider people transferring with an unlocked phone to a SIM only deal; these customers shouldn't be treated as second class citizens. I can understand the need to test the device to ensure the best possible experience, but surely Vodafone could at least offer a generic mobile optimised site for these customers.

At least 3UK are starting to listen to this issue, and are now starting to roll out support for their 3UK-specific apps (Skype, WLM) on non-3UK supplied phones...

Re: Vodafone Live!, not available on the N86 [UPDATED]

Stephen Wing — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:51:22 -0000

At least 3UK are starting to listen to this issue, and are now starting to roll out support for their 3UK-specific apps (Skype, WLM) on non-3UK supplied phones...