New Phones arrived

Our two new Samsung B2710 phones arrived unexpectedly on Friday - fortunately DW was having a day off work to take DS1 to see his eczema specialist, so she was at home to sign for the delivery.

I was initially informed by Three the week before (via an SMS) that my order for a pair of new Samsung B2710s to replace our old phones had been cancelled as it was out of stock, then I was told the next day (when I called customer service) that this model "might" be restocked and our order was actually "on hold" unless I chose to cancel it or change to a different model, and I should check for an update the next day. When I phoned again a week ago I was then told that the Samsung B2710 was going to be restocked but that I'd have to phone again in two weeks to check on availability... only to have the new phones delivered a week later!

I installed my old SIM card in one of the new Samsung B2710s on Friday (and gave my old Sony Ericsson G502 to DS1 to use with his new $1/mo TPG SIM) and have a favourable first impression. The handset is only a few mm large than our old phone, but seems a lot more "chunky" due to the larger keypad and rubberised casing which I like (but DW isn't too keen on). It weighs about the same as the old phone, which DW likes.

A test of the GPS outside on Friday night gave an accurate report of our Latitude and Longitude and didn't take long to get a fix, so that feature will come in handy when bush walking or setting up my telescope on field trips. The built-in LED torch is actually bright enough to be useful when camping, but I may have to make a red plastic cover so I can also use it when doing astronomy. As I haven't got a data plan on my current $14/mo phone plan I haven't tried using Google maps yet. I might subscribe to the Three casual data plan - it doesn't cost anything to add it to my plan, but casual data use costs a hefty $2/MB! I might be OK for checking the occasional map while walking around town - I don't need it for in-car use as I have a car GPS.

Walking around town on Saturday I started playing around with the phones pedometer app, and it actually was very accurate in recording my steps and might be a useful addition to my diet and exercise program.

The auto-lock feature for the keypad works well (stopping unintended key presses making accidental phone calls to "000" - which the old Sony Ericsson tended to make, even when its keypad was in "locked" mode) although it would be nice to be able to increase the amount of inactive time before the auto-lock feature kicks in. So far I can turn this feature on and off, but haven't worked out how to change the default time delay of around 5 seconds.

The built-in ring tones provided a sufficient range of choices (although I might try to find a Dr Who theme tune if I get very bored one day), and the alarm sound at maximum volume was sufficient to wake me up from the next room without any problem.

One feature that seems to be missing is report of the battery charge. I was used to having a short-cut key press setup to display the % charge remaining, but the new phone only seems to provide battery charge information very approximately via the 5-bar battery icon showing on the phones display.

A quick test of the camera function provided a reasonable snapshot of the stained glass window in the QVB, adequate results for a 2MP phone camera. It will be a handy standby for capturing unexpected family "moments", but for planned photography a phone camera is unlikely to ever replace my digital SLR and bad full of lenses no matter how many MP it has,

I might buy one of the 16MB "mini-SD" cards that this model can accommodate. That way I can make use of the voice dictation app for recoding study notes for my MAstron coursework, and also use the phone as a replacement for an MP3 player.

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Time to upgrade our mobile phones

The two-year contract period on our Three mobile phone account ended last month, which is perfect timing because DWs phone was no longer able to charge her battery (due to some orange juice from DS1 sipper cup leaking in her handbag). So, we had to keep swapping batteries between our two Sony Ericsson G502 phones in order to keep both batteries charged up. It was a real hassle because every time the batteries were swapped over we had to reset the date and time on our phones, otherwise our alarms wouldn't go off at the correct times.

The old phone:

So, I decided to upgrade both our phones, but stick with the same shared-spend $14/mo each plan. Most of the available upgrade models are iPhones or similar touch phones, but at $5-$20/mo extra over 24 months for each phone I don't want to spend $120-$480 just to have something "cool" for making my phone calls (if I want to take photos I use my digital SLR camera, and for apps and internet I use my laptop, not a phone). These phones are also a larger form factor than I really want - the old "candy bar" style phone fits nicely into the side pocket of my "man purse" or jacket pocket. I considered a $0/mo upgrade to a Nokia phone very similar to the old Sony Ericssons, but in the end decided to splurge $2/mo each on upgrading to a pair a Samsung B2710s. These phones are similar to our old phones, but have the added benefit of being quite tough. They are waterproof rated to a depth of 1m for 30 mins, and drop rated to survive a fall from 2m. It was quite fun watching some "reviews" of this model on YouTube - basically people just had a ball showing that this model will still work OK after leaving the phone in a fish tank for half-an-hour, stirring hot chocolate with it, dropping it 2m off a fire escape, being driven over them by a snow mobile, or being chucked into a cement mixer for a while! Admittedly they didn't survive being shot with a rifle or being driven over with the metal tread ribs of a snow-groomer ;)

They also have a couple of features that may actually be useful in a mobile phone designed for users who sometimes take their phone hiking or skiing - the ubiquitous GPS and google maps, a built-in altimeter, pedometer, reasonable strength flashlight (not sure how quickly using that would drain the battery), and a digital compass. The lanyard hole also looks like this phone can be hung around you neck without destroying the eyelet the first time the phone gets caught on something.

I ordered the phone upgrades on Tuesday but then got an SMS two days later from the Three warehouse saying the order had been cancelled because this model was now out of stock. Several phone calls to the upgrade line over several days eventually confirmed that this model was going to be restocked, but that we'll have to wait for 2-3 weeks for the new phones to be delivered. Better late than never I suppose.

The new phone (it actually looks more old-fashioned  than our old Sony Ericsson model)

After unlocking my old Sony Ericsson from Three I bought a $1/mo "pay-as-you-go" SIM from TPG so I can give my "hand-me-down" mobile phone to DS1 to use when he travels to and from high school next year. The local call costs are reasonable (10c flag fall and 10c/min) for occasional use by DS1, and the upfront cost of $40 (an exorbitant $20 "SIM charge" and a $20 "deposit" to put the account into credit) wasn't too high. I've paid the initial $40 cost, and DS1 has agreed to pay me the $1/mo plan fee plus any $20 "top-up" charges that will be automatically billed whenever the TPG account balance drops below $5. As insurance against excessive charges I edited the plan settings online so his phone can't make or take international calls or SMS messages. I could also change the setting to disable outgoing domestic calls, but for the moment I'll trust DS1 to use the phone responsibly. It would have been nice if the settings could be varied by time-of-day, in which case I would have disabled making calls during school hours.

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