Jablotron Car Alarm (GSM/GPS)

Well, I just recently picked up a cool car alarm from Czech maker Jablotron that is GSM and GPS* enabled. My car now has its own SIM card! When the alarm goes off, it calls my phone and sends me SMS to tell me what has been disturbed (door, window, trunk, hood, ignition, etc...). I can send short code SMS messages to arm, disarm, check its status, gets its location via GSM-Triangulation, or get its GPS coordinates. It's pretty neat.

Coupled with a third-party website/partner that can do real time security monitoring for your car, they even allow you to track your car via online maps to find your car anytime you want (I can even see it in my phone browser, which is a good thing too). It will create a "travel log" of locations you visited, too, if you enable it (excellent for supply-chain / fleet management gigs ... or for the psychotic husband tracking his wife's every move). And just to be a super annoying neighbor, I can set the alarm off remotely for 5s seconds, for example, just in case I feel like it (I can set my alarm off from Greece when on vacation if I want -- don't ask why).

All in all, if you're looking for a good autoalarm, check (he said check) these guys out. Hopefully, they'll come up with a GSM-camera for the car, too, so I can monitor my car with video at night -- that'd rock the house. Let's go Jablotron, get the little pin-hole cam hooked up too!

* I was too cheap to put the GPS module in ... it won't work while it's in the garage or in undergroud parking, so for me it was considered a waste of money (3000 CZK, 170 USD, 120 EUR difference) -- but, if somebody steals my car, I'll wish I had it so I could find its precise location [unless they get it into the chop shop quickly], instead of getting 200-500m near it using GSM-Triangulation.

Nokia N95 vs. Apple iPhone II

Well, it has been a while since I last blooged ... a very busy work schedule, not to mention I broke my leg and recently my hand (thank Brazilian Jiu-jitsu training for that), I haven't gotten to blog much as of late.

Anyway, iPhone talk has started to become standard lexicon here even in Prague, so it's time to revisit the Nokia N95 vs. iPhone discussion again. Having played with a few iPhones now, I can say openly that the iPhone is a LOT more stable and a lot more usable than the Nokia N95. My N95 has a host of stability issues (slow GPS start-up time, crashing on larger webpages, freezing when an application tries to determine which access point it should use, etc....). I have updated my firmware to the newest version, and that was more than 2 months ago when it came out, and no updates since that time. Nokia is very slow with updates. They really should release minor versions on a regular basis (with change/bug-fix log), specifically for their early-adaptors and champions ... pissing us off is not a good idea.

The iPhone is a superior phone when it comes to usability ... what it still lacks to put it far ahead of the N95, however, is:

1. Flash support in its browser
2. Ability to select more than 1 message at a time (organization features kinda suck)
3. GPS (that's a given)
4. 3G (another given)
5. Open Bluetooth (to send/receive pictures, business cards, etc...)
6. Open platfrm (I believe this is gonna change soon)

The Nokia N95 is still a better device to have when you find yourself in unchartered lands (having maps is nice, but if you can't find a street name, it's a moot point to have MAPs) -- not to mention, you cannot save maps locally ... no connection, no maps on the iPhone. The photo and video quality of the N95 is just super. I used my N95 on my last holiday to Greece (leaving the video cam at home), and it worked perfectly. Great DVD quality video, and excellent photos. The iPhone will have a BIG HILL to climb when it comes to knocking off the N95 in this territory.

I'm both happy, and greatly disappointed with my Nokia N95 ... Nokia could pay it a lot more attention and get their Series 60 platform in more order ... I think if the iPhone starts fixing its shortcomings (and Apple has a history of listening), the iPhone is gonna turn into the "to have" phone while Nokia's offerings slowly slide back into the abyss. Hope that's not the case, but we'll see how the Finns react. If they react at the same speed they are fixing bugs in the N95, they're good as gone.

E-TEN M700: Almost pulled the trigger

Well, today I was shopping for a new phone again (my old skool Nokia 7650 is on its death bed). I got my hands on an E-TEN M700, and man it's a beauty of a phone -- buying this one was temping (I was looking to impulse buy the Nokia N95 (too expensive for what you get), Nokia E61i (not bad for the price, but no GPS), or this E-TEN M700 (no 3G and crap ass Microsoft iExplore on Windows Mobile Platform).

Using my excellent discipline to hold off on buying, I decided to go home and do research on the products -- and as I just mentioned, the fact that it does NOT have any 3G support and used MS Exploder was a big draw back. The E-TEN X800 is supposed to be coming out soon, and it should add 3G support -- it'll still have Microsoft Exploder, but I can probably live with it if the price is below the Nokia 95's. Otherwise, I will just use my Nokia 7650 until it stops working. And just in case you didn't read why I HATE MS Exploder on the Windows Mobile Platform, see my previous blog post from May 2007 on the subject.

Check out this video review of the E-TEN M700 -- even these guys state the same fact that MS Exploder is worthless, and lack of 3G is a disappointment, but otherwise, it's a very nice phone.

Smart 2 Go Maps: Revisited

Well, so I tried installing Smart2Go maps on my Wi-Fi enabled Mio P550 .... installation was fine (fine = as reported by a gang and grip of other people, I could not even download the installation cab file via the IE browser on the PDA, since the "download" button does not work on the PDA -- I had to download it via my PC and then transfer it to the PDA via Bluetooth).

I established my Wi-Fi connection on my PDA, and then surfed to Greece to check to see if it worked -- NOPE. Never got anything. I only saw maps seemingly work for Italy and Germany -- I waited like 30 minutes, and maps for Greece and the Czech Republic never came up. Great stuff.

Then silly ol'me thinks that, I'll just use the MapLoader to load up the maps. So, I download the MapLoader that Smart 2 Go offers -- but *naturally*, I could not get the MapLoader to recognize my SD card in my card reader, nor could I get the MapLoader to reconize my PDA as "USB Storage." Complete junk.

I'm not the brightest bulb in the bunch, but I really couldn't get it to work -- it got uninstalled. Not to "smart" Smart2Go ... not to smart. You guys might want to really focus on usability and actually make this stuff work.

[ Technorati Tags: Symbian Windows Mobile Nokia
GPS Navigation Smart2Go ]

Smart 2 Go Maps

This post is mainly for me, so I can remind myself to test these maps on my WM5 device ... but, in case you've been living in a cave the last year, you can download FREE Global maps for your Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition or Windows Mobile 5 platform device absolutely free from Smart 2 Go:

Free Maps from Smart 2 Go

Since I have not yet purchased a new phone yet (still fighting with choice -- Nokia N95 or some kinda WM5 phone), I will have to download -- but, I believe that all Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition devices come with this software pre-installed. But, if not, you can download it from this site and use the maps feature for free. Navigation will cost you a few pretty pennies, though.

[ Technorati Tags: Symbian Windows Mobile Nokia
Smart2Go Navigation ]