I recently upgraded my T-Mobile contract to a Sim Only deal where by I get X amount of minutes and X amount of voice calls and unlimited internet usage.  I took this option because I bought my phone outright.

T-Mobile were very quick to point out that the “unlimited internet usage” was not actually unlimited but instead capped at 1GB.

How ridiculous?

Ridiculous for many reasons as the phone I recently purchased is totally geared towards the Internet and for social networking (Skype, Gtalk, MSN, Facebook, Twitter, has a full internet browser, access to everything internet related). The Nokia N900 is a mini computer or tablet device with a phone function.

The Nokia N900 is not the only phone offering such features, there are many other phone makes (Blackberry, Apple, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, LG etc) and models offering fast download speeds (7.2MBit, 10MBit).

T-Mobile bragged that they were streaks ahead of the other mobile ISP’s because they offered 1GB instead of 500MB. All very well, but that is a pathetic statement to make!

I consider myself a heavy Internet data user on my mobile and by that I mean:

1. The Nokia N900 is a multi-tasking device, therefore it is possible to open multiple web sites in the real internet browser, which is similar to what you would find on your desktop PC, and it is able to load up all the graphics, video and sounds that are normally present on a website quickly, which obviously uses a lot of data. I regularly browse;
   1. BBC, Sky News, Engadget, Wired, Netvibes, Youtube, Wilkinsonsworld, Crunchvictims, FT, CMAVision, Gmail,  etc.
2. On top of that I would have open Facebook, an online scrabble game,
3. Multiple Twitter accounts,
4. Last.FM scrobbler, or Shoutcast music streaming, or E-Book reader,
5. I am downloading a few podcasts on a daily basis,
6. Reading and replying to my various Email accounts,
7. Instant Messaging through Skype, MSN, GTalk and Facebook (all possible in one place on the N900),
8. Blogging on my various websites,

I had a look at my data usage after a week of using the Nokia N900 and it’s up at 450MB. (Doh! after a week). There is no way on earth the 1GB limit is going to last me. I will reach that cap by the end of next week!

T-Mobile already offer broadband via a USB Dongle. They are quite generous in the amount one can download with their USB dongle (£ 10/mth – 4.5 Mb/s  – 3 Gb cap). – Check out wifi.co.uk

What they need to realize is that with the new mobile technology coming out with bigger and better devices with lovely large screens and qwerty keyboards, that devices such as the N900 are similar too and / or if not better than a netbook or a laptop with a USB Dongle, since they incorporate the internet technology in the device.

For a Sim Only contract with unlimited Internet at a cost of £15/mth, one would expect T-Mobile to offer a larger download limit!

Come on T-Mobile, please review your Interet download policy!

I am currently listening to a wonderful story called “DECIDER” by Dick Francis on my Noka 5800.

I decided (excuse the pun) to put my new bluetooth headphones (BH-905) to the test. They have 8 noise cancelling microphones that are meant to block out the surrounding noise.  So far they are doing an excellent job. Noise is non-existent with one switches on the ANC button.

I am using a very cool audio application called “PowerMP3″ on the Nokia 5800.  I downloaded this from Symbian World and I would go as far as saying “it is better than the default music player on the Nokia 5800XM”.

Dick Francis – Decider, Architect Lee Morris has plans to restore Stratton Park racecourse to its former grandeur. But the combative Stratton heirs have violent plans of their own.

Related Links:

• Out with the Sony BT50 and in with the Nokia BH-905!

I’ve been supporting Play.com for quite a while because their prices are very competitive, often the best online and their service is second to none and even more so when things go wrong.

One such example happened recently after I purchased a pair of Nokia Bluetooth headphones (BH-905) from them. The headphones arrived in a timely fashion and I listened to them a couple of times but noticed a problem. I contacted Play.com on the third day by phone and explained the problem and the support guy was very helpful and said “not to worry” and explained what I needed to do to return the goods back to them. I followed all the instructions and sent them back via special delivery.

A day or two later I received an email from them which told me my postage had been reimbursed. That was a nice touch. A few days later I had my second pair of headphones and they have been working perfectly ever since.

Related Links:

• Out with the Sony BT50 and in with the Nokia BH-905!

Damn, I can’t believe I can put a 16GB micro SDHC memory card in my original Nokia N95. There seems no reason now for me to upgrade my phone. It just shows you how smart this little phone is even if it came out over eighteen months ago.

The price of memory especially in the SDHC department has come down so much over the past year. I think I paid £80 for my 6GB twelve months ago, and now the 16GB sells for £50. (Insane)…

Here is a mobile phone compatibility chart from mymemory.co.uk just in case you buy the memory card and discover it does not work in your phone.

It’s been a while since I wrote anything worthy on here, and looking at my desk got me thinking about the few new bits of hardware that I have been using a lot recently that was money well spent.

Synology Cube Station CS407 4-Bay Sata Gigabit Network

I have had the Synology Cube Station now for about 3 months. I have had a few problems with dodgy hard disks, which to be fair have not been caused by the CS407. This NAS is incredible, quick and has a plethora of extras thrown in for good measures, namely IP Camera Video Recording (I.P. Surveillance if you are into that sort of thing), Photo Station, File Station, Website hosting, iTunes Server, BT (Bit Torrent) download etc, AD support, MAC compatible, SSH, Telnet, FTP etc). It has an awesome interface and it’s very easy to use. Best of all it supports 4 Sata/SataII disks, and large capacity. I currently have 2TB’s in the way of 4×500GB at my disposal. Did I mention it’s silent as well? It’s also future proof as there are regular firmware updates from Synology’s online site. For an excellent review on this beast of a NAS, look at Benchmark Reviews, who review it in all it’s glory.

Magic Bridge II

Through the years I have collected hard drives of all sizes & types (IDE, SATA/SATA2) from the various PC’s I’ve owned, rather than throw them away. You never know what people can find on a hard drive, even when you think you have formatted it. You see it on TV all the time, these crooks use software to get back sensitive information.

So I have mine all in a box, just gathering dust, until last weekend that is, when I discovered this neat little gadget calledMagic Bridge II. It allows one to connect an IDE or SATA/II or eSATA drive or both together (SATA on one end and IDE on the other end) to a USB interface. It is brilliant and fast, since it’s USB2.0 connection (or 1.1 if you have the older type). To start, just slide a disk(s) onto the connector and hit the power button. There is also a backup button, which you can press and it backs up the contents of the disk to your HD. The Magic Bridge comes with all the power connectors, cables etc that one would need. It’s small and light as well. Backing up software to old or spare drives couldn’t be easier. It’s even better than an enclosure, since this supports everything. I paid £33 for it at Maplin.
Note: The only problem I have come across is that it doesn’t recognise drives with multiple partitions. In Computer Management it shows the disk as unknown and “format the partition” is the only option. Formatting the disk into one partition does the trick, but if this was an old disk with stuff on it, then Magic Bridge II is not the solution to reading the disk.

Belkin High Speed USB 2.0 7 Port Hub

Having an iMac has some serious disadvantages, especially if one has lots of USB devices. I have loads (Camera, Phone, Universal Remote, Magic Bridge, Key, speakers, webcam, keyboard, external drive etc), and the iMac is sadly lacking in the USB 2.0 department with only 3 USB ports. So to compliment the lack of USB I bought a Belkin 7 port USB 2.0 hub. It’s got two vertical ports which is great for quick inserts or pullouts, and 5 ports at the back for those devices that are always in use. For £17 from PC World it was money well spent. The hub is weighted as well, and has a cable management clip. Very useful.

I purchased a Canon Powershot S2 IS not so long ago after my previous Canon S1 IS suddenly stopped working after a day at the races. The zoom button konked in for no apparent reason. The camera still works, but there is no point having a 10 x Zoom when you can’t use the zoom. Anyway, I’ve been fiddling with my new camera for about 2 month now, (I still haven’t read the manual ) ), and I have been taking some damm fine photos if I may say so myself. You the critics can say otherwise. It’s just an incredible camera. Here are my two favorite photographs so far out of about 400 photos. They are Tamsin above, and Magic below.

I’ve read a few articles recently on Google. It seems they may charge $5 per month for their services, which include Gmail, Google Adsense, Google Earth, Google Maps, Froogle, Picasa2 etc. The question everyone is asking: Would you pay $5 or £3.50 to use Google’s amazing applications? They have got some of the best packages out there and most of them are free at the moment. For me, I would pay the $5.