I may be in the market for a smart phone upgrade soon so it was worth glancing over this list. No real surprises here, and good to see the N91 and several other smart phones getting a mention.

The N80 is getting increasingly appealing. The one real big draw back of the N91 is the lack of a media card slot, and the N80 has one. Although my 6630 has an RS MMC slot which to be honest still contains the RS-MMC which came with the phone. With all the other ways to move data in and out of the N91, is a card slot really that important any more?

I dislike those tiny MMC and SD cards, very easy to loose. On the other hand the N91’s 4GB micro drive sounds quite limiting at a time when I am designing a home server which will have around 1TB of storage (250 times as much). but honestly how many people get through 4GB of compressed audio while away from home anyway? And if I’m going to be on the road for any extended periods I take my Thinkpad and 250GB USB HD with me, plus I can access my home storage via the net, so I am not exactly data starved.

S60 Third Edition is the platform on which the N80 and N91 run, so these musings are all academic as no one has yet released any software to make S60 Third Edition talk. It is worth keeping an eye on the Windows Mobile 5 SmartPhone Edition and the various promises of a screen reader on that platform. I have been happily using the S60 platform for 2 or 3 years, but if Windows Mobile 5 SmartPhone Edition is made to talk, probably by the good people at Dolphin or Code Factory, then yours truely will be very interested indeed.

Tonight I came home to find a mysterious sealed cardboard box sitting
outside the door of my apartment. Feeling lazy, and that this would be a
good opportunity to go meet the neighbours, I went knocking on a couple of
doors to see if anyone knew when it was delivered, and to ask if anyone
could see if the box had any identifying marks. Turned out to be a good
icebreaker and my neighbours seem lovely.

I waited until I got into my flat before ripping the box open to find a
brand spanking new Daisy Player. A full hour later and I am still excited
about it! I do not really care if it does not work. I play Daisy books on
my laptop anyway. It’s just thrilling getting a new toy which feels like
getting a birthday or xmas prezzy!

I know it’s completely ridiculous! For anyone in blindness assistive
technology Daisy is not really new technology. And I have stacks of digital
text and audio books stored in my Thinkpad which is much more flexible in
almost every respect anyway. My job means I can work with Daisy reading and
authoring software for much of the day. But for some reason which I have
yet to fathom, getting a dedicated hardware Daisy player delivered to my
door filled my heart with joy!

I am off now to go stroke it some more. And marvel at how an over-sized
mono CD player, with horrible big rubber buttons, a proprietary power
adaptor and hard-wired battery which the manufacturer discourage you from
changing. How does this monument of clunkiness make me so happy? Seriously
genuinely and honestly It really truly does!

At this rate, I reckon when I get my next Smartphone, I will require a
change of underwear!!! 🙂

Hah, there’s a shocker! Not. It’s almost unthinkable but I can’t decide whether or not I’m starting to get a bit indifferent toward his material. I will be interested to read the book when it comes out. It would be fantastic if Kay himself actually read the audio version.

The recent announcement from PlusNet posted here a few days ago concerned me
more than I originally thought. The more I think about this the more I find
PN’s announcement disturbing.

I was heartened that over 90 percent of respondents to my quick survey
seemed to also not welcome the introduction of 50p per minute technical
support. At time of writing 72 people have cast their vote. Thank you
everyone. Ok, the result was probably a forgone conclusion. But if premium
rate technical support is such a good idea for PlusNet’s customers, why then
are the results of my quick survey so overwhelming.

–PN wrote:
> We’re not afraid of change – in fact we embrace it.

As a leading Internet Service provider I would not expect anything less from
PN.

–PN wrote:
> We want the service you buy from us today to be a service you’ll want to >
buy from us in the future – it needs to be a service that’s just what you >
are looking for and one we can earn our living from.

Quite right. And as a customer I want PN to be able to continue to improve
their level of service. If customers do not feel their money is being well
spent, then we are welcome to spend it elsewhere. The reason so many
customers are joining rather than leaving PN, is owing to the quality of the
existing service.

PN signed up it’s one-hundred-thousandth customer last year. This means
that over-all PN’s support costs will have increased. However, revenue will
have increased proportionally. In fact the larger the customer base, often
the cost of support per customer as a proportion of revenue should go down
not up.

–PN wrote:
> We like to talk with you.

I have trouble swallowing this. I need to contact customer support maybe
once per month on average. PN discontinued email support some years ago.
My experience has been that queues on the phones are increasing, often staff
rush calls insisting that I visit the web site. (I have documented
elsewhere the problems some customers face with accessing the web site).
Occasionally staff are pulled off the phones to deal with questions received
via Contact Us, and the phones are left with just a skeleton staff. PlusNet
have never contacted me to ask whether or not I am satisfied with the
service. Often customers are told about policy changes rather than
consulted. So the idea that PN like to talk with me is ludicrous. The only
communication I get from PN is when PN want to sell me something, or bill me
for my Internet access. I have not seen much evidence that PN like to talk
with me.

–PN wrote:
> You may think we talk too much – enthusiastic people often do.

No I do not think PN talk too much. Unless the recent marketing campaigns
targeted at customerers email addresses is called talk? Most internet users
would call such unsolicited promotional email spam. The perception of
people who talk too much is that they do not think enough.

–PN wrote:
> In the future it looks like your Internet connection will deliver more >
than just the web pages you search for and the emails from your friends.

It already does. Audio, video, instant messaging, voice over IP, etc. BT
are even promising broadcast quality TV by the end of the year.

–PN wrote:
> Customer service and technical support are really important to us,

And Customer service and technical support are really important to us too,
your customers.

–PN wrote:
> we work hard to provide a service you’ll be happy to recommend.

And as an award winning multi-million pound company, so you should. I have
recommended PN and would be happy to continue to do so were it not for the
nature of PN’s recent money making schemes.

–PN wrote:
> When we talk to you, you tell us you like to be able to find the answers >
to your questions online and the first place you look is on our web site.

I have never told you that! As far as I am aware, the dozen or so other PN
customers who I know have never told you that either. I would also submit
that the 91 percent of people in my survey who are aposed the the premium
rate technical support have probably never told you that either. The people
who welcome the premium rate technical support either do not need to use it,
or cannot get the advice they need on the PN web site so are prepared to pay
50p per minute to get the answers to their questions. So I would be very
interested to learn more about this supposed constituency who like rummaging
through the PN portal for answers. Who are they?

–PN wrote:
> We believe if you can’t find an answer online and have to phone us we >
have failed.

So on the one hand you like to talk to me, but on the other hand if I need
to talk to you, you have failed? If I need to talk to PN, and PN are
friendly and helpful then PN have not failed. In fact I am more likely to
stay with PN if I feel I have had quality telephone support.

–PN wrote:
> In the future it’s likely you’ll be looking for help on things like >
combining your mobile phone with your home phone or how to get the TV >
channels you want working.

How likely? I only have a home phone to enable me to access ADSL. And to
find the cheapest calls I use the UK and International call checkers found
at:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com

Freeview, Sky and NTL are very well established TV platforms providing
myself and millions of others with the TV services we require. Yes it is
important for all companies to explore new markets, and I would be
interested to see what kind of video on-demand or IPTV services PN are able
to come up with. But these services should not be provided at the detriment
of existing customers.

My mobile phone is with an established cellular operator. I hope PN will
not waste customers money by attempting to break into this already crowded
and competitive market.

I and thousands of others want PN to firstly continue to be a quality ISP,
not a telco or TV provider. PN have been one of the higher echelon ISPs but
are in danger of loosing that status, if PN’s recent announcements are an
indicator of how PN view’s it’s future.

–PN wrote:
> we have decided to make a distinction between support questions. Crucial >
technical support questions like “Why can’t I get a connection?” are >
different to “How do I use CGI scripts on my website?”.

These types of questions are very different. Why are PN even dealing with
the “how to use CGI” questions anyway? I would not expect my electricity
provider to instruct me on the use of my appliances.

–PN wrote:
> In an ideal world you’ll find the answer you’re looking for on our >
website easily
> – but it’s far from an ideal world. So the next best thing is to send us >
an online message – we still see this as a failure of our site, but at >
least you haven’t had to call.

At least? You really do not want to talk to customers do you. 🙂

–PN wrote:
> The service we provide will allow you to do lots of different things – if
> you know how to use it.

That is right. And the reality is that most people who are online really
have very limited knowledge of how to get the most out of their Internet
Service. But instead of investing customer subscriptions in quality
affordable technical support, PN appear to be cashing in.

–PN wrote:
> we are setting up a consultancy phone line where the web site information
> can be discussed if necessary. We plan to charge 50p per minute to cover >
the cost of training our team and providing this service.

And so there it is, an admission. PN@s staff are not trained to provide
technical support. In order to train them, customers will be forced to
stump up 50p per minute. Thanks for that PN.

–PN wrote:
> We believe it will only be a worthwhile service if the people on the end >
of the phone know what they are talking about; there is nothing worse > >
than ringing somewhere for help only to discover you know more than the >
person at the other end.

Well that pretty much sums it up.

–PN wrote:
> We also believe you will look at our web site for your answers before >
calling our 50p per minute consultancy line.

Absolutely. 50p per minute is certainly one way to reduce the amount of
people PN talk to.

–PN wrote:
> We don’t want to make money from your phone calls – we want to provide >
answers online and keep our cost as low as possible.

I disagree. This statement seems more than just a little bit disingenuous.
PN are a company in a competitive market who’s primary objective above all
others is to make money.

PN want to make money from your phone calls – PN want to provide > answers
online keeping cost ass low as possible.

–PN wrote:
> If you can spend a little time looking over the information now, it might
> save you time and stress in the future.

Should that not be, Save PN time and stress and money in the future? In
other words RTFM and do not call PN if you need help.

I have been a loyal customer for over 6 years. I am not going to be forced
into making any rushed decisions. I will watch developments with interest.
However, I am recommending that PN customers think about shopping around.
Your existing deal may not necessarily be the best one out there.

Heh my commute is a piece of cake with me usually allowing about 20 mins, and I still manage to get in half an hour early. Would not be in this guy’s shoes for all the tea in China.

I’ve always wondered actually, all the tea in China, is that all the tea in the country china, or all the tea in china cups and teapots and the like?

Hmm, nice. I guess I better mention this in my letter to Santa this year. Although it seems odd that it has taken so long for anyone to release a mini DAB radio/mp3 player. Imho the future of DAB is in portables. How long before DAB makes an appearance on mobile phones? Not soon enough for me.

For home listening give me Freeview or Digital Satellite every time. Last I heard the DAB bit rates were still shockingly low with audio quality being sacrificed in favour of a larger number of services. But this little baby or something similar could quite easily find a home in an over-night travel bag.