Android Phone

Finally, after talking a little bit about it I have the for the first time a Google phone in my hands.
Some months ago I had a HTC Dream locked to T-Mobile thanks to a friend, but I had no T-Mobile USA enabled SIM card to play with it so I had to be happy with "emulating" one and been able to play with the Wifi connection. I any case it was a nice experience and my first impression was that it was a nice OS, even though the handset was a bit bricky.

Now I have a HTC Magic unlocked phone, even though it is VF Germany branded, to play with it in my two weeks vacation in the States. I plan to acquire a prepaid SIM card and use it to access to Internet while travelling. I will travel also with my N95 but VF Spain roaming rate makes it very difficult to really explode it.
So, hopefully in some weeks I will have a brief report of my experience that I will be able to share here.

My new Dell Mini 9

Finally I did it and bought a fancy Dell Mini: 9? screen, 8Gb SSD and 1Gb RAM, accompanied by a megapixel Webcam, Bluetooth and Wifi connectivity and running Windows XP. What about WWAN? No way, the standard model from Dell website comes without one. Not only it comes without the Mini-PCI card but also lacks of the slot. I bought it barely used through eBay and it was a big deal for 170 euros. At the same time I bought a WWAN card for it, that cost me around 100 euros, before knowing that the Dell Mini had not the Mini-PCI slot. Now I know and what is more important, I know how to install one on the Wifi slot and connect an embedded USB Wifi on it. You can check how on this video.

So, once I realized I could not install the WWAN card on my Dell Mini I had to sell the card. Fortunately I did it for almost the price I paid for it, so now I am looking for the suitable WWAN card that may fit inside my Mini's back. Why do I want 3G connectivity? Well, I have used 3G external USB modems for some time with my laptop, and it was great, but with the Mini I can not imagine sitting on the train with the tiny netbook connected to an external modem. It breaks all the aesthetics of the Mini and most of the times I would forget the modem at home. As I commented some time ago I use a Simyo connection when I am traveling for pleasure, so I need an unlocked WWAN card in order to configure it to work with my Simyo. The other possibility I am considering is buying a Huawei e156 USB Modem and try to take the cover out, sold the USB PINs to the corresponding of the Mini-PCI slot and put it all under the back cover of the Mini. As soon as I have more info on the solution I will post it here.

The use of the Mini is great, it fits everywhere, weights around 1 kilo and the charger is slightly bigger of one of a mobile phone. For me this is an important point because if you have a 1 kilo netbook but the charger weights half a kilo it loses part of its sense! The battery performs well, although it does not reach the announced 4 hours, it is enough for a 3h+ flight from Tenerife to Barcelona. As you can check on the image it is great to work with it on the plane (even if you don't fly business ;-) ) so is ideal to bring it anywhere.

SIM Machine

Today, at Luton Airport in London, I have found an interesting machine. It was a regular automatic can selling machine but instead of Coke cans it contained SIM cards and SIM Accessories! From cards of several European and Middle East operators, to a TurboSIM to unlock Nokia phones and SIM carriers...

This is one of the possibilities that the SIM card enabled and unleashed in the past, even without knowing, but that empower the mobile phones use and that increase the possibilities of users, and also of operators in most of cases, of using the technology to the most convenience for them.

One of the things that surprised me more was a SIM card of Orange Spain on sale in the machine. The point is that in Spain before buying a SIM card you must present your ID card and register it, so you can not be an anonymous user of a mobile phone for security reasons. This regulation stem from the Madrid bombings in 2004. Because this I wonder whether you can use the machine bought card directly from it or you have to do a previous activation in a physical shop in Spain, what would take convenience to the buy of the SIM card in the Airport...

Another of the most suprising items was the TurboSIM to unlock the Nokia phones... This simple device has become a common device and now not only Geeks use it to use their branded iPhone with whatever carrier!

Israel

These days I am on a business travel in Israel. I must say that I have become a converted. I really find this country interesting and that its people is doing a hard work in order to get along. For sure, there are things I do not like about "the problem" but this young country is able to show the rest of the world incredible things, like how in 20 years they have formed the most wealthy region of startup and technology (IT, security and bio) enterprises. For sure there are some things to change, and to regret, but I am optimistic about it. Hope to come back some more times and show how this economically flourishing country becomes the flourishing of democracy in Middle East.