My new Samsung D600!

Finally I migrated from my year-and-half old Sony Ericsson K700 to Samsung D600!! Its been a well thought out decision after a lot of deliberations. I also found a website wherein you get amazing reviews of mobile phones(www.mobile-review.com)!

Yet, even after careful selection I found some drawbacks and its just the second day of using it! I guess every good thing also has a little scope for improvement!!

Migrating to D600
I found it extremely difficult to migrate my contacts from Sony Ericsson K700 to D600. I did not have the data cable for K700 did not help the matter. However, I used the Send all option from contact menu of K700 and selected via bluetooth. The D600 received the whole transmission yet only showed one contact in the address book. I eventually had to transfer all my contacts one-by-one! (I know using a computer things would have been simpler but the fact is sending entire address book did not work in D600)

Short service "SMS"
In D600, I cannot choose the default storage for SMS messages. It directly comes into SIM. There is also no option to backup the SMS into the memory card. Also try saving the number from whom you receive an SMS into one of the existing contacts. You cant do it!!! ( I usually get SMS from people saying "This is my new number" rather than getting a vcard!) Life is going to be hell!!

Where are the "Text Notes"
Thirdly, there should have been option for text notes (not those included in the calender but simple stand-alone text notes).

"Menu"s in context
The menus do not change according to context. For example, if I am typing an SMS, the left soft key shows "options" where I click to reach send. However, ideally send should have appeared as the soft key option and options should have come at the right soft key. The right soft key shows "back" which deletes the message if you are not careful.

Samsung does not believe in taking the "Short Cut"
You cannot assign all menu options to the shortcuts. The options are restricted and rest of the menu are out of bounds!!

Cannot fly without a "Flight mode"
Lastly, an executive phone that does not have a "airplane mode" or "flight mode" is hard to believe. They should have included it on D600. Of course Mobile-review team has mentioned this in their review but this is something what I call a must have!

MP3 Player, No radio!!

Where is the radio? With a phone equipped with good quality sound the lack of radio is a disappointment.

In sum...
So there it is the list of some of the drawbacks of what basically is a "potentially" great phone. There are loads of features like TV out and great camera and a lot more. I am hoping they have sorted these things out in the next edition D800 slim slider phone! For more on D600 / D800 and other mobile phones visit www.mobile-review.com!

Mobile Devices - The New Business Model

Currently almost all the "valuable" functionality of the mobile phone is derived from connecting with the network. Almost all business models are based around this central theme and already there is a lot of clutter in this space. However there is a lot of space for innovative business models to exploit inter-device interactions. The next stage of development of mobile devices will be in exploitation of the inter-device interaction.

The "Close-By" opportunity
One serious impediment for exploitation of mobile services is the lack of location tracking at close range. At the most a phone can be tracked to the nearest tower. Lets imagine if it were possible to track a phone right down to within 5-10 meters. We all know Bluetooth can enable this very effectively.

The stumbling block
First constraint is that people switch off their bluetooth communications. Can one overcome this constraint? Of course, if offers are flashed only on bluetooth then people will switch on their bluetooth.
Second is privacy. People will not welcome spam on their mobile devices. Frankly the messages one gets while roaming are extremely irritating.
Third is security. Why will I enable my bluetooth connections for others to send messages to me? Will it mean I will be exposed to Viruses or any other threats?

The Bright Idea
To avoid this advertisers need to place constraints on themselves. These could be enforced technologically too. Like for example imagine a program, a bluetooth message trasmitter server and a receiver client, that makes sure the messages are customised and welcome. How?
Imagine the "client program" has options that let me choose the products for which I want offers. The "server program" knows and only sends me those offers that I have asked for!! This "client program" can be freely distributable with mobile phones (just like our dear Adobe Acrobat). The "server program" will be bought by local advertisers (shops, malls, bus service providers etc) and telecom companies will run them. We all know that the "client Program" can be configured to be independant accepting only from "known" "server programs" thus eliminating security threats.

In sum...
I think this means my mobile experience will be much more valuable, there will be additional revenue for Telecom service providers, and local advertisers will have lower advertising cost enabling highly targetted advertising. Wont it make a better world? What Say?