 Bluetooth Adventures by Otterman
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Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 23:54:48 +0800 Your heart's desire at Mustafa! I lost my silver Nokia 6210 (sigh!) on a field trip recently and queued up at M1's Paragon shop the same day after seeing the 6210 in the display cabinet. An hour later, some chap taking orders stares blankly when I say I want the 6210. "We don't have it" he finally says. But what about the display. "Oohhh..that, fake display phones". Okay, do other branches have the phone? "You call" he says. "But I lost my phone", I counter. He stares at me at a loss and says, "But I have no phone". I laugh without humour, "This is M1, surely you have phones and can make a call?" He dashes off. Comes back (after calling one branch) to say the 6210 does not exist. "Do you have alternatives? What can I get?". He mentions one model. "Okay," I say resignedly. "I'll get that". "Sorry, it's out of stock." Mentions another model. "Okay, I'll take that". "Sorry, it will only be launched next week at the Change Alley branch." This chap dreams of electric sheep, I think. How about calling Nokia Singapore? He calls one branch, and they say they don't have it. I leave resignedly. It's been just too long a day. I walk across the street to Singtel. They don't have it either. This I figured out without talking to anyone. It simply isn't on display. Else I would have switched providers then and there. A friend in pity, calls a multitude of M1 and Nokia shops. They are not helpful in the least. But finally, success! Mustafa, no less, mind you, has the phone! Made in Germany, with German settings and Dictionary. I have to retrain the phone. Mustafa provides a xeroxed manual in English. What more can you ask for!
Apple Store Singapore delivers in a day I bought the USB Bluetooth adaptor via the internet/Apple Store Singapore on Sunday. On Monday they delivered! Very large box for a very small device. Downloaded bluetooth software from Apple Singapore site and attempted establishing a bluetooth-gprs connection between my nokia 6310 and my iBook. Pairing was fine but...
Rabid customer service/tech support Nokia and M1 were of no help!. They do not offer the particular model of phone in Singapore. A friend had bought a Nokia 6310 in replacement of a lost 6210. My mistake in mentioning it to the customer service operator; the lady went into an endless cycle about how they could not help, and all I wanted to do was to activate GPRS, sigh! All the M1 and Nokia staff I talked to have been hostile and unhelpful. Mind you I was very patient. But they were still rabid and defensive. So interesting, I didn't even get angry. Instead, I wondered why. I did get GPRS activated, figured out teh settings on the phone but was now stumped. What was the APN?
Internet to the rescue - I can now say its easy:
Phonebook software for Bluetooth phones I stumbled upon this in The Macintosh Guy's Bluetooth list: GSM Remote for Mac OS [X], version 1.2 I just uploaded 300+ contacts that have been languishing on my desktop. Used to use Phone Manager via the Nokia data cable and USB Keyspan serial adaptor. Great with the 6210 but having problems with the 6310 for some reason. Peter Koren, the Slovakian who wrote Phone Manager (US$25) has been trying to fix this - we back and forth everyday. It served me well last year, but he cannot duplicate my problem. Might be my cables. Anwyay, Bluetooth to the rescue! Incredibly, I had only to drag and drop my csv file (save phone book data as csv via Excel) onto the window! I regularly coordinate projects that deal with lots of people so the handphone and its numbers are a definite must! Especially with the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore around the corner! I gladly paid up the US$10 shareware! Traud has written an elegant piece of software. It apparently works with other bluetooth-enabled phones, so if you have one, grab this! For that alone, the D-Link has paid for itself! Cheerio! Otterman
GPRS/Bluetooth Happiness --- Hi Guys, Cannot resist. On the CTE in a taxi, after a meeting. And writing to you courtesy bluetooth/GPRS. Yes, you can see I am having fun. The iBook has been quite the conversation point at these presentations I make to schools or at various meetings. And it has been showing up the Fujitsu notebooks recently due to users not knowing about control panel settings. Just wowed the crowd with the machine again. And of course direct internet link for webpages. The iBook has lived up to its plug and play so far with newer lcd projectors. Only the old ones in department give problems. What a pity only the new ones get stolen. Cheerio! Otterman ------ End of Forwarded Message ICCS 2002 - data uploads from the Kranji mangroves!
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