philwilson.org

As I’m frequently reminded by calls asking me to take up a “special offer” the 18 month contract with Orange for my Nokia 6630 expired some time ago so I’ve been trying to work out if I really want a new phone or whether I should just reduce my monthly phone bill by a factor of ten by going pay-as-you-go.

So, things my phone doesn’t do (or do well):

• only 1.3MP camera
• calendar can only set repeating reminders for all days, not just workdays
• can’t search my sms inbox (about 1200 messages) at all – would like to be able to search by author, content, dates etc.
• doesn’t have a standard headphone socket, so never use the MP3 functionality

Some things which I can do:

• use Google Maps Mobile
• use Google Mail Mobile
• “surf” the web
• connect to IM
• play MP3 and OGG files
• sync with Google Calendar
• write and run Python programs
• play Frozen Bubble

the can’t-dos are all reasonably irritating but I’ve not seen a handset other than the N95 (which is only available at extortionate rates, say £700/$1400 a year) which can do what I can do now plus the rest so pay-as-you-go looks like the future.

I’m going to XTech 2007 in Paris this year.

I’ll be trying to attend talks on Jabber, the future of HTML, improving data collaboration and smart ambient devices.

Are you going? Let me know in the comments or drop me an email on phil@philwilson.org (my Jabber server is down at the moment).

From Odeon: when will they learn?:

Let’s make this clear: whoever is in charge of the Odeon website is an utter incompetent. Because of their atrocious booking system this will be my first visit in years. With the thought that I might have to use their website again, it will also be my last for years. If I’d worked on that website I would be absolutely ashamed of myself.

Florence is lovely. And also horrible. During the week day mornings the air is thick with the smog from all the scooters; later it clears and you can see the oldest art gallery in the world.

After you’ve been marvelling at one of Italy’s great cathedrals you walk past rows of buildings daubed with graffiti.

Of the hundreds of photos I took with my shiny new 7.2 megapixel camera, I have a Flickr set containing eleven of them.