Paul Shadwell RTFM

My new iPhone

Yes, I finally have one, brought over by a colleague from the US. I was within a couple of hours, able to find out via Google where I needed to get the latest info for unlocking the phone.
Having already managed to get 3rd party apps working on my iPod Touch, I was confident that unlocking the iPhone was not going to be a problem either. I was right. I found an excellent website that had very easy instructions and within minutes my iPhone was unlocked and working with my Swiss Orange SIM.

There was one thing I had to do beyond what the instructions gave me and that was to enter the APN name for EDGE to work properly. In case you didn't know, just go to Settings>General>Network>EDGE and enter internet as the APN. Leave the username and password fields empty. That did the trick!

You can find the instructions I used at www.hacktheiphone.com

The phone came with firmware version 1.1.1 and this is a prime candidate for unlocking. Over the weekend 1.1.2 was released, I installed it on my iPod Touch and immediately lost the 3rd party apps and at the moment there is no solution for getting them back. So for the time being I am not going to upgrade the iPhone.

New unlimited USB modem from Swisscom.

Wed 14/11/2007 21:06

Testing the modem on the train. Signal strength was very good overall performance was much better than the PC card version. It is also the longest time I've been on UMTS for any length me time. Usually I get switched to EDGE or worse and get lots of dropouts signal drops. Not with this device. Probably the strategic position helps. I was able to wedge it into the aircon ducts below the window no this Swiss double decker train.

Drinking the coolaide

When you become a Microsoft Partner now they supply this Office Ready Energy drink. So you quite literally end up drinking Microsoft's "coolaide".

Swisscom management seen using iPhone

This is an article lifted and translated from the Nueu Zurcher Zeitung, the Zurich Daily Newspaper.

Swisscom-Management makes calls with an iPhone
What this country can only dream about, is already reality for the management of  Swisscom. The word here is iPhone. A small team is currently testing the Apple iPhone, to make sure that the network is iPhone ready. It is highly  probable that Swisscom will add Apple's iPhone to its range of supplied mobile phones.

"correct, Mr. Schloter telephoned with an iPhone." Swisscom speaker Carsten Roetz confirms on-line that the person shown in the customer magazine "Dialogue" is the boss of the Swisscom, Carsten Schloter. "Along with Mr. Schloter, selected Swisscom managers ordered iPhones for testing purposes", Mr. Roetz says. The devices originated from the USA and were configured with an AT&T SIM.

This continues to heat up the speculation over who will supply the iPhone in Switzerland.

Best Sales Locations
When choosing contracting parties, it is not surprising that Apple picked the former national Telecom company. Their offer would always be considered the best solution. Probably not least because the company has the best sales locations and the closest customer relationships.

In addition, the technical possibilities might play an important role with the assignment of the trading licence. That Apple iPhone uses an enhancement to the GSM standard based on EDGE. Swisscom is, according to it's own data, the only supplier in Switzerland, which the population can expect good coverage with this service. "net-technically we are ready", says Roetz.

In Germany the Telekom company T-Mobile starts this weekend with sales of the iPhone; in France the devices will go to Orange, a subsidiary of France Telecom, starting from 29th of November.

Not before the end of 2007
However, Apple Switzerland communicated with NZZ on-line, don't expect the iPhone to be on sale before the end of 2007.

The original article can be found here.

O2's unlimited really means unlimited.

There will be no data download limit for iPhone users on the UK's O2 network.

Read more here.

O2's story regarding the iPhone deal in the UK

Interesting article in the Telegraph.

Matthew Key opens door to iPhone in the UK

Apple's choice of O2 as a network partner followed a weekend call saying 'be in California on Tuesday', writes Dominic White

Just before eight on a wet Saturday in June, Matthew Key woke up with a start – the mobile phone on his bedside table was ringing. more...

Dell Tablet delayed.

Seems that the hope of a Dell tablet PC making it's way onto the market before the end of the year is fading.
Having spoken to my account manager at Dell today, she passed on the information that product manager said that the Dell Tablet PC will not be available till some time in the new year. Pretty vague I know. However, she did let slip that there are some key customers that have access to some early RTM models. Unfortunately, not being a large key customer (despite my protests) I am not able to get hold of one for review.
Let's see what happens with this one, in the meantime I'll key my eyes open for anymore news on this front.

iPhones soon in the UK.

While watching the Gadget Show on Channel 5 on UK TV, in the ad breaks new UK iPhone adverts were being shown. Launch date is this Friday (9th of November 2007). You lucky lot.
We are still waiting to find out when the iPhone will be appearing in Switzerland. At the Apple store in Zurich (aka Quest) they said that it will most likely be sometime next year. Not even ready for Christmas!

In the meantime, have you seen the TV series Journeyman? He uses an iPhone. He has to revert to an old 80s style phone though when he jumps back in time.

Proud owner of a MacBook Pro

Yep!! you guessed it, now I have 2 Macs. Having just last week bought a new MacBook Pro 15" with 4Gb of memory.
Incidentally, if you are thinking of the MacBook Pro, buy it with 2Gb and then upgrade it yourself. It's very easy as the memory DIMM sockets are situated by the battery and can be accessed by undoing 3 screws and lifting the small panel away. I was charged 3 times the price of 2Gb  buy buying it already installed.
Hopefully someone else will save money from my mistake.