Surfing the digital brickspace

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Some thoughts on the geoweb, smartphones etc. I have had a carrier-branded Samsung Omnia phone for a few months, but I have not been really in love with the device since a few days ago when I decided to unlock and debrand it. Most carriers offer discounted phones under some sort of fidelity program and after a) locking the phone to make it unusable with other carriers and b) branding the phone with logos, links to their own services etc. This seems to make some business sense from their point of view, but it doesn’t: we consumers don’t like it, and today a provider ina consumer market should be very careful not to annoy consumers too much. Anyone with some time and patience can unlock a modern smartphone. For example, to unlock a Vodafone Spain Samsung Omnia i900 follow these instructions (look in the comment thread) and use 214018 as MCC/MNC. Some keywords to find this post: Samsung Omnia Vodafone Spain España unlock desbloqueo desbloquear liberar.

Now, de-branding: remove the carrier branding and restore useful features of the phone that the carrier may have chosen to disable: Just follow the instructions here. Careful: following the procedure requires some time and skill, and there is the risk of killing (“bricking”) the phone.

My phone works much better now, with the unbranded DXHH3 firmware. I could upgrade to a more recent version, but this one works well enough. In the unbranded version, the GPS receiver works very well with Google Maps, which is a real killer app. The GPS feature did not work in the branded version—probably the carrier had disabled it to sell their own alternative services. Massage to all carriers: add logos and links if you must, and lock phones if you must (it is easy to unlock them anyway) but don’t disable useful features: we consumers will not accept it.

So now I am happily using my Omnia with GPS to surf the brickspace in Nice. On a related note, I am planning a move and the Street View feature of Google Maps is really a godsend, I don’t know how I could plan my last move without it. If your Internet connection is fast enough you can literally walk in a city where you have never been.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 05/20 at 07:05 AM

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