Alex's space

Twidroid / Twitter on Android

short mention, but have been testing a HTC Magic – Android device for a while now and very much like Twidroid it is one of the best twitter clients I have used to date.

by the same token in comparison to iPhone and BlackBerry the Facebook clients I have tested so far do not live up to much.

(will be writing a better Android / HTC Magic post soon – in the mean time I have moved back to my 1st generation iPhone)!

Issues with unlocking a BlackBerry

I have noticed in the comments on this site and generally when speaking to people that there is a little confusion over the unlocking process.

Specifically – why does my email / internet browsing stop working after an unlock ?

For a BlackBerry to work properly and receive push email it needs to be connected to either a BIS service (from your mobile network operator) or a BES service from your company.

(Article explaining the difference between BIS and BES)

Effectively for both variants the mobile network operator needs to be ‘aware’ to route emails (and other internet traffic) from and to your BlackBerry via the RIM (BlackBerry) routers out there on the internet.

So when you buy your BlackBerry you will have probably bought it with a BIS or BES service from your mobile network operator, when you unlock your BlackBerry to put another sim in from your chosen new mobile network operator – for example a PAYG sim in a country you are visiting – you will not typically have the BIS or BES service on that sim card so your email will not work.

If the new sim has BIS on it and you had a BIS sim before then it will work, and the same BES / BES (we have tested this many times).

If you still want to unlock your BlackBerry then instructions can be found in this aticle and this one specifically for the BlackBerry Storm

An unlocked BlackBerry with out the BIS or BES service will still work for normal mobile services such as calling / sms etc

Mobbu and Ribot together in perfect harmony

side by side …

well actually we are moving in together, its been a brief courtship but we reckon we can make a go of it sharing an office and hoping to become a hub of mobile goodness!

lovely drawing by Jerome Ribot on their site

Iphone seemingly on sale in france (unlocked) at 229Euros!

as far as I am aware they have to sell the Iphone in France with a “totally unlocked” version to comply with French Law.

I have tasked my mother to investigate in the past but unfortunately (as is the case in most mobile phone shops around the place) they were less than helpful when she asked specifically for the totally unlocked one. I can not see a way of buying it on the Orange.fr website and anyone with any ideas …. let me know!

finally the 16GB (or French GO)! version in Black is 705 Euros unlocked, today when browsing i saw the white 16GB at 229 Euros unlocked! this must be a mistake surely ? if not then it has to be the best bargain in town!

Update seems like it was a mistake as it is now back to 709 Euros unlocked – that was quick.

Ribot - iPhone site

the Ribot have recently updated their site with an iPhone specific version, mainly because it is nice to do so!

iPhone specific stuff includes contact tel / email that just works and a nice bit of iPhone / Googlemaps integration to show us all where they are.

the iPhone specific site is here and you can read all about why, here