Motorola MOTOROKR S9

So I stopped in my local T-Mobile store the other day to fix a small account issue (I ended up with a month of free service too!) and saw that they had dropped the prices on some of their Bluetooth headsets. I've been wanting a stereo Bluetooth headset for my Nokia 5300 for a while, but didn't want to drop almost a hundred bucks on one. They had the S9 on sale for $49.99 and I jumped all over it. I have to say, I was quite surprised; it completely surpassed what I had expected. It looks a bit uncomfortable, especially when you're handling it, but once on your head, you almost forget about it after a while (as you should with any headset, in my opinion). The "earbuds" aren't actually earbuds as they're designed to sit right over the ear canal, but with the right sized bud covers (three sizes are included), they deliver pretty good sound. Not necessarily thumping bass, but it's loud and clear, with decent low ranges. It's actually just if good, if not better, than my canal-phones sound when connected to the headset port (via the included adapter). This tells me the lack of deep low ranges is more a limitation of the phone's output than the headphones. The right side has the music controls while the left contains call controls and volume. While music plays from both sides, calls are only heard on the left side, which takes some getting used to if you're used to a single headset on the right side. I have no clue where the microphone is, but I have yet to have any complaint from callers about being able to hear me. They're rated at about 6 hours of music-time and 8 hours of talk-time, though I haven't pushed those envelopes. They're a great buy at $50 if you're lookin' for some wireless stereo headphones.

*It should be noted that Motorola has recently released the S9-HD with SRS-WOW technology, which I'm sure is the reason for the price drop. They are exactly the same design, just with enhanced sound.

.Mac and iLife Integration/Google Apps

So I bit the bullet and sprung for a .Mac account for my photography site. I had been using the .Mac trial for the past 60 days to back up settings and host a small gallery, so I knew what I was buying into. And I have to say, I'm very happy with it. iWeb is a great, simple, and fast program for building a website, and with 1-button publishing, updating my site couldn't be easier. With iPhoto, I can create any number of slick looking galleries (anyone seen the cool Carousel gallery feature?) and keep them free-standing, integrate them into my site (via iWeb), or even create users/passwords for individuals to access private galleries. I can do the same thing through Aperture for my professional photography (I manage my personal pictures through iPhoto and professional ones through Aperture). This feature will be great when I launch my photography company. I'll be able to go to an event with cards that have a generic username and password and pass that out so people can access the event's pictures. Or, I can take e-mail addresses and send out specific usernames/passwords to each person so they can see only their own pictures. It's all so simple to do, super-fast with 1-click uploading, and the results look great! Add to that, you can use your own domain name for your .Mac site, and it's suddenly very professional too. I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface of what I can do with iLife and .Mac; I can't wait to see what else is in store as I dig deeper!

Google Apps is something I've been playing around with for a while now (in fact, I purchased my domain with GoDaddy through them), and it's been indispensable. I have Gmail with my own domain name (which forwards a copy of every email to my cell phone instantly), a nice looking start page, and an online calendar (synced with iCal via Spanning Sync). Not to mention, Google Docs, if I ever need 'em. I have all this (plus this blog) under one roof because .Mac doesn't take full control of the domain, just the 'www' CNAME. It's been a long time since I've worked on DNS side of building a website, so this is all (re)new to me, and I love it. The last site I had built was hosted by the registrar, and I couldn't change anything to use stuff outside of my own site. Being able to have the best of several different worlds under one domain is wonderful!

Booyah, T-Mobile!

So I got around T-Mobile's crippling of the Nokia 5300! I can now use Salling Clicker, Opera Mini, Google Maps, and whatever other programs I want without the connectivity being blocked. I hacked the phone's serial number (not IMEI) using NSS and ran the Nokia Software Update (through VMWare Fusion) and now I'm running a "generic" 5300. Debranding the phone unlocked plenty of little gems for me; EDGE now works at full speed, T-Mobile was hiding an e-mail client (along with other programs), and there were quite a few settings locked out that I can access now. Oh, and reception is way better now too; it also unlocked extended roaming capabilities (ie. not blocking AT&T access in certain areas). The downside? Um... Well, I can't access MyFaves on the phone, but I can manage those online, so no biggie. Now, if I can just get the e-mail client to finish synchronizing, I'll be pretty damn happy! lol

For the brave, check this link for instructions. Just be sure to read and have an understanding before diving in. And understand that you will be voiding your warranty with T-Mobile.

T-Mobile and the Nokia 5300

I recently switched to T-Mobile because of their awesome FlexPay system. Basically, you prepay for service, but you sign a 2 year contract and get all the post-paid plans and options. Not to mention the sweet discount on the phone for signing a contract. This option is wonderful for my fiance and I, both of whom have exes who killed our credit. If you're on pre-paid or don't want to pay a high deposit (if your credit isn't that great) for cell phone service, give it a bit of research. It seems like a "too good to be true" option, but I assure you, it is real.

At any rate, I went with the Nokia 5300 XpressMusic slider phone. The phone itself is great; dedicated music shortcut keys on the side, a really smooth, spring assisted slide, a ton of customization options, and, most importantly, full Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR. I've already created a Leopard theme for it, and I'm loving everything about it. The sound is loud and clear through the speaker; I'm almost scared to use the ringer at full volume because it's so loud! At the highest volume, music is a bit distorted, but it's so loud that you'd rarely need to have it that high. Nokia did include a nice little headphone/speaker adapter that takes the 2.5mm headset jack and converts it to a 3.5mm audio jack. While T-Mobile hasn't launched their 3G network yet, this phone does have EDGE, and it's surprisingly fast. I had an EDGE phone (Nokia 6230) with Cingular a few years back, and I swear it wasn't this fast. I can start up the browser and load Weather.com faster than my fiance can get the page to load in a pre-existing browser window on her laptop. Yes, the pages are optimized for it, but it's pretty damn fast! I just wish I could use Opera Mini with it (see next paragraph). The camera is okay; it's 1.3 MP with no flash, and it takes pretty decent pictures in the sunlight, but get it under any kind of dark lighting and it gets really grainy, really fast. I like having it there for snapshots, but it hardly puts a dent in my real camera use. lol Battery life is lacking (I need to charge every night), but I also use it A LOT. I listen to music and browse the web constantly, so I'm probably the heaviest load this battery is designed for. lol Reception has been excellent so far; I've been in a few places way out in the country where I've dropped signal, but I expected that. The memory card can be acccessed by using a USB cable to connect the phone with the computer. Upon plugging it in, the phone gives 3 options: Nokia Mode (for use with Nokia PC Suite for Windows), Music Sync (puts the phone in MTP mode for WMP11), or Data Storage. Data Storage is compatible with Mac, so that's what I use. Under Windows, both Nokia Mode and Music Sync work flawlessly (I have VMWare Fusion to run Windows). Bluetooth access is also complete, allowing for file transfers and data syncing. That being said, I had to hack iSync to add support for the 5300, but it works very fast over the Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR now. You can also use a customizable "Active Standby" screen in place of the the blank home screen that shows you what music is playing, today's calendar entries, and a customizable Shortcut Bar. This screen is great, and was honestly a selling point for me on the phone. I keep all my photography and sales appointments, along with my school assignments, in iSync, so after syncing it with the phone, these show on the main screen.

There is one glaring issue: T-Mobile blocks, through the firmware, blocks "unauthorized" 3rd party apps from using any data connectivity. That means no Opera Mini, Google Maps, or even Salling Clicker. I've gotten used to it now, but it was really disappointing at first. I was really looking forward to trying out the location ability with the new Google Maps, and I've always loved using Opera Mini and Salling Clicker (the firmware won't let an "unauthorised" 3rd party apps access Bluetooth properly). T-Mobile also blocks some SMS short codes, so I can't Twitter through text, but I can get at it through the WAP page. One last gripe: it only supports up to 2 GB MicroSD cards (beyond that, the cards are MicroSDHC). MicroSDHC support can apparently be added by a firmware update, so I'm hoping that it'll come down the pipeline soon.

Overall, the 5300 is a great phone. Good reception, awesome music controls, loud sound, and a great physical interface (smooth slider and easy-to-find-by-touch keys). It has a few flaws, but what phone doesn't? For high end users, it might not be enough, but for music lovers, it's a great phone.

SteerMouse

SteerMouse is a great program that has really enhanced Leopard for me.  I was pondering getting a Mighty Mouse to replace my wireless mouse as it had extra customizable buttons, but this program completely changed my mind.  I use a Logitech MX700 wireless mouse and I've been a bit disappointed that I couldn't use the forward and back buttons for anything in Mac OS X.  Logitech doesn't support the MX710 keyboard/mouse combo in Mac, so I thought I was out of luck.  The other day, I remembered that I had used a program in the past to customize my mouse with my PowerBook; upon some research, I came across SteerMouse.  

I decided to give it a go, and I imediately fell in love.  Not only can I finally customize all my buttons, but it's given Spaces an entirely new functionality for me.  I use the forward and back keys to switch between my 3 Spaces (Internet, Art, School) effortlessly now, which has sped up my productivity amazingly.  Now I can switch between Word, PhotoShop, and Safari with two little clicks.  Yes, there are keyboard shortcuts (which are actually what I mapped to the mouse keys), but when I'm working with my mouse already in PhotoShop or Photo Professional, it works MUCH better.

Not only does it work, but it works so well, I don't think I'll ever drop the money on a Mighty Mouse now.  But, if I do, SteerMouse supports it as well, taking it beyond the functionality of Apple's software.  If you're a Mac user with  "Designed for Windows" mouse, give SteerMouse a go for the 30 day trial.  I was so impressed that I had no hesitations paying for it when the trial was up.