All,
for many years my Saturday's have been at least partially occupied by
our childrens' sports activities and in the springtime that means either
soccer (aka football) or lacrosse. Today was no different except that I
forgot to bring my FM radio + earbuds to listen while watching the
contest. Actually what happened was that I got the "bums rush" from my
daughter who would not tolerate my going back in the house to get one
more item that I had forgotten because we were pushing the limit
timewise. My first thought was, hey, no problem, I can use the FM tuner
on my N800 which I DID bring along as well as my mobile phone. But the
flaw in that strategy, I then realized was: no earbuds, therefore no
antenna, therefore no FM. Bummer. The I realized, wait a minute, I
could use my N800 tethered to my mobile phone's EVDO service as a packet
radio. In the U.S. most of the larger market public radio stations also
have a Internet feed and sure enough the feed for my favorite station
came through loud and clear through the semi-cheesy N800 speakers (how
good can tiny speakers be?) with a volume and clarity sufficient to
overcome the ambient background noise one would expect at an event like
this.
Now this experience while satisfying was not perfect. Here are the
problems I experienced:
1. As anyone working with these kinds of devices knows, with strong
daylight it is almost impossible to navigate a screen menu. This is
true for my mobile phone as well as the N800. I don't know if there
is a solution for this problem. Sometimes you have to guess from
memory where the correct checkbox/icon is located.
2. I dropped the N800 a few times on the grass/dirt and that
experience reminded me how absurd it is that Nokia has, as far as I
can tell, STILL has not released the leather case that they show at
their www site and that would provide better protection for the
device while it is in use.
Of course the bandwidth required for Internet/packet radio does not
really push the limits of a service like EVDO or HSDPA which explains
why during an hour of listening I did not perceive any dropouts. On the
other hand I have no idea of how many other people in the vicinity were
also contending for EVDO bandwidth. Each season I notice a growing
proportion of individuals at these events who have some kind of
smartphone, typified by the RIM Blackberry.
--
Best Regards,
John Holmblad
Acadia Secure Networks
* *
*would** you like to know where is Darren on his thru-hike?
you can find out at: www.whereisdarren.com***
* ***
