A cell phone that says it all

According to this textually.org post, there’s a new Nokia cell phone that can turn any text on a photograph into a readable format. Say you take a picture of a menu with the cell phone; the phone can then read the items listed on the menu back to you. Uses for the application are geared toward those who are visually impaired. It’s a kind of cool application that I’m sure we’ll see more uses for in the future.

Deal of the Week

What is it? The Nokia 6126, a model that we recommend for anyone who asks, “What’s the best basic cell phone?” It has its fair share of features: a memory card slot, a 1-megapixel camera, and it even plays MP3s. But it’s also got a nice, large color screen inside and out, good-size keys, and it’s slim. The handy rubberized coating around the top of the flip helps prevent it from slipping out of your hand, and there’s an ultra-cool button on the hinge that you can press to flip it open à la Star Trek.

How much? Free with a new service plan, plus you make $100 after mail-in rebates. We’re even including a free Nokia BH-200 Bluetooth headset.

Why is it such a good deal? We wanted to give this Nokia cell phone a little more attention to help it stand out in the crowd. If you want a similar deal for T-Mobile service instead, we’re offering the same deal on its sister phone, the Nokia 6133. Check it out.

Steps for making a Bluetooth connection

In this installment of Questions and Answers, we tackle questions about Bluetooth. Got a question you want answered? Submit your question here. Got something to add to the answers below? Leave a comment.

How do I set up my Samsung WEP 500 Bluetooth headset? – Joyce

We checked in directly with Samsung to get you the correct answer to your question. Here’s the scoop:

The WEP500 is compatible with most Bluetooth phones (version 1.1 or higher – which are most cell phones on the market). To pair your Bluetooth phone with the WEP 500, follow these steps:

1. Ensure that the headset is off.

2. Press and hold the multifunction button until the blue indicator light stays on after blinking.
3. Set your Bluetooth phone to discover the headset by following your cell phone’s user guide. Typically, the steps involve going to a Settings, Connection, or Bluetooth menu on your phone, then selecting the option to discover Bluetooth devices.
4. Your cell phone will find the Samsung WEP500 headset and ask if you want to pair with it. Confirm this by pressing the Yes or OK key.
5. Enter a passkey or PIN, 0000, then press the Yes or OK key.

If pairing was successful, the indicator light will flash in blue 10 times rapidly before flashing every 3 seconds. If unsuccessful, the light remains on, and you will need to re-attempt pairing.

I just bought a new Prius and want to know if there are any special Bluetooth cell phones required or do all of them work? – Alimental

Actually, most Bluetooth-enabled cell phones should work with the Toyota Prius. Just to make sure the phone you have will connect with your car, check out Toyota’s Bluetooth compatibility site. If you already have a cell phone that will work with your car, you can download a Bluetooth user guide from Toyota’s site to help you make the connection.

Cell phones in action at CES

I went to CES this year armed with three cell phones: the Motorola Q9m, the Nokia N95 8GB, and the Samsung SCH-u900 FlipShot. While I was on the road, I also decided to test out a cell phone application on the Q9m called PocketExpress, which is chock-full of good stuff for travelers, but more on that later.

First, why the three cell phones? Well, I’ve been to CES quite a few times, and it has always been my experience that you should have a backup phone from a different carrier. Quite simply, because there are so many people in Vegas using their phones and sending messages simultaneously, you can’t always get through.

Second, camera phones have comes a long way, and I thought this was a great time to let readers see for themselves just how well or how poorly these camera phones performed.

Third, as a veteran cell phone reviewer, I really like to see how much easier or harder the newer technology makes my life and if I really will use it. Although I know I could have used one phone for all my purposes, it’s more fun to have multiple products on hand. So here’s my take on all four products I used:

Motorola Q9m Music: This is the phone I decided to use as my main cell phone at the show, where I received messages and calls. On this front, the Q9 worked really well for me. Once I manually set the phone to save messages I sent, texting was a breeze. I even chuckled quite a bit at some of the predictions the phone made for me as I typed out texts. For example, it often suggested “surfing” when I would enter the letter “s.” On the other hand, it did manage to learn and predict common phrases I use, which made sending messages much easier – especially since the keyboard is a bit cramped, so typing is a bit sluggish. One thing I didn’t like, however, was that I couldn’t get a time stamp on any of the messages, a feature that comes in handy in a city like Vegas where people are up all hours of the night.

The other reason I decided to use the Q9 as my main phone was because I could sync it easily with my desktop Outlook calendar. This is the first year that I didn’t have a paper backup with me, and on this count, the cell phone did not let me down. On the other hand, I did have to charge it nightly, and a couple of times, the Q9 petered out before I had a chance to recharge it. Thankfully, I had other modes of communication available to me.

Samsung SCH-u900 FlipShot: This cell phone sports a 3-megapixel camera, and like its predecessor the Samsung a990, the FlipShot has a swiveling display, so it folds into a camera mode. I used this camera phone set at the highest resolution, so I did have to resize photos before posting them on our blog. Overall, I really liked that when I turned the display around, the screen automatically went into horizontal mode and launched the camera. There was one issue that worried me, which was that it doesn’t have an external memory option, so I wasn’t sure how many photos I could take and how to get the pictures off the phone in case service was spotty. Luckily, I could easily store a ton of photos at the highest resolution, so memory wasn’t an issue. As for setting pictures free, it wasn’t a problem at all. I was able to email the pictures to myself in seconds, and I should note I was impressed at how quickly I received the photos in my inbox – literally with in a minute of hitting Send. To speed up the process, I just entered myself as a contact with only my e-mail address; this way, I didn’t have to keep selecting where to send the picture: cell phone number or email address.

What was my favorite part of using the FlipShot? The battery life, I rarely had to charge it, and when I did, it charged fast. This turned out to be my backup phone for calls and messages. I didn’t leave the hotel without it.

Nokia N95 8GB: It’s pretty obvious why I had this cell phone with me: the 5-megapixel camera and all that memory, which by the way rocks. Although this version doesn’t have the zoom found on the original Nokia N95, I’m not a photographer, and the autofocus and preset settings worked just fine for my purposes (a trick I learned from our “How to take a Better Picture with your Camera Phone” story). The other reason I brought it is I knew that if for some reason the T-Mobile service I was using with it had any problems, I could always connect to the free Wi-Fi service at the convention center and use that to send the photos to my computer for posting. Fortunately, the T-Mobile service worked much better than the Wi-Fi, and I received pictures in minutes. Also, I particularly appreciated that I didn’t have to resize any of the photos in order to post them on the blog, so what you see is what you get, though I didn’t take the pictures at the highest resolution.

PocketExpress: Finally, this is the last product I tried. Basically, it’s a mobile portal where many of the applications and services available are free to use. Sure, you can get some of the information from the mobile Web page provided by your carrier, but this is formatted better (everything is a click away), it’s not too graphics-heavy (pages load quickly and are formatted to fit the small screen), and it has useful features for travelers, which is what initially appealed to me.

In order to get the service, simply go to the Pocket Express Web site and enter your cell phone number; the application is sent to your phone via text message. Once you receive the message, it automatically installs on your phone a click later. Then you get a message letting you know where it is stored on your phone so that you can access it or make changes to it. Essentially, it’s pretty easy to use.

What I liked best about it is that in addition to 411 information, it supports multiple weather forecasts that are updated as frequently or as infrequently as you want. (Read: If you have an unlimited data plan, let it update frequently; if you’re paying for data by the megabyte, choose to update manually when you need it.) It’s a nice feature if you’re traveling out of town.

It also has flight status information, so I could check the status of my flight without even knowing my flight number. Granted, this takes a bit longer to get to the pertinent info, but the point is I was able to get the info I needed without a lot of details necessary on my end.

There’s also news, sports, stocks, and entertainment. It also has maps, but I wasn’t going anywhere I needed directions, so I can’t really comment on that feature. I do know it gave me the information I needed with little effort on my part and had enough extras to keep me entertained when I was bored on the road and looking to my cell phone for a distraction.

Deal of the Week

What is it? The Samsung A437 is a lightweight flip phone that you can use around the globe. While it doesn’t sport a ton of extra features found in cell phones these days, it does have a 1.3-megapixel camera and the ability to check e-mail, as well as send/receive instant messages (IMs).

How much? When purchased with a two-year AT&T plan, you get $100 back with rebates.

Why is it such a good deal? This is a solid, feature-rich cell phone that we got a great deal on that we want to pass on to our customers. Plus, you can have your pick of any one of three colors: gold, grey, or red.

Know what’s going on at the Sundance Film Festival? Your Verizon cell phone does

Filmmakers have headed to Park City, UT, this week to attend the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. But you don’t have to be left out. If you have a Verizon Wireless cell phone, you can view Sundance shorts and get news updates from the festival.

So how do you get it? Well, if you have a VCast-enabled cell phone and $15 VPak monthly subscription, you already have it. Don’t have the VPak plan? No worries, for $3, you can access the same service for 24 hours of use.

BlackBerry’s mascot makes an appearance

There’s always a lot going on at the booths at CES, but we particularly appreciated the appearance of the BlackBerry mascot being on hand to take photos with anyone passing by. It doesn’t say much, but it sure is friendly. Check it out:

(Note: Photo taken with the Nokia N95.)

Answers to questions about prepaid plans

In this installment of Questions and Answers, we tackle questions about prepaid plans. Got a question you want answered? Submit your question here. Got something to add to the answers below? Leave a comment.

How do I get a network on my T-Mobile prepaid Samsung cell phone? I want to be able to send and receive picture mail and download ringtones. – Becey

So long as your T-Mobile Samsung cell phone has a prepaid SIM card inserted with available balance for making calls, you should have no problem downloading ringtones and getting picture mail. In order to download ringtones on the Samsung cell phone, just click on the T-zones area icon in the main menu and you should be able to listen to and purchase ringtones there. You can also create your own ringtone at ToneMine for free and send it to your cell phone (You will have to pay the standard text message fee, however, when you receive it.)

As for sending/receiving pictures, so long as your cell phone supports multimedia messaging (MMS) and has a camera, you should have no problem accomplishing this task. However, since you can’t purchase a text messaging plan, you’ll pay 25 cents each time you send and receive a picture message. In order to send a message from your prepaid camera phone, simply select the picture you want to send and choose Options. There will be a selection for Send; choose that and follow the directions from there.

Can you get the $15 or $5 text plan with a prepaid Verizon cell phone? – Merlemattia

Unfortunately, you can not purchase a text messaging bundle with a prepaid Verizon Wireless cell phone. If you do want to save some money on messages, select an INpulse power plan, which gets text messages down to about 2 cents each.

Motorola unveils new multimedia cell phones

Motorola unveiled the next generation of the Rokr, the E8. It looks a lot like the Slvr but with a glass face. As you might guess, the Rokr E8 is all about the music, it comes with 2GB of internal memory so that you can store well over 200 songs on it and works with Windows Media Player (so that you can upload songs to the cell phone from your computer). More importantly, it has a 3.5mm headset jack, so you can use existing stereo headphones that you might use for an MP3 player with it to listen to music. This cell phone is expected to be available by April of this year.

Motorola Rokr E8

Next up is the Motorola Z10, which is all about the video experience. While the cell phone might look like it has a touchscreen, it doesn’t, but it is a pretty sharp display. This cell phone is HSDPA compatible, so it supports high-speed data (DSL speeds or better), which will be important if you want to upload the video you snap with the 3.2-megapixel camera/video camera to YouTube. In addition to shooting video, you can also edit what you have and even add a soundtrack using songs you have stored on the cell phone. Since the Z10 is all about the video, the cell phone will accept up to a 32GB microSD card (a card with this capacity is probably not too far off since SanDisk just announced at the show a 12GB MicroSD card).

Motorola Z10

Nokia goes green

Nokia also showed off the 3110 green phone. No, it’s not actually green, but a lot about it is environmentally friendly, including the biodegradable packaging, which is smaller than many cell phone boxes. So what’s so environmentally friendly about the 3110? Well, about 50 percent of the cell phone’s shell is made from renewable material (plants and other natural items). It also comes with a charger that uses 94 percent less energy than Energy Star requirements dictate.

Note: Photo taken with the Nokia N95.