Spring cleaning and I find this draft post. It’s time to publish (though many months delayed). Publishing as is … activate! ….

We’re up!

Until 2008, Facebook’s SMS service was available only within US and Canada.
This year, Facebook opened up the service to other countries.
The Philippines can now avail of Facebook’s Mobile SMS service.

I’ve been testing the service since last week. I find it highly streamlined and intelligent. The available commands, the follow-up replies and the control of how much/little you want are very well thought out. I like how the service makes the next logical transaction easily available for the user.

Facebook Mobile SMS

In this article, I’ll give you a quick guide on Facebook Mobile SMS:

• how to register for Facebook Mobile SMS
• Facebook Mobile SMS commands and online demo by Facebook

Register for Facebook Mobile SMS

While logged-in at Facebook, go to:

Settings > Account Settings > Mobile

Enter your mobile number and select carrier (Philippines > Smart) .

You will receive an SMS confirmation message to make sure the facebook account user is the same as the mobile subscribers. Follow instructions to complete the registration.

Facebook Mobile SMS Registration

Edit Mobile SMS Settings

To control the type of alerts and messages you want to receive, go to “Edit Mobile Settings“  (https://register.facebook.com/mobile/?settings=1) .

• Make sure you select “Texts are ON”
• Select what kind of info you wan to receive
• Select whose status updates you want to receive
• select other settings, then click “Save Preferences”

Facebook Mobile SMS Settings

Mobile SMS commands and demo

The “Facebook Mobile” page shows you the mobile services available from Facebook.

Facebook Mobile Services

To learn more about the Mobile SMS service, click on “Learn about Mobile Texts” green box.

You’ll find the commands for Facebook Mobile SMS as well as an online demo.

Facebook Mobile SMS Commands

Facebook Mobile SMS Demo

More info

For more info, visit facebook’s Mobile Texts page https://register.facebook.com/mobile/?texts=1

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the new toy is out!

Here’s a short video showing how you can watch the Pacquiao Hatton fight on your mobile phone.
Update (May 3, 11pm): Video of what the fight looked like in my phone

Pacquiao After the Bout (on my mobile phone, live)

PACQUIAO vs. HATTON LIVE on your mobile phone on May 3 at 8am.

• For Nokia phones, click http://m.smart.com.ph/pacman2
• For other phones, click http://m.smart.com.ph/pacman3
• P20+P15/30mins streaming charge.

More Pacquiao downloads

• Abangan ang laban. Maging updated sa latest news of the fight, i-text ang SNEWS sa 2366. p2.50/text
• Download Pacman Caller Ringtunes now!
  LAHINGPINOY – Lahing Pinoy
  TOTOYBATO – TV series ni Pacman
  Text <Keyword> to 2728 Ex. LAHINGPINOY P15/15days
• For more downloads, go to http://m.smart.com.ph/pacman

I used an image from the web, here’s some link-lovin to the source of that image: www.pacquiaovideo.com

Manny, itaas ang bandila ng Pilipinas!

Update May 3, 11pm:

I actually didn’t catch the fight on my mobile phone. It was finished too soon! I did catch some excerpts after the bout, and that’s what I captured in the videos below.

Btw, I was using Liway, my Sony Ericsson P990i phone — not a high-end Nokia myTV-phones (Nokia N77, N92, or N96).

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Hoy! Pinoy ako!

Uzzap

Many months ago, I saw some Smart advertisements of a chat service called “Uzzap”.

The animated advertisements were rather zany and fun. From the animation, I had a good idea what the service was about.

After seeing the advertisement, Uzzap to me was:
“Chat on your PC, then bring along your chat via your mobile phone”.

All this info I got from an online animated image advertisement just 10 seconds long. Nice!

More recently, I wanted to be more familiar with Uzzap. Thus, I played around with Uzzap and found out for myself what was behind the advertisement.

I first tried Uzzap in December. I downloaded it on Liway (my Sony Ericsson P990i), tried to register. I had to be patient to get my phone registered. Wasn’t sure if it was because I was switching between my old Addict Mobile SIM and a new SIM.

When I finally got my phone registered on Uzzap, I fiddled around the chat client. It runs on Java on my phone. I heard that different phones have different ways of rendering Uzzap.

I’ve discovered some of the key features of Uzzap.

• Chat on your PC and chat on your mobile phone.
• You can download Uzzap for free on www.uzzap.com .
  Using Uzzap is currently FREE as well.
• You can add your Yahoo and MSN contacts to your Uzzap buddy list.
• Invite your friends via mobile phone or email address to use Uzzap.
• Send SMS, emails to your friends through Uzzap.
• You can add up to ten friends and send up to 10 free SMS messages per day.
  I’m sure many of the Uzzap kids (“Uzzappers”) out there are maxing out this feature.
  I’m not sure, though, how much it would cost (if any) for a friend to reply to a message sent via Uzzap.

My Uzzap Experience

I tried out the Uzzap chatrooms one evening last week.

Most of the chatrooms were full, with a couple having 1 or 2 slots open.
Rooms had a capacity of 20 chatters.
Of course, my first attempt was to enter was at the UP chatrooms.
I couldn’t get in, the rooms with 1-2 slots available got filled very quickly.
Maybe my fingers were not fast enough, I couldn’t get in the room fast enough.

When I finally got in, I observed the community.
The Uzzappers were pros!
Good thing I wasn’t trying to engage in the chat.
My fingers aren’t quick enough to catch up with their chats.
I was wondering, how can these Uzzappers chat so fast??!!
Then I realized that some of them were on their PCs.

There are a couple of chatters (“Uzzappers”) who know each other online.
I was in the midst of an ongoing conversation and I wasn’t going to butt in just yet.
I know what it’s like to be in a community like this.
It has the highs of camaraderie and lows of fights.
It’s part of the chatter lifestyle.

I’m still discovering the many ins and outs of Uzzap. I’m not sure if its just my age (can anybody guess?), but using Uzzap hasn’t been a walk in the park for me. It’s taking some patience to figure out which icons do which functions, which keys on my phone do which. Ah, my thumb and brain are in hyper-mode when I’m on Uzzap.

Have you tried Uzzap?
Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned “Uzzapper”,
why don’t you share your Uzzap experience here?

Uzzap links:

Visit www.uzzap.com to download Uzzap on your PC.
On your mobile phone, visit m.smart.com.ph and click the Uzzap link to download Uzzap on your mobile phone.

On the blogs:

• Smart UZZAP Extended Free Trial
  
• Smart Uzzap on Mukamo
• Smart’s UZZAP: Behind the Bits
• Smart Uzzap: Wazzup! Wazzup!
• Smart Uzzap: Uzzap Uzzap Tayo
• What the hell is Uzzap?
• Snart or Smart ?
• UZZAP Chatrooms
• Free SMS on Smart Uzzap
• Trying the Smart Uzzap Beta
• Google search: Uzzap ; Uzzap on blogs

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newuzzapbie

Does that make it 4G with Globe’s “G” included?

I see a lot of hype about the iPhone 3G launch here in the Philippines. There are a lot of blogs who’ve posted prices and other information about the launch. So let me just describe what I’ve heard about the iPhone 3G, as told to me by a friend while I was in the US.

My friend Edmond, based in Chicago, had the predecesor iPhone. He said that a few weeks before the launch of the iPhone 3G, an upgrade was pushed to his phone. Of course, just like he did for most upgrades prior, he accepted the upgrade.

He regretted the upgrade! He said it terribly slowed down the iPhone. Even just sending SMS was sooooo slow after the upgrade. There were allegations that the upgrade that slowed down the iPhone was deliberate (allegations lang naman). People were saying this increased the demand for the iPhone 3G.

Today, I uploaded photos from a Mac Center in Chicago. I was there in July a day before the simultaneous launch of the iPhone 3G in the US and Europe. And you know what? The lines went all the way outside the store and around the block! Whew!

iPhone 3G - people lined up to get them

Will folks in the Philippines line up for the iPhone 3G? I haven’t seen such a phenomenon in the Philippines. Maybe for rice, but not for iPhones. Here’s Globe’s iPhone 3G reservation page.

So, for all those who’ll be trying to get that elusive iPhone 3G … ingat!

Related links:

• The price of iPhone 3G on Pinoy.Tech.Blog
• iPhone 3G by Lloydlopez
• iPhone 3G prices by Can Talk Tech
• iPhone 3G Specs and Prices at Grabeh
• iPhone 3G at mukamo
• iPhone 3G at mobile Philippines
• Solar Powered iPhone 3G by Lestat

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1G, my one and only

Did you ever have to text hundreds of your contacts when you changed cellphone numbers? Smart has a service that does this for you.

I received a text message from Smart one fateful day (name and numbers masked for privacy):

From: Smart
Message: SMART ADVISORY: This is to inform you that Felicity V. Cruz  has changed cellphone number from 0917538xxxx to 0920535xxxx.

Interesting service, ain’t it?  I checked my phone book and true enough, the old number matches my phonebook’s record of Felicity’s number. I asked Felicity how she availed of this service.

Felicity tells me it’s a free txt blast service by Smart. Just go to their wireless center and have a soft copy in excel of your phonebook. In Felicity’s case, she just gave Smart a USB stick, they downloaded it and took charge of sending the message to all recipients in the phonebook regardless of network of the recipient.

That’s convenient. A lot better than having to send the message to hundreds of your contacts.

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multiplicity

Related: free ringtones for my cell phone , My Ringtones , siemens phone, t mobile phone, ringtones for my phone , 2 SIMs 1 Phone

Way kewl! My Friend is raving about the “My Phone T11″ Dual Active SIM and it sounds like one great idea!

Best feature: Two SIMs, even from 2 different telcos, working together at the same time in one phone.

Q: Do you need to switch from one sim to another like the old dual-SIM gadgets?
A: No. The two SIMs work in the same phone at the same time.

Q: Can you take two calls at the same time?
A: Yes. But you’ll have to put one call on hold.

Q: Can you send and receive text messages for both SIMs in the same phone?
A: Yes.

Q: What are the other kewl features? Other comments?
A: Touch screen, camera phone. It’s made in China.

Q: How much?
A: Php10,000

Q: Where available?
A: SEMICON, hello and wellcom

I got all the above information from my friend who owns one.

more info at: www.myphone.com.ph

Tags, Keywords: free ringtones for my cell phone , My Ringtones , siemens phone, t mobile phone, ringtones for my phone

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My Life

Smart has a coastline and inflight roaming service, so says their print advertisement.

Roaming services have been around for many years now allowing Pinoy subscribers to make calls using their Philippines-based cellphone using telcos of other countries.

What’s unique about the latest services are how subscribers will be able to make phone calls from an airplane or from a ship. For example, if you’re on an Air France flight, you could make a call from mid-air (not during take off nor landing). Cellphone signals are also available in selected shipping companies and along coastlines of selected routes.

Well, it’s another win for telecommunications. It’s a convenient service as long as it works well. While it’s in its infancy, I expect the service to be a bit clanky, with a lot of holes in the cellphone coverage. Better than nothing, aint it?

If there are any subscribers who have tried these services, do share your story.

Congratulations, Smart!

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Got this from colleague Erwin Alampay ….

SMS Competition for NGOs

kiwanja.net have just launched their latest mobile initiative – nGOmobile ?
a competition which encourages grassroots NGOs in developing countries to
submit ideas on ways they could use text messaging in their work. The best
four entries will win laptop computers, Nokia phones, GSM modems and $1,000
in cash, courtesy of a range of sponsors which include Hewlett Packard,
Nokia and Wieden+Kennedy.

The competition is open from now until 14th December. Full details, and
links to the entry form, are available on the competition website at
http://www.ngomobile.org

Those who have been following my blog may have encountered Brosia many times in past articles. Brosia is mysmart phone, that’s the name of my Smartphone. She’s an HTC Tanager and I took Brosia to the US earlier this year.

I’ve been using Brosia for more than three years (around August 2004) and I’ve took her to south Africa, China, Malaysia, Australia…couple of countries and Brosia has worked perfectly for me in these countries. It’s a triband phone, so I haven’t had any problems using Brosia either with my Smart sim or with local sim whatever the Telco is in the country I’m traveling in.

But when I went to the US, dun ako nagkaproblema. I couldn’t figure out why but in the US I couldn’t use my smart phone. So for a couple of days (for around four days) while I was in the US I was offline. No contact via cellphone, wasn’t receiving any sms messages, I couldn’t make any calls. In fact I did not have any signal. I tried out other sims, local sims, I tried out a globe sim and I couldn’t get a signal.

So I decided to buy a cellphone while I was in the US, it’s a refurbish phone a Motorola RAZR and I tried out my Smart sim and there was a signal. I tried out the new sim, the sim was a T mobile sim and I tried out the sim, the Tmobile sim on my Smart cellphone and it doesn’t work but in the RAZR it works.

But later on I realized…Right! The US was using a band that wasn’t available on my smart cellphone.

You see my smart cellphone was a triband. But around the world you have four bands. And then of course there is a Japan frequency which only Japanese phones use. So I’ve brought my smart phone around the world but it was in the US where I wasn’t able to use it to make any calls.

Brosia didn’t like the US, she didn’t get to make any call, and she didn’t get any sms messages in the US. All because Brosia was in a place where the band was different, the frequency of the cellphone network was different from what she had.

Too bad for Brosia. But she kept my calendar; she kept my appointment in the right time. So I got to use Brosia for other purposes.

Brosia is my cellphone, she went to the US and she didn’t like it there. But now she’s back in the Philippines and she’s right beside me right now. But I don’t use her much, that’s another story…another podcast.

That’s Brosia going to America.

Podcast permalink: Brosia goes to America

EdXcribe

11 August 2007
Technobigraphy