Re: consolidate phone, sidekick and broadband card to one device

[Stephen Borrill <netbsd%precedence.co.uk@localhost>]

On Tue, 3 Jun 2008, Jeremy C. Reed wrote:
> Mostly offtopic ... but looking for something I can use with NetBSD (not
> necessarily running NetBSD on the device itself).
>
> So I have been using three devices for near two years: a small cell phone;
> a SideKick 2 for a little web browsing, some emails and receiving many
> phone messages; and a PCCARD broadband card for internet access.
[snip]

Everything here is based on UK usage, so it may be completely inapplicable 
to your needs...

I use a Nokia e61i which I'm very pleased with.

> What I need:
>
> - be able to share its internet access to my NetBSD laptop (via USB?).

e61i appears as a modem via USB (if set to PC Suite mode) or mass storage 
(if set to Data Transfer). 3G access works well. You can also use 
bluetooth (or IrDA I guess).

> Hopefully network access is available when I travel to several states.

Don't know about that.

> - customize repeat notifications for incoming emails
> and phone messages -- and set frequency, like if not acknowledged/checked
> then notify (vibrate and/or audio) for 15 seconds every three minutes

I don't use the inbuilt IMAP mail client which I found to be very basic 
and also hung the connection. Instead I use Profimail from Sleepy Cat Games:
http://www.lonelycatgames.com/?app=profimail

> - usable qwerty keyboard

I think so.

> - phone

Of course.

> - schedule/calendar

It does have that, but as usual, only talks to Outlook. I've not yet found 
a wya to deal with .ics files.

> - small device (Tilt is 4.4 x 2.3 x 0.73 inches).

4.5 x 2.7 x 0.55

> Some extras:
>
> - nice to have a web browser

Inbuilt, plus Opera Mini and Opera Mobile available.

> - nice to be able to transfer files (like audio) to and from my NetBSD
> system

Very easy. fuse-obexfs works too.

> - nice to be able to sync phone address book and calendar to and from
> NetBSD also

Not managed that yet

> - nice to have Wifi (my new Tilt has Wifi but I haven't used it yet).

Has that.

> - nice to have GPS (my new Tilt has GPS, but I don't have software
> subscription for it and haven't tested yet -- on that note I have heard of
> "open" and free GPS software and data but haven't pursued this yet).

Doesn't have GPS built in, but does have various navigational programs. 
Also, Google Maps is good on it. A bluetooth GPS device costs around 
29ukp.

A nice touch is that there is a POSIX development layer meaning you can 
write your own software (examples include FTP and VNC clients):
http://developer.symbian.com/wiki/display/pub/P.I.P.S.

--
Stephen