Shola's Home Gadgets

I am currently trying to put together my review of the Liteon LVW-5026DV Recorder, but am suffering from writers block, so bear with me while I try to put my thoughts together. Hopefully I'll get it sorted in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, just to let you know I'm enjoying taking pictures with my Sony Ericsson K750i mobile phone.

Having recently upgraded my Nokia 3330 mobile phone to a Sony Erisson 750i, I decided to take an inventory of the mobile phones in our household, both retired and active. The result is shown below.



Mobile Phone Heaven - From left to right, my wife's Motorola , my daughter's Samsung, my office Nokia, and three retired phones, 2 belonging to my wife and my beloved Nokia 3330 cell phone.

I usually recycle my old mobile phones, which is why there are no old retired phones of mine in the bunch, in fact I recently recycled a very old Nokia phone belonging to my wife which I knew she would not miss.

For more details on recycling mobile phones, visit Recycling Appeal UK.

I wonder how many old mobile phones are hiding in your cupboard, bearing in mind that those of us in the first world countries tend to replace rather than repair most of home gadgets or electronic devices. I wonder what the case is in third world countries.

With Christmas not too far round the corner, and the UK broadcasters getting ready to launch HD services, you might be thinking of getting a flat panel TV, and the usual question follows. LCD or Plasma.

Here is a link to an article that might help you make an informed decision.

LCD or Plasma TV.

If you still need some more opinions, you can visit the AV Forums where you will find people who are ready to give you advice.

Are you looking for a SIM free Sony Ericsson K750i phone or even a different SIM free phone, are happy with your current network provider, but don't qualify for a upgrade to the phone you want, and don't have the cash to pay up front for the phone, then here is an idea which you could use to spread the cost of that phone over 12 months.

Most phones, if not all phones sold by OneStopPhoneShop are SIM free, and currently due to fierce competition in the market, the majority of UK mobile phone network operators are keen to draw new customers to them, so they are offering phones free provided you sign a new contract with them for 12 months or longer.

So taking the SE K750i as an example, you could join orange OVP Vodafone Anytime 100 for 12 months at £22 a month, with 9 months half price line rental, you could get a brand new Sony Ericsson K750i all for a total of £165 ie 9x11=99 + 3x22=66!

You can not get a better deal anywhere, you also get the added bonus of 100 cross network minutes each month which you can use if your existing phone is SIM free.

A few points, first you will need to be signing with a new network provider, ie you will not be able to use the Orange tariff if you already are an orange customer, secondly you need to be discipline enough to remember to cancel the contract at the end of 12 months, thirdly most new phones are sold with free insurance deals for 3 months, make sure you either refuse this or cancel before the 3 months is up.

As the OneStopPhoneShop represents all UK network providers, you should be able to find something that suits you. They also offer a 14day returns policy on all handsets, so if the handset does not work with your SIM you can send it back, don't open the seals on the SIM packs though.

Also note Virgin Mobile is a virtual network of T-Mobile, so their SIMs are interchangeable on locked handsets, also Tesco mobile is provided by O2, so their locked handsets should also accept each others SIMs, though I haven't tried this, so if someone could confirm this, that would be cool.

As always make sure you know what contract you are getting into, and if you are not the disciplined type, this might not be for you. Also it is worth noting that a credit search is done when you apply for a new phone contract.

Here is a picture I took with my new toy the Sony Ericsson K750i mobile phone.
It shows my retired Nokia 3330 phone next to the box of the K750i.

I have so far been able to synchronise my calendar and contacts on my phone with my home computer. I will be taking the Sony software and cable to my office next week, so I can get my office calendar synchronised with my phone as well, once that is complete, then the phone will have completed one of my requirements.

Also got to pair up the phone with my Jabra BT130 bluetooth headset, and used that this morning in the car, though I am still trying to get comfortable with wearing the headset. It feels a little odd, and does not sit comfortably in my ear. I have hidden my phone, so it is not visible to other bluetooth devices, so no bluejacking of my phone thank you.

While shopping this morning, I also tried the FM radio, but the reception was not too good inside buildings.

As you probably have already guessed, I'm a happy boy at the moment. More from me on this lovely phone in the future.

My new Sony Ericsson K750i phone arrived yesterday, I charged it overnight, and having been playing with it on the London Underground on the way to work. As said in my previous post, I am moving from T-Mobile to Virgin Mobile, so the phone is free, but I am tied to Virgin Mobile for 12months, at a monthly cost of £24, with 4 months half price line rental. This gives me 100mins each month, which should be okay for me, since I have another phone for work. I also got a free Bluetooth headset and car charger, so I'm pretty happy with the deal.

I got the phone from One Stop Phone Shop, and was pretty pleased to know that the phone supplied is sim free, unlocked and unbranded, so after my 12 months, I can either go to another network or get reduced line rental if I chose to stay with Virgin.

The main thing I've noticed so far about the phone is the size of the keyboard, being slightly smaller than my present phone the Nokia 3330, so I'm hoping I get used to that.

I'll give full review once I've had the phone for a while, and will let you know if it meets my requirements as specified in my earlier post.

If anyone is considering this phone, and has any questions they would like to ask about this model, then feel free to leave a comment, or Contact Me.

Today I ordered myself a new mobile phone, the Sony Ericsson K750i. I am also ending a 12 year relationship with T-Mobile, which started in 1993 with a company called One2One who were new on the market, and where offering free local calls to landlines, bearing in mind at that time they only had network coverage within selected parts inside the M25.

I have been on the same traffic since then, and my monthly bill has pretty much stayed around the same £25 mark.

My main requirements from the new phone in order of importance are:

Good quality camera for mob logging during my upcoming adventure
Phone functions
Provide calendar functions preferably with ability to synchronise with outlook
FM Radio receiver
Voice recorder
MP3 player for the occasional podcast.

I will let you know if the Sony Ericsson K750i meets up to my requirements.

It's funny how my requirements have changed, as in my Sony Walkman W800 post, I had said that phone was not for me, yet a couple of weeks later, I go for virtually the same phone.

The only reason I didn't go for the Sony Walkman W800, was because of the design colour which makes the phone stand out a mile away, and is not good for anyone who takes their personal security serious in a place like London, I don't want to be a victim of crime, mugging or pickpocket.

Since I'm not needing the MP3 player facility, the reduced storage on the Sony Ericsson K750i is not really a disadvantage for me.

I'm looking forward to receiving my new toy, and will let you know how I get on with it.

This is off topic, but as it affects me, and my freedom as a christain, I am going to give it a mention.

The UK government is currently trying to pass a bill in parliament which could potential stop christains in the UK from freely sharing their faith and the gospel as we know it today.

Full details of the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill is here. I have also included some links and the bottom of this post.

The Lawyers' Christian Fellowship is leading the campaign in the UK to oppose this bill, and has orginised some events to this effect.

Now is the time for all UK christians and those who value their religious freedom to rally together and oppose this bill by lobbying their MP and expressing their oposition to this Bill. There is already adequate laws in place to deal with terrorists and religious zealots, and no need for this bill.

Links:
The Christian Post article
Cross Rhythms article
Premier Radio article