From Torch 9800 to Xperia Z1

My experiences and opinions from learning to use a Sony Xperia Z1 after using a Blackberry Torch 9800 for three years.

The Xperia Z1 cannot turn off the mobile signal without turning off Wi-Fi.  There is a workaround though.  Airplane mode turns off everything, but you can turn on Wi-Fi again while in airplane mode.  Dodgy, but it works.

On the plus side, the Xperia Z1 can turn off mobile data independent of Wi-Fi.  This is something that the Torch 9800 could not do.

The Sony PC Companion software can sync calendar and contacts via USB cable to Outlook.  There is an option whether you want to sync with Google as well.  Unfortunately it cannot sync notes, which I also need.  Although I do not use it, I have noticed it cannot sync tasks either.

Since I need notes to sync to Outlook, I tried out MyPhoneExplorer and discovered that it can sync everything via USB Cable.  MyPhoneExplorer does install its own notes app and tasks app on the phone, but they are fully functional.

I type much faster with the Torch keyboard.  The Torch trackpad also helps me edit text faster.  No need to wait for the magnifying glass to show up to place the cursor in the correct spot for editing.  The on screen keyboard of the Z1 is much better than the Torch's on screen keyboard, but I find the actual physical keyboard of the Torch much quicker to use than the Z1's touch screen.

The Xperia Z1 has a larger screen than the Torch 9800.  This is good for looking at information, but the larger size means it is more difficult to fit in a pocket.  I did get use to the larger size after a while.

The Xperia Z1 cannot schedule auto power off/on without rooting Android.  This is one built-in functionality that I really like in the Torch 9800. Good for saving power and preventing calls from coming in while I am sleeping.  I am not prepared to root Android just yet, so it's manually turning on and off airplane mode for me.

The camera in the Xperia Z1 is far better than the Torch 9800, although this really does not say much because my old Dopod 818 Pro camera was better than the Torch 9800 as well.  A better comparison would be to the Canon PowerShot SX1.  The macro shots with the Xperia Z1 are not as good as the PowerShot SX1, but it comes very close.  For scenery and other shots that do not require zoom, I would say the Z1 is as good as the SX1.  The Z1 has no optical zoom, so there is no comparison with the SX1 in this department.

PowerShot SX1

Xperia Z1

The above two photos were taken at the same time with the Z1 to the left and the SX1 to the right.  The Z1 was set to multi auto focus, 20 megapixels manual mode.  The SX1 was set to full auto mode.

PowerShot SX1

Xperia Z1

The above two photos were taken at the same time with the Z1 to the left and the SX1 to the right.  The Z1 was set to Superior Auto mode.  In this mode the Z1 shoots in 16:9 ratio and in 8 megapixels.  The SX1 was set to full auto mode.

The GPS in the Xperia Z1 works much faster than the one in the Torch 9800.  This is without using location aiding from Wi-Fi and mobile networks.  Mobile GMaps is not available on Android so I have to find an alternative offline maps app.  Currently, Google Maps just does not have a good enough offline map functionality.

There are no sound profiles on the Xperia Z1, other than sound on, vibrate and complete silence.  There are a few apps available, but I have not tried any yet.  Until I find an app that works the same as the Torch 9800, I have to manually adjust the ring volume in different situations.

The Xperia Z1 comes pre-installed with OfficeSuite 7 Free, but it cannot edit files.  Time to find a new app or purchase the paid version of OfficeSuite 7.  I guess I have been spoilt by Documents to Go on the Torch 9800, which can edit Word and Excel files.  Add BeamExplorer to the mix and I can also create Word and Excel files on the Torch 9800.

On the plus side, OfficeSuite 7 Free does enable the Xperia Z1 to view PDF files, which was something  the Torch 9800 could not do out of the box.

The calendar reminder alert on the Xperia Z1 is horrible.  When it is reminder time for an event, everything is fine and the Z1 will sound an alert.  The bad point is when I snooze the event, whether it be snooze all or snooze for 5, 15, 30 minutes, the alert will not sound again.  Instead, the alert will only sound when I turn on the phone again.  So, if I forget about the event and do not use my phone, the reminder will completely fail me.  It looks like there are apps that fixes this problem, but I have not had the time to try them out.  The Torch 9800 and every smartphone and PDA before it always sounded the reminder alert when I snooze them.

Overall the Xperia Z1 is more customisable than the Torch 9800 even though some things cannot be customised.

The Xperia Z1 is waterproof, but I have never submerged it in water.  I have used wet hands with it and so far so good.


Biases
I have been using PDAs since 2002 and moved to smartphones.  I use personal information management(PIM) functionality more than the phone functionality.

I prize being able to USB sync PIM data between my device and Outlook on my PC and this is a necessity as Wi-Fi is not always available to me.

The Xperia Z1 is the only Android device I have used.  There may be many similarities between the Z1 and other Android devices, but I do not know what they are.

I started using the Xperia Z1 on February 2014.

Outlook 2002 Switches

"c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\OUTLOOK.EXE" /CleanFreeBusy
will regenerate the busy days indicators on the Outlook Calendar after a Blackberry sync.

"c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\OUTLOOK.EXE" /resetfolders
can fix sync problems between Outlook and a Blackberry.  In my case the memopad to notes.  Special thanks to Michael-D-Clark for the solution.

Here is the full list of switches from Microsoft
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/296192

How to Build Offline Maps for Mobile GMaps

These steps are to remind me how to build offline maps for Mobile GMaps for my Torch 9800.  If you follow these steps you do so at your own risk.  These steps may be updated from time to time.

Requires gMapMaker from http://www.mgmaps.com/cache/

Depending on the area being mapped, so far the space one city takes up is around 500 to 600 Mb.

Be warned.  It takes hours to download maps.

1. Go to http://www.mapcacher.com/ 
2. Mark a square around the whole country.
3. Set Zoom level from 0 to 9.  Ignore Level of detail setting.  Set Type of map to Google Road Maps.
4. Click Generate and save the map file giving it appropriate name.  
5. Click Reset and zoom into level 6 of where to map.
6. Mark a square about 1/4 of the map's viewable area. (Assuming screen size 1280x800).
7. Set Zoom level from 10 to 12.  
8. Click Generate and save the map file giving it another appropriate name.  
9. Click Reset and zoom into level 10 of where to map.
10. Mark a square about 1/4 of the map's viewable area. (Assuming screen size 1280x800).  This is for the smallest size maps with the highest details.  If larger area is required at this detail, the file size will increase significantly.
11. Set Zoom level from 13 to 17.  
12. Click Generate and save the map file giving it another appropriate name.  
13. Run gMapMaker.
14. Set Max Parallel Downloads to 2.  Tick Group by zoom.  Set Operating Mode to MGMaps mode, download tiles using a .map file.  Set Hash size to 1.  Set Tiles per file to 256.
15. Click Go and select the first .map file and click open.  Wait for download to complete and click close.  Approx 27 min.
16. Click Go and select the second .map file and click open.  Wait for download to complete and click close.  Approx 45 min.
17. Click Go and select the third .map file and click open.  Wait for download to complete and click close.  Approx 5h 30 min.
18. There should be a folder in the gMapMaker program folder called MGMapsCache.  Rename MGMapsCache to something appropriate like TkMap.
19. Connect Torch 9800 to the PC with USB.  You must get the Torch 9800 to appear as a mass storage device on a computer.  
1. On my Windows XP PC I had to use Sync Media option on the Torch 9800 so that it appears as a mass storage device.  I don't know why if I select USB drive option, the mass storage device does not work.  
2. On Windows 7 I had to select the USB Drive option and prevent Blackberry Desktop Software from opening.  For some strange reason, when Blackberry Desktop Software opens and connects, it removes the phone as a mass storage device.
20. Use windows explorer to copy the whole folder TkMap from the PC to the Torch 9800.  NOTE:  Do not use the BlackBerry Desktop Software to copy as this will encrypt everything and MGMaps on the Torch cannot read the encrypted files.  Copy time approx 14 min.
21. Finished.  MGMaps should be able to access the maps now.

Warning
If you do use Mobile GMaps, do not install Google Maps.  I was doing some testing and noticed that installing Google Maps on to the Torch 9800 deletes Mobile GMaps from it.  All the stored locations for Mobile GMaps was also deleted.

Offline GPS Maps.

We just got off a train and out of one of many massive train stations in Tokyo.  We are looking for our hotel which is somewhere nearby but we are not sure which building it is.  Out comes the Lonely Planet guide.  After looking at the included map and looking at the streets and buildings several times, we still have no idea where we are.

Time to bring out the Blackberry Torch.  Activate GPS.  Activate data roaming.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

The data roaming failed completely.  The phone could not connect to the Internet.  There goes Blackberry maps and Google Maps down the drain.

Luckily, I came prepared with Mobile GMaps.  This application can be used with offline maps that you build yourself.  I took the time to learn how to build my own maps and built one for Tokyo and loaded it onto the Torch.  It worked wonders as a portable street directory with GPS to show the current location.  Just don't expect it to give you directions, you still need an Internet connection for that.

With Mobile GMaps we found our hotel and many other places too.  All this without an Internet connection.

BlackBerry Torch 9800 SMSs Going Astray

The Short
I could phone my contact but I could not SMS my contact.  The Torch would say SMS sent,  but my contact would NEVER receive the SMS.

It looked like Smart Dialing was prefixing the wrong country code to my contact's number when sending SMS.  Disable that, perform a reset by pulling the battery out and putting back in and it all worked fine.

Alternatively,  entering phone numbers for Smart Dialing and setting up Smart Dialing correctly may also fix this problem.


Strange that Smart Dialing was working on sending SMS but NOT on making phone calls.




The Long
Having completed field testing the 9800,  it is now a fully operational unit.  Everything has been great so far, until I tried to SMS a few contacts.  A lack of reply made me suspicious.  Contacting these contacts through other means revealed that they did not receive any of my SMSs.  They then sent SMSs to me as a test which the 9800 received successfully,  but all replies sent from the 9800 failed to reach their destination.

When I phoned them, the calls connected fine, but further SMSs just failed to reach them.

So, time to search the wonderful Internet for an answer and start messing around with the 1001 settings that the Torch has.  Nothing worked, so I swapped the SIM into my recently decommissioned Pocket PC.  The SMS sent from the Pocket PC all fine and well.  Moved the SIM back to the Blackberry, same problem.  During this testing I was constantly checking my phone credit balance and it was steadily decreasing,  so I knew that the SMSs were being sent,  but still had no idea why they were not reaching their destination.

I decided to check my phone account's detailed transactions and lo and behold!  All the SMS numbers had the wrong country code prefixed to the front of them.  I did not realise this earlier because the Torch never displayed the number of the contact.  It always displayed the contact's name.  When I figured out how to display the actual number of the recipient,  it showed the incorrect phone number.  This incorrect phone number matched the number displayed on my detailed phone account transaction.

It is confirmed.  My Torch 9800 was sending SMSs to someone in another country.  To whoever that received all my weird test messages,  I apologise for the spam.

Why was my Torch 9800 prefixing a strange country code to all SMSs sent out?  I found the Smart Dialing setting for the phone and saw it was set to the country code that was being prefixed to the SMS numbers.  I set the Smart Dialing country to Unknown and tried sending a SMS again.  It was still failing.

When composing a SMS with the 9800,  I noticed that everytime I typed in a phone number,  it would replace the number with the contact name.  I proceeded to delete the number from my contact, but the phone would STILL replace the number with the contact and proceed to put the wrong country code prefix in.  Somewhere in memory the phone kept remembering the number belonged to the contact even though I removed all links between contact and the number.  It also looked like Smart Dialing was continuing prefixing the country code to the contact even though I set it to Unknown.  Time to pull out the battery.

I am glad to say pulling out and putting back the battery fixed the remembering number thing and I could send a SMS successfully by typing the phone number in manually.  Further more,  sending a SMS to a contact in my phone also worked.  It looked like the phone needed a good reboot(battery out and in) before the Smart Dialing would deactivate.

Web Browsing With Wi-Fi on BlackBerry Torch 9800

The Short
First you must turn on Wi-Fi on the Torch 9800 and set it up to connect to your Wi-Fi router.

Then you must go to the Mobile Network Options to turn on Data Services.  Yes, you must turn on Data Services for Mobile Network to use Wi-Fi, even if you do not have a BlackBerry data plan.  Then the 9800 will actually use the Wi-Fi and you can use the browser to browse the web.


The Long
I was field testing my BB Torch 9800 and I had already connected it to my wireless router and successfully browsed the web with it.  At a later stage I wanted to check something with the browser and it just kept giving me an error saying "Unable to connect to the Internet, please try again later".

It took me five hours of searching the Internet and messing around with the 9800 until I accidentally discovered that you must turn on Data Services for Wi-Fi to work.  The Wi-Fi section of the "BlackBerry Torch 9800 Smartphone User Guide" says nothing about turning on Data Services for Mobile Network.  It just never occurred to me that they were related since my previous Pocket PC was quite happy to use Wi-Fi without any Data Services.

I have not tested whether if I had a data service AND Wi-Fi whether it would connect via data over the Wi-Fi.

This might also apply to other BlackBerry devices.  I do not know because this is my first BlackBerry device.