Re: [tlug] Free softbank keitais

["Andrew Errington" <a.errington@example.com>]

On Wed, August 22, 2007 14:29, Simon Cozens wrote:
> a.errington@example.com wrote:
>> access.  I arrived two weeks ago, and I now have a keitai (Softbank
>> 707SCII, the free one)
>>
>
> Either your gaijin card came through pretty fast or you found a
> less-than-scrupulous Softbank outlet. Actually, I guess that covers most of
> them. I got the 705SH and seriously regret it. If I had been quick enough,
> I would have taken it back during the statutory 1 week contract
> cooling-off period and gotten the smartphone. My poor thing doesn't even
> support Bluetooth syncing properly.

I don't have the plastic gaijin card- I used my temporary paper one.  I
went to the 24-hour SoftBank store in Harajuku.  It seemed pretty legit. 
I just wanted a phone- you know, dial a number and speak.  I am here with
my wife, and we chose SoftBank as the calls between us are free.  We both
signed up on the White Plan, Y980 a month.  I am sure I will be dinged for
services I am using without realising what I am doing.

With regard to the phone, there are 4 free ones.  One is a kiddie's phone,
which leaves three.  Two are folding, and one is a one-piece phone.  I
didn't want the one-piece one as it was too big, and I thought the screen
might get damaged.  The 707SCII, which I chose, is a folding one made by
Samsung and is very thin.  The only drawback I have found thus far is I
often miss calls as I cannot hear the ringing or feel the buzzer.  I think
I can get around this as I learn what ringtones are socially acceptable
here, and which pockets I can feel the phone in.

> And - although this is verging into keitai-l territory - the locked-down
> nature of the Java platform is driving me mad. Anyone know if there's any
> possibility of turning an ordinary .jar/.jad pair into a set of .huf files
> as the platform requires? I know it's something to do with signing the
> app, but at the same time it does seem like there's a load of third-party
> apps, so it's got to be something you can do yourself.

I have no idea about the Java platform.  I haven't really started
fiddling.  I plugged the phone into my Linux box with the supplied USB
cable and it was detected.  A modem driver was loaded automatically
(cdc-acm module), but I was hoping a mass-storage driver would load too. 
I don't have Bluetooth on either of my laptops, so I don't know what I can
access with Bluetooth.  Either way, with USB or Bluetooth I am guessing
(hoping) the 'Data Folder' is accessible (where music, photos, and other
files are stored), but the phonebook is not in the data folder, so it
might be tricky.  A CD is supplied with the phone, but I don't know what
apps are on it.

Anyway, I'd be glad to follow-up any suggestions of experiments to perform
on the phone.  As I said, all I wanted was a phone.  Instead I got a 3G,
video capable, multimedia gaming platform with a web browser, appointment
calendar and Japanese-Korean dictionary.  Fortunately I can make and
receive calls and SMS...

Best wishes,

Andrew