New N95 from Vodacom - help and info please:

[JV5050]

Hi, I got my N95 Saturday, since being on the waiting list form Dec 2006 – I like it very much

The MTN guys may have the answers to these questions already or discussed this before, but since Vodacom only had the phone since Saturday, I am still a bit in the dark on a few things, if anyone can give me some answers it will be greatly appreciated

A) GPS
I did not know if the phone came pre-loaded with the complete map of SA but just to make sure I used the map2go software from the net and uploaded the SA map available (30MB) - The phone now has the complete SA map and therefore no “download as you go” required (BTW, tip, downloading directly to the phone was EXTREMELY slow – I used a card reader which was “better”)

Questions:

Search by address / name:

Q1) Why does the phone need to connect to the internet when I search “by address” or “name” in the Plan route or find by name function - I have the complete SA map downloaded and can browse to the exact location – is there any way to get around this?

(On a previous thread it said that the phone only downloads in gps mode via gprs when getting map data, however it seems that it also connects to the net when doing a search?)

Here what I think I know:

i) The address search only works if I am on the WLAN or if the phone connects gprs / 3g (If found this out when I went out of range of the WLAN and the GPS access point was still set to WLAN)

ii) If I use “plan route” between previously entered and stored landmarks, the phone does the routing calculation without connecting to the internet, however then it does not need to “search”

B) Map “Manager”:

Q2) Is the map2go software the only available software to do this?
Q3) How do I see / know what maps are loaded on the phone?
Q4) How do I select which countries to remove from the phone if memory gets low?

Here is what I think I know:

i) There is no way of telling which maps are loaded
ii) If you want to delete maps off the card you have to delete everything and re-download what you need “as you go” with WLAN (tedious) or gprs/3G (pay again…) alternatively use the internet and map2go to re-download what you need (for example SA map – “fast” 2hour 30 meg download” – I am using a diginet line)
iii) If you travel abroad (to the US for example) this is going to be a mess – Vodacom charges +- R57 / meg for data in the USA, you will have to get a US SIM and data bundle to use this phone there

C) Navigation:
Q5) If I purchase the navigation option and my phone gets exchanged within the warranty period / the software gets updated or reloaded etc etc, what happens to the navigation option that I purchased?

D) 3.5G

Q6) I also use the phone as a modem, Is there a way to tell whether I am connected via 3 or 3.5G
Q7) If I had 3g activate on my contract previously, will I automatically now have 3.5g or do I activate this again (Vodacare and 082155 seems to differ on this)

E) CAR stand / holder

Q7) I am looking for a holder in the car for the phone either that mounts to the windshield via a suction connector or stand in the cup holder – does anyone know whet I can get this in SA?


Thanks for the help

 

[atomcrusher]

Q6) I also use the phone as a modem, Is there a way to tell whether I am connected via 3 or 3.5G

Can't help with your questions but I'd be interested to know how you got the N95 to connect as a modem ... I got my N95 this week, and using the latest version of PC Suite, I cannot connect to internet. With my previous N6630 I had no such problems. Any tips?

 

[Tallboy]

My theory is that if you do a search the actual search is done on a server and not on your phone even if you have an entire country loaded.

The earth is divided into rectangles and each rectangle is stored as a file. When you enter a new area the phone checks if the rectangle is on your phone and downloads it if needed. The problem is that the directory structure is set up using a coordinate system and not according to region or country so you cannot delete a country.

The reason the download takes so long isn't neccessarily slow donwnload times. The files are small but there is a very large number of them. So if you try to copy thousands of small files to a memory card it can take a long time.

 

[Tallboy]

My experience is that you will only know that you have an HSDPA connection when you have an active data transfer session and your 3G icon changes to "3.5"

 

[caspa]

i've had my N95 for a month now, and i have never seen it display 3.5G and i use it for data 5 time a day????

 

[Vlad_M]

Until I can see a screenshot with "3.5G" I call BS on this one - 3.5G is a colloquialism from HSDPA and not a standard term - I find it very hard to believe that it would be implemented in the OS. HSDPA is a subset of 3G, so it doesn't make sense anyway.

 

[Syndyre]

Until I can see a screenshot with "3.5G" I call BS on this one - 3.5G is a colloquialism from HSDPA and not a standard term - I find it very hard to believe that it would be implemented in the OS. HSDPA is a subset of 3G, so it doesn't make sense anyway.

Yeah, all Vodacom 3G towers are HSDPA enabled anyway, but AFAIK its the nature of the technology that, as someone posted before, you only actually use HSDPA when you start downloading etc, otherwise its just a standard 3G connection.

Edit: From Vodacom, seems to be implying this:

Why am I getting slower access speeds whilst "connected" to the 3G HSDPA network?
The 3G HSDPA network has the intelligence to supply you with increased bandwidth, where available, only as you require it thereby providing a far more efficient utilisation of bandwidth. For instance, searching for a Web site on Google would not require large bandwidth, yet downloading a large video clip would require more bandwidth and thus will allocate more bandwidth to the session when you start downloading.

 

[Vlad_M]

HSDPA = High Speed Data Packet Access. I may be wrong, but in a situation where both devices support it (i.e. tower and cellphone) there is no distinction between "downloading" and "surfing". Packets being exchanged either way.

 

[Syndyre]

HSDPA = High Speed Data Packet Access. I may be wrong, but in a situation where both devices support it (i.e. tower and cellphone) there is no distinction between "downloading" and "surfing". Packets being exchanged either way.

Yeah but maybe the HSDPA coding scheme only kicks in for larger, sustained downloads?