Mobile Internet experience (via mobile phone)

[JCS]

I'm thinking about "investing" in a bluetouth MS to hook up my Clie to the net via a GPRS phone.

First I wanted to find out about your experiences with:

1 - Surfing the net on a Palm browser - Is it like WAP or better? How does it compare to my fixed Internet experience?
2 - Writing e-mails - Is it easy to send and recieve e-mail (using hotmail or my company e-mail account)
3 - Downloading & installing apps to the Clié - Can I do this with only a mobile Internet connection? (Music, pics, etc.)
4 - Sending "picture mail" - Can I fetch photos from my Clié to attach to an MMS being sent from my mobile?
5 - What other good and bad points are there from using Mobile Internet enabled by a GPRS phone

JCS :cool:

[rquinlan19]

My setup is a NR70V to a T68m via BT and I'm pretty darn happy with it. To answer your questions:

1. I think that it really depends on what browser you have and what page you are trying to view. I like blazer, just because it has links to some very useful sites that are formated for palm borwsers. Some sites like yahoo can be accessed from a handheld by using the mobile version ie: mobile.yahoo.com. Don't expect to do much exploring on the web, once you get going I'm sure you will end up with bookmarks to exactly where you want to go so you can hop on, do your thing quickly.

2. Email is a breeze as long as long as your email can be accessed via POP. I think that there are some Email apps that support IMAP, but I haven't looked into that yet. Hotmail tends to be a problem because no browsers for palm support the scripts and security features that hotmail deploys. There are work arounds like email hosting sites that will auto-check your hotmail account and then you can gain POP access to thier server, but that's just one more hoop to me.
3. Honestly I've never done it. I've read posts about certian files working, but it seems tricky.(someone else can help me out here)
4.Bout the same here... I know there are apps that will do it, but I've yet to join the club.
5. Overall to me it's a handy thing to have, its got its pros and cons, but if your GSM/GPRS provider offers cheap accees, its worth it when you need some info in a pinch.

Hope that helps.

[JCS]

Thanks for the info.

Like you, I was also thinking of getting a T68i (it seems that this is currently the best working tri-band/bluetooth/GPRS phone on the market - except the P800 of course).

I guess that (as you said), my Mobile Internet experience will be about fetching selected info on the spot (weather, movie times, directory info, etc.) and not really browsing for fun.

I think that this by itself makes it worth it, but I still have to get over the 200 Euro BT MS hump.

By the way, how much data do you consume (MB, X min session, etc.) and how much does this cost you per month with BT?

Thanks again for the insight.

[rquinlan19]

You need to check out this web site

http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=PEGA-MSB1

They have the BT MS for ~105 Euro.

Right now I have T-mobile for GSM/GPRS service. I pay $20usd for 10MB per month of usage. I check emails several times a day and lookup weather, etc... and I don't come close to 10MB. I'm not sure if your know, but the nice thing about GPRS data is that it's packet switched vs. circuit switched. meaning that you only get charged for the amount that you transfer, not how long it takes.