Phones & Music

E65 & Python

Ever since Nokia introduced Python for their Series 60 phones I have been planning on acquiring one. The phones have slowly become smaller, less expensive and with more features. Whilst the N95 represents the future of features, with a decent camera, WiFi and integrated GPS, it’s not there in terms of cost, size and battery life. So I have selected the E65, only slightly heavier than my current phone but with lots of S60 goodness, WiFi and VoIP capabilities.

Naturally the first thing I’ve attempted is to install Python. There are a couple of gotchas, one a bug and the other related to increased security measures within the 3rd edition of Series 60.
1. You need to configure the phone to allow self-signed applications to be installed before installing Python.
2. When installing Python you must install the current version to the phone memory rather than the memory card (BTW: the micro-SD cards are tiny), this is a known bug and will be fixed in future releases.

Nokia provide great access to the phone’s features via Python so I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do with it. Here are some initial ideas: send the phone a SMS to take a photo, time lapse photo sequence with auto-upload to flickr and have the phone record locations of open WiFi spots detected (requires the external GPS).

JB HiFi

After buying the E65 I chanced upon JB Hi-Fi on Queen St. opposite Smith & Caughey. The Ockker retailer looks set to stir things up - they have a massive selection of games, music and DVDs with a smattering of consumer electronics. Nice to see some more competition in Auckland. Its not a pretty retail environment with its fluoro sale now look and if you’re looking for decent staff recommendations I would still head down to Marbecks.