outlook email on the QTEK 9100

Sending attachments from the QTEK 9100 wasn't possible till now, since I got an error configuring the Outlook email for gmail. Googling gave this page which linked to this wiki for Windows Mobile 5 devices. My earlier mistake was to not check the 'use separate settings' for sending mail. For deleting the earlier misconfigured POP3 account,
Messaging -> Menu -> Tools -> Accounts tab -> tap hold on an account to delete.

more with the QTEK mobile

Posting this with the QTEK mobile with wifi at home. Wifi at work working as of now only in "Open" mode and not WEP or WPA. But probably will have some workaround. Home wifi needed freebase to make the SSID broadcast - it couldn't connect with SSID hidden. Saw some google results about WM6 having that feature, but this one is WM5 and can't. Skype for WM was disappointing - 10 MB download, and the sound was stuttering on wifi. Fring looks much more promising, and feature packed too. Skyfire looks really good, and streams youtube videos without buffering over our 256 k connection.

more apps on the Qtek 9100

With the 1 GB memory card in the Qtek 9100 mobile, I can install more and larger apps. Opera Mobile 10 was a success, but it uses a lot of memory and seems to use more network also than the previous version. Nice interface, though, and has tabbed browsing. Had to reset IE as the default browser, since Opera was drinking so much RAM it has to run standalone and takes a long time to open. For that, followed this article to download FixIE.cab (requires registration) from the xda developers forum and run it. Have not tested it yet, hope it works. Google maps was not available from the publicized link at m.google.com/maps - manually downloaded it from www.google.com/mobile/maps/ which had a link to download binary. Skype for Windows Mobile has been discontinued, but I downloaded from CNET. Flopped. Voice quality is as bad as before. Tried iSkoot for Skype. At first it said password is wrong. Some forum pointed out that iSkoot requires only alphanumeric password! Tried that, now the error message changes to "Currently unable to connect." Maybe this is because I'm in India? So, back to Fring. But some problem with installing it, "error opening the shortcut or locating the target filename" - have contacted fring support.

making conference calls

Found that my Tata Indicom Haier C2030 can't not make conference calls tho' the manual says press Send button after dialling the second number. Probably blocked by Tata. With the Airtel connection on the QTEK 9100, the procedure is

1. Make 1st call
2. Hold
3. Make second call
4. Menu -> Conference.

video encoding for viewing on mobile

With the 1 GB storage card, viewing long videos on the Qtek 9100 is now a possibility. It plays low bitrate files just fine, but hiccups for higher res. files since the processor is not powerful. Resizing to 320 x 240, XviD codec at 100 kbps video and mp3 codec at 24 kbps mono for audio looks quite OK. File size at this bitrate is around 1 MB per minute. Can use virtualdubmod with avisynth for video conversion, for example.

recording on windows mobile

Recording calls with the QTEK 9100 was quite simple - the recording utility works quite well if the mobile is not in hands-free mode. Speakerphone on or off, it records both sides of the conversation quite well. If recorded using the notes function, it ends up in pwi format. To convert that to wav, this page has the run-down:

1. Open the pwi file in Word
2. Right-click on the audio object speaker icon
3. Open the pwi file in Word
4. Choose Sound Recorder Document Object -> Edit -> Edit menu -> Copy
5. Open another instance of Sound Recorder, choose Paste Insert and Save As.

fring

Cool Edit Pro and Skype stopped working on the desktop - perhaps it was after installing DRM Removal from Giveaway of the day. Using SoundForge instead of CEP, and fring on the QTEK mobile. At first, fring seemed to have issues with sound. Sometimes it needs checking with the "fring test call" - the mic doesn't work. A bit tinny, but reasonably OK except for a nearly 1 second lag. Mainly quick and convenient, till the laptop comes back.

Edit: Confirmed that the DRM Removal was the reason for the CEP errors. Removed DRM Removal, CEP started working again. But Skype still has errors on startup.

QTEK 9100 mobile

Set up the smartphone to use wifi at home, but not yet working at PSN with the Airport - probably the hidden SSID is causing the problem for Windows Mobile 5. Infrared works fine with the Toshiba PDA, but transfers to the laptop @ S3 were not going through. Bluetooth also the same. Set up with mobireader total commander etc. Will set up skype as and when the wifi is operational.

GPRS setup on Airtel was simple enough, but had to call customer care.

Start -> Settings -> Connections tab -> Connections -> Advanced tab -> Select Networks
Here, Programs that connect to the internet should connect using 'My ISP name'

Start -> Settings -> Connections tab -> Connections -> Tasks tab
under 'My ISP name', manage existing connections -> Modem should be Cellular line (GPRS) and the apn name or access point name should be airtelgprs.com, username and password to be left blank.

Charges are currently 30 paise for 50 kB.

phone recording - good only for voice memos

Tried recording on the QTEK 9100 at 44.1 kHz 16 bit mono using the built-in mic. Saturates pretty badly for the volume levels inside bhajan hall during bhajans. Also has a rolloff at 8 khz. 30 ms lag in 30 minutes compared to the Tascam recording.

email with attachments on the qtek mobile phone

I think the only way to send email with attachments is to use the built-in pop3 client on the WM5 mobile phone. There was some configuration issue, so I followed the posts at howard forums which linked to the wiki giving the POP info. Mainly,
Messaging -> Menu -> Tools -> Accounts tab -> tap hold on an account to delete.

ngpay and mchek

Tried out these mobile payment solutions first with the new credit card. mchek has the disadvantage of having only Airtel recharge as the USP. Can't recharge other operators' mobiles if your operator is Airtel! ngpay's USP for me is KSRTC booking. Even when KSRTC's AWATAR system is down, which is often, ngpay works. But ngpay does not have Airtel recharge for AP circle or All India, though the menu item exists. Navigating ngpay is a pain because of the QTEK 9100 mobile's terrible touch screen. Much easier to do it by tethering it to a PC and using MyMobiler.

mchek registration had some hiccups, since the registration is followed by a card number verification which requires a popup. The first time I enabled the popup, had to retry. And on retrying so quickly, I think the card processing back end would have refused the connection, and hence returned "Invalid card". I thought this was because the card was earlier registered with my Tata number. Customer care assured me that the earlier unsubscribe was effected. Anyway, waiting for some time - 15 minutes - and retrying - solved the issue.

Opera mini impresses

Browsed for nearly an hour with opera mini on the QTEK 9100 mobile with "Load Images" turned off in settings. Expected a GPRS bill of something like Rs. 20-30. But it came to only Rs. 1.80! That makes it 300 kB transferred. Quite efficient, since I was browsing wired.com. Opera did not disconnect the GPRS connect even as I was reading each page, and so kept the bill down. I believe the connection times out when using IE, so each reconnect charges 30p. Ease of page navigation was also good in Opera. Small user-friendly touches like auto-flowing the text to fit screen without disturbing the general page layout and so on.

internet banking from mobile

The browsers on the QTEK 9100 mobile phone are not upto doing internet banking: Tried to pay a bill from onlinesbi.com using both IE and Opera mini, but both failed at some point during the confirmation of the transaction. Some javascript issue I believe. Bandwidth usage - if images are turned off, seeing a couple of emails on gmail or going through to the login or some other screens on the bank site use less than 50 kB, so charged at 30 paise if using Airtel's GPRS network.