A long-winded way of transferring contacts from a dead iPhone

Rating: Spin-off from hot tip in the Sunday Times

source: Sunday Times

Recently, GoMobile News was reading one of the excellent technical answers to a reader’s question in the UK’s SundayTimes Don’t Panic section, when it struck us that we’d failed to report on our solution for a very similar problem. The best way to describe our answer would be as an “extremely long-winded approach to transfering contacts from a dead iPhone to another iPhone or regular smartphone device.” But this solution does actually work. Nevertheless, both problems stem from how Apple’s iTunes PC software has been storing its data. In a nutshell, though, we took an iPhone with a completely illegible screen and no Home button and managed to transfer the handset’s contacts to a BlackBerry via an old Nokia.The chief problem lies with where iTunes decides to store your addressbook.

As the Sunday Times reported, early versions of this package could keep the ‘master’ copy of the addressbook either on the PC or on the handset itself.

Which could be confusing for the handset owner. So, with the latest version – we reckon it currently is around version 10.6, you can sync the handset to a supported email service.

The Sunday Times suggests you create a brand new email account for this very purpose – say on Gmail or Yahoo! Mail.

But that doesn’t really keep the addressbook on your computer. Not everyone wants to use the iCloud, either.

GoMobile News stumbled across a useful alternative. Windows 7 doesn’t support Outlook but buried away in the OS is a facility called ‘Contacts’ which you can use in conjunction with iTunes.

To get to this facility, simply type the word ‘Contacts’ into the search bar at the bottom of the Windows Start menu. This will show you your contacts file.

So now connect the dead iPhone (it still works even if you can’t see the screen) to the PC. When iTunes recognises the device, click on the iPhone’s Info tab.

Next tick the Sync Contacts and then select which service you want to Sync with and in this case choose Windows Contacts.

Once you have successfully synced all your contacts, open Windows Contacts and select Export. Now here’s the clever bit. Don’t pick the .csv (comma separated variable) option.

Instead, select vCards. This will create individual vCards for each of your contacts and store them in a dedicated Contacts folder.

The reason for this choice is that email systems and each handset manufacturer appears to use completely incompatible .csv formats and you’ll end up tearing your hair out trying to get it to work.

Now we just so happened to have an old Nokia E61 lying around doing nothing. So we fired up the Nokia PC suite and imported the entire addressbook in .vcf format.

The addressbook on the E61 had been previously deleted so we could now copy all the contacts from the dead iPhone onto it. The next move is to copy the contacts from the Nokia onto the SIM card.

Here’s another twist. The iPhone uses a micro SIM card (and its owner had forgotten to copy all the contacts to the SIM when the handset had been working).

So you acquire a microSIM adapter (they cost £1 at most) and insert it into the Nokia E61. Then you select all the contacts in the handset’s new addressbook and copy them to the SIM.

Voila! You now have a SIM with all your old iPhone contacts on it. When we tried this, there was room on the SIM for all but around seven contacts.

Once you notice you’ve lost a contact, merely look up their vCard on the PC and type the missing information in manually.

Our reader with the dead iPhone took the opportunity to migrate to a RIM Blackberry now that she’d got all her contacts back.

Readers can modify these steps for their own purposes. You could reverse the whole process and copy contacts from a BlackBerry onto an iPhone, for example.
Have fun.

You have to subscribe to the Sunday Times web site to read the Don’t Panic answer to “I lost my contacts when I synced my iPhone.” Those who are subscribers try searching here.

Mindspeed and China Mobile collaborate for TD-SCDMA/TD-LTE small cell solutions

Mindspeed’s System-on-Chip (SoC) Processors to Power China Mobile’s Small Cell Base Stations

Press release

May 21st 2012. Mindspeed Technologies, the industry leader in technology for small cell base stations, today announced that it will form a joint development lab with China Mobile Communications Corporation to support the operator’s recent deployment of Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) femtocells.“With close support and collaboration from chip vendors and infrastructure companies like Mindspeed, femtocell technologies in China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA network have achieved commercial deployment.

This joint development brings a significantly improved customer experience and further demonstrates that small cells will play important roles in wireless broadband services,” said Gu Yihong, assistant general manager at China Mobile Jiangsu Suzhou Branch.

“The convergence of TD-SCDMA, TDD-LTE, GSM and Wi-Fi is a fast evolving technology trend, and we appreciate TD-Femto ecosystem companies like Mindspeed that are driving this shift with mature solutions.”

“Mindspeed is delighted that China Mobile is deploying TD-SCDMA femtocell solutions in Suzhou using our technology,” said Raouf Y. Halim, chief executive officer at Mindspeed.

““We believe an enhanced collaboration with the world’s leading operator in the TD-SCDMA/TD-LTE area will allow Mindspeed to deliver the best performance on next generation small cell solutions.”

Mindspeed’s Transcede family of processors are complete NodeB and eNodeB SoC solutions that support concurrent 3G and long-term evolution (LTE) processing in a single device, including TD-SCDMA, wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA), evolved high-speed packet access (HSPA+) and both frequency division duplexing LTE (FDD-LTE) and time-division duplex long-term evolution (TDD-LTE) with a roadmap to LTE-Advanced (LTE-A).

Combining 3G and LTE processing capabilities into a single chip is more cost effective for OEMs and the inclusion of a carrier-class physical-layer (PHY) software solution for both 3G and LTE will accelerate time to market, while simplifying development and reducing risk.

Mindspeed has the most complete portfolio of small cell SoCs in the industry, from residential to enterprise to pico/metro applications. All Transcede family devices are supported by a complete, carrier-class software reference design to accelerate time-to-market schedules.

The reference design includes RF module integration, a real-time Linux board support package and standard-compliant PHY implementation for LTE and W-CDMA and TD-SCDMA, with associated utilities and test scripts.

About Mindspeed Technologies

Mindspeed Technologies is a leading provider of network infrastructure semiconductor solutions to the communications industry. The company’s low-power system-on-chip (SoC) products are helping to drive video, voice and data applications in worldwide fiber-optic networks and enable advanced processing for 3G and long-term evolution (LTE) mobile networks. The company’s high-performance analog products are used in a variety of optical, enterprise, industrial and video transport systems. Mindspeed’s products are sold to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) around the globe.

More information from www.mindspeed.com.

About China Mobile

China Mobile Communications Corporation (‘China Mobile’) was founded on April 20, 2000, with a registered capital of RMB 51.8 billion, and assets of more than RMB 1000 billion, possessing the largest mobile network and customer base in the world.

China Mobile (Hong Kong) Group Limited is wholly-owned by China Mobile. China Mobile (Hong Kong) Group Limited, as of 31 December 2010, holds 74.21% equity interest in China Mobile Limited (“listed company” for short). The listed company has wholly owned subsidiary companies in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) as well as Hong Kong SAR. China Mobile Limited was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. Currently, China Mobile Limited is the world’s largest telecommunications company by market value.

China Mobile has been selected in the world’s top 500 by the U.S. “Fortune” magazine for 11 consecutive years, and the latest ranking is 87th. With its brand value rising, it has been named as one of the world’s most powerful brands by the “Financial Times” for 6 consecutive years. In addition, it was recognized on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for 4 consecutive years, being the only company selected in Mainland China.

Nokia’s entry level Mango phone – 610 – finally available in UK

Rating: Triggers debate about first Mango handset with NFC

Well, if you want a entry level W7 Mango phone, then the obvious option is to acquire yourself a Nokia Lumia 610. Thanks to our friends at Clove Technology we can now assure our UK readers that they will be finally able to get hold of this device by Friday [25th may 2012]. if you want to order it from Clove you can visit them here. A little bit of investigation has show that there are potential suppliers of the SIM-free (unlocked version) of this Windows Phone 7.5 device for slightly less than Clove’s asking price. The big question is will the 610 support Wi-fi tethering and NFC? But then you have to enquire about delivery charges and taxes to be absolutely sure.

The point here, however, is that this is almost exactly three months after the initial announcement of the 610 [27th February 2012].

Nokia’s rivals take three months to develop a completely new model not three months to deliver on an announced product.

GoMobile News stands a good chance of being jealous of those purchasing the 610 because it reputedly supports ‘tethering’.

Which means you can use the handset as your own personal Wi-fi hotspot hanging off the back of the handset’s 3G connexion.

It is well worth considering what the actual specifications of the 610 will be if you purchase it right now.

One very good reason for this is that an NFC-enabled version of the 610 smartphone was announced by Nokia at the recent WIMA NFC show held in Monaco just ten days ago.

There has been fervent speculation – even on the official Nokia Support Discussions site here that the Nokia Lumia 900 has NFC embedded but it’s not active.

That’s a bit like the Motorola RAZR which might have an NFC capability hidden inside its components but not yet activated. See our previous story here.

So which will be Nokia’s first W7 Mango handset capable of supporting NFC: – the 610 or the 900? Who can tell?

The important point is that once Nokia 610s finally get out there into the wild, will problems with Windows Phone 7.5 apps finally surface?

After all, the important difference between the 610 and GoMobile News‘ own trusty Lumia 800 is that the 610 has less memory. (See our previous story here).

Finally, there’s the question of how much you can expect to pay for the 610 in the UK – given that it is an entry level model and price is therefore key?

GoMobile News found a very interesting page here on Google’s online price comparison site.

It shows that Unlocked Mobiles appears to be able to undercut Clove Technology’s price of £180.00 (including taxes) by offering the smartphone at £164.98 here.

GoMobile News wouldn’t normally worrying too much about pricing, but when Nokia is attempting to play in the low-cost smartphone sector with a W7 Mango phone such things matter.

Brands ignoring mobile search at their peril says Mobileweb

Rating: A cross device mobile strategy is also key, apparently

According to the Mobileweb Company, mobile websites that it operates typically see uplift in mobile site traffic of more than 90 per cent. That’s because they are fully optimised for mobile search discovery, the company claims. Whilst Mobileweb’s own recently announced research shows that iPhone users grab the lion’s share of mobile web access (55.7 per cent), the company still urges brands to adopt a cross device mobile strategy. Less than 10 per cent of potential customers have an iPhone. The stats that Mobileweb has just released also have one highly surprising statistic.

Those with Sony handsets generate more mobile web traffic that those with either RIM BlackBerries or Nokias.

Samsung devices were second after Apple iPhones in generating 9.2 per cent of traffic; HTC devices third with 6.6 per cent; and other devices generated well over a quarter (28.5 per cent) of all mobile web traffic.

Sony’s share of the traffic was 5.6 per cent followed by RIM with 5.1 per cent and Nokia trailing way behind with 1.5 per cent.

However, Mobileweb sees the mobile services it operates accessed by up to 300 different mobile devices each month.

Mobileweb argues that its report shows that an impressive return of investment can be achieved if the customer experience is good and services deliver value quickly.

For the services it operates, Mobileweb Company typically sees more than 50 per cent of customer visits result in a measurable outcome; a call, booking, purchase or potential visit.

It also shows how important mobile search is for attracting new customers.

With the likes of Google, who command more than 95 per cent of mobile search activity, treating mobile websites very differently there is a great opportunity for organisations to gain prominence for their brand through well optimised mobile services and content, Mobileweb claims.

It also says that organic search is a very effective low cost way for a brand to get in front of potential customers.

However, most sites and underlying content are very poorly optimised and mobile search is overlooked, Mobileweb says.

“The challenge for many brands taking their first steps in mobile is they are in danger of alienating potential customers through poor experience,” argues Martin Wilson, md with the Mobileweb Company.

“Others are failing to recognise the value of search in driving customers to their brand.”

The company points out that Gartner [in 2010] predicted that by 2013 more people will use mobile phones than PCs to get online and says that currently the mobile web is estimated to be growing 8 times faster than the PC web environment.

“The growth rate certainly shows the increasing importance of mobile and why it is critical that brands start to invest in building a mobile presence in the right way,” Wilson added.

GoMobile News finally puts Android onto its HP TouchPad

Rating: Dual boot facility courtesy of CyanogenMod 9

Being something of purists, here at GoMobile Towers we were extremely reluctant to defile our HP TouchPad by taking off its native webOS. However, unimpressed with the apps available for this superb tablet, especially when we learnt the dual boot option was working extremely well. So it was off to our good friends webOS Nation for some really simple advice on how to perform this upgrade. We regret not having dug out the totally unofficial Google apps whilst we were about it. Anyway, we can confirm that Android 4.0 (Gingerbread Ice Cream Sandwich) works really well on the TouchPad. A warning to anyone who wants to perform the same feat- you’ll need patience because any tiny mistake means the install fails.

First of all, you must ensure your desktop (we use a regular Samsung NC10 notebook running Windows 7), is fully up and running with Java.

As we’ve warned previously here with our advice on installing Amazon Kindle on a non-US TouchPad.

In order to communicate effectively with the TouchPad via Java, you need to ensure that you’ve installed the correct ‘Novacom’ software drivers.

Next you need to establish exactly where the Novacom files are. In our case they were under /Progam Files/Palm, Inc. Note the exact spelling here. You need both the space and the comma between ‘Palm’ and ‘Inc’.

The latest files you’ll need will be on the official Cyanogen Wiki site here but we downloaded most of them from Goo.

The files you’ll need are ACMEInstaller 2; ClockworkMod Recovery; moboot; and CyanogenMod 9 for TouchPad.

These are normally compressed (zipped) files and mostly you don’t need to decompress (unzip) them. So now copy the ACMEInstaller 2 file to where you found your novacom files (in our case /Palm, Inc.

Now you need to create an installation directory on the TouchPad itself. In Windows, all you do is use Explorer. Connect the TouchPad to the PC via a USB cable and when the PC recognises it, tap on ‘USB drive’.

You should now see the TouchPad as a new drive (say, E:). Go to that new drive and create a new folder called ‘cminstall’. Once again, get the spelling right. No capitals, etc.

Next you need to copy the three files to this new folder from wherever you downloaded them to on the C. Probably ‘/Downloads’. Make sure Windows knows they are zip files with a .zip file extension.

At this juncture you can install the unofficial Google apps if you are a naughty person and have found the googleapps.zip file. Copy that to cminstall as well.

Note: We think the instructions we were following had a mistake at this juncture. To fix the situation, we unzipped all the files from the cyanogenmod9 file and copied them over to the cminstall folder. It seemed to do the trick.

Right the real fun starts now because you are effectively going back to the good old days of MS-DOS. If you don’t know how to do this, simply open the Windows Start menu and type the word ‘cmd’ into the search box at the bottom left of the menu. You see the good old DOS prompt.

It’s necessary to get to the exactly directory where you put the installation files. Use the ‘cd’ (change directory command to do this. So in our case it was cd c:\Program Files\Palm, Inc. Get the spelling right.

At this stage it’s necessary to get the TouchPad into ‘recovery’ mode. First find the volume button and make sure you know which way is ‘volume up’.

Now shut the TouchPad down by pushing the Power but and then select Shut down. Once it is off, hold the volume UP button down and simultaneously hit the Power button.

If you get the device into the recovery mode, the screen should be filled with a giant USB symbol. Now hook it up to your desktop computer.

When you are sure that Windows has recognised the Touchpad, go to the Command Prompt and type in ‘novacom.exe boot mem:// <ACMEInstaller2.zip. Not you need that space and the < chevron.

At this stage the TouchPad’s screen should spring to life and you’ll see a dialogue showing that the correct files have been installed and the TouchPad is rebooting.

When it does reboot, you should get a nice new menu which lists all of your boot options and one of them should jolly well be Cyanogenmod9.

If anyone knows how to increase the time you’ve got before it defaults to webOS from its default of five seconds please let us know. Because you’ve got 5 seconds to change the selection using the volume button and then pressing the Home button.

That’s it really. Our big thanks to webOS Nation without whom we would never have go there.

ONE HOT TIP: It is possible to b*lls up some stage of the installation process. In which case you’ll have a TouchPad that won’t do anything. THE SOLUTION. Hold down the Power; Volume Down and Home buttons simultaneously. Wait a while and it will eventually reboot.

Vizibility introduces the first mobile business vard for the new mobile wallet

Identity Management Goes Mobile with Wireless NFC and QR Codes

Press release

May 17th 2012. Vizibility, provider of the online identity management platform for professionals and the enterprise, has announced the first-ever NFC Mobile Wallet Card as a standard feature for premium subscriptions. The NFC (Near Field Communication) beta program that was announced at the Southwest (SXSW) Conference in March is now closed. More information from here.Vizibility helps businesses and professionals control, share and track their professional online presence on the web or on the go.

Vizibility mobile business card users can now use NFC in addition to QR codes to wirelessly exchange contact information, share hand-picked profiles, video bios and other curated online content, view connections they have in common on LinkedIn and Facebook, download vCards, and track when and where their business cards are scanned.

Through Vizibility’s patented ‘Find Me in Google’ feature, users can even pick and rank the Google search results they want to show first and find out who is Googling them.

No App Required

It has never been more critical for professionals to have an easily accessible mobile online presence. More than half of all local searches now originate on mobile devices.

Facebook has 500 million users who have accessed their site with a mobile device. LinkedIn reported that mobile accounted for 22 per cent of unique visitors during the quarter, up 8 percent from the same period last year. However, most companies do not yet have mobile-friendly websites, and today’s social networking sites want users to download proprietary apps that make instant networking difficult.

Vizibility’s mobile business card is an HTML5 web app and ‘just works’ in the mobile browser with most QR code scanning apps and NFC-enabled smart phones on iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows Mobile. Vizibility is the first company to leverage the potential of NFC for mobile personal branding.

“The ubiquity of smartphones and growing popularity of mobile wallet services all underscore the importance of establishing and controlling a mobile presence online,” noted James Alexander, Vizibility founder and CEO.

“Credit cards aren’t the only thing we keep in our wallets today. Business cards and other networking tools will also find their place in our mobile wallets. Vizibility’s personal mobile branding solution is affordable, enterprise-friendly and sends the message that you and your firm are hip and innovative.”

Vizibility is a sponsor of this year’s TiECON 2012 Expo at the Santa Clara Convention Center, and will provide individualized mobile business cards to thousands of attendees that can be easily accessed from a personal QR code printed on each attendee badge.

About Vizibility

Vizibility delivers the world’s first online identity management platform for individuals and the enterprise. Vizibility is in use at numerous professional firms including Duane Morris, Loeb & Loeb, Lowenstein Sandler, McCarter & English, Novak Druce + Quigg, among others. The company’s platform is integrated into the offerings of ALL-STATE LEGAL, Hubbard One (a unit of Thomson Reuters), 6FigureJobs, BlueSteps, Salary.com and many other websites offering online identity management solutions geared toward tech-savvy professionals. U.S. Patents 7,831,609, 7,987,173 and 8,095,534. Other patents pending.

ZTE Brings Light Tab 2 to GSMA Smarter App Challenge

Press release

May 15th 2012. ZTE Corporation will be partnering with the GSMA on the Smarter App Challenge, a competition which aims to select the most efficient mobile phone application worldwide. The winner will be announced at the GSMA Mobile Asia Expo in Shanghai, 20-22 June this year. Entries are open to the general public.This follows ZTE’s collaboration with the GSMA at Mobile World Congress 2012, where ZTE provided Light Tab 2 devices to mPowered Brands VIPs.

The grand prize winner of the GSMA Smarter App Challenge will be awarded USD $10K and a trip to Mobile Asia Expo 2012 for the prize presentation.

Additionally, developers have the chance to win a ZTE Light Tab 2 simply by downloading the Challenge Brief and Assets.

ZTE has a strong focus on innovative application development. In 2012, ZTE will optimise its mobile applications platform and enhance cooperation with industry partners, in an aim to better serve customers.

Criteria for entry to the Smarter App Challenge includes developing a ‘smarter app’ – one which best protects the user’s battery life, uses the radio network in the most efficient way, is always connected and provides a positive user experience.

“The widespread adoption of smartphones and the explosion in mobile applications has forever changed the way that users communicate, access and share information, and through the Smarter App Challenge, we’re focused on working with developers to create applications that are optimised for mobile networks, improving the efficiency of applications and networks and offering a better experience for users,” said Ian Smith, E-Sim Project Manager, GSMA. “We’re very pleased to have ZTE on board as a partner for our very first Smarter App Challenge.”

The competition is being promoted through Facebook and Twitter. For more information on the Smarter App Challenge, please visit www.mobileappchallenge.com/smarterapp

About ZTE

ZTE is a publicly-listed global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions with the most comprehensive product range covering virtually every telecommunications sector, including wireless, access & bearer, VAS, terminals and professional services. The company delivers innovative, custom-made products and services to over 500 operators in more than 140 countries, helping them to meet the changing needs of their customers while growing revenue. In 2011, ZTE’s revenue increased by 29 per cent increase to USD13.7 billion. Its overseas operating revenue grew 30 per cent to USD 7.4 billion during the period, accounting for 54.2 per cent of overall operating revenue. ZTE commits 10 per cent of its annual revenue to research and development and has leadership roles in several international bodies devoted to developing telecommunications industry standards. ZTE is committed to corporate social responsibility and is a member of the UN Global Compact. The company is China’s only listed telecom manufacturer that is publicly traded on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges.