Product Evaluation of the Samsung Tocco (F480)very

Having purchased the new Samsung Tocco (F480) I was unsure whether or not I actually liked it or whether I could live it with it for the next 18 months! I took the upgrade on my  Sony Ericcson W880i as my monthly contract payments were lowered and I was given free internet and e-mail access. As I am currently without broadband at home this was an ideal opportunity for me to have internet access wherever  I needed it.

The following review will determine whether or not I return the phone to Vodafone! The phone will be evaluated under the following design factors:

• Aesthetics
• Function
• Ergonomics
• Materials

Aesthetics:
The Tocco is an attractive looking model but not quite attractive enough to be considered anything too exciting in the current handset market. It has a very simple, no frills shape which actually appeals to my modernist tastes. Its form isn’t too bulky and the ease with which it sat in comfortably in my pocket (as opposed to my current Blackberry!) was a real plus. It is also a comfortable, consumer friendly weight. The layout primarily consists of the large touch screen with a few iPhone inspired controls along the bottom edge of the handset. This minimalistic layout is both aesthetically pleasing and fitting with the overall shape and form of the rest of the handset. The glossy black and metallic silver colour scheme present a refined, modern looking product with an excellent fit and finish. On the rear of the handset, the brushed metal finish adds a sense of quality to the product and inspires a belief in the durability of the phone. The tactile differences when reaching blind for the handset in your pocket are beneficial but again this is clearly inspired by the Jonathan Ive’s iPhone and this lack of originality ultimately leaves the Tocco in the shadows of more inspirational designs.

Function:
Functionally the Tocco handset performs well. The buttons are a good size, they are intuitive to use and they are well positioned on the handset even for people with big hands and fingers like me! The battery cover is easy to remove and well designed access to the battery and SIM card allows for easy removal and maintenance. The 5MP camera was also very easy to use and took some excellent photos.

The big let down of the Tocco is the system software and the touch screen interface. Ultimately the downfall of this well proportioned, good looking little phone.  The UI was clunky, the widgets were pointless and the lack of expansion or customisation was frustrating. Web browsing was reasonable but texting and typing were an absolute pain. Having been a Sony user before this phone, the Samsung OS’s seem poorly designed, awkward and unintuitive.

Ergonomics:
The anthropometrics of the actual handset and its mechanical buttons interface are well proportioned and easy to use. The handset is small, but comfortable to hold and use. This is further enhanced by the mixed materials used in the product. The ergonomic weaknesses are all tied in with the touch screen UI (again!). The screen is a decent size though could be bigger, the on screen buttons are simply too small and not responsive enough – even with the haptic feedback (which I found to be one of the only strengths of the touch screen!).

Materials:
The  majority of the case is made of glossy injection moulded plastic with a brushed aluminium back. The touch screen is solid and a pleasure to interface with although the technology that Samsung have used is a far cry from that in the iPhone  or even the mediocre Blackberry. The phone seems durable and robust, partly due to it’s solid form and well made fixings, partly due to the high quality materials that have been used.

Conclusion:
While Tocco means “Touch” in Italian it would be better calling the Samsung F480 the “Tiro” which is Italian for throw… because that is exactly what you’ll want to do, throw it…………… at a wall………………… HARD!

NB: Although this has only been posted recently it has been sitting as a draft since February 2009 and was finished fairly fast. It is not in depth nor is it as informative as I’d hoped but I have not had a Tocco for about 9 months now so it is the best I can do for now. I’ll try to do something better on my user unfriendly Blackberry Storm soon!

Learning Kata: Heian Nidan

The kata required for the third grading in SKIF is Heian Nidan (the first of five “Peaceful Mind” kata’s). This post contains a JPEG diagram of the kata sequence and a YouTube video of Sensei Kanazawa, 10th Dan, performing the the kata .

Setting up GMail on the Samsung Tocco

Having recently been upgraded to the new Samsung Tocco I was instantly looking to explore the internet and e-mail capabilities of the phone.

When the new phone was turned on for the first time I Vodafone sent me a text which contained an installation file for the Internet settings. This worked immediately after installation and I was browsing the web over my 3G 7.2Mbps connection.

The e-mail was a different story though….

Because everyone uses different mail service providers and each provider uses different POP3  settings, this had to be configured manually. There is a setup wizard which will probably work for some users,  but GMail in particular uses some non-standard settings and ports. The following post will explain how to configure your Samsung Tocco for use with GMail.

As a side note, if you buy this phone and you want to make life easy for yourself, just switch to GMail. In my opinion it is the best web-based e-mail service with gargantuan storage capacities and a user friendly service. If you don’t want to use GMail as your mail provider, you should be able to find the POP settings on your e-mail providers homepage and using the following steps, configure to suit you. I have also managed to setup my VirginMedia/Blueyonder account on the Tocco.

STEP 1: GMail Account Settings

1. Login to GMail and click on Settings.
   
2. Click on Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
3. Choose one of the following  3 choices then click on Save Changes:

OPTION 1: Enable POP for all mail (even mail that’s already been downloaded) If you wish all current inbox mail and all future mail to be downloaded to the phone select the 1st option: Enable POP for all mail (even mail that’s already been downloaded).

OPTION 2: Enable POP for mail that arrives from now on
If you wish all current inbox mail to be ignored and only mail from this point onwards to be downloaded to the phone select the 2nd option.

OPTION 3: Disable POP
Do not select this one! This prohibits the use of POP.

STEP 2: Finding the e-Mail Account Settings

1. Go to the main menu in the phone.
2. Go to Messaging > Settings >  Email > Email Accounts

STEP 3: What do the Account POP Settings Mean?

1. Click on Account 1 then go to the bottom left of the screen and click on Options then click on Edit to setup the account.
2. You will now be presented with a variety of fields. Here is what they are and what each of them means:

• Account Name – What you want to call the account (GMail, Yahoo etc…)
• SMTP Server – The server which sends/processes your outgoing mail
• SMTP Port – The port of the server the phone will connect to for sending mail
• Secure Connection – Specify whether it is a secure connection or not?
• Incoming Email Server Type - The type of e-mail server (POP3 or IMAP)
• POP3 Server – The server which receives/delivers your incoming mail
• POP3 Port – The port of the server the phone will connect to for receiving mail
• APOP Login – Authenticated POP login (more secure, required by some servers)
• Secure Connection – Specify whether it is a secure connection or not?
• Set Download Limit – You can set a limit on how much data can be downloaded
• Retrieving Option – Just the subject download (faster) or the full e-mail
• Keep on Server – Leave a copy on server for computer access or just on phone
• My address – Your account e-mail address
• Username – Your account username (usually the bit before @gmail.com)
• Password – Your e-mail account password
• Use POP before SMTP authentication – If ticked checks inbox before sending
• Use SMTP authentication – Logs into SMTP server before sending
• Same as POP3/IMAP4 - Uses the same username and password as above

STEP 4: Configuring Account POP Settings

The account settings are listed below with the field title on the left and what youa re required to select/fill in, in bold text, on the right.

• Account Name: GMail (any name can be used!)
• SMTP Server: smtp.gmail.com
• SMTP Port: 465 (non-standard, usually 25)
• Secure Connection: SSL
• Incoming Email Server Type: POP3
• POP3 Server: pop.gmail.com
• POP3 Port: 995 (non-standard, usually 110)
  
• APOP Login: Ensure box  is ticked
• Secure Connection: SSL
• Set Download Limit: 300
• Retrieving Option: Personal preference - just subject or full e-mail’s?
• Keep on Server:Personal preference - leave on server for computer access or not?
• My address: bsmith@gmail.com (where bsmith is your own address username)
• Username: bsmith (where bsmith is the prefix to your @gmail.com address)
• Password: potatoes (where potatoes is your own account password)
• Use POP before SMTP authentication: Ensure box  is ticked
• Use SMTP authentication: Ensure box  is ticked
• Same as POP3/IMAP4: Ensure box  is ticked

STEP 5: Downloading Email’s

1. Go to the main menu in the phone.
2. Go to Messaging >  Email Inbox
3. Go to Options at the bottom left of the screen and select Email Accounts
4. Make sure that the account you have just created (whatever you named it) is ticked.
5. Go to Back at the bottom right of the screen
6. Go to Options at the bottom left of the screen and select Download

STEP 6: Conclusion

The phone will now connect to the server and download your e-mails before sending any you have written. With these settings I have come across no errors or problems. To conclude I’d like to discuss a couple of the settings to help explain the choices that I made in the above tutorial and the reasons behind them.

APOP Login - The connection worked with this box checked or unchecked but I thought it would be more secure leaving the box checked.

Retrieving Option - There is no right or wrong choice to be made here, ultimately it depends on you preference for speed and manageability. There are two options Subject Only or  Normal. If you choose to retrieve Subject Only, the initial email download will be fast but if you wish to read any of the emails you will have to open and then perform another download . If you choose to retrieve Normal, the initial email download will be slower but you will have the full emails on your phone once the initial download is complete.
I think it is more efficient just to retrieve Subject Only as this increases the speed of the download, allows you to filter through and delete any rubbish, then open and download the email’s you don wish to read.

Keep on Server - As above, there is no right or wrong choice to be made here, ultimately it depends on you preferences and email needs. The Keep on Server setting is a check box which is either on or off. If the box is checked, then a copy of the e-mail will be downloaded to your phone, but it will also remain unread in your account inbox. If the box is unchecked any new e-mail will be downloaded to your phone but no copy will be left in  your inbox.
I personally like to organise/file any e-mails that come into my inbox as they can often be receipts for purchases or some other document you wish to keep. With this in mind I like to keep a copy on server and then when I login to my e-mail account I may have read some/most/all of the e-mail’s but I have the chance to store them away or delete them permenantly from the server.

Must Watch TV Shows

I’ll be the first to admit I watch way too much TV. However, the quality of many shows deserves the level of devotion I have towards them! In no particular order, here is a list of MUST watch TV shows:

• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Fringe
• House M. D.
• Lost
• 24
• Arrested Development
• The Office (US)
• Heroes
• Trailer Park Boys
• Extras
• Dexter
• The Shield
• Friday Night Lights

Some new shows that have been thoroughly recommended and are soon to be consumed:

• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
• 30 Rock

Folding Your Gi

Instructional video demonstrating the best way to fold your Gi. There is no sound on the video apart from some rustling, so you may as well mute it!

How to Tie a Karate Belt

An instructional video showing 2 ways of tying a karate belt.

Karate Kid: Film Finale’s

Some classic Karate Kid finale moments, courtesy of YouTube:

Karate Kid I:

Karate Kid II:

Karate Kid III:

Learning Kata: Heian Shodan

The kata required for the first grading in SKIF is Heian Shodan (the first of five “Peaceful Mind” kata’s). This post contains a JPEG diagram of the kata sequence and a YouTube video of Sensei Kanazawa, 10th Dan, performing the the kata .

Shotokan Beginner’s Exam

On the 12/02/09 I passed my beginners examination in SKIF Shotokan Karate. The beginners exam consisted of the demonstation of all the Kihon (basic techniques) I had learnt to date. These techniques were performed moving forwards and backwards. The techniques assessed were:

Zenkutsu Dachi Gedan Barai:
Oi zuki
Gyaku zuki
Age uke
Soto ude uke
Uchi ude uke

Kokutsu Dachi Gamae:
Shuto uke

Zenkutsu Dachi Gamae:
Mae geri

Kiba Dachi Gamae:
Yoko geri keage
Yoko geri kekomi

These same technqiues will be re-assessed during my frst grading in May. I;m not sure whether they will be assessed individually again as Kihon or through the Heian Shodan kata.

Things to do Post Ubuntu Installation

Installing Ubuntu for a n00b is fairly straightforward, but customising it and getting the applications and functionality you want can be a more daunting task. The following information was taken from Dave’s Tech Blog (http://davestechsupport.com/blog/) on how to setup Ubuntu post installation.

OPTION 1:
Save yourself a lot of time using “ubuntu tweak” (http://ubuntu-tweak.com/) which will do a lot of the installation tasks below in a more efficient manner!
See installation guide on The Ubuntu Dojo.

OPTION 2:
Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) is the most user friendly, Linux-n00b-accessible version of Ubuntu. I found this guide invaluable when setting up Ubuntu at the tail end of 2008 and recommend the following steps to all users setting up their Ubuntu system.

1. Customize the appearance of Ubuntu (wallpaper, theme, fonts, dockbars, etc.)
2. Run Update Manager.
3. Install Flash, Java, Windows Media Codecs and MS fonts with just 4 clicks!
4. Install Compiz Fusion Advanced Settings Manager with one more click.
5. Install WINE with one more click and use it to run Windows based software.
6. Reveal Archive Manager in the Accessories menu and use it to create zip archives.
7. Install the libdvdcss2 decoder so you can watch DVD’s.
8. Install Virtualbox.

1.) Customize Your Ubuntu Desktop
Difficulty: Very Easy

The first thing anybody should want to do with their own computer is make it look the way they want it to look.  Who wants an OS that forces its users to conform to one particular layout over another?  With Ubuntu, you have a lot of flexability.  You even have the option to use a different desktop environment:

GNOME is the default environment for Ubuntu
KDE (which looks very similar to Windows XP/Vista/7) is the default environment for Kubuntu  xfce is the default for the lightweight Xubuntu
There are others, such as Fluxbox and IceWM, that are geared towards being minimalistic in resource usage and makes them perfect for older, slower machines.

http://art.gnome.org/ http://www.gnome-look.org/. My personal favorite website for wallpapers is InterfaceLift Wallpapers.

You might have noticed in some screenshots of Ubuntu that some people have added a dockbar (similar to the one used in Mac OS X) to their Ubuntu installation. Check out this guide I’ve written about adding Cairo-Dock to your Ubuntu install as it is one of the best available for Ubuntu (in my opinion).

2.) Run Update Manager
Difficultly: Very Easy

Typically, Ubuntu ISO images are a tad bit older than the current status of the distribution. So often times after a fresh install, your Linux Kernel might be out of date along with a lot of other software. Running Update manager manually after installing can bring your system up to date with the latest security and software patches.  While Update Manager does check for updates automatically, it often doesn’t do it immediately after you login.  So after a fresh install it is a good idea to force it to check for updates.  To do this:

* Click System>Administration>Software Sources (check all options and choose UK server)
* Click System>Administration>Update Manager
* Click on the “Check” button to check for updates

If there are updates available, you simply click “Install” to install them. Piece of cake.

*Note: If you’re having hardware issues (e.g., 3D video acceleration not working, wireless adapter not in use, etc.) after installing all available updates, you should check in System>Administration>Hardware Drivers to see if there are any proprietary drivers that need to be enabled.

3.) Install Flash, Java and Win32 Video Codecs in just four clicks!
Difficultly: Very Easy

In order to get the best multimedia experience out of our computer, we need to install a few programs and plugins.  Most of you out there are familiar with Flash, Java and multimedia file formats like Divx, Xvid, MP3, ASF, Apple Quicktime, etc. Installing decoders to open these types of files has been made simple by bundling them all together into one package.  And installing it is very easy.  To get started, do the following:

* Click Applications>Add/Remove.  A new window will appear (see below)
* Change the “Show:” drop menu in the upper right corner to “All Available Applications”
* Search for the word “restricted”
* Once the search returns its results, check off the box next to “Ubuntu Restricted Extras”
* Sit tight. Don’t click the Apply Changes button just yet.  We’re going to check off a few more things

4.) Install Compiz Fusion Advanced Settings Manager
Difficultly: Very Easy

Compiz Fusion (the program responsible for the dazzling eye-candy on Ubuntu) is included by default, but its advanced control panel is not. Need of this advanced control panel comes up if you are a power user who wants to use the 3D window management features to the MAX, which means turning your desktop into a rotating cube, among other nerdy things. You can also greatly customize your special effect animations and window behaviors using this control panel. So let install it!

* After you’ve checked off Ubuntu Restricted Extras in the above step, do another search for the word “compiz”
* Check off “Advanced Desktop Effects Settings” (shown above)
* Sit tight, and don’t click apply just yet.  There’s more we’re going to search for and check off.

Once the control panel applet is installed, it can be found in System>Preferences>Advanced Desktop Effects Settings.

*Notice: You will want to make sure you have Compiz enabled in System>Preferences>Appearence>Visual Effects before using the above control panel you’ve installed.  Otherwise changes you make with it will not be seen.

5.) Install WINE for running Windows-based software in Ubuntu
Difficultly: Very Easy

WINE is a program that acts as a sort of emulator for Windows programs to run on top of.  Instead of needing to use Windows for running that favorite application or game, you can run the program right in Ubuntu with the help of WINE.  The only catch is that not all Windows program run on WINE yet.  So you should search the WINE applications database to see if a program you’re wanting to use works with WINE.  Below is a screenshot of Half-Life 2 running in Ubuntu, thanks to WINE!

To install WINE:

* In the Add/Remove Applications applet (should still be open from the previous step), search for “wine” and then check off the box next to WINE in the results window.
* Click Apply in the lower right corner to install WINE, as well as the other programs you’ve already checked off in Add/Remove.

To run a windows program with WINE, simply double-click on the executable (typically something like setup.exe) and it should run just as it would in Windows (provided the WINE AppDB shows that the program you are trying to use works with WINE).  Shortcuts created by software installers are typically added to the Applications>Wine>Programs menu.  You can read more about using WINE here.

6.) Enable (reveal) your Archive Manager and create zip files
Difficultly: Very Easy

Some of you might be wondering: How can I create a zip file? The answer is with the included Archive Manager. This tool (for some weird reason) isn’t shown in the Applications>Accessories menu by default. But we can reveal it very easily by doing the following:

* Click System>Preferences>Main Menu
* Click on the Accessories menu in the left panel, then check off the Archive Manager (see below). Then click Close.

That it! Now when you open your accessories menu, you’ll be presented with a new shortcut to your Archive Manager. You can use this utility to create zip files. Keep in mind that it can also create other types of archives, such as tar.gz, so you should specify your desired file type when you create a new archive.

The included archive manager can create zip and tar.gz archives, and a few others (not RAR).  To explore the possibilities, click Applications>Accessories>Archive Manager.  Once open, click New in the upper left corner and take a look at the bottom of the window where you can specify archive file type, password locking and spliting.  After you create a new archive, you simply drag and drop files into the archive manager and it will add them to the new archive.

7.) Install the libdvdcss2 decoder for DVD playback
Difficultly: Medium

Click Applications>Accessories>Terminal.  This will open a new terminal window.  (If you would like to know more about Terminal, check out my Terminal for Beginners guide). Copy the following command and paste it into the Terminal window:

* sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/intrepid.list –output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

This will add the Medibuntu repositories to your 3rd party software sources (in other words, this tells Update manager to check one additional server when it looks for system updates).  Next, paste this command into Terminal:

* sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update

This will add the GPG encryption keys to your system so you are able to accept encrypted downloads from the medibuntu servers.  Finally, type this into terminal:

* sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2 && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

This will install the libdvdcss2 package, check for updates again and install them.  Once all the updates are installed, you should be able to watch a DVD simply by inserting a disc into the computer.  Also, you may have heard a rumor that installing this decoder is illegal. If you live in the US and someone tells you this, refer them to 17 U.S.C. Sec. 1201(f). The binaries to crack the DVD video stream encryption are not illegal if you have a license to the content.  In other words, if you have purchased your own legal/legit DVD, then that means you have license to watch it.  After all, the content must be decrypted in order to make the content usable.  However, the law is not the same in all countries so you should check your local laws to see.

8.) Install Virtualbox
Difficultly: Medium

Virtualbox is a popular application used on many different operating systems that allows you to create Virtual Machines, upon which you can install any number of operating system.  So, for instance, you could be running Windows XP inside of a window on top of Ubuntu.  This is good for users who are trying to migrate from Windows to Ubuntu but are not quite ready to take the big leap or are being held back by one or two applications that won’t run in Ubuntu.

So here’s what you need to do:

1. Download the Virtualbox deb file for your particular processor architecture (i386 or AMD64) from here.
2. Double-click on the the deb file you downloaded to start the installer.  Click “Install Package” to install Virtualbox.
3. Once that is finished, you will need to add yourself to the vboxusers group.  To do this quickly, open up a Terminal window (Applications>Accessories>Terminal).  Once Terminal is open, paste in the exact text and press the enter key:  sudo adduser $USER vboxusers
4. Reboot the PC.

That’s all you need to do to install Virtualbox.  However, you will need to do a couple more things if you want your virtual machines to have access to your USB ports:

1. In terminal, type:  sudo gedit /etc/fstab
2. Paste the following text at the bottom of the fstab file:  none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devgid=46,devmode=666 0 0
3. Save the changes to the fstab file and close Gnome Text Editor.
4. Reboot the PC.

You’ll find Virtualbox in Applications>System Tools>Sun xVM VirtualBox.  I don’t have a guide written yet about how to use Virtualbox, but you can check this one out in the mean time to help get you started.

Well, that wraps up this list of things to do. There are plenty of other very cool applications out there worth installing, such as Audacity, Avidemux, VLC, Amarok, DeVeDe and many more. Most of these programs can be installed using the Add/Remove applet which we used to install our Ubuntu Restricted Extras package. Simply searching for the program name will produce a result that you can check off install with a couple clicks, and that sure beats the hell out of looking through a filing cabnet for a software CD or a serial number.