Wrapping up

I went to the UK and Europe with no technology but a smartphone. How'd it work out?

Did I need any other devices? No. There was not one moment at which I wished I had a laptop or a tablet. There's basically nothing in that line that these smartphones can't do. There were moments when I could have made use of a proper camera, but I never found myself really regretting not having one. The photos I've brought home on the Desire are of acceptable quality and I can show them to people right on-screen, as the screen is so large. And there are only 79 of them. Beat that!

Was the Desire the right device to take? It's hard to say without trying out other devices. Any decent smartphone would probably have done the job just as well. The functions I mostly used were the browser, camera, and inbuilt Google navigation (with GPS). There are a good handful of devices offering the same functions with the same quality, but I'm still very pleased with the price at which the Desire offers them.

Did I use the Desire right, having got it? On the whole, yes. Buying a local SIM was the best thing I could have done, as it gave me constant access to data for navigation purposes. To my surprise, I also used quite a few of the free texts that came with the package.

There are two things I would do differently next time. I'd definitely try harder to get a spare battery and external charger. Although I was lucky enough to have a trustworthy roommate this time, it would have been good to be prepared for having to lock my phone away at night (though then I wouldn't have been able to use it as an alarm clock - a standalone alarm would probably be necessary). The other thing I'd change is to rely more heavily on Google Navigator. At first I tried to get around by just looking at the maps, whereas Navigator would have meant fewer wrong turns and less confusion on the many street corners in London that have no visible signs.

Would I do it again? Yes, of course.

Changi again

My earlier-than-expected departure from Belgium meant longer than expected in London just before flying out, which ment more walking around chilling (lovely), which meant more use of the GPS, which meant less battery. By the time I'd navigated through Hyde Park and written a few last emails, the battery was pretty wasted, and I still had at least 33 hours before returning to my own power supply.

Imagine my delight, then, at discovering that Changi airport offers not only free WiFi but free power as well! And the sockets take a European plug with no adaptor. Just as well, because like an idiot I packed all my adaptors in my suitcase.

So I'll make it to New Zealand with battery to spare for the frantic phone calls that will have to occur if another earthquake affects Christchurch airport while I'm in transit there. (I basically haven't used my phone for games or books while travelling, cos I've been so concerned with saving the battery for emergencies. And I never did load any music on it.)

Before switching on at Changi, I put my New Zealand SIM back in. This had the result that I received 66 Wellington train service updates by SMS as soon as I switched on. Hate to think what that cost me.

Things that worked out well

There is less than £3 remaining on my Loaded card, and £1.37 credit on my Vodafone UK SIM. And I'm leaving in two hours.

My little research buddy

Apart from keeping in touch with people, the main use of my phone this trip has been to research activities. Without it, I wouldn't have known the Tates were open late Fridays, or that the London Eye was indeed still running at the time I suddenly had the thought of going on it. Wouldn't have known how to get to Greenwich. Wouldn't have known how much cash to put on my Oyster to cover the last few trips after my weekly pass expired. Definitely wouldn't have been able to buy at such short notice the plane ticket that's about to get me out of strike-ravaged Belgium, where the Eurostar is not running. It's so handy to have all this stuff literally at my fingertips, so I can look up another activity while travelling to the next one.

Welcome to France... Belgium... Germany... Germany... Germany

The two days I was in Germany were "internet off" days to save my Vodafone credit. My lovely hosts lent me a netbook for internet (how nice!), so my phone became an alarm clock for a while.

Walking around central Muenster, I kept switching from one network to another, and every time this happened, Vodafone sent me another "welcome to Germany" SMS. When it came time to turn my internet back on this morning, I had to restart the phone before it would get signal; maybe a side effect of all that network switching?

While travelling on European trains I've found the GPS invaluable for knowing when to get off. As mine is invariably the biggest bag on the luggage rack, it helps a lot to be out in the corridor with it some time before the station announcement gets everyone else to their feet, and I couldn't do that without the GPS telling me that the Hauptbahnhof is near.

Photography in a cold climate

While touring England and Scotland, I got rather good at using my touchscreen *through* my gloves. Even took a few photos that way. Though it's difficult to hold the phone still enough for a photo at the same time as applying thrice the normal pressure to the shutter softkey.

It became obvious very quickly that my phone camera isn't up to it. Its lack of light sensitivity means a high ISO must be used, destroying the image quality. It often struggles to expose appropriately, too, choosing a fast shutter (or low ISO, I don't know which) if even the tiniest bit of bright sky appears in frame.

The phone's limitations have rather set me free than the reverse. Instead of spending ages trying to create an impossible shot, I give in early and slope off to look at something else. Which is what it's all about, really.

And right now? I'm at Brussels Midi railway station. Roaming. For £2 a day. Received "welcome to France" and "welcome to Belgium" texts from Vodafone while on the train; that never gets old. These ones even included the local emergency number. How nice!

Formal reception

In the Scottish Highlands, us Vodafone users lost all coverage completely, but those who had opted for the bizarrely expensive "international SIM" were able to use their superior roaming facility to get reasonable signal from a particular spot by the window.

General badness

My Gmail account sent spam messages to everyone in my address book at 5am today (UK time). The password wasn't changed and I still had access to the account, so I just logged in and changed all the security settings. Then I started changing passwords on everything else, just in case. Since then the browser has become almost completely unresponsive and Google Maps crashes every time I open it. Commonsense says my phone is just struggling with weak signal in the stormy weather, but I'm concerned that I might have a phone virus. I wouldn't even know where to start with fixing such a thing.

Navigating on tour

In Bath, my phone couldn't get a fix from the network tower at all (although reception was good), and the GPS helpfully placed me somewhere within the borders of Bath.

Walking around in Bristol, I asked my phone to find me a supermarket and it told me I was in the country outside Salisbury.

Why???

Live demonstration

Today one of my colleagues asked about the Reserve Bank's latest published forecast, and I was able to whip out my phone and show him. Win!

Castin'

Watched the webcast of the Reserve Bank Statement live on my phone. It worked like a dream. The feed was almost more stable than the standard desktop feed is at home. I highly commend R2, the company that does the webcast, for making an Android-compatible feed available. Thanks guys!

To shop or not to shop

The Desire is supposed to fulfil all the functions of a computer. Admittedly my main non-work use for computers is to surf the net, so a smartphone was inevitably going to be a good fit. But there's one thing I often do on a computer that I haven't yet made work on the Desire, and that is shopping.

This lack of phone-powered shopping [1] is, admittedly, more Visa's fault than that of my phone. Visa's, and the merchants'. Using a Loaded for Travel card to shop online isn't the walk in the park that Visa make out (it's all very well telling us that the cardholder name should be "Loaded for", space, "Travel", but pray what billing address would be appropriate for that cardholder?). And a poorly designed merchant website is hardly my phone's doing. All the same, a poorly designed website will inevitably be easier to use on a computer, and then it wouldn't be such a chore having to go back and re-enter the cardholder name after capitalising it wrongly.

Instead of doing any of that, I've now turned up in person on the spot for three different events that could have been ticketed online. On net, it's saved me money. But it wouldn't have worked in the busy tourist season.

[1] I did buy something online from my phone before leaving New Zealand, but that was with a regular credit card.

Surfing the City

First real problem with my phone today. Gmail decided to have a little bad-cookie-no-refresh-no-message-sendy moment. Had to clear the cache, but then it was fine.

Network coverage is rather patchy, not (presumably) due to a lack of cell towers but because of all the tall buildings. Pro tip: trying to get a GPS fix while standing between two large stone pillars, under a stone overhang, is a stupid thing to do.