Possible changes to Russian cell phone laws

The Duma is considering a change to Russian cell phone laws. The change, which has been approved on first reading, will mandate free incoming calls from landlines. See details in the following MosNews.com article. If this law takes affect the current rate plans will almost certainly change. Stay tuned for details.

Motorola ROKR

OK, I did it. Picked up an iPod phone (Motorola ROKR) yesterday at the local Cingular store. Initial reactions:

Pros:

• Good phone. It has good signal strength as compared to my Nokia 6230 and Motorola V600, good audio.
• Wonderful music player. The built in stereo speakers work better than I expected. I can listen to music without earbuds yet with the convenience of a small digital music player.
• Stereo handsfree headset included.
• Nice size screen.
• USB cable included.
  
• Bluetooth

Cons:

• Surfing the net from my PDA via bluetooth to the phone seems to suck the batteries down quickly.
• 100 song limit. The phone comes with a 512MB transflash card. The iTunes SW on the PC has a preset and unchangeable limit for uploading songs to the phone of 100 songs. You can lower the limit to reserve space on the card for other things, but you cannot raise it beyond 100 songs.
  

Overall I am impressed. Oh yes, the camera has a little flash. Should be handy at times. The resolution is still low (640x480). They really need to get it up to at least 1.3 megapixels.

The Motorola phone tools are not up-to-date for this phone. I had to choose a generic GSM phone to synchronize phonebook and calendar entries. The calendar sync worked but generated an error message saying it hadn't. Hopefully there will be an update soon to fix that problem.

More to come as I use the phone.

iPod Phone is here - the Motorola ROKR E1

Apple announced the new iPod phone today. This phone, developed by Motorola, is only available from Cingular Wireless.

For full information about the phone visit the Motorola ROKR website. The Cingular website only has limited information. Full details, including a User's Manual, are available at the Motorola web site.

At the same time Apple announced a new very slim iPod, the iPod nano. Very sexy gadget wise! They also announced an upgrade to iTunes - v5 - now available for download at the Apple website.

And now for a retro gadget - Moleskine

The world of gadgets is not always built around the latest technology. One of my favorite gadgets is a simple little pocket notebook from an Italian company - the Moleskine notebook. These notebooks have been around for centuries. They've been used by world famous artists (Van Gogh) and writers (Hemingway) and by people like you and me. They are starting to be widely available at booksellers such as Border's and Barnes and Noble.

You can check them out on line via the U.S. distributor Kikkerland or an independent MoleskineUS or the Italian manufacturers site.

My favorite is the pocket size "squared notebook". There are also ruled notebooks, sketch books, and more including pocket calendars. One of the features I especially like is the elastic band that holds the book shut. There is also a page marker built in.

Megafon Moscow in the Metro

Megafon has coverage in the following Moscow Metro stations:

• Александровский сад
• Арбатская
• Библиотека им. Ленина
• Боровицкая
• Охотный Ряд
• Площадь революции
• Театральная
• Комсомольская (кольцевая)
• Комсомольская (радиальная)
• Пушкинская
• Тверская
• Чеховская
• Новокузнецкая
• Третьяковская (Калининская линия)
• Третьяковская (Калужско-рижская линия)
• Таганская (кольцевая)
• Таганская (радиальная)
• Марксистская

Stations of the Moscow underground on which the network "Megaphone-Moscow" will work in the near future (up to the end of August, 2005):

* Kursk (ring)
* Kursk (radial)
* Чкаловская
* Belarus (ring)
* Belarus (radial)

For up-to-date information check the Megafon Moscow web site here.

Map of the Metro System

Megafon Lite Roaming within Russia

The Megafon "Lite" plans that have attractive calling rates back to the U.S. have much higher rates when roaming within Russia. Currently the rate back to the U.S. is $3.00 / minute when you get out of Moscow. I'm not sure the extent of this, in particular where Obninsk falls. St. Petersburg is definitely a high priced roaming area as recently discovered by Bugs.

See the following Megafon Moscow web page for details:

Roaming Services for Lite Customers


BTW, The plan with attractive value is the "Ediny" plan. The SIM card costs around 100R and the rate to call locally or to the U.S. is 3R / minute (about 11 cents). For more information about this tariff plan go to the Ediny Tariff page.

Limited English language information is available on the Megafon Moscow website.

Happy calling!

Megafon Lite Voice Mail Instructions

MegafonMoscow has great deals on pay as you go cell phone plans. For around 100R (~$3) you can get a Edini plan that has a per minute rate in Moscow and back to the U.S. of 3R (~11 cents).

Setting up voice mail can be a challenge if you don't speak / read Russian. Included below is a graphic with a flow chart of voice mail menus for setting up and retrieving messages.

Welcome

Welcome to Dr. Gadget's BLOG. I will post information about a variety of gadgets including cell phones, computers and pdas and any other gadgets that strike my fancy. My friends who refer to me as Dr. G or Dr. Gadget will find useful information to help them use their Russian cell phones and other gadgets I may have talked them into buying :).

Happy Gadgeting!