OK, first they overrode my mobile device’s browser identity with that of their proxy server’s (their proxy server runs on Windows XP!) and I had a tough time explaining to their IT support staff over phone and in person what was breaking all mobile web sites like Gmail, Yahoo! Mobile and MSN Mobile. They never understood me, they did not want to, and never fixed it. I had to use various tweaks and tricks to get around.

This time they, the great minds at Smartone-Vodafone (HK), are even more creative. They have come up with the idea today that why not insert their ads on top and bottom of each page users visit via their paid GPRS/3G data services!

I was shocked today when I went to inbox of my Google-hosted personal email (see screenshots) on my mobile device’s browser and there was a huge ad on top of each page, taking about 20% of space with top banner only. I first thought my Windows mobile device might have been infected with ad-ware but soon realized that it was another act of same great minds when I was redirected to their Smartone IN! Bookmarks page on clicking the ad.

What the x#@*! Can you imagine that you are paying an ISP for internet and the ISP inserts its ads on all the pages you visit? Unimaginable, scary, unacceptable.

I called their customer service hotline to complain and I was told: “we have improved our system and that is why you see those ads for better browsing experience”. I was literally “NO!, you have destroyed the whole experience, not improved it!”. I was further told that changes are system wide and they can’t disable ads for a particular account…

For now, the only choice I have is to switch to another operator. I didn’t want to, but these great minds have forced me to.

Update (December 12th, 2007)

Dear Irfan

Thank you for your valuable comment.

Your feedback was greatly appreciated, we have immediately reflected to
our related department for review and further improvement. Moreover, we
will update you at once if there is any change. Please be assured that
SmarTone-Vodafone aims to provide quality service for our customers. We
apologize for any inconveniences caused to you.

Should there be any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us at our
24-hour data services hotline 2880 2622 or send email to us again. We
would be delighted to offer our sincere help.

Best Regards
Customers Division

Got this response from Smartone-Vodafone after I visited their shop, talked to their customer service on phone and emailed them. I even forwarded the complaint to some of their managers whose emails I could dig from Google.

Whatever action they take to remedy this, I hope they take into consideration real needs of their customers and usability of web pages on small screens. Not a decision which is inspired by profits or need of promoting a particular service (bookmarks in this case).

For now, I am going wait till end of year to see. At the very least I am expecting them to provide an option to customers if they want to see these useful banners or not.

Update (December 15, 2007)

Dear Irfan

Thank you for your enquiry.

The toolbar is provided to customer for better browsing experience with quick access of RSS or Podcast feed, bookmarking interesting web page and share with others easily. This toolbar will only appear on the top and bottom of the web page you visited, it doesn’t occupy any of your handset screen at all, once you scroll up or down, the web page shown on your handset screen will be the same as the original.

We regret that option for disabling the toolbar is not available at the moment, but we will keep on collecting customers’ feedback on our service for review and service development in the future.

Smartone-Vodafone sent me above reply in response to my query that if and when they can disable the banners for my account. As you can see, there is no chance for that to happen. In fact, they think that those banners do not occupy any space on my tiny little screen!

Hopelessly, I have switched to another telecom company. I prefer to pay my hard-earned $$$ to someone who understands their customers and works to improve user experience. From Dec 18th, I won’t have to see these ugly red banners. Nor any mobile websites will break due to wrong identity of my mobile browser being sent by Smartone-Vodafone proxy server.

I will be in the loop to see how long will it take Smartone-Vodafone to backtrack from this bad decision. I believe they will, but I want to know at what cost.

This is my first post with Windows Live Writer. As you might have noticed that I used WordPress on my blog, I am not sure good it is gonna work with it. Some of the concerns I have are:

• Its integration with WordPress. How solid it is?
• Whether it supports all features of WordPress posting.
• Does it insert any unneeded, Microsoft Office type of HTML tags in my content?
• Any security issues?

I am posting this right after installing Writer and without knowing it much. Will be giving more details about my experiences in coming few days.

Besides the much advertised new sky maps feature, Google Earth’s latest version 4.2 has a hidden Flight simulator. Awesome graphics and good control of flight� but not with a keyboard, at least not for me. Still it is worth a try. Download the latest version and enjoy. More details about this feature can be found at Marco’s blog� while keyboard shortcuts for controlling or crashing your aircraft are here.

Google has always been famous for hidden features in its services and forever beta versions (Gmail is still in beta!). This is another example.

Which Linux distro you like the most?

Lately I have been trying various distros of Linux and now have kind of settled with Ubuntu. My ex favorite was Suse but I gave up on this for compatibility reasons of various utilities with VMWare server I run the Linux in.

Right now I have Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04 installed on VMWare Server 1.03. My host operating system is Windows XP with 2.0 GHz dual core processor and 2 GB RAM. Even thought I have quite a few Windows applications running on host (Outlook, Yahoo IM, IE, PSPad, and one of other Office programs), I still get a very impressive performance of Ubuntu in VM.

I have allocated 8GB VHDD which grows on need basis and 768 MB of VRAM. I mostly work with Java based application, MySQL and Firefox etc. on guest operating system.

I am overall satisfied with performance of Ubuntu but am not quite happy (yet) about its window appearance and fonts.

What is your favorite Linux distro and how do you use it? Installed in dual boot, single boot or in a VM?

Never in my life before I had bought a phone with so much excitement and then dumped it within a week. But I did experience this with HTC Touch.

I have been a user of Windows Mobile phones for quite a few years now. My first device was O2 XDAIIs (generic name: HTC Blue Angel). It was pretty nice though huge and I love it for 2 reasons. It had Wi-fi and it had a sliding keyboard for the times when you just can’t use Style, like when you are riding a four wheeler on a bumpy track.

After about 2 years of use, I switched to Dopod C720W (a.k.a. T-Mobile Dash, HTC 620. Generic name Excalibur). It was pretty big change initially from a touch screen Pocket PC phone to a Smartphone but I got used to it so quickly. It had all the great features like Wi-Fi and Windows Mobile 5.0 but one thing I really got hooked on to was its working keyboard. Never ever I had to use a Stylus to type!

Then in June this year I saw the sexy ads of HTC Touch on TV, internet, even on my Messenger and I felt like getting one. Somehow I was ready to sacrifice a keyboard assuming that I could type on the screen (like iPhone would allow you to). That is what the whole marketing campaign was telling me. I also had used a Pocket PC stylus phone before and had loved it. This one must have been better, I thought.

But well, as soon as I got one, it didn’t work the way it is marketed.

• You just can’t type onscreen with your thumbs unless you have tiny fingers of a 3 years’ old. You got to use Stylus.
• Flip technology called TouchFLO is not worth the money. It is just three screens where you can see a few contacts, enable/disable services and play multimedia. It is not something you can use for doing everything on the device.
• Other than that, it is just another Pocket PC and you will need to use Stylus for everything. Especially those of you who are used to some sort of keyboard.

HTC is exploiting the iPhone craze in regions where it is not available. People tend to think after looking at the ads that this phone is something very close to iPhone. It is not. Make sure you try the device thoroughly before you buy it.

And in case you are wondering what did I do after my disappointment? I dumped the phone after a week and bought Dopod C730W (generic name Cavalier). It is as good as it can get and I am happy go lucky man again!

P.S: This is not a phone review but a personal experience with it. You may love it as much as I hated it