Cell Phone To Interface With Z/pc?

[vputz]

Somewhat on-topic, as it does relate to the Z...

I love KOPI; it's become my standard PIM, on Z and PC.  I would like the ability to interface with a cell phone; we're moving to Albuquerque, so it's time to possibly get a new provider, a new phone, etc.

(er, besides, my siberian husky decided my wife's phone was a tasty treat, and now its horribly chewed case must be held shut forcibly while talking).

But I need a phone that can be synched with the Z, and I'd like one that has a well-known interface that would be semi-hackable as well.  Since that will probably determine my provider, to an extent, it's all a little mixed together.

(I'd like Bluetooth as well, to aid in the synching, although USB would be doable).

Browsing the Gammu compatibility list is only so helpful.  Any suggestions?  The more open, the better (I like screwing with my toys--which of course explains the Z).  I'm not necessarily planning GPRS, though it's at least an interest...

-->VPutz

[ev1l]

What do you want to sync? I have a Sony/Ericsson phone with my contacts mateched, but that's just done through nuking the addressbook and then beaming a vCard with the kapi contacts to the phone. iCal and vCal support is totally busted, though, so no beaming of calendar events/todos.
There are plans to build a SyncML replication engine for Kdepimpi, so getting a phone that supports that (modern nokias) could be a wise forward looking move.
I haven't tested importing/exporting many phones with kdepim (lack of access to hardware), so it's a bit difficult to give good advice in that domain I'm afraid. The big problem is of course the lack of universal standard for sync'ing (SyncML somewhat fixes that, but it's still very, very new in the phone market).

[Ragnorok]

- I have a LG PM325, which is a brand-spanky new phone (a whole week old) with all sorts of uber-spiff features.  But there's no IR ... connectivity is via cable or BT only.  Since I have the Z with me everywhere I go, calendaring on the phone seems like a waste (grin), so I'm only interested in syncing my address book.
- But not all 700 of them!  I'm thinking the best route would be to make a category, then create a filter that uses that category, then use that filter for sync.  Then updates done on the phone will appear in PIMpi, and updates made in PIMpi will appear on the phone.
- I'm all over patch-build-test, alpha test, beta test, whatever.  I just want it to *work*.  (sniffle)
- One thing, on the surface, that seems like a problem is that BlueZ only supports one rfcomm connection per device, and that one is currently set to channel 4 (DUN) for surfing.  There are three other channels available: 1 is "WTEXT", whatever that is: 2 is for headsets: 3 is for hands-free sets (which seems a bit redundant).  My fear is that channel 1 will have to be used to sync, so the mobile phone interface will have to be configured to reconfigure BT, restart it, then sync.
- Once I figure out how the Network Applet does its magic I'm okay with scripting a process to check if rfcomm is using channel 4, then do this razzle-dazzle to set it to channel 4 as part of its "normal" connection process, so PIMpi should feel free to leave BT in whatever state it feels like.

- Just some free-association ... your mileage may vary ...

[vputz]

Quick resurrection of this thread, actually--I started it and then was sorta incommunicado for a bit.

In answer to the above--honestly, the only thing I need to synchronize is my contact information; as mentioned, I have kopi with me constantly on the Z--no need to use the phone as a calendar at this point!

And to be frank, I sort of have the unix philosophy with gadgets: I just want a PHONE.  Phones are for talking and communicating, and that's what I want to do with it.  I don't need a camera, or a game machine, or an internet browser (again--that's what the Z is for!).  But I *do* want to have my contact information on it, and so syncing from the Z (even if it involves writing a few scripts to massage the data) is a nice thought (although syncing from the desktop would be fine too).

And the answer could be "heck, any modern phone will do THAT", and that's an OK answer too.  But the more hackable the better, imho.

I also don't know if there is a big difference in GSM/CDMA.  We're with Verizon right now, and hate the "cheap phone" we got with the initial contract (an LG something), but we're done with the two-year contract and have a choice now, so if I want to switch carriers I can (and it's not a bad idea to at least sample what else is out there).  Bluetooth would be nice, and I don't see a ton of CDMA phones that support it, but it's one of those "I've never used it, so maaybe I don't understand why it would be compelling" things.

It's hard to find a lot of support for SyncML, or at least I'm not seeing it advertised as much as I'd expect...

I'm actually surprised I don't see more organized information on hacking cell phones from Linux, but I'm guessing I'm just not looking in the right places.  Ah well.

-->VPutz

[Ragnorok]

- Once you get it working, which is certainly less of a chore with OESF on your side (grin), BT lets you use the Z to surf the 'net anywhere you have your phone, even if it's, say, in your pocket.  It's not a capability I use a *lot*, but it sure beats using the wife unit's Treo, which has this itty bitty postage-stamp of a screen, and a brainless non-multitasking "operating sytsem", and a "browser" that won't load an amazing array of plain old web sites.  Now if we want movie info, traffic info, restaurant info, whatever info on the go, I can use the much better Opera browser/Z screen to do the things we used to do with her Treo.
- I'm also hoping (fingers crossed) I'll be able to sync my address book to the phone over BT, so I won't have to find some weirdo combination of this or that cable to fit the darned thing, or I won't have to shell out for DataPilot to do all sorts of things, when all I *want* to do is keep my phone numbers up to date and/or backed up somewhere.  Since I already have the BT link set up, it seems like a good thing to use it for this as well.  (shrug)
- I've got Sprint, who uses CDMA.  The LG-PM325 is a nice phone, IMHO.  It's not a clam shell, but I don't like clamshell phones ... only PDAs.  (snicker)  It doesn't have an external antenna, which I like.  That seems to give it a little less signal, but it actually seems to work *better* on the signal it has than the Sanyo SCP-8100 it replaced.  Go figure!  It also has a better UI than the Sanyo did, by far.
- This LG, and the Treo 650, are the only Sprint phones that support BT, that I've seen, and the Treo is supposed to have a specially bollixed version of BT that prevents it from being used as a laptop/PDA link.  Don't know about others ... Verizon is supposed to have stellar coverage, but I've never used them personally, and don't know what BT-aware units they may have available.  My experience (nearly three years old now) with GSM (T-Mobile) is they have a much wider selection of devices, and quite a bit more flexability, but significantly less coverage than either Verizon or Sprint.  Back then, T-Mobile was *it* for GSM, but now others are finally starting to pick it up as well, so the landscape has surely changed a bit since I used it.
- Just thought I'd toss those tidbits out there for your perusal; it's not intended to be a plug for any particular service, but a synopsis of information.  (wide grin)
- I'm currently looking into playing around with BlueZ (source level) to see what I can see.  It's just a slow process, what with all the *other* things I'd like get done, too!  (wry grin)...

[ev1l]

And to be frank, I sort of have the unix philosophy with gadgets: I just want a PHONE.  Phones are for talking and communicating, and that's what I want to do with it. 

The unix philosophy is to built small independent pieces of software that you can combine easily, it's a bit different than requiring your devices do one thing only.
I'm fine with multi-purpose devices as long as they integrate well, to be honest.

- Once you get it working, which is certainly less of a chore with OESF on your side (grin), BT lets you use the Z to surf the 'net anywhere you have your phone, even if it's, say, in your pocket.  It's not a capability I use a *lot*, but it sure beats using the wife unit's Treo, which has this itty bitty postage-stamp of a screen, and a brainless non-multitasking "operating sytsem", and a "browser" that won't load an amazing array of plain old web sites.  Now if we want movie info, traffic info, restaurant info, whatever info on the go, I can use the much better Opera browser/Z screen to do the things we used to do with her Treo.
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Careful, some american carriers disable that capability (to force you to buy a PC-card to put in your laptop instead of using your phone as a modem). Sure it flies in the face such crazy things as "common sense" and "customer value", but hey, they're doing it.

- I'm also hoping (fingers crossed) I'll be able to sync my address book to the phone over BT, so I won't have to find some weirdo combination of this or that cable to fit the darned thing, or I won't have to shell out for DataPilot to do all sorts of things, when all I *want* to do is keep my phone numbers up to date and/or backed up somewhere.  Since I already have the BT link set up, it seems like a good thing to use it for this as well.  (shrug)
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The problem with that is the limitations in the phone software, basically. And the Z doesn't integrate BT as well as it does Infrared, too.