BitPim

My new company cell phone is a LG VX8300 and I am just beginning to figure out all that it can do.

Here are two features I will not be using:

1. VCAST (you can watch video clips and even complete TV programs on your cell phone!). I have a life! I don't see the value of this and will skip it!
   
2. Music player. This is kind of cool, but I really don't see myself using it. I'm actually happy not listening to anything while I drive other than classical music on my XM radio. In my truck, I never listen to the radio even. So ... not for me.
   

The camera has a 1.3 megapixel phone which is interesting. Roger showed me how to use it and it is straightforward. I told Kathee that the phone had a 1.3 pixel camera. Her response was that it wasn't much resolution. So OK it is a 1.3 megapixel camera! We had a Rockwell moment on the way home from church a week ago. We were on the South end of Medicine Lake at the source of Bassett Creek. There were three young boys playing in the water. I told Kathee that I wished I had a camera with me. It was such a scene of innocence and fun! Oh well!

Of course what I really have the cell phone for is business communications. I use it when I work from home, when I travel, when I am contacted for an emergency (which is thankfully not often!).

My old phone had all kinds of contacts: Mom, Sis, other relatives, co-workers. "The Big Bowl" (for call ahead seating), "Sweet Taste of Italy", etc.

I formerly had used a product called Datapilot to manage those contacts. That package is gone (on my old Dell company laptop) so I am back to ground zero for a software solution.

RPI Wireless also has a software solution and I almost ordered it today.

What I want is a software synch solution that will work on Windows XP and MAC OS X (because for home that is my technology direction) and maybe even Vista. Datapilot has XP and MAC versions (but you have to buy them separately). The RPI Wireless solution has both MAC and Windows software in the same package.

I wonder why this stuff has to cost so much! All I need it to do is transfer contact data back and forth over a USB cable!

This brings me to BitPim. BitPim is an open source solution that is free to download! It supports: Linux, Windows XP, and the MAC OS X! It does not come with a cable so I order a cable (bought on EBay) for $ .99 (the shipping is $ 5.00). So as soon as the cable arrives, hopefully next week, I am going to try the BitPim software.

I'll report back on how it works! It could be an inexpensive solution (just the cost of the cable) or ???.

vx8300 blog