What to do with that old smart phone

Like a lot of people these days, I do a lot of work away from my office.  For this reason, a smart phone is my most important tool and I tend to upgrade to a new phone when my contract allows for a hardware upgrade.  This means that I have a string of old phones that, while they still work, no one else wants (they would need a new battery which would often be more expensive than getting a new phone).

Several years ago, wifi started to become standard on smart phones and this opens up new opportunities for reusing your old smartphone.  A few weeks ago, I replaced my Blackberry Bold 9700 with a Bold 9900 and decided to see how much I could still do with a Blackberry that does not have any cell service.  This is what I found;

What works

• Blackberry desktop works fine, so synching contacts, calendars, music, pictures, etc all work
• Blackberry App world, I was surprised by this, but if you get a blackberry ID for your SIMless blackberry, you can buy and download apps to your heart’s content.
• Web Browsing, this includes using webmail
• All the games and apps
• GPS still works, but many of the capabilities of GPS applications on smartphones are dependent on downloading maps, so they are not much use while you are out and about.
• GPS applications that do not require maps or address info work just fine.  So you could use the gps for position location, speed and direction, geocaching, tracking your route etc.

What does not works

• Blackberry internet service (BIS) and Blackberry enterprise services (BES).  These provide the push email services that most of us are accustomed to.  As such the blackberry mail app is of no use.
• Blackberry Messenger, Blackberry Yahoo, Googletalk, Windows live and AOL clients
• Cell phone service (of course) but this means no SMS messaging as well.
• Blackberry Protect, if you have a blackberry then you should sign yourself up to blackberry protect, it's free and it will allow you to locate your blackberry if lost or stolen and to erase all your data remotely

Alternative to the Apps that do not work

Mail       You 2 choices for email, you can use your browser and webmail or you can use a standalone app called logic mail.

IM          There are plenty of options here, one of my favorites is IMO.IM which is a multi platform Instant messenger

Phone     A great alternative to the cell phone plan is Dell Voice (in Canada).  With Dell Voice you get a free local phone number including voice mail.  This means you can both make and receive calls as long as you have wifi access.

So with a blackberry that has Wifi but no cell phone service you can still use it as a fully functional smart phone: Voice, Email, IM, Games, Calendar etc.  with the restriction that you need the wifi.

How am I reusing my bold 9700?

If you read my previous blogs, you will know that we have a Logitec squeezebox network throughout the house and this system can be easily and completely controlled from the blackberry.  Until now, I have been using my active cell phone in a stand beside my bed.  My SIMless bold 9700 now has a permanent spot on my bedside table.  It is a great alarm clock and with wifi access, I can control the squeezebox network or check the weather or any of the features listed below

Other uses for SIMLess smart phone

Home automation control – home automation systems provide browser access so you could easily control any Smart home appliances.

Home intercom system – Apps like Zello and TalkBox provide free Push to talk capabilities

Book Reader – Kindle, Kobo and Overdrive all work fine

Weather display or photo display

Before you toss that SIMless smart phone away consider how you can reuse it around the house.

Squeezebox part 2 - More than just a clock radio

In my last blog, I talked about the Squeezebox Radio, an internet radio from Logitech. In this blog, I will talk about the entire Squeezebox family and how it is so much more than a clock radio, it’s a whole house digital music streaming system.

The Squeezebox family

1) Squeezebox server

The squeezebox server is the central control for any squeezebox devices. All squeezebox devices will be connected to a server when working.  There are 2 forms of server implementations:  the first is a cloud based implementation http://www.mysqueezebox.com/index/Home .  The second is an appliance based implementation that can run on most windows, mac or linux computers.  It can also run on some of the NAS devices. 

Both the cloud based and the appliance based servers are free and they provide you with the ability to manage your squeezebox devices, select what to play, set any of the features you want.

The squeezebox server can connect to your itunes or windows media library.

2) Squeezebox Media players

Squeezebox has been around for a while, the players come in several forms and have changed over time. The older ones, while maybe not having as nice a screen, still have all the same features as the newer ones.  Currently you can get a squeezebox radio and the squeezebox touch, which is designed to connect to your stereo.  You can see the current line at Logitech http://www.logitech.com/en-ca/speakers-audio/wireless-music-systems .  You can also get a squeezebox media player that will run on you computer.

3) Remote control

You can control your squeezebox system (any of the devices) from every other squeezebox media player directly, using any of the remote control accessories or any computer, smart phone or tablet that is connected to your network.

4) Add in Apps

Another nice thing about this system is that there is a vibrant community of App builders, you can get apps to display the weather, the news, stock tickers, your own pictures, podcast, etc.  This can be quite handy as your squeeze box is usually in an obvious place and having the current weather displayed by your bed is a real benefit.

How I use my squeezebox system

We have a media server which turns on automatically at 5:00 am and off at 1:00 am.  This computer is used for backing up the various computers in the house and to run the squeezebox server.  The squeezebox server has been running mostly painlessly for about 5 years now, I've been digitizing our CD, LP and tape collections slowly.  We currently have 562 albums with 6826 songs on the squeezebox.  Controlling the server and any of the squeezebox player is as simple as launching a browser, so from my blackberry, playbook, computer or any squeezebox player, I can turn on or off any component, select music or whatever else I want to do.

We have 4 squeezebox players: 3 squeezebox radios (sunroom, kitchen and bedroom) and a squeezebox classic in the library connected to the stereo.  Each device can play independently or they can be synchronised (this is the number one feature of the squeezebox system IMHO) in any combination.  On the main floor we have a squeezebox radio at each end and the squeezebox classic in between.  They are all close enough to each other so that you can hear 2 or 3 from any point on the main floor.  We have all 3 on the main floor synchronized so that when you turn one on or off the other 2 also turns on or off, and play whatever you selected.  Usually when you are streaming anything each device gets the signal at a slightly different time so having 2 internet radios playing the same station would get cause irritating echoes.  The squeezebox system takes care of this problem.

So in the morning, while preparing and eating breakfast we have CBC radio playing on the main floor and, as we move back and forth between kitchen and sunroom, it can be easily heard everywhere.

Squeezebox even takes synchronization to another level.  It allows you to set one device as the left channel and one device as the right channel. Every now and then, I want a little louder music in the kitchen (usually it’s when I’m making Indian food and would like to play Indian music loud, they kinda go together)  I found that the squeezebox radio did not quite do it for me and I was looking around at supplementing the radio with some self-powered speakers.  I accidentally discovered this feature and tried it out.  It turns 2 squeezebox radios into a very nice stereo. The radio in the sunroom has a rechargeable battery so all I have to do is unplug it and bring it into the kitchen and a few quick configuration changes and voila! instant indian music, in stereo and loud.   

So if you are thinking about taking the plunge into a whole house digital music system, the squeezebox system is well worth a look