"Dr. Cable"?

[oboeguy]

Our intro free two months of PCS Vision end in one month. To be honest, I find the service to be virtually worthless. It's slow, the screen is small, etc. I even tried the demo Ms. Pacman game and was forever soured on cellphone games (small screen, lousy controls, etc). If Ms. Pacman doesn't work for me on it, nothing will.

The one thing I've enjoyed so far is finally having a phone I can use to have a different ringtone for every person in my address book (Classical MIDI Archive rocks). So I figure ditch the Vision service and get a data cable. A quick Google search gave me this for a mere $12 plus whatever shipping / bend-over fees are charged.

I didn't realize that the data cables are so affordable. Anybody have experience with this "Dr. Cable" gizmo? Is there a better alternative?

 

[oboeguy]

bump

 

[BadNewsBears]

just bitch at sprint and get vision for free. i did it. plus there are website that you pick a ringer they send you a text message with a link and you download it from the link. really easy to do

 

[oboeguy]

Vision for free? You are some negotiator, BNB. :thumbsup: What's the secret of your success?

I've used said uploading services to get edited MIDI files as ringers on the phone. But if I have to pay for Vision, hello data cable.

 

[BadNewsBears]

Well not me specifiacally.My father. Sprint reps are notoriously bendable. Just give there arms a twist. Honsetly it helps that we have been sprint customers for a very long time. Today he bitched about something and he made us eligble for the 2 year service agreement 150 rebate, when we still had to wait another year for it to work for us.

 

[oboeguy]

I guess when my two months are up, I'll tell them what I really think (that it's a slow & unreliable service). Maybe they'll play nice.

BTW, I just tried to connect with it now and guess what? "MIC Error #201 Server not responding please try again." POS!

 

[Farbio]

they're not that hard to deal with, the trick is when the automated voice comes on, always say 'retention' or 'cancelation' the standard csr's can't really do much for ya, but the guys in retentions can offer you all sorts of plans that aren't on the books and lil perks as well. i've also been w/ sprint for like 5 years now, but i got free stuff after a few months, never seemed to matter.

 

[bastula]

What good timing you have to ask this question. I just bought this cable for my girlfriend for her VGA1000. It came out to about $20 including shipping. The company (Gomadic) doesn't include data transfer software, but they do throw in a cd of the drivers and Sprint's connection software so you can use your phone's vision to connect to the Internet.

I am not sure about Dr. Cable, but I use BitPim to transfer ringers, pics, calendar and download camera pics to/from the phone. You can also view the file system on the phone if you are interested in that sort of detail. You can also import/export calendar and contact information from a variety of sources. I use it a lot and it works great with my Sanyo SCP-5500. I am not one of the core developers, but I do submit patches once in a while. It's great software and it works on Windows, Mac and Linux. Give it a shot and if you have any questions, just shoot me a pm.

By the way, it is open source and constantly being worked on - so you can't beat that (or the price).

 

[thomsbrain]

my sony has infrared, so i just point it at my computer and whala! i use it to sync with outlook, function as a modem, transfer pics and programs, etc. good stuff. for files, i just drag stuff onto the "transfer files to this device" thing that pops up automatically in Windows XP, and the phone sorts out how to deal with whatever i send it.

 

[imported_Phil]

Bluetooth > * for this kinda thing. Heck, I can even sync my iPaq using Bluetooth.

 

[oboeguy]

bastula, does BitPim work my phone? TIA.

 

[bastula]

BitPim does work with the VGA1000, but as I found out yesterday, they haven't implemented support for sending ringers/pictures to the phone yet. You can sync your contacts and calendar info at the moment as well as transfer your camera pics to your computer. I think the ability to send ringers/pictures is currently being worked on for your phone (and other Samsung phones). However they do have it working great for the Sanyo phones though. I will find out the current status and let you know.

There are hack methods online that give directions how to upload pictures/ringers through the filesystem view through BitPim. I tried it for a picture, but wasn't able to make it work. I wouldn't recommend this way unless you are comfortable editing hex and fiddling with other programs.

My suggestion is to just hang tight until upload support is added for those features.

 

[bastula]

Ok this is what is supported currently for the Sprint Samsung VGA1000/A620 in BitPim:

- all phonebook reading
- Edit - probably will be disabled soon due to firmware issues: only overwriting phonebook
- all wallpaper reading
- all ringtone reading
- all calendar reading
- only overwriting calendar

Note that currently there is no support within the program for sending ringers and pictures to the phone.