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Sharing thoughts and ideas on business, security and photographyLast chance to get your Cell C 3G prepaid bundle at a good price
Posted on October 12, 2011When Cell C launched their 3G network last year they had some awesome “launch specials” the best 2 of which I considered to be the 2 gig and 5 gig specials. As a reminder, you pay either R1000 or R2000 upfront and then get either 2 gig a month or 5 gig a month, every month for the next year.
I purchased a 2 gig sim for my laptop last year, it expires this month. I have also put one into an Android phone, and into my iPad. Do the maths, that’s 6 gig of mobile data across 3 devices for about R250 per month. No other service provider comes close (yes 8ta does have their contract option R199 a month for 10 gig a month, also a great deal, just can’t split that easily over my devices). I have recommended this Cell C deal to friends, family and the like over the last year and all have been delighted.
Those introductory special offers now come to and end in the next few days, the price goes up significantly as at the 1 November, but the current deals won’t be available after the weekend. So look air it carefully, if your current sim expires in the next month or 3, it will be worth getting another now, or if you are in the market for a new data hungry device (tablet, iPhone, android device) do yourself a favor and get one now.
Once you have made the decision don’t forget your Rica documents and then be prepared to have a little patience, these babies are hard to find. Phone a few Cell C shops and track them down.
Yesterday I spent an hour in the Cell C shop in Carlton, they were so helpful. They had one left in stock, did the sim swap to microsim for the iPad for free, and hunted down a second one. They phoned about five or six other shops to find it, and then did a sim swap from that shop to theirnso I wouldn’t have to go anywhere else, this was customer service above and beyond, they delighted me and deserve much credit for doing good for their brand.
Good luck in hunting down your deals, it is worth it and you won’t be sorry. If you get some spotty cell c coverage, just remember what you would be paying for that same data on Vodacom or MTN, and remember they have their fair share of problems.
Your favourite iPad applications, please share
Posted on October 06, 2011I have finally succumbed to the temptation and acquired a new iPad 2, 32 gig 3G version. There are so many applications for the device, although the SA app store is really lame. Within all of 3 hours I was ready to jailbreak my device, until I had a USA iTunes account set up and the world opened up. I hear that the Kenya app store (yes Kenya) has benefits. All of the apps (though not the music) is available and you can use your South African credit card. Another post on that soon.
In the meantime, please share details of your favourite applications. I am looking to put a post together so look forward to hearing from you to make that a more interesting post.
New Android manufacturers and devices supported on Drifta
Posted on October 05, 2011DStv Mobile have announced that some new devices are supported by their Android client, interestingly enough, this covers 2 previously unsupported manufacturers in LG and Motorola. Hopefully this is the start of something. Here is the list of new devices:
- LG Optimus Black (LG P970)
- Motorola Defy (MB 525)
- HTC ChaCha
- HTC Desire HD
- Samsung Galaxy Tab (7″ All models including GT-P1000, GT-P1010)
HTC Desire build.prop
Posted on October 04, 2011I had a few requests for a copy of my build.prop from my HTC Desire (one of the devices supported by the Drifta Android software). In the hope it helps some of you I have uploaded it and added it to the FAQ.
If you have one of the other supported devices (Galaxy S, SII etc) feel free to send me your build.prop and I will upload it to help out others.
Running the standard Android Drifta app on non-standard phones
Posted on September 27, 2011Before the hacked version of the DStv mobile application surfaced people were looking for ways to get the standard application to work on devices other than those supported, as well as on rooted devices. That playing around stopped with the hacked version. Now that DStv has taken to asserting their copyrights to the application a lot of people have not been able to get hold of the hacked application. The same outcome can be achieved without needing to infringe DStv’s copyright. Below is the short and more detailed version of this :
- If your device is not supported, you can change your device’s identity so that it looks like a supported device.
- If your device is rooted, you can temporarily unroot it using OTA Rootkeeper.
That’s it. Simple, yes?
Below is Johan’s feedback and instructions (edited a little with links added to make your lives easier).
Designed to fail – when things that should work just don’t #dstvmobile #fail #android
Posted on September 21, 2011In some ways this could be considered a followup post to the one I did last week on “A week with the DStv mobile Android application, the good and the bad” (link here).
Let’s start with the purpose of the DStv service, the Drifta and the supporting applications. At it’s most basic level, the purpose is to let us (the consumer) watch tv, and to let DStv earn revenue from providing us with that service.
Our obligation is to pay the initial fee for the device, and to pay the monthly service fee. DStv’s obligation is to provide a working service that allows us to watch the broadcast when we choose to do so, in the advertised areas of coverage, on the advertised devices.
This morning, that service failed me. How? Well, I have my paid for Drifta, have paid my monthly subs, and have the DStv mobile application loaded on a legitimate (non rooted, supported) device.
I turned on the Drifta, it connected to the DVB-H signal. I turned on my HTC Desire, connected to the Internet, loaded up the application. Up came the “authenticating” message, which then stayed on screen for a while before a message came up to the effect that the authentication server was unavailable, please try again later.
I tried many times over the next few minutes, each time with the same result. All the while the game I was wanting to watch was carrying on, without me watching. In frustration I tweeted out “Aargh. Drifta has DVB-H signal and is connected. HTC desire says Unable to reach authentication server try in few minutes. #norugby #fail“.
A colleague has an iPhone, which also has the application loaded on it. He came over to my desk and we tried to connect it to my Drifta. It first tried to connect to the last Drifta it had been used with, when that didn’t work it did a re-scan and connected to mine. It worked. First time, no problem, and the game came up. I got to see around five minutes for the second half before he needed to leave, and sent out a second tweet “Any Android users managing to watch Drifta? Authentication server wl.dstvmobile.com seems to be down. Working fine on colleagues iphone :(“
I received a reply shortly after “@jjza The Android Auth server ISP is experiencing connectivity issues. Techs working on the problem. Will keep you updated. #Drifta“. Replied “thanks Neil. Not happy but appreciate the feedback.” and two hours later received the update “@jjza #Drifta #Android Auth server connection should be back up. Please try again.” An hour later I tried again, it worked, and I replied to that effect.
Fine, it was working again, but I had missed the game. DStv had failed to deliver the service I was paying for. #fail
I am unhappy with this situation. Not because DStv messed up and didn’t provide the service. We all mess up from time to time and nobody can expect 100% perfect service. However, why should it work on one device and not another. There is no mention of this in any of the advertising or product documentation.
In introducing the Android application, DStv mobile have, by design, introduced an added level of complexity, and an additional point of failure, which can (and does) seem to fail often. Why is it that an iPhone can use the service without needing to authenticate (every time) to the DStv servers yet Android cannot have this same luxury. What possible reason is there for punishing Android users in this manner?
The only reason given is that the application is authorised (by DStv mobile) to work on certain Android devices (and not others – the logic behind that we will leave for another time). So whenever we load the application it checks to see whether it is “allowed” to use the application. This seems like a reasonable step, but is it really?
The idea behind this was to allow DStv to control the Android devices on which the application will work, and allow additional devices to be added without needing to release a new version of the application each time. The authentication information is anonymous, so of course it is not being collected and being used for any purposed other than authentication (such as usage statistics, device usage patterns etc) as that would be unethical, and quite possibly in terms of the upcoming Protection of Personal Information Act would be illegal too.
One can safely assume also that if a device is added to the “white list” of supported devices that it would then be allowed to used on that device and that privilege would not be revoked.
Surely then this authentication could be a one-off process. You download the app from the store, it is a “virgin app”. It phones home, sends through the device (not user, network, location and other) details, confirms it is allowed to work, and then is permanently activated. If the device is not on the white list, and error message can be displayed and the software remain inactive. The user can then try again in a week or two. If the application was really smart, it could then even do a push notification when the device was finally whitelisted, but let us not over complicate the situation.
So what would the benefits of this be?
- Activation would be one-off
- No internet connection would be needed every time you wanted to load the application
- No dependency would be created on an ISP to make sure the authentication server is up
- No dependency would be created on the cellular service provider to make sure their service is working
- You would not have to check both the DStv and Cell provider websites for coverage to see whether you can use your device
- No nagging suspicion would be created that just maybe DStv are collecting more information than they say, more often than they say
- I would have been able to watch the game
Let me repeat that last line, I would have been able to watch the game that I paid to watch.
So the ISP let DStv down. What was their Business Continuity Plan to make sure that this newly introduced (just for Android users) point of failure had redundant controls? There are so many more questions that could be asked here, the answers of which could affect whether their product offering complies with the Consumer Protection Act. Instead let us just ask, what is the solution.
In my mind, it is quite simple. Fix the application. Allow the authentication to be one-off (monthly if you must). And while you are at it, remove the Drifta BIOS update from the application, we don’t have to carry that around on the phone with us all the time, space is precious, and a bloated application double the necessary size is not welcome.
DStv, I really like the idea of the service, I recommend it to lots of people, in person and on twitter. I am an evangelist for your product, but I am also honest and a realist. Your Android application sucks, but is easily fixable. I can no longer recommend to anyone that they purchase your service to use on an Android device, you have designed it to fail. Please fix that so I can enjoy the product as it should work, and let your customers get the service they pay for (or would pay for).
A week with the DStv mobile Android application, the good and the bad
Posted on September 15, 2011I gave now spent just over a week with the DStv mobile application, had some time to play with it and get my thoughts together around it.
Firstly, I am very grateful to have the application. After more than 5 months of waiting (impatiently) I was starting to lose hope. On reflection, it is sad that I am grateful to an organisation for providing me with a service which I paid for, and was paying for while it wasn’t being delivered. Still, I do like to be able to watch the sports channels while on the move.
There are some good and bad points. Let me start with the bad.
- The application is huge. The largest application I have installed on my phone at almost 20 Meg. My phone (HTC Desire) has limited memory, so in order to install the DStv mobile application I had to uninstall Google Plus, the Google Maps updates, Facebook updates and the 360 Panorama tool. That really burns, I have now lost a whole lot of functionality on my phone to have this application. After some poking around I discovered that the entire Drifta update ROM/BIOS is stored in the application, and this takes up more than half of the space. Whoever came up with that idea was clearly not thinking straight. It is a one-off upgrade I would happily have done via my PC now I have to give up so much Android space and functionality (10 Meg).
- The application doesn’t allow itself to be move to the SD card, or for any part of it to be moved (as App2SD and similar tools do). I am not sure what changes need to be made to the app to let it move to SD, but do it guys. Either that or remove the Drifta BIOS from the application. If 15 Meg of that 20 Meg could be stored on the SD card I would be smiling.
- It works on very limited devices still. I include this one because of all of the complaints I receive daily, not because it affects me anymore.
- The application authenticates to the server EVERY TIME you load it. What a pain. Sometimes I have perfect DVB-H (Drifta) signal but lose Cell phone signal (one client I work at has really really bad Cell C signal) and then I can’t watch the mobile TV. Throw the device over the desk divider to a mate with an iPhone and he seems to be able to use it just fine, no authentication. Why the discrimination against Android users? I don’t know. This again seems to be a badly thought out ploy. Let the thing authenticate weekly or monthly if need be, but please for the sake of all things good cut out this nonsense of having to start from scratch every time. Not only that, but when I bought the device it was made clear that NO internet connection was needed to use it. To introduce these unnecessary additional steps at this late stage of the game is really unacceptable. It would probably fall foul of the Consumer Protection Act if I hadn’t bought it in December last year.
- The application is unstable! How unstable? Well during the USA vs Russia game this morning it crashed twice and on a third occasion rebooted my phone. That really isn’t good enough. The game was tight so I didn’t miss any key scoring moments, but still. It could have been a minute or two downtime at a crucial moment.
- Ok this is a repeat (in a way) of point 4. Every time I load the application I have to first make sure wi-fi is off (otherwise it automatically connects to the Drifta) or the Drifta is off (so it can’t connect). Then load the application, let it authenticate to the internet (if available) and then go into system settings to turn wi-fi back on again, then click re-scan, then let it connect. When the application is quit, it switches wi-fi off regardless of whether wi-fi was on or off before the application was started. I find this whole process cumbersome and painful, needing to switch backward and forward between the system settings and the application just to get it to work.
- The picture isn’t full screen, it puts some bars down the sides. Sure this keeps the aspect ratio correct, but there could have been an optional zoom to fill the screen.
- There is conflicting information as to whether the anonymous authentication is really anonymous or not depending on who I speak to (this is still to be cleared up). My view, collecting / sending unique information back to the server while displaying a message saying it is an anonymous authentication is dishonest, bad business practice and potentially will be illegal when the Protection of Personal Information Bill is promulgated, and is probably also falling foul of the Consumer Protection Act. (I am not a lawyer, so I cannot give anything but an informed lay man’s view on that).
Enough griping, now for the good.
- The application works (mostly)
- I get to watch mobile tv on the move as I should have been able to since the start (when I have Cell phone signal)
- The interface is easy to use and the picture quality is nice on the small screen
- I am getting to see some of the Rugby World Cup I wouldn’t have otherwise
- Coverage is fairly good and stable. This morning I drove from home (Dawncliffe, Westville) to the office (La Lucia Ridge past gateway) and there was no signal drop on the entire trip. I was listening rather than watching so can’t be sure picture didn’t freeze but audio was stable. The application crashed when I drove into the parking lot, but otherwise was all good. (Added 16/9/2011 based on a Twitter question posed by @Mateewis)
- The subscription is relatively cheap (R36/month)
In conclusion, I am very happy to have the application and be able to watch some of the Rugby World Cup, but the size of it, the lack of stability and the ridiculous authentication system is significantly dampening my enthusiasm for it.
Please share your thoughts and experiences, I am particularly interested in hearing the views of people who have used both the iPhone and Android applications.
Guest review : Using the Nokia DVB-H adapter with the E7
Posted on September 11, 2011Johan posted this fairly lengthy comment in response to my post “A most interesting hour with DStv mobile team” . It makes good reading and deserves better exposure than languishing within the comments, so with his permission, a mostly unedited version is presented below. I have included a few of my own comments (all italicised).
I am using the Nokia DVB-H adapter with my Nokia E7 and must say I am really happy just carrying 1 device with the benefit of “using” Internet on the device (when you switch to the mobile TV app it does stop, but downloads are not interrupted in the background when watching DSTV). For all Nokia’s “faults”, true multitasking and excellent hardware have kept me on the platform. My N900 did unfortunately pack up, but the E7 has been a worthy replacement (for me at least).
The wifi drifta is however a more “versatile” device. It can now be used with PC, iOS, “Android” (currently 6 devices) and hopefully soon OSX (although the Drifta allows only one device to connect at a time).
In terms of the Nokia Mobile TV software it does have some benefits over the Drifta software. A really nice feature is the REMINDERS functionality (only for the next 18 hours for which the EPG is displayed for). Once set, the reminder pops up even if you do not have the dvb-h headset connected. 1 click and you can watch the program (once you connect the headset).
My main gripes are (mostly Nokia specific – I don’t have a Drifta)
- The E7 can only be charged via USB, but the dvb-h adaptor takes that spot – so you can’t charge and watch at the same time. But I have watched about 4.5 hours on a full charge. The older N8 can be used for longer (has older charger plug allowing charge and view) but the “pop-up” screen of the E7 does make it easier to view…
- You HAVE to “subscribe” via 3G / Wifi EVERY month (only takes 5 mins, but it is a pain)
- SuperSport 4 just would NOT want to work. Says loading but nothing. Lots of fiddling and then SS4 now working (after resetting Mobile TV from within the app). It then re-scans for channels. You have to then “purchase” again, but it remembers that you already have a subscription and within a minute you can watch the channels again.
- Could for the life of me not get it to work in Strand, Stellenbosch, Blauwberg, SomersetWest end last month. Just kept saying no signal… But when I landed back in Gauteng worked instantly… (Coverage across the broader Western Cape does seem a bit spotty. This is reflected on the DStv Mobile coverage map on their site.)
But overall I think it is a great service (yes “better” channels would be nice, but for R36 per month you get SS1 and SS2 “always” with you.
Thanks Johan. Great to get some insight into other options. You certainly seem to be getting a better battery life than what I get with my wifi Drifta, or my HTC Desire. And between them they have two batteries (which both have to be charged). The reminders feature is one that is sorely missing from the Drifta.
The all in one option of the E7 with headset seems like a great alternate, especially if you have a compatible cell phone.
Guest review : What is Minecraft ? (1.7.3)
Posted on September 10, 2011Minecraft is a sandbox type game where there is no purpose but just to experiment (and survive) to build and advance your world as far as you can. The basics are that you start on an island, find some trees, make a temporary (or permanent) shelter and then find some coal to make torches to light up your home. There are 4 difficulty modes:
- peaceful, where no mobs (enemies) will spawn that will attack you,
- easy, where all the mobs spawn but they have less health and deal less damage then the other difficulties,
- normal, the average mode where the mobs are have slightly more health and damage then in easy, and of course
- hard mode where the mobs are the most difficult to kill (deal the most damage and have the most health).
There is no actual storyline or anything that you are trying to do besides survive and advance to higher technologies such as pistons and mine carts.
DSTV Mobile Channel Update : SS4 added
Posted on September 09, 2011Just heard this evening that Supersport 4 has been added and that Big Brother Amplified has been dropped. Since DStv Mobile users are mostly sports lovers, this can only be a good move. I haven’t seen any official announcement but can guess that it is related to the Rugby World Cup. More coverage for all of us 🙂
Thanks Melosi Baloyi Lesega (@melosib) for bringing this to my attention.
Android Drifta app 1.1.19 updates Drifta firmware to 2.1.312
Posted on September 09, 2011Out of interest, the launch application for Android (1.1.19) requires an update to the Drifta firmware.
Unpacking the .APK file and extracting the firmware binary shows the version as Tivit(DVB-H) 2.1.312 2011/06/23-19:41:55
Information has been added to the FAQ.
The OFFICIAL DStv Drifta app now compatible with many more Android Devices
Posted on September 09, 2011Update 2 : Confirmed for 3 HTC devices, the Desire, Desire HD and Wildfire S.
Other devices appear to be able to download but not run the application.
Update : The app downloads and install but fails the whitelist authentication test. I hope DStv fixes that this morning otherwise I see many of us going with the unofficial application (see here)
As of this morning, despite the Android Market place description of the software saying otherwise, the official DStv Drifta app from the marketplace is now compatible with a number of new devices.
Currently the following are confirmed :
- Sony Ericsson X10
- HTC Desire
The DSTV Drifta application for Android has already been hacked to work on “non supported” devices
Posted on September 08, 2011Update (9/9/2011) : As of this morning many more devices are supported. The application description still only lists the initial Galaxy devices but if you have an HTC, Sony Ericsson (and maybe others) the Market Place now shows up the app for your phone whereas before it was listed as incompatible. Try the official application before any of the hacked ones!!
For those who are still desperate:
There have been a number of posts around the net with users expressing their annoyance and dismay at the limited number of Android devices that are supported by DStv mobile.
It didn’t take long for users to start making their phones look like a Samsung Galaxy S to get the software to run, which worked quite well but required some modification of the phone (rooting it and changing property files).
Some kind soul (anonymously known as PeterJoe) then hacked the install file to allow it to run on rooted devices as well as fake the check to make it work on any phone (posted to MyBroadband.co.za). This doesn’t work on every device but many are supported. Sadly the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 doesn’t seem to be one of them.
See how to do this in the FAQ : http://j-j.co.za/faq/getting-the-drifta-software-to-work-on-unsupported-devices/
Enjoy the World Cup.
HTC and Drifta, a few tweeted tidbits
Posted on September 07, 2011With DStv Mobile having released the Android app for some Samsung Galaxy devices it looks as though HTC are feeling rather left out and wanting to get their share of the action. Some interesting tweets today.
First up was @Regardt van der Berg, “I do PR, Communications, and Social Media for HTC and I’m a lazy photographer” from http://www.htcblog.co.za commenting that support is coming to HTC soon and they are working with the Devs to get the app approved on HTC.
Nico @Zandberg picked up that the screenshots present on the Android App Store are actually taken from an HTC and not a Samsung. Mybroadband picked up on the press release mailed out by DStv mobile and put up a story.
I contacted Regardt and put some questions to him, which were partially answered with a non-committal “We are working with Multichoice” but an offer to correspond further by email, which I took him up on and sent a mail asking a few questions.
Will feed back when I get a response. An interesting day for HTC users none-the-less.
NB : The tweets below were collated together using editor software, but can be validated back to Twitter.
Drifta for Android is here, now, ahead of the World Cup, for Galaxy S, SII and Tab P1000
Posted on September 06, 2011DStv have delivered on the hopes of many and delivered their Android client for a small range of popular Android devices. Those lucky enough to have a Samsung Galaxy S, SII or the P1000 Tablet are going to have the pleasure of watching the World Cup on their devices. Thanks to David for the heads up this morning. David has downloaded it already and says it works beautifully.
Well done DStv Mobile!
The software is 28M in size which places it on the larger end of applications, not yet sure whether the majority of the application can be moved over to the SD card. It runs on Android 1.6 and up, which should cover all incantations of the supported devices and gives hope for many more devices being rolled out soon. As expected it will NOT run on rooted devices.
The reviews on the market place are very divided. Those who have compatible devices are giving it 4’s and 5’s, those who have devices on which it doesn’t work are pretty scathing.
The good :
- Well done and in time for the rwc. (Kobus, 4 stars)
- Its way over due. Lets c if it works bt heck im really happy … Its way over due. Lets c if it works bt heck im really happy that it came b4 the RWC. (Bafana, 5 stars)
- Good app, pity it needs internet authentication to run (Corsa, 4 stars)
- Size .. The size of the app is huge (Danzel, 3 stars)
- Unable to authenticate the mobile device?!?!?!? I’m using a Samsung Galaxy S 2!!!! (Danie, 3 stars)
The bad:
- Samsung only devices… What a joke! We have waited over 6 months for this Android App only for it to be available for 3, yes, THREE Android devices. This is a complete and utter joke! (Nick, 1 star)
- Why Samsung only? Can’t dstv do anything properly? Luckily I saw this before giving … Why Samsung only? Can’t dstv do anything properly? Luckily I saw this before giving more hard earned money to multichoice. Pathetic IMO. (Anonymous, 1 star)
- Root .. Non rooted phones (Alru, 1 star)
I can understand the frustrations but having spoken in detail with the DStv guys, know where they are coming from too. Read some more about that over here (A most interesting hour with the DStv mobile team).
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