Happy Anniversary to the Bali PC Advisor! This is
the 1 year anniversary of this column!
Portable computing in Bali:
Ever wanted or needed to check your email but either couldn’t
logon or weren’t near home or an internet café?
Wouldn’t it be great to get or send your email while
at your client’s office or while on the road?
How about all this AND a great hand phone! Now you can.
For this article I interviewed someone (RH) who is doing all
this RIGHT NOW in Bali. According to him it’s
cheaper and faster than getting his email at an internet café!
He can also surf the web and the pages display on the color
monitor of his Palm; he can send/receive SMS (Short Message
Service); even take digital pictures and email them instantly.
His equipment is a Palm™ Tungsten™ W (http://www.palmone.com/us/products/handhelds/tungsten-w/)
It’s a GSM/GPRS Wireless handheld computer and hand
phone all in one! (GSM- Global System for Mobile communication
is a digital mobile telephone system; GPRS - General Packet
Radio System is a wireless communication service that promises
continuous connection to the Internet for mobile phone and
computer users.) It has a High-Res Color Display- 320
x 320 supports more than 65,000 colors. And comes with
16MB RAM. As a versatile communications tool, the new
Palm™ Tungsten™ W handheld delivers
easy-to-use, wireless email; while its phone feature lets
you talk hands-free and work on your handheld at the same
time. All this, plus a crisp, easy-to-read, high-resolution
color screen.
There are other phones available like the new Handspring Treo
600; and a new Ericsson. The phone/PIM (Personal Information
Manager) must have WiFi (short for “wireless fidelity”,
which is the popular term for a high-frequency wireless local
area network) card with GPRS, which allows for the transferring
of data on wireless network.
He uses Yahoo as his email site but also Earthlink, CompuServe,
and Prodigy email providers can work. They are all compatible
with WiFi wireless networks. (Note: NOT Hotmail yet)
His service provider is IndoSat IM3. (http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/net_idin.shtml
Click on the Coverage Map then click on Bali and continue
to zoom down to see the coverage areas on Bali.)
You need to:
1. Buy a Palm™ Tungsten™
W or other GSM/GPRS handheld computer
2. IM3 SIMS card (available
almost anywhere in Bali). This is your phone number
and your wireless access
3. Set-up the Palm protocols.
(Email me and I will send them to you)
Cost is based on price per kb of data transmitted and received
but he says it’s cheaper/faster than internet cafés
for email.
The battery charger for the Palm™ Tungsten™ W
is also a USB connection to his computer. So, he can
transfer phonebooks entries, emails, and all the other data
between the two computers very easily.
CAUTION: Do NOT buy the Palm™ Tungsten™
W in the U.S.!!! If you do, you can’t change your
SIMS card and so your Palm™ Tungsten™ W won’t
work here in Bali. Instead check RIMO Bali Computer
Center in Denpasar. The Multiguna PDA Shop (0361 233259)
there has this Palm in stock for only 3,400,000 rp.
(If, while in the U.S., you use T-Mobile, Singular, or AT&T
as your cell phone provider, you can switch cards and use
your Palm in the U.S. AND here!)
The Palm™ Tungsten™ W has lots of expandability.
He has a Veo camera hooked up to his Palm, so we can send
photos via email! Try www.expansys.com for a large selection
of accessories, including the Ternary Technologies Phone FlipCover,
with its built-in earpiece and mouthpiece, the cover turns
the Tungsten W into a regular cell phone.
So if you need the ability to check your email or look-up
stock prices or any other ‘internet’ related ability
while on the road AND you want a snazzy phone, the Palm™
Tungsten™ W is the way to go!
(Also new at RIMO Bali Computer Center in Denpasar is the
FUTURE of Broadband in Bali: Joshua at Multitek (0361 429264)
is busy installing broadband internet access at major hotels
in Bali. He says that soon, this new technology will
allow for 2.5 Mbps internet into our homes! Call him
for details)
