Once you have an MMS compatible handset, simply:

1. Log in to Brightkite and select Account settings from the left of the screen
2. Click the Mobile tab
3. Scroll to the bottom and find your unique account email address, program this into your phone or remember it
4. On your mobile phone, create a new MMS message
5. In the To field, instead of putting in a phone number, put your Brightkite email address
6. Put the standard SMS commands into the body of the message. These can be found in the Brightkite help, but the basic ones are:
   • @placemark or @full address to check-in
   • !message to post a message and attach it to your current location

Using this method also means you can post photos to Brightkite from your phone. To do so, just add the photo in the body of the MMS message, and the text you want to go with it in the Subject field.

Enjoy, and feel free to add me as a friend over on Brightkite.

After reviewing the original i-mate JAQ back in November last year, I did not have particularly high hopes for the JAQ3. The original JAQ was i-mate’s first handset after parting ways with HTC, who designed and manufactured its handsets for some time, and was flawed in many ways. The JAQ did show promise though, and I am happy to report that virtually everything that was wrong about the JAQ has been remedied with the JAQ3. Manufactured by Chinese OEM TechFaith Wireless and sold in some markets as the UBiQUiO 501, the i-mate JAQ3 is a Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition device, and comes packed with connectivity features and a thin, albeit wide, design.

Physical Aspects

Unlike most Pocket PC Phone Edition devices, the i-mate JAQ3 has a front facing QWERTY keyboard instead of a sideways slide-out design. This has plusses and minuses, as it increases one-handed usability though adds quite a bit of width to the device. This design does allow the device to come in at just 14.5mm (0.57”) thick, making it the thinnest touch-screen Windows Mobile phone around currently. Length and width measure up at 126mm x 67.5mm (4.96″ x 2.65″) respectively, and a weight of 160g (5.64oz) is a little on the hefty side, but not overly so.

The back and sides of the i-mate JAQ3 are covered in a soft-touch rubber compound, with the front and bottom a slightly glossy hard plastic. Thankfully, it is not glossy enough to attract mass amounts of fingerprints, which is somewhat of a pet hate of mine. Decked out in black, the device looks quite classy, and will look right at home coming out of a briefcase or suit pocket. The right side of the device holds the 2.5mm headset jack, miniUSB port, and power button, with the three-way jog wheel, OK button, and camera key taking residence on the left. The 2.0 megapixel camera is the sole item on the back of the JAQ3, positioned above the easy to release yet firmly attached battery cover, itself hiding a 1250mAh battery. A covered microSD memory card slot sits atop the JAQ3, with the hard to release extendable stylus held in a silo the bottom, though it did get easier to get out over time.

I will make somewhat of a big proclamation now: the i-mate JAQ3 has the best QWERTY keypad I have ever used on a phone. With the exception of the space key, every key has great tactile feedback, adequate spacing that is accentuated with a convex shape, and is just about the perfect size. The only thing I can fault is that while there is only one space ‘key,’ it has a pressure point at either side, which caused me to occasionally get two spaces when I hit the key plumb in the middle. Even the special characters, accessed with the Fn key, are intelligently placed. Big softkeys, call and end keys, the OK and Start button, and shortcut keys for Pocket IE and the Messaging application surround a very large 5-way directional pad. Unfortunately, the same level of quality found on the keyboard isn’t shared with the jog wheel, which has a terrible feel when pressed to select items. I also wish the keyboard backlight stayed on a little longer, or better yet, had a setting to control the time it stayed on.

The i-mate JAQ3 has a bright, relatively clear QVGA resolution touch screen, though its landscape 2.4” screen is smaller than most other Pocket PC phones. This is further perceptible due to the handset’s size. Other than the size, there is not a lot to complain about, with the screen accurately detecting taps with the stylus, and having adequate readability even in bright sunlight.

To start with, the Nokia N73, despite its top-heavy look, feels great in the hand. It is well weighted, and its size makes it easy to get a firm grasp on. It is on the large end of the size scale, but is not so big as to prove awkward – and considering its features, it is not an unreasonable size at all.

The first thing you will notice about the Nokia N73 is its large, high resolution (QVGA, 240×320 pixels) screen. This has to be one of the N73′s star features; it is bright, clear, and the only thing that I would say can match it is the N73′s Nseries cousin, the N80. With that said, the N73′s screen is still larger, and in my opinion, better to use.

Arguably second to the screen, the N73′s other draw card will be its camera. The camera looks great on paper: a 3.2 megapixel resolution and Carl Zeiss auto-focus lens put it on the same level as the video-centric N93, as well as the N73′s rival, the Sony Ericsson K800. I can’t comment too much on the camera due to lack of testing, but expect some sample photos and notes to be posted here in the next couple of days. What I will say though, it is seems the camera application has a little trouble when it comes to the preview before taking a shot. The viewfinder gives everything a bad blue tinge, which then disappears after taking the shot. The offshoot of this is the fact that it is hard to toy with white balance pre-photo, but at least the tinge doesn’t come out in the final image.

The keypad featured in the Nokia N73 will be its weakness for a lot of people. While I don’t have a problem with it personally, the numerical keypad is rather small. To offset this, the keys have a good sized ridge on them, and provide a great level of tactile feedback. On the positive side, the N73′s joystick is one of the best I’ve ever used. It is firm, and really feels like it will last the distance, unlike many other phone joysticks that feel like they will break after a period of use.

One, albeit small, thing that I’m happy to see has returned to a handset is the small blue indicator light on the front of the device. This light blinks periodically after the display has gone to sleep to show that the handset is turned on, saving you from activating the screen. The only pick I can make on this light is that I would prefer that it either changed color, or blinked in a different fashion when you have a missed call or new message.

On the software side of things, it is all standard Nokia S60 smartphone fare. The Quickoffice suite is pre-installed, allowing you to view and edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. The Adobe Reader application is also here, as are the usual fair of PIM applications, plus Nokia’s Lifeblog software. The speed of the S60 v3 UI is greatly improved over v2, and the N73 is one of the faster S60 devices I have used of late. The handset includes a ’3D Ringtone’ application, which utilizes the handset’s stereo speakers to make 3D effects, such as ZigZag and Circular, when you receive a call. These speakers also have the effect of making ringtones extremely, almost ear piercingly, loud when you use an MP3 as a tone.

One thing that I have noticed, which could possibly be remedied with a firmware update, is occasionally the signal meter will fluctuate from full to almost nothing several times, even with the phone completely stationary. Curious indeed.

Overall, the Nokia N73 marks one of the best, if not the best, S60 smartphone I have ever used. Good speed, a great camera, and great design make it a must have in my opinion. If you are looking for a solid smartphone with an awesome screen, I can honestly recommend the Nokia N73.

Unlike Barry Allwood at MobileScraper (like the name), I think this is a great idea – with a caveat. Like Barry, I hate Motorola’s confusing naming. Why are vowels so bad, Motorola? What I do like, however, are names like LG’s Chocolate. Think about the auto industry, manufacturers do not name their vehicles with long, confusing numbers, but instead give them names that are memorable, which increases model awareness and encourages word of mouth marketing.

I don’t think a pure name based system is the answer, though; Too many names will get just as confusing as the numbers. What I would love to see is manufacturers using names for ranges of products, which are then broken down with short, easy to remember numbers. Samsung, which I previously called the worst offender, has actually begun introducing this method (though only on a very small range of handsets currently). Samsung has its ‘Ultra’ range, which is then broken down into numbers based on the thickness of the handset (Ultra 9.9, Ultra 6.9), and while I don’t particularly like the decimal point in there, I think this is the way of the future.

Imagine it, the Ford SMAD-1901 – pretty memorable…

Of course, the device I’m referring to is the iPod, and the interface is the click (or scroll) wheel. This input device is great in the audio player space, but it was not designed as, and will never work as, an input device for a phone.

Two recent handsets that come to mind are the Samsung i300/i310 and the LG KV2400. Both are respectable devices in their own right, especially with Samsung’s 4GB/8GB hard drives, yet both spoil functionality by using a click wheel.

One of the biggest problems with adding a click wheel to a phone is the space constraints. While the iPod’s wheel is very easy to use, when you reduce its size and place it with a myriad of other buttons, usability is severally compromised. Nokia, for once, have actually taken the right step on this issue – their N91 music phone still uses traditional phone navigation, and modifies the music player to accommodate this – the addition of non-click wheel music control keys is the icing on the cake.

I do hope that the trend I’m seeing of adding a click wheel to a phone does not continue, and that manufacturers wake up to the face that the usability of the handset should not be compromised to add a ‘cool factor’ to the music side of things.