Open Pandora Internet Question.

[suffer1989]

Im pretty much stuck between either this or an n900. The thing is, that with an n900, sure its got great web browsing and all, but it isnt really a portable computer. The battery life is also something to be desired ( as with most smartphones), and my dumbphone does everything i need it to do.

Do many phones allow devices to connect to it via bluetooth, and make the phone act like a bluetooth modem as such ? If so, can the open pandora hook up to such phones, and can it use the celluar network ?

In any case, i use this phone.

 

[atomicthumbs]

yes

 

[laurencevde]

It's called tethering, and almost all bluetooth-phones support it. Linux also has everything needed to use it.

 

[Dead1nside]

With a lot of phones these days that have Bluetooth you'll be able to with a couple of clicks tether your phone wirelessly to act as a 3G modem. Don't even need one of those dongles.

I already do this on my Linux laptop using NetworkManager and Blueman both of which are already in the Angstrom repository. It's also been confirmed that it's their intention to use NetworkManager in this way and from my experiences, it'll be more than sweet.

I too was faced with the same dilemma but since I've already got a capable phone I decided on the more multi-purpose Pandora. I'll probably get the N900's successor in H2 2010.

Edit: It takes around 3 clicks once your phone is tethered. Works seamlessly. The new version of NetworkManager has also brought support for a whole new range of phones with Bluetooth PAN support.

 

[x86Daddy]

Your Nokia 5220 supports the Bluetooth Dial-Up Networking profile... unless it is disabled through carrier software branding. If you have a data plan through your wireless carrier, you are pretty much good to go. You may need to explore your phone settings to link your specific GPRS connection to Bluetooth and to pair your phone and PC. Try it with another PC with a bluetooth dongle... usually no login/pass, just dialing *99# on the virtual serial port that your OS / bluetooth stack assigns the BT modem. Windows hand-holds well on this. Linux varies by distro / age / packages.

I've used every phone I've owned over the last decade in this or similar manner with PCs, PDAs, subnotebooks, etc... Infrared before Bluetooth, circuit switched before packet switched, but always nice to have 'net access everywhere at all times.

 

[OrR]

You could actually do this with infrared?!

 

[kloplop321]

You could actually do this with infrared?!

NOT suggested.

 

[kingoddball]

Bluetooth Tethering is cool. But doesnt work well for me with my iPhone to MacBook. I have some crap ass 3G connection (Optus).

 

[daffy]

Two things to note, regarding my Palm Centro:

1. With a $30 piece of software, I can tether it with either Bluetooth or by wire. My Sprint plan doesn't include tethering, but this piece of software (USB Modem) makes it look to Sprint like I'm just using an app on my phone.
2. Tethering by wire is significantly faster (both latency and bandwidth).

The Centro is just about the ideal companion to the Pandora, I believe: I can use it for tethering, it has the organizer features with sync and everything else that the Pandora doesn't have, it's really small, and it has plentiful peripherals. But it's so cheap I don't have to worry about it.

It would be interesting for folks with other tetherable phones to test whether tether-by-wire is faster.

 

[bzar]

I have an N900 and I'm still waiting for the Pandora. The thing is great and all, but it is not a game machine. The battery is too small and the controls are nothing like Pandora's. I guess it depends on what you were planning to do with a Pandora.

 

[hitbyambulance]

i take it the T-Mobile Sidekick 3 can't be used for tethering? (or any Sidekick, based on what i've just read on the www)

 

[Gilrad]

Slightly related question: Will internet through USB be an option? My home network is completely wired, and I don't want to have to buy some sort of special hardware if I can just grab some software and plug it straight into my PC.

 

[mali]

Slightly related question: Will internet through USB be an option? My home network is completely wired, and I don't want to have to buy some sort of special hardware if I can just grab some software and plug it straight into my PC.

Yep, works well

 

[paulguy]

Has anyone gotten USB tethering from the iPhone to work in Linux? When I'd plug the iPhone in on my computer, it wouldn't detect it. I googles around and couldn't find anything, either. Apparently, the USB ethernet mode is configuration #4 but Linux just sticks it in configuration #1, which I think is ptp or whatever that crap is.

 

[jocejrod]

i want to tether my pandora to the sprint overdrive modem. i was wondering if the gps capabilities of the modem would be compatible with the modem. i know, slightly off topic, but you guys seem knowledged

 

[trix]

Has anyone gotten USB tethering from the iPhone to work in Linux? When I'd plug the iPhone in on my computer, it wouldn't detect it. I googles around and couldn't find anything, either. Apparently, the USB ethernet mode is configuration #4 but Linux just sticks it in configuration #1, which I think is ptp or whatever that crap is.

I managed to Tether my iPhone to my Gentoo PC via the USB cable a couple years ago. To be honest, I don't exactly remember how I did it, but I do remember I discovered how through a LOT of google searching. So I guarantee it is 100% possible. 3G from the iPhone3g to the PC wasn't that bad, my Counter-Strike latency was kind of sucky, but for browsing and downloading it worked great, and as much as I downloaded a bunch of stuff daily, AT&T never complained or increased the monthly fee for me tethering.

I do remember it took a lot of commandline stuff, special drivers, and it assumed a lot of prior CLI experience and knowledge. So, either find a pretty thorough step by step, or get better at CLI, or find somebody more comfortable under the hood in Linux. But it CAN be done I did it for a long time. Also, it required NO special app on the iPhone, except a terminal and the root password. So any instructions that tell you to pay for some app, skip.

Anyway good luck, it can be done! Just make good friends with google. Another thing that might help if google gives you trouble, is google a guide on googling stuff. lol I'm serious, I learned a lot of cool tricks on finding the hard to find stuff that way.

- trix

 

[paulguy]

Hmm, thanks for the info. Also, yeah, I'm pretty decent with bash. I also use Gentoo. It'll be interesting to get working on the Pandora, when I get one, though.

EDIT:
I found the itunnel thing and got that to work. Unfortunately, it's not a proper internet connection, as it sets up a proxy. I need a web browser that supports it. Fortunately, this should be just fine for the Pandora.

An issue, though: if I have my iphone attached to the pandora, it'll be sucking juice from the pandora itself. I'm a bit worried about this.

EDIT 2:
Forgot to say, to make it work with the iphone 3GS, you need to open iphone.c, then go to line 282 and change 0x1293 to 0x1294.

 

[emil10001]

Im pretty much stuck between either this or an n900. The thing is, that with an n900, sure its got great web browsing and all, but it isnt really a portable computer. The battery life is also something to be desired ( as with most smartphones), and my dumbphone does everything i need it to do.

Do many phones allow devices to connect to it via bluetooth, and make the phone act like a bluetooth modem as such ? If so, can the open pandora hook up to such phones, and can it use the celluar network ?

In any case, i use this phone.

What do you mean the n900 isn't really a portable computer?!? It certainly is. Now, I don't currently have either of these, but I've read enough reviews to be able to make some determinations.

The n900 will be able to almost everything that the pandora will be able to do, with the notable exception of a good gaming experience. If you're looking for mostly web browsing, and other standard computer functions, then you might want to consider the n900 a bit more heavily, since it currently has the best mobile web experience out there (it already has flash). The battery life will probably be average for the high-end phones (read - not great). But, I've had both the Nokia 770 and n800, and they have both been great little linux machines.

If you want to play games, and don't care about the phone aspect of it, then the Pandora will probably be the better choice. The battery will last much longer, it's got gaming controls, and the bigger screen is a plus too. Getting computer stuff onto your device will likely be about equal, though the n900 has had a bit of a head start. You could get one of those USB mobile web things from your mobile carrier. This might end up being the best way to go about getting the mobile web on your pandora, but you might need to wait for details until some people here have tried it out.

I think that you need to consider what exactly it is that you want, and what you care about having in your device. To me, the n900 and Pandora are different enough that they don't really occupy the same space for me. I want to be able to do portable gaming on a powerful handheld, and the Pandora is the best device on the market to let me do that. So for me, I've got a G1 (with the extended battery) that I'll just turn on wifi tether if I need to get online with the Pandora. So, I'll be quite happy with that combination for at least a few months.

One last thing to think about, if you decide to go with the Pandora. You might want to invest in a phone that does wifi tethering. It is a really awesome feature. And you might be able to find a phone that doesn't make the Pandora + phone combination more expensive than the n900.

 

[viridior]

Hmm, thanks for the info. Also, yeah, I'm pretty decent with bash. I also use Gentoo. It'll be interesting to get working on the Pandora, when I get one, though.

EDIT:
I found the itunnel thing and got that to work. Unfortunately, it's not a proper internet connection, as it sets up a proxy. I need a web browser that supports it. Fortunately, this should be just fine for the Pandora.

An issue, though: if I have my iphone attached to the pandora, it'll be sucking juice from the pandora itself. I'm a bit worried about this.

EDIT 2:
Forgot to say, to make it work with the iphone 3GS, you need to open iphone.c, then go to line 282 and change 0x1293 to 0x1294.

I will be working on bluetooth tethering on the Neuvoo images. I have a Droid, but the mechanics should be the same with the iPhone 3G*. If your more interested in USB because of throughput, I can look into that, just let me know.