The official Virgin Mobile Lobster 700 'Ask Paul' thread!

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I did NOT manage to app unlock it :rolleyes:

P

[Guest Bongmaster]

What sort of things are you trying to install?

many things.. cant name any off top of my head, pc is off..

is there a paint/graphics program that will work on it?

[Guest payson]

I got a Virgin Lobster 700 yesterday. I agree with Advancer that the TV feature is pretty useless but I bought it for the digital radio for use at work. I had the radio and mp3's going all day but the battery was totally flat after 10 hours. I used to have a Nokia 5140 which i could get away with listening to for 2 days without a recharge. Do you think I have a dodgy battery or is a day of radio too much to ask from a new style smartphone?

[Guest Jameselaprendi]

About App unlocking. Starting to get a bit annoyed about this myself! :)

I can put certain programs on it no problem tho if they are executables designed to be run on the phone itself. Certain programs however want to be installed from the PC and those are the ones that get blocked.

So you're unable to unlock the phone, but perhaps you could create a version of the app that could be placed on the phone and installed from there - or just executed on the phone without 'installation' as such (applet). The other way to get round the problem without being able to 'switch off' the application lock would surely be to modify the particular application's installation files on the PC to give them the 'signature' needed to pass the lock?

Are either of these feasible?

Edited November 7, 2006 by Jameselaprendi

[Guest Advancer]

Payson,

I get about the same out of the battery. Listened to the digital radio for the day and then had to charge that evening. I now just leave it plugged into the USB on the PC and it keeps it charged during the day.

[Guest stunno]

Found this on another site, and thought it may be of use:

Virgin Mobile have a mobile phone called Lobster 700TV (http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/viewP...D-5E67C17154B9)

It allows you to watch TV and listen to DAB radio. They currently have it on PAYG for £109.99 + £2.99 delivery. If you go through Quidco you get 10% Cashback (clear cookies first). Virgin are offering £50 airtime "That's £5 already loaded on your SIM and a £10 voucher. Plus, there's £35 airtime paid over 7 months" (see T&C's).

TV is free for 90 days then it costs £5 per month. As long as you make one chargeable call per month they will give you the £5/month top-up (for 7 months) thus the TV is free. They also do Saturday delivery.

After quidco virgin offer etc the cost is £51.98!!!!!!!

[Guest Hardz]

Is there a leather or silicon case available for this phone ?

[Guest dt_matthews]

Is there a leather or silicon case available for this phone ?

excuse the ignorant question but I'm trying to install an ARM compatible app to my lobster, can that run on this device or does it need comilation to a different platform?

also, if i want to write apps for this, is my only option a full blown copy of V.S or are there any free alternatives? last time i looked the wm5 sdk mandated V.S Pro :)

thanks for any help!

dan

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

You need to amje sure you are trying to install an application that is WM5 and Smartphone compatable.

ARM based apps can be for numerous devices but normally they are related to the PocketPC and not the Smartphone.

[Guest trubster]

Just to let you guys know, the phone comes with £25 FREE airtime, I called Virgin up on monday and topped up with another £5 and because there was over £30 credit on the phone, they unlocked it for free, I got the unlock code yesterday and it works on all other networks (Except 3) and the TV works if you already have the licence for it.

Hope this is some help to someone.

Trubster

[Guest Bongmaster]

Just to let you guys know, the phone comes with £25 FREE airtime, I called Virgin up on monday and topped up with another £5 and because there was over £30 credit on the phone, they unlocked it for free, I got the unlock code yesterday and it works on all other networks (Except 3) and the TV works if you already have the licence for it.

Hope this is some help to someone.

Trubster

yup i was on contract and they unlocked it :) some high street shop said it would be £15 :D but i knew better :D.. wens streaght to virgin and the guy there said to call virgin mobile and they will sort it :D

[Guest hinksey]

I have recently bought a Lob, and Im a little bit pi~~ed off to think that I am paying twice for viewing the BBC, as I pay for the service with my home tv licence. ;)

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Er, you don't... the BBC licence download is free.

P

[Guest zenmaster]

Has anyone managed to get the Lobster to work with mp3 ringtones?

I've tried mp3 and wma but it doesn't seem to pick them up - just midi.

Thanks.

To answer my own question - yes you can. The file needs to be placed in the "My Documents" folder then it gets picked up in the ringtone selection dropdown.

Edited May 6, 2007 by zenmaster

[Guest kyrkesmith]

You have to top up by £5 a month to continue getting TV, right? Does this also apply to the DAB radio?

[Guest trubster]

You have to top up by £5 a month to continue getting TV, right? Does this also apply to the DAB radio?

You dont need to top up but it costs £5 a month after 3 months, the DAB is always free! if you have any spare virgin sim cards, download a tv licence using a new sim and put your old one in after its downloaded, and your set for 90 days free tv./

[Guest kyrkesmith]

That's cool. Must be the cheapest portable DAB on the market by quite a long way at the moment then.

[Guest stretchy]

You dont need to top up but it costs £5 a month after 3 months, the DAB is always free! if you have any spare virgin sim cards, download a tv licence using a new sim and put your old one in after its downloaded, and your set for 90 days free tv./

I recently got a lobster and am quite happy with it, but I hard reset after installing licence, now I cannot view tv, when I go to watch a channel, I get a licence error message asking me to update my subscription, however when I follow the link I'm told my subscriptions are up to date. VM customer service not up to much either.

[Guest salv90]

hi guys,

Was wondering does anyone know if i can get tom tom or any ither gps to work on this phone? Am currently using it on my m3100 flawlessly.

Thanks in advance

[Guest zenmaster]

I recently got a lobster and am quite happy with it, but I hard reset after installing licence, now I cannot view tv, when I go to watch a channel, I get a licence error message asking me to update my subscription, however when I follow the link I'm told my subscriptions are up to date. VM customer service not up to much either.

I did a hard reset and the TV app disappeared altogether - from the TV button, the home screen and the program menu. I thought VM CS were spot on - they couldn't offer me a solution but sent me a new phone the following day.

Not sure if it's connected with your problem but I had trouble getting the license on the new phone. I kept getting an error message saying that it couldn't connect. After trial and error I discovered that the phone connection settings are wrong on the VM website ... do NOT enter an IP address.

hi guys,

Was wondering does anyone know if i can get tom tom or any ither gps to work on this phone? Am currently using it on my m3100 flawlessly.

Thanks in advance

I've got Copilot working fine on mine. I think TomTom is OK too, but I think only version 5.5 works on WM5 smartphones.

[Guest patjoseph]

Hi folks

I Purchased a Lobster yesterday from a Virgin shop couldn't believe the price:

£49 was the posted price

Girl said she would look on my account to see if any more discount was possible cos I have a PAYG already,she offered me £10 discount, but when she put all the codes in we got to:

£35 and this came with 200 free minutes! I Agree the TV seems Pants,in fact I haven't manged to get reception yet, but the radio does work quite good, and for all the features this phone is a mega bargain. I mean 3 months ago I paid £29.99 for a basic nokia with just a colour screen for the missus :)

any way im new to all this multimedia phone stuff how do i sort the lamentable choice of ringtone without digging my hand into my virtual back pocket?

[Guest zim_zimmer]

I'm seriously thinking about getting one of these phones!!

I know they're really cheap now, the main draw for me is the fact that it has a DAB radio built in!!!

Maybe one of you nice guys could answer these bullet points for me??

• Does it have a 3.5mm jack? If not what size is it?
  
• Is the DAB radio FREE to access all the time??
  
• Is there a way to access the TV Channels fo FREE?
  
• Can the phone play MP3's?
  
• What is the phones memory capacity and is it expandable by memory card?
  

Cheers Guys :)

[Guest zim_zimmer]

Soz... whats the syncing with Outlook like? Seems like its got a Windows Mobile OS?

Edited July 9, 2007 by zim_zimmer

[Guest kyrkesmith]

• Does it have a 3.5mm jack? If not what size is it?
  

It's 2.5 mm. There are adaptors available to make it a 3.5 mm. It's a standard HTC 2.5 mm.

• Is the DAB radio FREE to access all the time??
  

Yes.

• Is there a way to access the TV Channels fo FREE?
  

Don't think so.

[*]Can the phone play MP3's?

Yes. It's got Windows Media Player, and you can stick a microSD card in the back (up to 2 GB).

[*]What is the phones memory capacity and is it expandable by memory card?

Not sure, but probably not more than 128 MB, of which about half will be available.

Syncing with Outlook is probably the best you're going to get from a phone, because it's Windows Mobile.

[Guest Shuflie]

I'm seriously thinking about getting one of these phones!!

I know they're really cheap now, the main draw for me is the fact that it has a DAB radio built in!!!

Maybe one of you nice guys could answer these bullet points for me??

Does it have a 3.5mm jack? If not what size is it?

No, 2.5mm jack but you can buy adapters

Is the DAB radio FREE to access all the time??

Yes

Is there a way to access the TV Channels fo FREE?

No, unless you have a £30/mth Virgin contract. BBC is free for the time being.

Can the phone play MP3's?

Yes

What is the phones memory capacity and is it expandable by memory card?

64MB RAM (45.64MB accessible, although I only have about 23MB available to me after a restart since I have Xbar, Gentimer and MS Voice command installed which all eat memory on startup), 128MB FLASH (71.83MB accessible). Can be expanded using microSD card, but you need to take the battery out to access the memory card slot so buy a large capacity card and leave it in there.

Syncs to Outlook just like any other MS Smartphone, including contact pictures. In fact Outlook 2003 is included in the box I think, can't verify this as I can't find my disks.

Edited July 9, 2007 by Shuflie