Blogging with a mobile phone
6. September, 2004
You have a hot topic on your mind that's just burning to be shared with your blog readers, but you don't have access to a computer. Don't panic, just whip out your mobile phone, tap in your (brief) thought of the day, attach a photo to prove the point and post it on your blog. To achieve this kind of freedom, you only have to download a small piece of software to your mobile device, define which blog system you are using and you are ready to blog - wherever you happen to roam.
A handful of blogging software products for mobile phones are available today and many of those that are available are beta releases. Finding a product that runs on your mobile device may require downloading and testing a couple of them: some have dependencies on certain versions of Java and some on specific blog systems. Nonetheless, if you want to update your blog frequently and you don't spend all your time by a computer, your mobile phone may be the best tool for managing frequent updates on your blog.
Mobile blogging software products allow you to type in your message, save it in the device, attach a photo (if you happen to own a camera phone) and then post the entries at one go to your public blog. Better software products can connect to all popular blog systems, such as Blogger, Movable Type, Radio Userland and TypePad.
If you a have an HTML browser, such as Opera or Doris on your mobile phone, you can log on directly to the software product's web page and download the trial version on the mobile phone. Otherwise, download the software first to your computer and transfer it to your mobile device from the computer.
Once you have installed the software on your device, you must identify your blog to the mobile software. Use your computer to log on to your blog and look for the following information: user id and password, blog id number, exact web address and name of the blog.
Blog software products for mobile phones, smartphones and camera phones
AtomicLava is a piece of software for smartphones that allows you to post photos and text on a moblog site operated by AtomicLava. The software can be installed only on Windows Mobile smartphones, such as i-mate Smartphone2, Mio 8380, Motorola MPx200, Orange SPV e200, Orange SPV C500 and Samsung i600. AtomicLava is in its final beta-test phase and can be downloaded for free.
Azure blogging software comes with simple functionality, but has the ability to post on blogs running on Movable Type systems. The software has been written in portable Java language, which means it runs on most devices that claim to be Java compatible - Java MIDP 1.0, to be precise. We used a new Symbian OS smartphone for the test, but other devices reportedly able to run Azure include models from Handspring, Nokia, Palm, Samsung, Sony and Sony Ericsson. Azure is free to download.
Blog Photo Diary software is intended for posting photos, video clips and texts from a Sony Ericsson P800 or P900 smartphone on your blog. Without a doubt, this device is one of the best smartphones available (if not the best as the new model P910 comes with full keyboard), but not every blogger can afford it. The Blog Photo Diary software looks nice on the phone, comes with plenty of functionality and can post on Blogger, Movable Type, and Radio Userland. The software is free to try and the price for the full product is USD 8.99.
BlogPlanet software can be installed on mobile phones, smartphones and PDAs that run Java MIDP 1.0 applications. You should verify the Java version by checking your handheld's manual, as we couldn't get the software to run on a new smartphone, which comes with a newer Java version. Instead, a trusty old Nokia 7650 ran BlogPlanet without problems. BlogPlanet lets you post on B2, Blogger, Movable Type, Nucleus and TypePad. Attaching photos to posts has limitations both on the mobile device and on the blog systems, so check out your phone & blog combination at BlogPlanet's web site. BlogPlanet’s trial version is free and the full product costs 10 Euros.
Futublog software is intended for sharing photos and thoughts on Futublog's own blog service. The installation of the software is troublesome, and whether you like it or not, the process requires you to install License Manager software. Once you get Futublog up and running, it is a pleasure to the eye. We had problems with the connectivity settings, as the software didn’t seem to remember its default connection type. Futublog runs only on Nokia smartphones powered by Symbian OS / Series 60 software, such as 3650, 6600, 6620 and 7610. The Futublog software is free, but after a two-week trial period, you have to start paying for the moblog service.
Kablog software can be downloaded and installed on Symbian OS / Series 60 smartphones, Palm PDAs that are running on Palm OS 3.5 or later and on a large number of mobile phones that run Java MIDP 1.0. You can post on B2, Blog-City, Blogger, Movable Type, Radio Userland and TypePad using Kablog software. You can try the product for free for seven days and then purchase it for USD 19.90.
Kablog was easy to install, and setting up the required identification information for a blog was straightforward. We were quickly up and running, posting messages and photos on a blog using TypePad. You can edit and save your posts on the phone before sending them to your blog. Perhaps it is a feature in TypePad, but we couldn't find a way to publish new posts that were correctly saved in the blog, other than waiting for someone to press the publish-button. This topic, setup options and many other things could have been explained in a user guide, which we were not able to find.
Other ways to blog from a mobile phone
Browser
If you have good HTML browser software on your mobile phone and you don't want to download additional software on the device, you can try to use the browser for accessing your blog. Logon to your blog as you would do on the computer and navigate through the posting process to get a feel for it. We used Opera browser on a smartphone and successfully posted on Blogger and TypePad. It worked, but it was a somewhat painful experience and we can't recommend it to anyone who might have something better to do with their time. Although HTML browsers on mobile devices cope well with most full screen web pages, large HTML forms are difficult to display on a small screen.
Blogger, Radio Userland and TypePad blog systems provide a way to post by sending an email to the system. First, you must set up a special address that only you (and others who are allowed to post on your blog) will know, and then you send new posts from your mobile device to that address. See your blog site for detailed instructions; for example, you may have to logon and manually publish the emailed posts before they appear on your blog. This technique works, but it would be nice to get confirmation that the new posts are safely stored on the blog.
Mfop2 lets you post on Blogger, Gallery and Movable Type blog systems by sending an email to the service. First, you must register to Mfop2 and then you email your posts to the Mfop2 service, which passes the information on to your blog. The registration process includes submission of your blog password, id and a bunch of technical information, which maybe beyond the knowledge of average users. Mfop2 is free, but you can also use a blog system, such as Blogger, Radio Userland or TypePad, that lets you email new posts directly to your blog.
Audblog is a totally different way to blog: you speak on the phone, Audblog records your voice and then posts your audio message on your blog. Registration is a straightforward process if you already are using one of the supported blog sites: Blogger, Livejournal, Movable Type, or TypePad. Adding a voice post on a blog is simple as well: dial Audblog's phone number and the voice prompt system guides you through a few logical steps. Frequent posters may wonder why the service asks for so many ID numbers to be keyed in each time you wish to post. Apart from that, posting voice messages was a fun experience. The Audblog service costs USD 3 a month.
Nokia LifeBlog software extends camera phones' photo storage space to a PC. LifeBlog consists of two pieces of software: the main software runs on a Windows 2000 or Windows XP computer, and a smaller piece of software runs on the camera phone, but currently only on one model, the Nokia 7610. LifeBlog synchronizes the photos in the phone with a database on the PC, where you can also add notes and manage the photos on a history-based timeline.
The favorites
Our favorite software for blog posting from a mobile phone is Kablog. Although the product's documentation and error handling needs fine-tuning, it does what we expect a blog software to do on a mobile phone. Kablog has great potential; it runs on a variety of mobile devices, uses the mobile device's capabilities for allowing you save, edit and send posts whenever you want, supports photo attachments and can directly post to all common blog systems.
If you don't have a mobile device where you can install one these software products, we recommend using email for posting on your blog from the phone. In this case, sign up for a blog system that can receive new posts by email, so you don't have to use an additional service for that.
See also:
Moblogging services for camera phones reviewed
Downloading options for mobile devices
Browser software for mobile phones
