AFT - Use your free webtexts from your mobile - costs a fraction of a cent per text!

dal

I have created an J2ME application to run on (java-enabled) mobile phones through which you can use your online quota of webtexts.

Basically the application communicates with WebMonkeys' O2text program (link) so only the very mimimum amount of data is transferred from the phone to the web.

The cost of each message is a lot less than a cent (O2 currently charge 1c/kb for data). I have sent more than 4 without my balance changing, thats about .25c per text! This works with international numbers which are normally 25c for O2, so there are huge savings to be made.

Been working on this for a few weeks now so it is fairly well tested (tested on SonyEricsson k750i and Motorola v525, but should work on any java phone).

The application is designed to be as close to normal texting as possible.
Features:
- Saves your login details so you never have to enter them again (although you can modify them if desired).
- Supports predictive T9/predictive texting (if your phone has it) and contacts lookup (again if your phone supports it).
- Saves the 5 most recent phone numbers in memory for quick access.
- Tells you how many free texts you have remaining.
- Supports international numbers.

Would really appreciate any feedback on this, especially to see if it works on different types of phones. Currently the app only works for O2 but there is no reason why it can't be adapted for vodafone and meteor further on down the line if there is enough interest.

Many thanks to Webmonkey for his server-side work and for helping me test the app.

The application is called AFT (Almost Free Texts) and is available here:
http://www.killarneyonline.eu/o2text/aft.jar

So either save it to your computer and then transfer to your phone through USB/bluetooth/infrared or else use your phones web brower to go to the URL above.

Update 5th Sep 06 - Now has support for Meteor!

Random

Sounds rather good dal... must grab a look at this myself

Webmonkey

And weekends even better!, sent about 8 one weekend there using it and only a cent gone. Well worth it imo. And gets fairly easy to use once you make a shortcut to it on your phone.

Random

fyi the W810i doesn't seem to allow you to access your phonebook from within the program.
It also doesn't allow you to create a shortcut directly to the program.

App seems to work alright though

Webmonkey

I can't actually create an shortcut directly to app but i can to my applications folder which is good enough for me!

carrotcake

fantastic! thanks a lot

dal

Webmonkey wrote:

I can't actually create an shortcut directly to app but i can to my applications folder which is good enough for me!

Yeah pretty annoying from my k570i that I can't create a shortcut straight to the app (nearest is "File manager"), but if you install it under "games" instead of "applications", you can create a shortcut straight inside the games folder. AFT should appear right at the top of the list of games (listed alphabetically).

quintron

great ideas.. hats off on both the ajax scripts and jar file!

Pity there isn't an ajax/php portal for vodafone texts.... hint hint..

Webmonkey

quintron wrote:

great ideas.. hats off on both the ajax scripts and jar file!

Pity there isn't an ajax/php portal for vodafone texts.... hint hint..

Might see one in the future

donutface

lol how weird.
I just got my J2ME version of MeteorSMS working tonight after an entire weeks worth of headachese. Turns out you have to ask meteor permission to access the wider internet. Anyway i have an entire account system to sort out still, but a Meteor one is closer than you may think, if theres any willing beta testers email me at donut <@&gt; donutsoft dot net

quintron

Webmonkey wrote:

Might see one in the future

:eek: I'll keep an eye out!

donutface

donutface wrote:

lol how weird.
I just got my J2ME version of MeteorSMS working tonight after an entire weeks worth of headachese. Turns out you have to ask meteor permission to access the wider internet. Anyway i have an entire account system to sort out still, but a Meteor one is closer than you may think, if theres any willing beta testers email me at donut <@&gt; donutsoft dot net

The only problem with Meteor is that ISP access is taken in €2.50 512kb chunks. So when you send your first text it might look as if it cost you €2.50. But you won't get billed another €2.50 unless you exceed 512kb which, with an app like this, would take you absolutely ages.

Just tried this now, doesn't seem to work on a Motorola V535. Seems to be trying to access the WAP APN rather than the ISP. Am I doing something wrong? Haven't got my 6680 to test, awaiting its return after a bad flash.

dal

Karsini wrote:

Just tried this now, doesn't seem to work on a Motorola V535. Seems to be trying to access the WAP APN rather than the ISP. Am I doing something wrong? Haven't got my 6680 to test, awaiting its return after a bad flash.

The phone has to be set up to use GPRS to access the internet and not WAP.

Webmonkey

Karsini wrote:

The only problem with Meteor is that ISP access is taken in €2.50 512kb chunks. So when you send your first text it might look as if it cost you €2.50. But you won't get billed another €2.50 unless you exceed 512kb which, with an app like this, would take you absolutely ages.

Just tried this now, doesn't seem to work on a Motorola V535. Seems to be trying to access the WAP APN rather than the ISP. Am I doing something wrong? Haven't got my 6680 to test, awaiting its return after a bad flash.

I amnt the expert on this side of things but have you GPRS set up correctly and your java internet connections to to this GPRS connection?

I got it working. But I had to set the ISP as the default in the Web Sessions meaning everything would use the ISP including the WAP browser. The phone just doesn't have a setting specific to Java apps. But that's hardly your fault, more like the phone's.

dal

ciaranfo wrote:

fyi the W810i doesn't seem to allow you to access your phonebook from within the program.
It also doesn't allow you to create a shortcut directly to the program.

App seems to work alright though

Thats strange. On the k750i, when you go to enter a new number, it takes you to a new screen, where the word "Lookup" appears on one of the soft keys.
Does this not happen for you?

Random

My bad dal... it comes up under "more-> lookup". I reckon I missed it the first time! Shame it's not just one-click though.

As for the login details - any way you can hide the password with astericks once it's been entered? In case someone robs your phone - or even goes nosy through your menus.

flodis79

thanks for this highly awaited piece of software! guess the o2 webtext is down for the moment cos it doesn't get delivered. but i get the message that i have 242 web texts left so it logged in alright. i get the html tag </strong> after the number of messages left. the number is not in bold or anything. i'm using the app on a htc tornado smartphone.

dal

flodis79 wrote:

thanks for this highly awaited piece of software! guess the o2 webtext is down for the moment cos it doesn't get delivered. but i get the message that i have 242 web texts left so it logged in alright. i get the html tag </strong> after the number of messages left. the number is not in bold or anything. i'm using the app on a htc tornado smartphone.

If the app tells you how many webtexts you have left then that means that the message sent. Are you sure you entered the correct number. Did you try sending a text to yourself?
As for the </strong> tag, I will look into this.

ciaranfo wrote:

As for the login details - any way you can hide the password with astericks once it's been entered? In case someone robs your phone - or even goes nosy through your menus.

Good idea, I will put this in the next version.

carrotcake

i get the </strong> tag too on my k700i. other than that, great work!

monosharp

Anyone doing this for vodafone ?

NiSmO

This post has been deleted.

flodis79

dal wrote:

If the app tells you how many webtexts you have left then that means that the message sent. Are you sure you entered the correct number. Did you try sending a text to yourself?
As for the </strong> tag, I will look into this.

it's working now when i put 00 before the country code. i just didn't put that before because it's not the syntax in the real web text.

dal

monosharp wrote:

Anyone doing this for vodafone ?

There is no reason why this couldn't be done for vodafone. It would involve *very* minor modifications to AFT.

Basically all AFT does on the web side is call a URL which contains 4 variables; username password, sendToNumber and messageText). Very, very simple. If someone can do this (set up a page which accepts variables in the URL) for vodafone then all I would need is the base URL. Perhaps someone has made progress on simultating the vodafone webtext already?

I know that donutface is currently working on this for meteor, so meteor integration into AFT might not be very far away.

Webmonkey

I done a vodafone script before too but it only works for my sisters vodafone number. As far as i remember, vodafone do different fields for every user, some sort of algorithm with their mobile number or something but when i get a bit of spare time i could work on this. If a lot of people are getting that </strong> tag then i think i might get rid of it as it isn't that neccessary.

MacGyver

this doesnt work on a smartphone, its a qtek 8100 if that helps. it runs until you enter the number your sending too and goes no where then

Brianb8802

Hi guys excellant idea. Only thing is im having a problem getting it to send the message. Im using a nokia 6600, when i try send the txt, it goes to the sending message screen, then asks me what access point id like to use, and i select O2 WAP GPRS, which is the one i got off the o2 website, and after a bit it says there was a problem sending your message. I have no problem browsing the net on my phone, any ideas what the problem is?

Brianb8802

Brianb8802 wrote:

Hi guys excellant idea. Only thing is im having a problem getting it to send the message. Im using a nokia 6600, when i try send the txt, it goes to the sending message screen, then asks me what access point id like to use, and i select O2 WAP GPRS, which is the one i got off the o2 website, and after a bit it says there was a problem sending your message. I have no problem browsing the net on my phone, any ideas what the problem is?

You need to use the O2 ISP GPRS access point. If it's not set up on your phone then create it using the settings in the sticky. If it doesn't work then you may need to call O2 to get it enabled on your account.

Brianb8802

Karsini wrote:

You need to use the O2 ISP GPRS access point. If it's not set up on your phone then create it using the settings in the sticky. If it doesn't work then you may need to call O2 to get it enabled on your account.

Cool ill try that now, thanks for the quick reply

dango

This seems like a great idea but ( i know it might have been asked before but i'd like an easy to understand answer) is there any issues with security here? I don't want to put people off here I'm just wondering about it...

Random

@dango
They creator could be stealing your login details. That's really the "only" security "issue". They've proven trustworthy in the past though

As for the </strong> error. I get that to on the W810i.