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< Esato Forum Index > Sony Ericsson / Sony > Symbian phones > Tarrif and Call viewing software? -request- Bookmark topic

I agree with roskelld here:

Forget the actual pricing of calls that's far too much hassle to worry about. The parameters for the program to set could be fairly simple:

-Peak Time start stop
-No. inclusive peak minutes
-No. inclusive off-peak minutes (or shared with peak)
-Calls inclusive to other networks or not (This could be established firstly by checking the number called (if if starts 07 or not), and then by an override list where you can select which contacts are on your network - this would be useful info in itself)
-No. of free SMS, MMS, GPRS, etc, etc. (these are all easy ones)
-Billing date so that the program knows when to reset the counters.

Yeah, ok it needs a bit of thinking and to be quite customisable but there's probably not that much work in there - the hard part may be getting at the call/sms/mms info from the phone. BTW how hard is it to write apps for mobile devices like this, I've got some coding experience in java and stuff, but I've never tried to do anything for a mobile device. Are there readily available development kits with Symbian emulators, etc, etc? I might be tempted to have a go if its easy!
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Posted: 2003-04-04 11:19:00
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@701

Taking it too far?
That why I've cut the idea down. I accept that there are far too many options and unknowns to make this a complete call cost package, but it could still function as helpful little app.
Info already stored in the phone:
Call times - last, total outgoing, total.
SMS/MMS - number of messages sent.
The app could take this information and print it on the main screen, as a reference. I'd like to know off hand if I've used my phone for 20mins or 400mins in a month, without having to traul through the menus to find out.
The peak / off peak icon, should be a very simple thing to do, the user would have to annouce when peak times are for the software to know, but this would be a once off thing.
You could also add WAP and GPRS to this again without too much problem, as thier details are also saved in the phone.
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Posted: 2003-04-04 11:25:00
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I would love something like this... Surely it's worth pursuing some more in the forum.. trying to get a definitive feature list...

Strikes me that any software produced would rely on a lot of initial input from the user.. Identifying numbers from their phone book that are Landline, same mobile network or different mobile network.

I assume international numbers would be separated as well.. for those glamourous folks who call abroad on their mobile.

You'd have to be able to input your billing dates... and add modifiers to include carried over SMS/minutes rules.

An additional modifier for any bonus minutes/SMS your provider gives you. (As in the 60 free SMS on the recetn Orange contracts)

Your current GPRS setting (does it include a GPRS bundle or are you paying full whack for every kb) and an onscreen counter indicating time.. AND cost of GPRS usage.

There's not many apps that have come out that i'd be arsed to use... let alone pay for. I'm happy enough with Opera, Emame, ESCUMMVM, SMSPlus and File manager... but if this software could be shown to work.. i'd gladly pay for it.

...and yes.. like someone said earlier, you could keep track of all this with jotter and your brain... but the idea of having a page of outgoings that i could check at any time in just a second or two... Would save me a fortune.
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Posted: 2003-04-04 11:56:00
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Taking it on a bit further, the program could follow some sort of rule-based logic, and the usage would be as complicated or as simple as the tariff that someone is using:

All your different call types/times/destinations etc. could could be assigned different buckets. i.e. Someone with Orange YP400 would really only have one call bucket (basically all calls except international), whereas someone with an off-peak tariff might have 4 bukets: Peak Xnet, Peak same Net, Off-peak Xnet, Off-peak same Net.

The control of these buckets could be executed by certain rules:

Billing date rules:

e.g. On 14th of month bucket 1 = 400 mins (to reset it)
On 6th of month bucket 2 += 400 mins (for rollover)
On 18th of month sms bucket = 50

Usage rules:

e.g. All calls deduct from bucket 1
All calls not starting with 07 (and not international) in peak hours deduct from bucket 2
All calls starting 07 but not in override list deduct from bucket 3
All SMS deduct from SMS bucket

The call types themselves could be setup as rules too, so the user can define the type of calls they make (peak xnet, off-peak data, etc.) and then it's even easier:

e.g. All calls of type 1, deduct from bucket 3

All this could be stored in some sort of xml config file or something - the hard part might be allowing the user to edit these settings through a GUI rather than editting the file. But with this sort of implementation the program could be as simple or as complex as the user needs to make it. Come on, someone must be a coding guru ready to take this on!
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Posted: 2003-04-04 15:29:00
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Just the use of the word "bucket" should be incentive enough.

Not sure if this software is "sexy" enough to attract potential coders yet... maybe we should have the option to display 3D £ signs... pulsing faster and faster as we approach our free minutes limit...

One of my house mates is a coding type.. and he bought his p800 before me... I may have to start badgering him to find the SDK...

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[ This Message was edited by: monkeymagic on 2003-04-04 14:54 ]
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Posted: 2003-04-04 15:54:00
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I love the idea of buckets to store my free time

Do you think it would be such a big deal to have the config as a PC app? or maybe even a web based one, then you could send the file straight to the P800.
I've got a feeling that it might be a bit much to store the config on the phone, maybe not tho... we could really do with a coder in here to give some 010100011 direction.
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Posted: 2003-04-04 16:36:00
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BTW, I'm not some sort of bucket-mad freak! I just think they're neat...
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Posted: 2003-04-04 18:19:00
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So I take it no progress has been made with this then?
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Posted: 2003-06-04 11:26:35
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OK, here's the update on what I've been doing so far with this software. If people are interested in this, please post here or PM me with suggestions, help, ideas, whatever:

I've been taking a bit of time in the designing the objects and views that will be required in the program and so far this is how I've been trying to implement it:

Objects:

Tariff - contains details of a specific tariff for a specific network in a specific country. Has a few details on settings for peak time, etc, version, etc, and more importantly contains any number of call types and buckets (see below). The tariff objects are store in configuration files and are non-specific to the user so once a tariff object has been configured by someone, it can be distributed to anyone using the same tariff.

Call Type - a specificly identifiable usage type defined with a type (call, sms, mms, gprs, etc.), mask (e.g. 0845 numbers, 07 for mobiles, etc.), time when it applies (peak, off-peak, weekend), cost per unit. The idea is basically that every thing you do will fall into a specfic call type (e.g. calling an 0800 number after 7pm will fall into one call type.). Each call type may or may not have a bucket assignment...

Bucket - an allowance of free units, defined as a type (call, sms, etc.), units per month, etc.

Contract - specifc object for the user defining the start and end of the contract, network, a few settings, billing date, and the tariff to be implemented during each period (calculated based on the start date and monthy billing day).

State - the current state of all call types/buckets defined within a tariff for a particular month. There will be a state object for each month for the duration of the contract, which will store how many units were rolled over from the previous month for each bucket, the current remaining units for each bucket, the current usage of each call type, and the date/time that this state was last synchronised with the phone records. This state object can then be used to perform incremental syncs because you know that at a certain time you has X units, and then you only need consider what happened since then to get the current figures. Obviously changes to the tariff object will require a full sync for the entire current period, but this will be handled by the Synchoniser stuff...

Synchroniser - I've not yet done anything on this yet, but the idea is that when a sync is requested, it gets the call/sms/grps/etc record details from the phone. Next, it uses the Tariff object to map each usage to a specific call type and then updates the State object by deducting the appropriate units from the bucket and adding units onto the usage of each call type.

Network ID - Some sort of object that stores which numbers/phone book entries/etc are for you own network. This will be used by the Synchroniser to help put different calls in each call type. Got a few ideas around this but it may get messy.

Views:

Main view - shows a list of the buckets and call types for the tariff for the current month and shows how many units you have left in each bucket, and how many units you have used for each call types (or show money spent with a total).

Tariff View - for editting tariff, buckets, call types

Contract View - for editting contract

Sync View - for performing syncs

Preferences View - any other settings required

Network ID View - set which numbers are on your own network

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Anyway so far, I've got Tariff and Contract configuration files, you can load the Tariff, and edit it. Same for contract. I've built Tariff, Bucket, Call Type, Contract views and will soon be doing the other main view, etc. There's lots of polishing left to do, but the major stumbling block coming up is how to get the call/sms records from the phone. I would really appreciate some help in doing this - hopefully I can do it using JNI, but I haven't the foggiest where to start with this. When I can do this it will be a case of building the Sync object to get this info and perform the mappings to call types. There's alot of work left, but I think I've got the main concepts ready to go.

If this sounds good to you and you want to help, contribute ideas, code, anything then post here please. Specifically, anyone with JNI/Symbian experience would be a great help. What would be really good would be a pre-built API to get the stuff I need from the phone!

Comment away...
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Posted: 2003-06-04 15:54:23
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Sounds absolutely perfect matey. Exactly what I'm after.

I can't code, but I'm a damn fine beta tester.
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Posted: 2003-06-04 18:18:11
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