Using Sky For Mobiles On My W960i

See Installing Sky for Mobiles On My W960i to read how to obtain and install the files to run Sky for Mobiles on a W960i.

This article describes how to use Sky for Mobiles.

Sky for Mobiles

The Sky for Mobiles application runs on your phone and gives you access to the various features of Sky Anytime on Mobile.

• The entire 7-day Sky TV Guide
• Remote Record - set your Sky+ box to record from your phone!
• Latest news updates from Sky News and Sky Sports
• Daily round-ups from the celebrity world, plus movie trailers and reviews
• Live scoreboards from top sports events, so you won't miss a thing

The main reason I want to run Sky for Mobiles on my W960i is so that I can use my phone to tell my Sky+ box to record programs when I am away from home.

Please note that Sky for Mobiles is not fully compatible with the W960i phone. The good news is that most features do work and in my opinion is it certainly worth using Sky for Mobiles and in particular the Remote Record feature for Sky+ does work on the W960i.

Before proceeding to follow any instructions in this article please ensure that you have followed the install and setup instructions in the previous article Installing Sky for Mobiles On My W960i.

Navigation

Unfortunately the W960i is not totally compatible with Sky for Mobiles.

For some commands you can use the stylus to select the menu bar at the bottom of the touch screen. Unfortunately you cannot use the stylus to select items on the screen.

Use the jog dial on your W960i to scroll vertically through menu items and press the jog dial to select. You can use the jog dial to scroll vertically on most Sky for Mobile screens.

If items in a menu are numbered then you can press the number on the keypad to select the menu item.

When viewing channels you can press numbers on the keypad to navigate.
2 is page up
8 is page down
4 is backwards 24 hours
6 is forwards 24 hours
5 is select the current menu item

Unfortunately there is no way to scroll horizontally using the W960i so some features of Sky for Mobiles are at best difficult and at worst impossible to use with the W960i.

Let me know if you find a solution to this little problem...

Login

Login to Sky Anytime on your mobile...

The secret to the login screen is to enter your password followed by your username.

Use the jog dial to scroll to the password box and press the jog dial. This will cause a text entry window to open. Repeat to enter your username.

If you try to enter your username first then Sky for Mobiles will crash. The good news is that this is only place I can cause Sky for Mobiles to crash and your login and password is remembered each time you run the program so you won't have to enter your details again.

Home Page

Home Page...

Choose Sports...

Read the Sports News...

United again...

You can use Sky by Mobile to read Sky News and Sky Sports News but it is fair to say that it is more efficient to use the regular Sky and BBC websites which also have more in-depth content.

Sky TV Guide

Now choose Sky TV Guide...

Sky TV Guide is the feature I will use most...

Select a program...

Use the jog dial to scroll up and down and press the jog dial to select a program. Unfortunately it is not possible to scroll horizontally.

Program synopsis...

You can read the program synopsis and use the stylus to click record.

Record request sent to your Sky+ digibox...

The record request will be sent to your Sky+ box using the satellite. This feature does not use or require the use of your telephone connection. Although Sky mention a response time of 30 minutes it is my experience that the instruction is sent instantly and it is certainly worth using Remote Record even for programs that have already started.

Search

Search for a program...

The Search facility is very useful and to a certain extent it allows you to overcome the problem of not being able to scroll horizontally using the W960i because you can still find and select the programs that you want to remote record.

To open the Search screen you must go to the the Sky TV Guide menu and press the * 'star' key.

Press the jog dial and you will change to text entry mode allowing you to enter your search text,

Next use the stylus to press Search.

Search Results...

Use the jog dial to select a program.

Press the jog dial to view program details.

Use the stylus to press Record in the command bar at the bottom of the touch screen.

View a program synopsis...

Remote record...

If you select Record then a message will be sent via satellite to your Sky+ digibox. Not that the recording request is actually sent with the TV signal that is received by your satellite dish. Remote record does not use your telephone connection.

Obviously for Remote Record to work you must have previously created a My Sky account at www.sky.com and registered your Sky+ viewing card number and your mobile phone number. For details see Installing Sky for Mobiles On My W960i.

Sky say that it can take up to 30 minutes for the recording request to be received but in my tests the request is received instantly and within a few seconds of sending the request the Sky+ box starts recording.

Sky Mobile TV

Sky Mobile TV...

Also included in Sky for Mobiles is Sky Mobile TV. This is live TV which is video streamed to your phone.

Live Sky Sports is available...

You can obtain lots of channels including News and Sport.

Subscription pack required...

To watch Sky Mobile TV you have to buy a subscription pack from your mobile phone operator.

This page is from Vodafone...

If I continue with the Sky Mobile TV I am redirected to a Vodafone web page http://prod.vodafone.co.uk/sky. Vodafone is my service provider so it appears that Sky and Vodafone have done a deal. I already have the £10 per month Mobile TV pack from Vodafone so I didn't proceed any further in case I got charged twice.

The information here may be helpful to owners of other Sony Ericsson Symbian UIQ 3.0 phones such as P1i, W950i, P990i and M600i.