I recently switched to Virgin mobile and could not get my MXit to work properly. As I haven't found a suitable solution online, I decided to post what worked for me.

Given that instant messaging (like MXit) is generally not cached, I decided to bypass the Virgin proxy in order to get MXIT to work.

Simply set up a NEW internet profile MANUALLY on your Samsung phone of choice (do any other people make phones ?) and DISABLE the PROXY, set the APN name to vdata and there you go. Simply set this profile as your default profile.

When I did this the irritating lags and total inability to access the WAP pages for MXit went away. I don't see a difference in my normal surfing, expect that my Gmail application is working brilliantly as well.

Have fun with Samsung!

A quick update on what's been happening with the Samsung SGH-i600 Blackjack since I received it earlier this week.

I've taken it out the box and posted some pictures of the contents and the size and shape of the phone on my flickr account. I've also set up a dedicated Samsung SGH-i600 flickr set,where all the pictures relating to the phone will be posted.

I will obvisouly also use it to take some pictures for a 'digital camera' review, so be sure to check it out.

Installing and syncing the phone was a very simple process. My previous copy of Microsoft ActiveSync was updated to version 4.2 and creating a new profile was just as easy. With 338 contacts, 483 calendar and 93 task entries updated, I was off to conquer my next meeting, Samsung Blackjack smartphone in hand. That reminds me, I need to book a day off to visit the spa with my significant other. I think I'll do that a bit .

Unfortunately setting up the WAP and GPRS settings was not so easy. I tried the Vodacom4me website which gave me this beauty of a message: "Please note that there are currently no setup information avaliable for this mobile handset's selected capability. Please contact Vodacom Customer Care regarding this problem."

Sorting out this problem required two phone calls, one to Vodacom Customer Care (082 111) who couldn't assist as they only had settings for the SGH-i750. The other call was to the Samsung customer care line (0860SAMSUNG - 0860 726 786), who sent me the settings over the air (OTA) and within seconds I was browsing my favourite site.

As per all Windows Mobile 5 systems, the built-in IE browser has the capability of showing the pages in default, desktop or one column view. But I will discuss this in more detail a bit later. I still have to start playing around with the RSS and Podcast features, which I think is essential for keeping abreast of the latest news, views, interviews and gossip when you are on the move.

I'm off to go load some cool ringtones and themes in the meantime as you definitely want to brag about this phone when it rings at the next audit committee meeting. Hmm, maybe I should wait for the next marketing update instead.