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SeaFox said:
It's certainly why I haven't. I wouldn't say the U.S. is so much behind the rest of the world (although that is true) but keep in mind U.S. carriers are all about keeping people locked into contracts. It's much easier to get a phone and change providers in Europe because they don't do hardware locking to network and prepaid is more proliferant. You can get lots of these great phones (by the way, they do make 10 megapixel camera phones now) if you buy them online, paying retail prices.

The problem is most U.S. consumers are cheap as far as I can tell, most will not pay at all for a phone and even few will pay more than $100. The carriers cannot afford to subsidize these phones because even with them partially covering the cost a consumer will be looking at an over $250 cost with a contract..

The U.S. cell phone is behind other countries because the U.S. cell phone network is behind other countries. We're just now getting 3G out in most of the country but Japan has had it and two way video calls for years.

If I could afford it and was willing to take the gamble of learning a new UI, I would get the Nokia N73. But it's hard to justify spending that much on a cell phone for me and I'm more familiar with Nokia series 40 phones.
I hear you on that. Just check out DoCoMo's phones (Japanese).
 
The problem wasnt the 100 song limit. It was the RIDICULOUS usb 1 speed and the way itunes would delete and then reupload every song on your phone if you wanted to add 1 song to the playlist. I have a slvr and waiting for 100 songs to fill up would have been insane. It takes practically 1 minute per song. Overall the itunes integration with the phones was horrendous, pretty much unusable. Once you finally got the songs on the phone it was a good music player, but getting the songs on the phone is a nightmare. Maybe Apple knew all along that they would enter the phone market and intentionally jacked up itunes phones?
 
:/
camomac said:
why is the US so far behind Europe with this kind of technology? :/

(edit: maybe it isn't i haven't shopped for a phone in nearly a year)
Because US cell phone carriers suck. :/
Phil9579 said:
Because US cell phone carriers suck. :/

The real reason many foriegn cell phone providers and services are way ahead of the US is an old one:

The US has had superior LANDLINE service for decades. As foreign countries began to develop worthwhile telephone service (in telephone history, relatively recent), thye opted for more that was not locked in to landlines and the progression of technology gave them a good lead, as opposed to the US which, sure, adopted cell phone use, but the landline service infrastructure that was already in palce held them back-why shell out for new tech when we can plug the old tech and rake in the money. It's funny, the US initial lead actually turned to a disadvantage for them (us).

Europe is so far ahead of the US in what and how cell phone technolgy is used.
 
Silentwave said:
I'd love it to be unlocked too. But they'll probably make it GSM so i'll need to switch networks. Unless they're REALLY nice and make it GSM/CDMA like my Samsung A790 (about to be on my third of those- they have a knack for survival unless you hurl them onto concrete 5 feet below you as hard as you can throw them). I'd pay tons of money for that.

Hardware locked doesn't mean GSM or CDMA. That's about what the actual radio equipment is inside the phone. I'm talking about the programming done to the phone so it will only work with one provider's network. T-Mobile and Cingular both use GSM (T-Mobile: 1900mhz, Cingular: 850mhz mostly), but you can't just take one phone to the other even though most phones from both providers support both frequencies. You would have to apply a text command to the phone to allow that.

I recently had to replace my phone (which was locked to T-Mobile) because I lost it, and I got a Cingular-branded phone which was factory unlocked. I just put my T-Mobile SIM in and it works for voice. GPRS required a call to support, and it has boot and shutdown screens w/ the little orange guy on them, but for the most part it works fine.

I also hate carrier branding on handsets. Which is why I want Apple to sell it unlocked. If they partner with Cingular (given that's how the ROKR went) I'll have to 1) buy at a Cingular dealer, 2) find someone/thing to unlock it from Cingular's network, and 3) still have the dumb Cingular logo ON THE PHONE.

Most handsets today don't have replaceable covers (which is how I usually handle this), or even if they do the carrier will put their branding on a part that is not replaceable.
 
I am not sure if it is a smart move for apple to enter into the cell phone market. There is a lot of competition and I think resources could be used better elsewhere. But it seems Apple knows a lot more about it than me.
 
pink-pony115 said:
When will the iPhone rumors end? Can't you people see it won't happen?

Then I'll be the first to laugh in your face as I gloat everywhere you post.

(iono how serious you were) Unlike the stupid G5 PB rumors, the fact that cellphone chips, etc. can fit into something as thin as a RAZR and couple that with how thin a nano is, it's going to happen sooner than you'd think.
 
vouder17 said:
I don't really see this happening, if apple is going to take the risk of entering this competitive market, I see them doing it with a very innovative 'new' product.

I think the cell phone market is crowded, but so was the MP3 player market in 2001, there are really no killer phones out there, and not one phone really has a good UI, the same problems occur, everything is too complex, and it's hard to learn. Give us a clickwheel, clever Apple GUI, and functions people use, or will use, for a decent price, and you can really take on the market. the first years with very modest margins, but once the 3th party market starts joining in, you'll have the ipod effect all over

Tommyg117 said:
ok, but what cell phone provider are they going to use? Cingular? Verizon? I have verizon and really want them to have it.

Ugh, Americans and their providers. We may not have "free" ahum phones , but at least when you buy a cell phone, you know it will work with every company, and everywhere. And no hidden costs.
 
Yes, but which countries...

It may be difficult but one would hope Apple will bring the iPhone (or whatever it ends up being called) to Japan and other countries if it does in fact launch such a phone initially in the US.

Let's wait and see...
 
jagolden said:
:/

...the US which, sure, adopted cell phone use, but the landline service infrastructure that was already in palce held them back-why shell out for new tech when we can plug the old tech and rake in the money. It's funny, the US initial lead actually turned to a disadvantage for them (us).

Europe is so far ahead of the US in what and how cell phone technolgy is used.

Within the US, innovate or die, and elegant solutions to technology seem to be a purely Apple idea. US cell phones and cars, to name but two, seem to be archaic in design and function compared to elsewhere in the world. With that latest gold trimmed Cadillac SUV the size of a small bus and a 1980´s flip up phone, the US is all set to lead the way to retro.
 
SeaFox said:
(by the way, they do make 10 megapixel camera phones now) if you buy them online, paying retail prices.

Are they any good? I've never seen a phone with a good camera, 10MP phone sounds like 10MP of grainy nasty pictures to me.

hondaboy945 said:
If the iPhone is half of the product that the iPod is, it should have a decent harddrive. I think that this would allow for whatever software, songs, movies,or whatever you want. Just take 2 gigsof the drive and partition it off for the OS. But, I could be wrong.

That would make the phone way too large. Unfortunately, the market has shifted to smaller phones such that they are harder to use than necessary, but that makes them easier to carry. A phone that's a little larger than a nano might be accepted, something that's as large as the 5G probably won't, that would make it the largest phone on the market.
 
integration is Steve's religion

SeaFox said:
If you're listening Apple, I'm interested in the iPhone. I buy my phones outright and I'm not interested in changing carriers (currently on T-Mobile). So you better sell it yourself and hardware unlocked.
I could bet Aplle experience is done by the hardware/software/channel tied. Looking at the iPod + iTunes + iTunes Store, I'm pretty sure they would use their own Virtual Mobile operator channel, tied with their phone...
 
Innovative New Product - Have any of you seen this?

vouder17 said:
I don't really see this happening, if apple is going to take the risk of entering this competitive market, I see them doing it with a very innovative 'new' product.

Hi people. Take a quick look at this working prototye.

http://www.cameraphonefocus.co.uk/minor_brands/pilotfishsynaptics_onyx_button.php

I understand that Synaptics is a company Apple already has a working relationship with.

It kinda gets the juices flowing when you consider the possibilities. No more crap mobiles, I hope.

Regards
 
rish said:
Hi people. Take a quick look at this working prototye.

http://www.cameraphonefocus.co.uk/minor_brands/pilotfishsynaptics_onyx_button.php

I understand that Synaptics is a company Apple already has a working relationship with.

It kinda gets the juices flowing when you consider the possibilities. No more crap mobiles, I hope.

Regards

Yeah, that candy bar picture has been floating around awhile. I'm just not a fan of it though. It doesn't look comfortable unless you use a hands-free device, and it seems as if all kinds of fingerprints, dust and dirt, and muck would show up way too easy on its' surface. All the pretty lights and images just make it too busy looking.
 
JeffDM said:
Are they any good? I've never seen a phone with a good camera, 10MP phone sounds like 10MP of grainy nasty pictures to me.

I agree. There's no way I would ever want a 10mp camera. I think 5 or 6 tops for me, and that might be pushing it for a normal camera. I like to send a lot of the pictures I take through phone mail, and it just seems a 10mp photo would take a long time to send due the large size of the file. A 1.5mp camera on my cell phone works good for me right now.
 
All this phone business

OK, so if the apple phone is coming (I bet apple are going to call it anything but iphone) it will certainly rock the boat in the market, however there is one thing the ipod is good for that a cellphone will never be able to reach.

I was thinking the other day as I boarded my flight if all ipods became cellphones we would cease to be able to use them on planes, which is probably not much for some people but if you have one device that handles everything then you are inevitably going to get on a plane with it.

I think i might sugest to apple to put them ahead of the rest of some way of disabling the phone part of the "Nano + Phone" or whatever it looks like so it wont bring the plane down as one listens to one's own trippin hip hop mixin vibes.

what d'you reckon guys?

-1BadDuk-
 
Macnoviz said:
Ugh, Americans and their providers. We may not have "free" ahum phones , but at least when you buy a cell phone, you know it will work with every company, and everywhere. And no hidden costs.


Amen. the US dont use GSM, do they, it's CDMA, right?


Here (australia) we have both, kinda. All carriers run GSM, and while there is some locking of handsets (if you get a "free" phone on a contract) you can pay it out early, or move to a different carrier when the contract expires, or just buy your own phone.

The dominant (51% govt. owned) carrier also operates a CDMA network in regional areas because of its better range. This is planned to be replaced with a single 3G network.

I could NEVER imagine this whole "i want that phone by xyz carrier doesnt have it". Aren't you americans supposed to demand the best of everything!?


As for there not being a decent phone, personally i find my SE P910i Smart Phone great (i even have an Aqua theme on it :D )
 
I was looking through the Nibs in iTunes 7 and found this window titled "Phone Prefs". Who knows, this can just be for the iTunes Motorola phones.
 

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iMacZealot said:
There are two main types of cell phone system: CDMA and GSM. The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) was created in France throughout the 80's and the EU endorsed it as their official system, which caused it to spread globally. Meanwhile, across the pond, we were sitting on our little keisters and our brick analog phones and then a company called Quallcomm decided to do something six years after GSM had publically been out and they created a popular version of CDMA. CDMA is currently used by Sprint and Verizon (and I think a few Canadian carriers) and is pretty much only existent here in America. GSM is present in 78% of the world's markets.

With that said, GSM phones will not work on CDMA networks and vice versa. If Apple does make a phone, I think it would be GSM in order to capture most of the international market as well as the US. CDMA is very limited because it is not used anywhere besides a few carriers here in America.


You are wrong. CDMA is also in SK and Japan. Most 3G users in Japan are on CDMA2000 a varient of CDMA that is used in the U.S.

Here there are carries that offer free unlimited incoming calls too. I have a plan, 40 a month and I get 500 out going minutes to anyone in the U.S or Canada, plus unlimited incoming minutes from anyone. I also have free internet on my phone, and 500 text messeges.
 
Softbank & iPod

A few months ago it was reported that Apple was in talks with Softbank (formerly Vodafone Japan) to ofer and support the iPhone.

Currently Softbank has started a promotion with Apple where you buy a phone and get an iPod Nano. It is called Talk. Rock. Could this be hints of things to come in Japan?

http://www.vodafone.jp/special/
 

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DVK916 said:
You are wrong. CDMA is also in SK and Japan. Most 3G users in Japan are on CDMA2000 a varient of CDMA that is used in the U.S.

I meant on a 2G level; I wanted to make things simple so that he/she could understand. And don't forget about the popular W-CDMA technologies, such as UMTS/HSPDA which is used by Cingular and soon T-Mobile in the US.

And Japan's 2G PDC technology is by the way TDMA based and not CDMA! Although their 3G technologies I believe are CDMA based.
 
DVK916 said:
plus unlimited incoming minutes from anyone.


OK. hang on. back the f&6king truck up.


maybe we're backwards here. but i have NEVER, EVER heard of ANY kind of phone service where INCOMING calls are anything BUT free (excluding reverse-charge, obviously).

Im sorry, but if you all accept crappy CDMA phones specific to a carrier, and paying for incoming calls, you are kidding yourself if you think you are anything but backwards. (i wont go into the whole metric thing :p )
 
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