Motorola iTunes Phone at V Festival

[Toe]

How many phones do you need? You can't have everything in life. Pick one sync it. Many of the phones listed aren't sold at the stores anymore, but why are you buying your phone at the store anyway? Ebay, etc. will give you a better deal.

Oh, and don't forget, the PC users have to use windows. If you don't think that is one heck of a caveat to make to have a huge selection of phones that sync with their computer, then you're on the wrong OS. There is no reason whatsoever to be on a mac if it's not for the OS. Certainly not price. Not raw power either. Ease of use and a machine that just works? Darn right.

What's the point of those companies selling all those phones? People only need one, right? C'mon... that's just not right. They sell a great range of phones for different applications and styles, and one or two of the clunky ones work with a Mac. That just sux.

And as for finding better deals on Amazon or whatever... it's all the same, selection-wise. If you want a nice, modern phone that works with a Mac, you have to shell out $700 to some shady gray-market importer and hope they don't sell your credit card info everywhere.

Next time you're in the market for a new phone... then you'll understand how frustrating it is to be a Mac user.

 

[Demon Hunter]

I would get apple wireless service if it had coverage everywhere cingulare or verizon had cogerage. And really cheap service plans, maybe tied in with .mac so its $99 a year and 1 cent a min.

.Mac with cellular service? Brilliant! But could it be done, from a marketing standpoint?

Next time you're in the market for a new phone... then you'll understand how frustrating it is to be a Mac user.

AMEN! I was going to buy a RAZR since it's come down in price, but now I've been waiting for this bloody iTunes phone... think I should just get the RAZR?

Damn thing... PowerPhone G5 next tuesday!!!!

 

[mouse]

Off to get my Razr

That's it! Can't wait any longer. My old freebie Siemens with the cracked face and dying battery must be replaced. I've waited as long as possible being pulled along week by week with these rumors of a new iTunes phone.
If Apple is getting any revenue off this new rumored phone, they just lost a sale. I'm not waiting another month only to be met again with vaporware.
Off to get my Motorola V3.
Now that it comes in black, my only question is which color? (Phone that is, not Pikmin!)

 

[uberman42]

hmmm...no Motorola e815 at verizon

this is odd...Yesterday verizon had the Mot. e815 EV-DO (EV-DO is verizon's broadband speed wireless network) phone available online. Now it is not on the website at all. And I went to my local Verizon store and they are out of stock. The phone was released July 5th. I am speculating they all were sent back to be reflashed with new software. Maybe verizon wised up and knows that they need to also capture the youth market with compelling product offerings

(I am a customer and I hate most of the phones- my Samsung i730 rocks with EV-DO- but damn, I do not dig Windows "Smart"phone software)

EV-DO and Apple iTMS...nice.

 

[aswitcher]

AT this stage with so many false starts on this phone, I am not holding my breath.

 

[voodoofish]

Next time you're in the market for a new phone... then you'll understand how frustrating it is to be a Mac user.

I think you should really be looking at which phones *don't* offer syncing rather than which do. The reason the others don't offer Mac syncing is likely because they don't offer syncing *at all*. For example, all Nokia Series 60 (ie. smart phones) sync with iSync, but as far as I'm aware, other Nokia phones don't actually Sync with anything other than the Nokia PC Suite, which isn't really the same as Syncing with an address book on your computer you'll actually use separately from your phone - it's only really useful for making back-ups or editing entries on your computer.

Other phones that run on Microsoft's mobile OS can be synced with a Mac with 3rd party software, and so can Blackberry's - in fact, Vodafone UK bundle BlackBerrys with software so you can sync them with your Mac.

 

[voodoofish]

I wonder if they plan to launch the phone(s) in Europe first as the phone system is the more standard GSM everywhere and therefore more potential customers are available I would guess?

If this phone isn't launched fairly soon, yet the design finalised months ago, it will end up being out of date anyway. They need to hurry up with it!

The V festival would imply to me that they have a deal to sell the phone via Virgin Megastores on the Virgin service, but that doesn't go to mean it won't be available via O2, Vodafone, Orange and T-Mobile, they might just get it a week or two later, like the black RAZR was exclusive to T-Mobile for a short time.

I read somewhere before that Motorola started launching handsets in Europe first (eg. the RAZR) when it started loosing market share. Also, if the problems with US carriers not wanting to carry the handset are true, they may want to launch it in Europe first since the market is more competitive (for example, there are so many virtual operators if one of the main ones didn't want to sell it it would be easy to get a virtual operator - such as virgin - to carry it).

The fact the Virgin have the phone shouldn't really stop anyone else from getting it, as Virgin will unlock any phone you buy from them for free so long as you've topped up your phone by £30 (this probably exludes their new contract phones, but they've only been out like a month and the over whelming majority of its customers are on the pay as you go style tariff so they're not likely to release the phone as contract only). Since this is Europe we're talking about, once the phone is unlocked it can be used on any network (ok, besides 3).

 

[rdas7]

It seems like the "announcement" keeps getting delayed.

I wonder if this rumour is for real.

I heard they want to release it with support for Longhorn... so they're waiting on MS to ship that, before they announce the product.

 

[ketha]

Aren't Virgin a Pay As You Go service, meaning the phone is going to cost some. Still the iPods and Virgin phones are next to each other in Virgin Megastores. Virgin makes sense as a carrier because it's all about YOOF branding. I hope Orange carries it too, I don't want to pay full whack.

 

[petej]

Getting into bed with Virgin in the UK would be the best possible move especially if all the traditional networks are blocking the idea. Virgin would get all the kudos and upped sales. The other networks would then be bashed by consumers and no doubt have to rethink their policy. By year end, Moto would end up selling the same phones on all networks but only Virgin would have the iTunes software installed. Pay as You go is probably the best way for this type of download service anyhow since payg is becoming a de-facto cash alternative.
Hopefully the kids of the UK will be able to select more imaginative ringtones from music instead of that damn Crazy Frog.

 

[Toe]

I think you should really be looking at which phones *don't* offer syncing rather than which do. The reason the others don't offer Mac syncing is likely because they don't offer syncing *at all*. For example, all Nokia Series 60 (ie. smart phones) sync with iSync, but as far as I'm aware, other Nokia phones don't actually Sync with anything other than the Nokia PC Suite, which isn't really the same as Syncing with an address book on your computer you'll actually use separately from your phone - it's only really useful for making back-ups or editing entries on your computer.

But... do no Samsung, LG, Kyocera, Sanyo, Blackberry, etc. phones offer syncing? It seems like Apple is really failing to make any sort of progress in getting any sort of sync functionality with any of these companies. Why aren't they pounding on Samsung's door every day?

And they're even dropping the ball on phones that do sync. As I mentioned, I hacked in bluetooth syncing with my Motorola a630. It works perfectly. Why can't Apple offer that functionality as part of the OS? All I did was add some text to one file....

The bottom line is that a Mac user in the U.S. who wants to get a new phone is screwed. Whatever the cause, whatever the market forces at play, a Mac user today has little to no selection of phones, or has to live without sync services, which is so anti-Mac-like it makes me shiver.

 

[joemama]

But... do no Samsung, LG, Kyocera, Sanyo, Blackberry, etc. phones offer syncing? It seems like Apple is really failing to make any sort of progress in getting any sort of sync functionality with any of these companies. Why aren't they pounding on Samsung's door every day?

And they're even dropping the ball on phones that do sync. As I mentioned, I hacked in bluetooth syncing with my Motorola a630. It works perfectly. Why can't Apple offer that functionality as part of the OS? All I did was add some text to one file....

The bottom line is that a Mac user in the U.S. who wants to get a new phone is screwed. Whatever the cause, whatever the market forces at play, a Mac user today has little to no selection of phones, or has to live without sync services, which is so anti-Mac-like it makes me shiver.

Toe- I checked out that phone you mentioned, the mot. v710. From what I read I am confused if it works or not. You know anything about this? This is a chart I found which sounds promising....

http://dts.vzw.com/images/faqs/bluetooth_chart.jpg

ALso, someone asked about the Mot. e815. I found it for sale on Let's Talk.com. See here: http://www.letstalk.com/product/product.htm/depId_1/pgId_100/prId_29031.htm

Will this work with macs?

 

[voodoofish]

But... do no Samsung, LG, Kyocera, Sanyo, Blackberry, etc. phones offer syncing?

Er, why don't you look it up? I really doubt if you had a look at all the phones being offered by US carriers the percentage of their phones that they offered that would sync with a Mac would be significantly lower than the number of phones that sync with Windows.

The bottom line is that a Mac user in the U.S. who wants to get a new phone is screwed. Whatever the cause, whatever the market forces at play, a Mac user today has little to no selection of phones, or has to live without sync services, which is so anti-Mac-like it makes me shiver.

What? Screwed? Um, I'm a Mac user, and when I want a new phone, I just get one... because like most people I don't *really* care whether my phone syncs with my computer or not. That's why so many phones sold *don't* sync with computers because most consumers don't give a damn. When you asked about what phones from Samsung etc. have syncing I had a look in the back of some phone operators' magazines, where they list all the phones they carry and their features in a massive matrix, and they don't even bother including syncing as one of the possible features.

So as a Mac user you are *not* screwed when buying a phone - just because you're a Mac user doesn't mean you *have* to have a phone that syncs!

You may have to live without Sync services (though I'm not exactly sure why you can't just get a V3/Nokia Smartphone/Treo), but this isn't anything to do with Apple, or being a Mac user, it's to do with the state of the industry - syncing isn't a priority in consumers' cell phone handsets.

 

[Toe]

You may have to live without Sync services (though I'm not exactly sure why you can't just get a V3/Nokia Smartphone/Treo), but this isn't anything to do with Apple, or being a Mac user, it's to do with the state of the industry - syncing isn't a priority in consumers' cell phone handsets.

I don't want a V3 because I don't want the carriers that carry it; as they suck for my purposes. The only Nokia Smartphone I've seen from acceptable carriers is completely impossible to accurately press the buttons. The Treo's are far too large for me.

Sync services might not mean much to you, but it is overstating it to say it is not a significant feature. Anyone who wants to be reminded of events or who wants to maintain a list of contacts really needs syncing. Highschool kids (who do seem to be the primary market for most phones) really don't need to sync. People who do business and don't want to carry a multiplicity of devices really do.

Now that I got my Motorola a630 working, it is a dream. I enter my meetings and appointments into iCal, and my phone reminds me when they are forthcoming. I meet people, enter them in my phone, then later add more info to their record in AddressBook. Any business user appreciates syncing. And so does anyone who doesn't want to have to maintain two completely separate phonebooks. It sucked when I had a Samsung phone and I never knew which phone number for a person was current... the one on a scrap of paper, the one in my computer, or the one in my phone. Now they are all unified.

P.S. I'm not going to look up every phone's sync capabilities from every manufacturer... but I do know that many Samsungs, Blackberries, Nokia dumbphones, and so on can sync just fine with PCs.

 

[Toe]

Toe- I checked out that phone you mentioned, the mot. v710. From what I read I am confused if it works or not. You know anything about this? This is a chart I found which sounds promising....

Sorry, that wasn't me... I dunno squat about the Motorola v710.

I do know that the Sony Ericsson S710a sucks a**, but that's it.

 

[Machead III]

Only problem is, V sucks. It's a Glastonbury for pretentious pseudo-indie throw-backs.