Most cell phone cameras are CMOS. A CMOS imager IC is generally smaller and less expensive than a CCD, and readily works at the voltages the rest of the circuitry in the phone operates at. But there are a few CCD ones.bathysphere said:
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Motorola RAZR V3i Released (with iTunes)
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The carrier could just as easily say that you're in violation of the terms of services in the contract you signed by altering the functionality of the phone as it is shipped from the phone manufacturer. E.g., Verizon's TOS, especially the, "Our Rights To Limit Or End Service Or This Agreement, part (i)" section.cwtnospam said:
Personally, I agree with you. Unless I'm leasing the hardware from the carrier, I should be allowed to do what I will with it provided that doing so doesn't impact the carrier's ability to function (e.g., souping up the transmitter so I can reach a base station 100 miles away will adversely impact the function of the cell whose base station is 100 feet away from me). In practice, it's sometimes been like trying to run Windows on a Macintosh: sure it can be done, but it's a bit of a kludge (especially on non-Intel Macs) and don't expect Apple to support it.
This is how it should have been from the beginning. I have a friend who is an engineer at Moto. He told me all through the ROKR project that they were, "Sticking it in the pooper." That's a direct quote. When I asked him why they didn't use the bitchin' RAZR chassis, he said that he got the vibe that they wanted a phone that was shaped more like the iPod; they failed miserably if that is the case. I don't understand how everyone is blaming Apple for the ROKR's supreme crappiness. All apple did was impose a 100 Song Limit, and honestly, do you really need to carry more than 10 CD's worth of music on your effing cell phone at once. So I guess Moto has made right on the music phone at last.
spinko said:
I used to joke that I was so behind the times, With cell phones mind you, not computers, that I have a rotary cell phone. Now it appears that I really could have a rotary cell phone.
On another note, Apple would NEVER get inspiration from someting like this. It's not a natural design. Imagine, if you will, attempting to dial this bitch while driving. You'd be staring at the keys and wrap your prius around a parking meter. The one recurring theme of Apple design is the natural feel of it. Dialing a phone with the keys in a circle is nowhere close to natural. Any cell phone that apple designs will have some take on the classic 3x4 layout. That is unless they invent some device that reads your mind so you don't even have to dial the number, just think it.
Have you read through this (and other ROKR threads)? The 100 song limit is one of the top complaints against the ROKR. It's been a major deal breaker for many potential ROKR buyers.SPUY767 said:
ft
ftaok said:
I know that. It's pissing and moaning. NO COMPANY, not Apple, not Motorola, not IBM, not Dell is going to allow something to cannibalize one of their biggest selling products. Whiney people make me want to rip my own face off. If they want an iPod, buy an iPod, if they want a phone buy a phone. People bitching, because Moto has provided them with a phone that plays music makes me want to vomit. RORK is what, 400$ on its own, If you try to cram a full blown iPod into the phone, you're looking at a 600$ phone. You should introduce me to someone who is whining that their ROKR only holds 100 songs. i'd like the punch them in the face.
Dude, relax. It's only 8:30am (at least it is here)SPUY767 said:
If Apple wanted to protect their own products, then why license the software in the first place? If they want their software on phones, then let the market dictate what the feature set should be. 100 songs isn't an issue right now, since 512MB seems to be the current limit. However, 1GB cards are coming. Also, what if you have lots of short clips? 100 clips could come out to 50MB or so. Anyways, my point is that if Apple really wanted to anything from canibalizing their own sales, then they shouldn't have signed up in the first place.
Personally, I have no use for a music playing cell phone, but other people want them. Who's to say their opinion is any less legit than mine (or yours).
ft
Why on earth didn't they announce this back in September? They would have got so much more publicity and so much more customer satisfaction by, you know, bundling iTunes with a phone people actually want. It's not rocket science
is it?
Great that it's coming now, but that it's taken a major PR blunder before this came is quite shocking.
Great that it's coming now, but that it's taken a major PR blunder before this came is quite shocking.
How interesting
Well it's fun to watch these comments, if not simply disappointing. It's obvious no company will cannibalise one of their most selling products. Neither am i to comment on the kind of reactions whiny people cause on you. It's just plainly fun that Motorola, the same that builds ROKR, is selling right now an UMTS (WCDMA) phone (E1000), video-call capable, hot-swap flash memory card capable, plays MP3 music, has an 1.2Mpxl camera, and is sold at about 40€ (about 50$) under fidelisation promotions from certain operators accross Europe. With no contract it costs about 300-350€ depending on local vendor promotions. Probably some similar product exists for the U.S. market... or maybe not (lol).
About the 600$ phones... Well they aren't just an iPod plus a mobile phone. They tend to be more and more like tiny computers (tiny refers only to the physical dimensions), as Wireless-lan support (several new NOKIA phones), VOIP (Nokia E70), general Smartphone functionality (most of the new Nokia's, many Samsungs, several Sony-Erricssons, and many other products, some of them unfortunately windows based) are getting each time more frequent.
You would say, perhaps, they lack the real power of the devices they try to replace through this convergence process. Not realy. Samsung has announced 8Mpxl cameras on their newest phones, wifi on Nokias is 802.11g, encrypted, email is already more advanced on the smartphone market than in its computer counterpart (push-mail for instance).
Last but not least, just to avoid more people bitting their own tongs, i should remind that power-books are being pre-announced to be thinner and feature a camera. Mobile phones architectures are tending to be, mostly (if not all) ARM9 processor based. Mobile operating systems (Symbian, Windows-mobile, Linux, Palm) are tending to be mostly hardware compatible. Some of the most effective processor chips in this area are being designed by Intel, under a not much different idea of their Centrino mobile technology. Which itself (in one or the other flavor) is one of the most likely architectures to be used on powerbooks... Has anyone already spoke about convergence?
Have fun...
SPUY767 said:
Well it's fun to watch these comments, if not simply disappointing. It's obvious no company will cannibalise one of their most selling products. Neither am i to comment on the kind of reactions whiny people cause on you. It's just plainly fun that Motorola, the same that builds ROKR, is selling right now an UMTS (WCDMA) phone (E1000), video-call capable, hot-swap flash memory card capable, plays MP3 music, has an 1.2Mpxl camera, and is sold at about 40€ (about 50$) under fidelisation promotions from certain operators accross Europe. With no contract it costs about 300-350€ depending on local vendor promotions. Probably some similar product exists for the U.S. market... or maybe not (lol).
About the 600$ phones... Well they aren't just an iPod plus a mobile phone. They tend to be more and more like tiny computers (tiny refers only to the physical dimensions), as Wireless-lan support (several new NOKIA phones), VOIP (Nokia E70), general Smartphone functionality (most of the new Nokia's, many Samsungs, several Sony-Erricssons, and many other products, some of them unfortunately windows based) are getting each time more frequent.
You would say, perhaps, they lack the real power of the devices they try to replace through this convergence process. Not realy. Samsung has announced 8Mpxl cameras on their newest phones, wifi on Nokias is 802.11g, encrypted, email is already more advanced on the smartphone market than in its computer counterpart (push-mail for instance).
Last but not least, just to avoid more people bitting their own tongs, i should remind that power-books are being pre-announced to be thinner and feature a camera. Mobile phones architectures are tending to be, mostly (if not all) ARM9 processor based. Mobile operating systems (Symbian, Windows-mobile, Linux, Palm) are tending to be mostly hardware compatible. Some of the most effective processor chips in this area are being designed by Intel, under a not much different idea of their Centrino mobile technology. Which itself (in one or the other flavor) is one of the most likely architectures to be used on powerbooks... Has anyone already spoke about convergence?
Have fun...
gustavo.rocha said:Well it's fun to watch these comments, if not simply disappointing. It's obvious no company will cannibalise one of their most selling products. Neither am i to comment on the kind of reactions whiny people cause on you. It's just plainly fun that Motorola, the same that builds ROKR, is selling right now an UMTS (WCDMA) phone (E1000), video-call capable, hot-swap flash memory card capable, plays MP3 music, has an 1.2Mpxl camera, and is sold at about 40 (about 50$) under fidelisation promotions from certain operators accross Europe. With no contract it costs about 300-350 depending on local vendor promotions. Probably some similar product exists for the U.S. market... or maybe not (lol).
About the 600$ phones... Well they aren't just an iPod plus a mobile phone. They tend to be more and more like tiny computers (tiny refers only to the physical dimensions), as Wireless-lan support (several new NOKIA phones), VOIP (Nokia E70), general Smartphone functionality (most of the new Nokia's, many Samsungs, several Sony-Erricssons, and many other products, some of them unfortunately windows based) are getting each time more frequent.
You would say, perhaps, they lack the real power of the devices they try to replace through this convergence process. Not realy. Samsung has announced 8Mpxl cameras on their newest phones, wifi on Nokias is 802.11g, encrypted, email is already more advanced on the smartphone market than in its computer counterpart (push-mail for instance).
Last but not least, just to avoid more people bitting their own tongs, i should remind that power-books are being pre-announced to be thinner and feature a camera. Mobile phones architectures are tending to be, mostly (if not all) ARM9 processor based. Mobile operating systems (Symbian, Windows-mobile, Linux, Palm) are tending to be mostly hardware compatible. Some of the most effective processor chips in this area are being designed by Intel, under a not much different idea of their Centrino mobile technology. Which itself (in one or the other flavor) is one of the most likely architectures to be used on powerbooks... Has anyone already spoke about convergence?
Have fun...
Would they really be cannibalizing though? Yes maybe Apple would see sales of iPod drop a little, but they would also be selling a ton more songs.. In theory 100 songs seems like alot, but I can tell from having owned a 128MB Mp3 player that it is not.. I also think that people will still continue to buy iPods unless the phone was basically an Apple iPod with complete phone capabilities...
jayb2000 said:Well, I am glad that iTunes is getting on more phones, I just wish it was this one!
Now that is drool worthy, if it is anything like the previous experiences I have had with Nokia
i have this phone, and whilst its indeed lovely to both look at and use, i've already sent it back for repairs TWICE. the first time it refused to register the charger, either via a standard jack or in the cradle, and the power button didnt work. upon getting it back, the bloody thing would turn off whenever it felt like it, regardless of which battery was in use, or how fully charged it was.
What i found nice, though, is that nokia have a dedicated support line -purely- for this phone, with 24 months free support. they bloody better do too, at the price!
/edit; on a side note, the thing weighs more than a telephone box.
They could, if I were to sign another contract. As it is, my current contract ends on December 2, and I'm definitely getting another carrier. No phone is of any use if the carrier has decided that it's ok for them to steal from you as Verizon has done.Misplaced Mage said:
Verizon
I worked in sales and then customer care for Airtouch Cellular (which was bought by Verizon). I quit Verizon around the time they started forcing customers to accept a new 2 year service agreement simply for changing their calling plan (just regular plans mind you, not just special promotional plans).
I always felt that you should keep customers by providing excellent service at a reasonable fair price. Not by forcing customers into a long term contract. Apparently the same management that preached the importance of providing quality customer service felt differently, ironically.
cwtnospam said:
I worked in sales and then customer care for Airtouch Cellular (which was bought by Verizon). I quit Verizon around the time they started forcing customers to accept a new 2 year service agreement simply for changing their calling plan (just regular plans mind you, not just special promotional plans).
I always felt that you should keep customers by providing excellent service at a reasonable fair price. Not by forcing customers into a long term contract. Apparently the same management that preached the importance of providing quality customer service felt differently, ironically.
Since Sprint is already one of the first carriers out of the gate with their own music store, I'm not holding my breath.cwtnospam said:Actually, the question is: When will Verizon get on board. I'm willing to switch to another carrier to get iTunes and have told them so. The more people that are willing to do that, the more likely they will offer the phone.Chip NoVaMac said:Maybe when Sprint does.
Not impossible, as those who upflashed a V300 to a V600 in functionality can attest, but without knowing exactly what hardware and OS version are in the phone it'd be a gamble. If the new phone has more memory than the original RAZR, or it uses NAND flash instead of NOR flash (or vice versa), or the processor core is different, or the internal power management system is different, you'd be doomed to failure. Odds are high you'd brick the phone, but it will take either a Motorola engineer coming right out and saying it or someone willing to take the risk once a firmware file gets out into the wild.jbrown said:
cingular out of stock
Cingular is out of stock on all three colors of the RAZR v3. One can hope that this means they are FINALLY planning to release the v3i. My contract with Verizon is up in two weeks and I'm itching to fire them. here's hoping....
Cingular is out of stock on all three colors of the RAZR v3. One can hope that this means they are FINALLY planning to release the v3i. My contract with Verizon is up in two weeks and I'm itching to fire them. here's hoping....
Fotek2001 said:
Are you joking? I know the US lags behind in mobile phones, but our industry in general? Besides being the richest country in the world and the world's only superpower, I guess we are so inferior to others...
nagusjim said:
The reason these phones are out of stock is because they were pulled due to a defect. you can read about it here:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0603100208mar10,1,6363568.story?coll=chi-business-hed
