Unmaking Motorola's Q 144
conq writes "BusinessWeek has a breakdown of Motorola's Q Phone, looking at the cost of each of its components. From the article:
'It costs Motorola about $158 to build the phone. That includes components and assembly but excludes other expenses such as marketing, distribution, and licensing fees to Microsoft, which makes the phone's Windows Mobile operating system.' By comparaison, the BlackBerry 8700, only costs $123 according to the article. The difference between the two, the BlackBerry 'doesn't play video or music, and unlike the Q, it doesn't have a camera.'"
158$ to make a cell phone? (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course it'd be nice if cell companies both offered this monstrocity of a money pit and the el-cheapo phones that companies like Moto make as well. You know, that whole "free market" thingy...
Tom
Re:158$ to make a cell phone? (Score:2)
Re:158$ to make a cell phone? (Score:2)
Re:158$ to make a cell phone? (Score:5, Informative)
It is a free market. But the customers are the carriers, not the consumers that end up using the phones. If the US had a mobile phone market where you could use the same handset with any provider perhaps you would start seeing phones offered to please the end-user. As it is, what they're selling and you're buying is a provider phone plan; the phone is just the necessary piece of gear to use the plan.
With open standards you do have choices. (Score:3, Insightful)
The problems that limit choice are the combinatorial effect of:
Most users not being geeks.
Each power-user handset having a considerable cost in training Customer Care folk.
Many geeks want their toys for the cost of the parts, never for the MSRP (the cheapskate factor).
So the carriers pic
Re:With open standards you do have choices. (Score:2)
Verizon paid Motorola a considerable amount of money for exclusive access to their lastest phones, a deal they stole from Cingular. Why? Because consumers want those those phones, and being the exclusive provider means they might switch carriers to get them.
What outsells the marvelous powerful sophisticated Treo650 by an enormous margin? The Razr
Because the Razor is a
Re:With open standards you do have choices. (Score:2)
Re:With open standards you do have choices. (Score:1, Interesting)
If I hadn't encoded four seasons of Futurama and 100 miscellaneous videos to play on it with TCPMP. and have all my
Re:With open standards you do have choices. (Score:2, Informative)
This idea of mobile carriers providing tech-support for phones is just nutzoid, as is the idea of carrier-monopoly on a phone type. Carriers focus on services, and other stores can focus on selling phones (with or without subscription).
Re:With open standards you do have choices. (Score:1, Interesting)
Nutzoid or not, it is a pervasive expectation in the US that if there is any feature your phone you want help adjusting you can dial 611 and get help with it. That this level of hand holding has the unintended consequence of narrowing the field of handset choices is rarely deduced by the general public.
It's also worth noting y'all have had GSM running much longer over there than we have, so there is a good deal
Re:With open standards you do have choices. (Score:2)
BUT...
It's good enough. My five year old Nikon coolpix (an 800, a prehistoric 2 MP version, but good enough optics to not really miss the newer ccds) takes better pictures. Even
Re:With open standards you do have choices. (Score:2)
For me, I got the treo because I go fed up carrying my PDA AND a phone on my belt. I went from an Audiovox 6800 which is a really small phone compared to the Treo and after about a day I got used to the size. It's big but not that big a
Re:158$ to make a cell phone? (Score:2)
Well, for any carrier using GSM this is pretty trivial. Switching providers can be as easy as swapping SIM cards. To do so though your phone needs to be 'unlocked', which typically means you aren't buying it directly from carrier as they tend to lock the phones they sell so they can only be used on their network (though it's possible to get these u
GSM phone information (Score:2)
Be sure you get a Quad-Band GSM [wikipedia.org] phone like the Motorola RAZR V3 (now V3i). There are only 4 GSM bands, and a phone with all 4 bands allows use in Europe, Asia, and any place there are GSM providers, which is becoming everywhere. (Apparently there are some areas that use a 5th band, called GSM400, but that is not used in modern systems. See this GSM frequen [answers.com]
Re:158$ to make a cell phone? (Score:2)
If you dont like what the carrier wants to sell you, go find an unbranded unlocked phone somewhere else (you wont get a carrier subsidy obviously) and put in the SIM (or USIM in the case of UMTS) card from the carrier of your choice.
Anyone who buys crappy locked in CDMA phones when you can get much better GSM phones is an idiot (either that or someone who is unable to use a GSM phone in the places they
Re:158$ to make a cell phone? (Score:2)
You can, assuming a GSM carrier (Cingular or T-Mobile). Verizon and Sprint use totally different, older, radio systems (CDMA), so the incompatibility is on a hardware level, not a "software block" level. And unlocked European-spec GSM phones are readily available on EBay and elsewhere - just make sure to get one that does the 8
Re:158$ to make a cell phone? (Score:1)
Not quite true...
CDMA is act
In practice, however, CDMA is poorer quality... (Score:2)
GSM phone information [slashdot.org].
Re:In practice, however, CDMA is poorer quality... (Score:1)
I would disagree. Everybody I know who has used both CDMA and GSM thinks that CDMA sounds MUCH better. Indeed this is one reason why Verizon can get away with charging a premium for their service, even though their customer service stinks.
The quality of GSM generally sucks. Cingular REALLY sucks, lots of dropped calls, but they have a really brilliant advertising department. (The day their "Fewest dropped calls" ads came
I guess a lot depends on the cell phone companies. (Score:2)
Skype to Skype is the best of all. (Score:2)
Re:158$ to make a cell phone? (Score:2)
Hunh? What are you talking about - have you ever looked into buying a cell phone? The vast majority of phones offered by the phone companies are 'el-cheapo' phones. By simply going to the Verizon wireless website I'm bombarded with an offer for a phone that's only $9.99 (with contract). How much cheaper do you want
Re:158$ to make a cell phone? (Score:2)
The Q, hmmm... (Score:2)
Re:The Q, hmmm... (Score:2)
Re:The Q, hmmm... (Score:2, Insightful)
Ever seen a James Bond movie?
Re:The Q, hmmm... (Score:2)
features listed here. unlike the Q, the nokia fits into my pocket
(and has all the bloated features from qwerty keyboard to wifi
and builtin camera etc, go figure).
Screw the Q, give me an A1200 running linux! (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Screw the Q, give me an A1200 running linux! (Score:1)
Re:Screw the Q, give me an A1200 running linux! (Score:2)
I guess that Asia is on another planet.
CDMA is very popular in Asia. GSM is the standard in Europe. In the US you have the freedom to select a carrier that uses one or the other.
T-Mobile and Cingular both use GSM.
If you would rather use GSM chose one of them. Then you can import any GSM phone you want that supports all the GSM bands and stick you sim card in it.
BTW your expensive world service wi
Re:Screw the Q, give me an A1200 running linux! (Score:2)
Re:Screw the Q, give me an A1200 running linux! (Score:2)
And yes China is the fastest growing CDMA market in the world.
CDMA seems to be growing very quickly in south-east asia.
I am not even saying that CDMA is better than GSM. I like the SIM card idea from GSM but from what I have heard CDMA has some advaantages over GSM.
Just wanted to point out that.
The US wasn't the only country in the World not using just GSM.
and my favorite.
Pointing out that a European was doing exactly what they accuse people in the US of doing. Thi
Re:Screw the Q, give me an A1200 running linux! (Score:1)
Re:Screw the Q, give me an A1200 running linux! (Score:1)
Re:Screw the Q, give me an A1200 running linux! (Score:2)
I too wish I could get a motorola EZX linux phone (moto dont sell ANY of them here in australia
Re:Screw the Q, give me an A1200 running linux! (Score:2)
The only sucky thing about it is the lack of EDGE and no 802.11. Otherwise it looks like a fantastic phone.
Flawed Analysis? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's quite difficult to gauge the true cost of a consumer device when you don't know:
- Component purchase volumes and associated discounts
- Overhead (R&D, administrative costs)
- IP licensing - both for the finished good and associated components (patent fees, etc.)
- Who manufactured certain key components (the LCD is mentioned)
- Locus of manufacture (which country?)
- Test and rework costs (what defect rates are expected of raw components and finished assemblies, what quality standard?)
couldn't have said it better myself... (Score:2)
Re:Flawed Analysis? (Score:2, Insightful)
Features or Cost? (Score:3, Insightful)
Am I alone in not being attracted by all these bells and whistles phones have these days? I want a phone to be a phone - I already have a digital camera to take pictures, and a music player to play music. Why try to cram all these features into a mobile phone, which just complicates the user interface and adds cost?
And don't get me started on email on phones - several of our managers have Blackberries, and despite their bigger keypads, it is still painfully obvious a message was created on one. Plus they tend to be sent at 10:30pm...
We have a new joke going around the office - have you heard about the new crime wave of Blackberry muggings? Crazed people accost you, force their Blackberry on you, and scarper.
Re:Features or Cost? (Score:3, Informative)
[/sarcasm]
Am I the only one who hates carrying 5 computers in
Re:Features or Cost? (Score:1)
What I want is a machine that just puts words onto paper!
That is called a typewriter, and may I say, that they do a find job at that. (with a fairly dcent user interface and the wonderful reqward of a "Ding" every time you finish writing a line. I think that is why Charles Dickens wrote such long novels...
Re:Features or Cost? (Score:2)
So? They have entry level base model phones that don't have camera or music players. They are cheap too... selection is limited, but then have you tried to buy a typewriter lately, selection there is limited too.
Re:Features or Cost? (Score:2)
No, you're not. I had the opportunity to play with the Q phone at the new Motorola store in downtown Chicago. (Which is not odd at all when you consider that the Q is ALL they sell. Who came up with THAT marketing idea?) My initial reaction was this: It's a piece of technological junk that does very little over top of existing handsets, has a confusing interface (in the finest tradition of Motorola), and is really more
Re:Features or Cost? (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps you are. Ultimately, why bitch about it? They make plain old cell phones for people like you. It's not like these gadgets are being thrust on you. As for the rest; somehow I feel OK having a phone that has internet access, a camera and music playing abilities. It makes it so that if I need these things they're all right here in a simple small package without having to carry at least three other devices. Maybe you feel good about carrying this crap around or you think it makes you look "geek" in some fashion but I'd rather not have to deal with leaving hundreds of dollars worth of hardware (actually thousands if you count my laptop for internet access, and I still need the cell in that case!) in my car or worse taking this stuff around in a mall or store where it can be lost or I can have security bothering me over why I feel the need to carry a 300 dollar camera around randomly.
We have a new joke going around the office - have you heard about the new crime wave of Blackberry muggings? Crazed people accost you, force their Blackberry on you, and scarper.
Wow, that's uh... yeah... funny... i guess. Actually it marks a problem with how people think in relation to technology. OK, so you don't want the latest and greatest, you don't want the camera, the email, the text messages. Fine, don't buy into it. Too many people I know bitch and moan about being able to be contacted on their cell phones. Turn them the fuck off or don't buy one in the first place. That's my solution. Blackberry is normally an evil tool of the office but I see more and more people using them for personal reasons. This doesn't mean that you need to own one nor should you feel compelled to. Don't act like technology is forcing itself into your home, if that's the way you feel about the technology that you own perhaps you should seek professional help.
Re:Features or Cost? (Score:1)
I should have qualified that the joke is not amusing to the Blackberry users - they grimace while the rest of us smirk.
And you're right that my preference should not stop you getting a phone with a cappucino maker built in, if you want one. But that isn't what I'm suggesting - I posed the question to see if anyone else felt the same way, and if maybe the phone companies were missing a market.
Re:Features or Cost? (Score:2)
No, the point was clear, the GP said they wanted just a plain phone, I said that they still make basic plain phones so what's the big deal, now you're changing the qualifications of what YOU want from that of the GP. It's a much different situation.
Re:Features or Cost? (Score:2, Informative)
No, you're not alone but you're relativly marginal in low margin segment.
Compare with computers or cars that only really basic features, like a computer with no frills at all or low end asi
Clearly, you've ONLY owned a phone (Score:1, Interesting)
I have internet access all the time, everywhere. I can buy from Woot, Ticketmaster, I can read my favorite blogs, and I get to see regular web pages... not just those wimply little itty-bitty text pages made for weenie cell phones.
I have a 1 Gig SD card, and a set of Shure e4c in-ear headphones. I have 900 meg of MP3's which is just perfect for an airplane flight. I store an additional 50 meg of files, and have 50 meg free.
I
Re:Clearly, you've ONLY owned a phone (Score:2)
You must be using the "1MB=1000000 bytes" methodology, because I only see 957MB on my formatted SD card.
Re:Clearly, you've ONLY owned a phone (Score:2)
Actually, flash memory cards are measured using the binary system, so a "1GB" card has a 1GiB flash chip inside it.
However, the fact that you lose 67MB is easily found.
NAND flash chips (the kind used in flash storage media) is inperfect, and bad blocks abound. Typically 2% of the available blocks are reserved for bad block remapping and replacement. 20MB gone.
SD cards have to have a special "secure" mo
Re:Features or Cost? (Score:1)
Personally I hate the bells and whistles too, in large part due to the fact that the extras are usually at the expense of the quality and reliability of the actual phone component! (And the inf
Re:Features or Cost? (Score:2)
All I want is a mobile that does text messages and the occasional call - and most importantly lasts for as long as possible between recharges. I am sick of carrying different chargers around with me for all my gadgets, so now I buy things that take standard rechargeable cells - and you cant get a phone with standard rechargable cells.
You can get mobiles with just the phone and te
Re:Features or Cost? (Score:2)
All of these functions are converging into one device that does everything. I already carry a phone and an mp3 player. I ordinarily don't carry my digital camera, but having one in my phone means I can take pictures of unexpected things. I expect a lot of other things to be added in. We already have internet a
Re:Features or Cost? (Score:2)
So buy one of the phones without bells and whistles then. PDA phones are an electronics swiss army knife. But if all you want is a butter knife, just buy a butter knife and stop complaining every time someone comes out with a new and better swiss army knife.
I already have a digital camera to take pictures, and a music player to play music. Why try to cram all these features into a mobile pho
US Phone Market is so irrelevent (Score:3, Informative)
Camera, MP3, video objectify the space into lust-have consumerism which drives a cultish demand producing absolutely no redeeming downpayment on the future.
Re:US Phone Market is so irrelevent (Score:2)
Re:US Phone Market is so irrelevent (Score:1)
Re:US Phone Market is so irrelevent (Score:1)
I guess I'm just spoiled with my Verizon EVDO PC card and laptop.
Re:US Phone Market is so irrelevent (Score:5, Interesting)
There are server-side policies for EVERYTHING. A rep once told a group of us that if we could find any way to get data off a Blackberry that couldn't be stopped/restricted by a policy on the server he'd buy us lunch and get it fixed. In an enterprise environment the admin can restrict everything.
We can (and do) set password policies. Length, age, complexity, number of attempts can all be configured. There's even a distress feature so the device notifies an admin if the user is forced to unlock it (you change your password by one character). The admin could then send a wipe command to the device which completely wipes all data.
It even has AES encrypted storage. If you turn that on, even if you unsolder the memory chip you can't read the data (though you could theoretically proceed to brute-force it).
The lack of cameras on all Blackberries (is a God-send!) is due to the restrictions placed on cameras in senstive areas. If one Blackberry had a camera they may all be banned from those locations (rumor has it there may be one coming though, I hope not).
No MP3s because it's a business first device. I personally don't agree with this one. I wish it would play WAV file voicemail (promised, never delivered). It doesn't have removable storage or even enough for more than a couple songs, but this relates back to the security issue. They can't be used to copy documents from a computer and it's near impossible to remove sensitive data from the device.
It's not perfect, but at least it has a reason.
Digitac
Re:US Phone Market is so irrelevent (Score:2)
Thank you! Now if only the companies making PDA + phone devices (or even just phones) would listen. Where I work, no cameras are allowed inside, period. It's company policy. I wouldn't be surprised if many companies have the same policy. This policy prevent
Re:US Phone Market is so irrelevent (Score:2)
I know I saw it listed on sprint's website a month or two ago, but now they are only listing the 700p.
Re:US Phone Market is so irrelevent (Score:2)
Would be more interesting if... (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Would be more interesting if... (Score:2)
Availablity of a stylus turns Windows Mobile into Brain Age.
Re:Would be more interesting if... (Score:2)
Re:Would be more interesting if... (Score:2)
Digitac
Re:Would be more interesting if... (Score:2)
Re:Would be more interesting if... (Score:1)
Re:Would be more interesting if... (Score:2)
Licensing _fees_ to Microsoft? (Score:1)
don't forget the Nokia E61 (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:don't forget the Nokia E61 (Score:1)
The main difference between them... (Score:5, Informative)
The Good:
-The screen is nice, bright, easy to read indoors, and a nice size in general.
-The general form factor. I like thin devices and the Q is that, it doesn't seem to have unneeded bulk.
-The network. Some like it, some hate it, but few will argue that Verizon's EVDO network is fast where you can get it. Allows for streaming a Slingbox nicely.
The Bad:
-Most of the problems can in some way be related back to Windows Mobile SMARTPHONE Edition. Had they gone with the full PocketPC software (and required touchscreen) the interface would be less awkward to move around in and you could do simple things like, oh I don't know, switch back to that task in the background?
-The keyboard...sucks. Most similar devices (mostly referring to Blackberries, Palm Treo's, and a couple others) have standardized portions of the key layout. For instance the backspace key is next to the L key so it's easy to get to since you typo a lot on small keyboards. On the Q it's a flat button, unlike the letters, up near the D-Pad and easy to miss (actually had someone ask me where it was after they had been using it for a week). The Enter key is where the backspace key should be (you can imagine what problems THAT causes), the only shift key is on the right side of the keyboard near the bottom (unlike the others). And in general the keyboard just doesn't have a good "feel" to it.
-The scroll-wheel, they should have left it off completely. The Smartphone interface wasn't designed for it. I believe they only put it on their to lure the Blackberry users, which is fine if it actually behaved like the Blackberry's, but it doesn't. You can't use it as the primary navigation tool like the Blackberry (you can only scroll vertically), and it is slow to respond to any input. Even the little bump they put around it to supposedly protect it from accidental activation hinders its usefulness.
-Stability, or lack there-of, may relate back to the Windows Smartphone OS, but we have other Smartphones that are MUCH, MUCH more stable. The Q will get hung up on the simplest tasks. If it's not freezing completely, it has dropped the network and won't reconnect until you reboot.
-No push-mail. They didn't ship the Q with the AKU2 service pack so it can't use Exchange Mobility push mail. That would be fine, because we have a Goodlink server, but Goodlink doesn't run well on the device due to the Smartphone interface. For one thing, we require a password, but on Smartphones Goodlink limits passwords to just numbers which require the use of the ALT key on the Q.
-It just seems slow. Nothing on the device seems to launch, run or close fast. In fact I often find myself setting it down while waiting for it to do something.
-Battery life...painful. My Blackberry will usually last about 4 days if only used for e-mail, 2-3 if using the cell phone. Motorola Q: 13 hours, which is coincidentally the exact amount of time one user's relationship with the device lasted.
-Charging. It has a mini-USB plug so you should be able to charge it anywhere, right? Wrong. If you want to charge it from a computer you have to have the POS ActiveSync software installed. If you want to charge it from the wall, you'd better have brought your Motorola USB charger because 70% of the mini-USB chargers I have tried won't work. Some will power the device but not charge the battery and some won't even register. It's not the amount of power either. I have one that provides up to 1100mA while the Motorola one provides 800mA, but it won't work. I haven't figured out why yet.
Cheap build quality. While we haven't damaged any, they just don't feel very durable. I've dropped, tossed, kicked and stepped on my Blackberry. I dare not set the Q down on a table hard, it feels l
Re:The main difference between them... (Score:5, Interesting)
I, personally, have no issue with battery life other than when I play movies and so forth all day. However, I expect that to drain the battery much faster than normal phone usage drains the average cell phone anyway.
I also don't know why you said the Q doesn't have push Email services. Mine pushes my gmail out to me just fine, and you can also set pocket outlook to poll your email accounts automatically every few minutes if you'd rather do it that way.
Also, I don't have a problem with my unit locking up at all. I often have pocket IE, Outlook, and the media player all going at once, and they seem to get along just fine.
As far as I'm concerned, I got phone with a 400kb internet connection, push email, web browsing, internet streaming, video and music playback, plus whatever other little software I want to install for the cost of a $200 handset and a $50 card. So far it's working out to be a prety good deal.
BTW, check out Qusers.com [qusers.com]for more people with Q's. They can tell you the good (and bad) of their experience.
Re:The main difference between them... (Score:3, Interesting)
You won't get any argument from me that the Q does more, much more, than the Blackberry. Movies and audio playback are missing from the Blackberry; games and web browsing are better on the Q. Our users have reported complaints about most of those though. One user said it would play several MP3s then stop, another said the web browser was "hit or miss" (sorry, no specifics). From your remark about minimo
How to switch to other apps (Score:2, Informative)
In most apps this isn't necessary, as the BACK button brigns you to the last app you were using before the current one. But Pocket IE has fucked that up and it tries to load the previous web page instead.
So, I find this EASIER than PocketPC. There you hav
Ditto... (Score:1, Informative)
Re:The main difference between them... (Score:5, Interesting)
- Yeah, I don't like the scrollwheel. I can't get my hand in position to use it and find the D-pad and menu-letter shortcuts to be much faster and 1-hand-friendly.
- I've run it for 4 weeks. No stability issues or crashes. I sync with Exchange and POP frequently, use web search, calendar, make phone calls, etc... fairly normal usage.
- No AKU2, no problem. Every 15-minutes is plenty for me. There is an SMS-based solution to this anyway, supposedly, although I'm not what that requires on the server. It certainly requires free text messages.
- My battery lasts for 2-3 days with ~1 hour of talk time and 15-minute email syncing. I've heard MSN Messenger can run-away when you don't have a data connection... maybe that was it?
- Regarding charging off a computer... why?... you still need to pack a cable anyway. I simply don't use ActiveSync, because I can sync over the air, so I'm not plugging in for that either.
- Regarding build quality, I sort of agree, but it's mainly the battery cover that's at fault. I've read putting some sticky padding between it and the battery will solidify it.
- You never really mention how "most of these problems relate back to Smartphone edition." I switch to tasks in the background by hitting Home and clicking right once (for the most recent app) and clicking the "do it" button. That seems reasonable. I can probably do that faster than the time it takes to whip out the stylus. What do these other problems have to do with Smartphone vs. PocketPC?
Re:The main difference between them... (Score:2)
The keyboard. I must take issue with you on this. If you type a lot on any small device, you're going to use the backspace key a lot. It's position on the Q does not lend itself to being touch-typed like the other keys, and as I mentioned breaks from the convention established by it's predecessors. I'll grant you the positio
Re:The main difference between them... (Score:2)
We have about a dozen blackberries in my office, most a little over a year old. At this point, only about half of them are able to actually receive calls (thought most still receive email fine). I'm not trying to say that the Q is better (I've never used one) but it's pretty bad in my mind when the Blackberry can be used as a benchmark for reliability. Perhaps there is an inverse relatioship between feature set and longevity? I can't wait for the PC-quivalent cell phone tha
Re:The main difference between them... (Score:2)
The LCD screen. It's mounted in the phone sideways.
Maybe I'm just hypersensitive to such things, but LCD displays are supposed to be used with the widest viewing angle being from side-to-side. This is so that both of your eyes can see roughly the same thing, and are able to focus and collect a stable image.
The Q's LCD display is narrowest in viewing angle from side-to-side. This means that both eyes see different images (different contrast, different coloration), which is quite hard to look at.
R
Image? (Score:4, Interesting)
Google Image Link [google.com]
Video (Score:2)
For some video footage of the phone, see this [google.com] on Google video.
huh? (Score:2, Funny)
Makes me wonder what does my wife do when I'm not home...
Ugh... (Score:2)
Re:Ugh... (Score:1)
Re:Ugh... (Score:2)
After looking at this video [google.com] of the Nokia E61 that someone above mentioned it would appear that it is capable of doing what you ask. Found it online for about $500-550 (Canadian dollars).
Nokia E60 or E70 (Score:2)
Re:Ugh... (Score:2)
No comparison... (Score:3, Informative)
My Audiovox phone had a about 2 days before it needed a recharge, doing pretty much nothing (the screen was in sleep-mode). The Blackberry goes a week (and it's constantly downloading email from our Nagios server, and replying to acknowledge issues, etc), all with the screen on.
The Blackberry did everything with a scroll-wheel that was also a button. The windows-mobile needed a stylus to scroll, etc.
For me, the Blackberry won hands down: the screen was nice, the performance was great, and the keyboard is very usable with a bit of practice. And this is a 2 year old model, that has been dropped in the toilet (and survived) and is dropped probably once a week.
Rim had done an amazing job.
Re:No comparison... (Score:1)
Not so sure that the later models battery life is quite as good though.
This is one crutial aspect of mobile usage that seems to escape a lot of manufacturers nowadays. What is "smart" in a phone that only lasts a day or two on a charge? My current personal phone (SE W550) does a good 4+ days on a charge, and that is generally
i bought a sierra voq profession phone for $80 (Score:1)
It'll check email at scheduled intervals (mine's set for every 5 minutes), I run AgileMessenger (free) to keep in touch with people on AOL Instant Messenger, viewers for Word/Excel/Powerpoint, has a nice calendar program, a Secure Digital slot, etc etc. Only thing it lacks is bluetooth, which to me isn't really that important anyway.
It's a rather large phone, but it FEELS like a phone, which I love. I've used T
Reminds me of a web site .. (Score:1)
Unmaking? (Score:1)
Slick, but no Treo (Score:2)
Re:Microsoft License (Score:5, Interesting)
Hardware cost of the mobile phone is nothing compared to all the licensed buzz-words: GSM, UMTS, TDMA, CDMA, etc. That all stuff has to be coded and tested of course: in both hardware and software. Licensing costs for such hardware/software easily run into numbers with 6 (six) and more zeros at the end.
And embedded OSs they use - like Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm OS - all can easily run into $30-200 per phone. Or you think they started thinking of Linux just for fun?
P.S. Reminds me why GSM won over technically superior CDMA in USA. The only "problem" with CDMA was stupid licensing and patent regime established by Qualcomm and Co (bunch of old companies afraid to be left aside of market.) 3GPP learned the lesson and UMTS had won again over US crowd - mostly due to friendly licensing. More or less all 3G wireless networks deployed around the world are derivatives of european UMTS. Licensing is no simple question to ignore.
P.P.S. Long time ago, one chinese CE manufacterer speculated that to produce $200 Palm PDA they need only about $40. So the numbers in article aren't really surprising.
Agreed. Q = P.O.S. (Score:4, Informative)
I have. I do mobile device development. I think, and *all* of my coworkers will agree with me, the Q sucks.
First off, the buttons are too small if you have fingers larger than a four year old's. The BlackBerry 8700 is pretty good, and the Palm with it's raised bubbly buttons, provide great control and feedback.
Second, they just did *stupid* stuff to the interface. Stuff that makes me think the thing is under-powered. For example, if you have a long list of items, the Q will paginate the list instead of making one long list. That is obnoxious with a capital O. It just constantly breaks down elements into small chunks, adding unnecessary clicks and scrolls.
The core problem, IMHO, is that Windows Mobile is not designed to work without a touch screen. However, in their attempts to make a BlackBerry-like clone, they've forced the OS to operate without a point-and-click interface. And they failed miserably.
Re:Agreed. Q = P.O.S. (Score:1)
Do a Google search for Windows Mobile Smartphone.
The Q phone is the only Smartphone with a landscape oriented 320x240 screen.
do you feel cool now insulting others? (Score:2)
And next to that; with the topics also -under- this; is it so cool to be insulting people with such nonsense?
First look in your own garden before shooting random people; the world would already become a better place if tolerance and accepting would be taken more seriously
my 2 cents; and this ain't troll or flamebait; rather a call to respect your fellow human instead of tearing them down based on skin, language or country. Remember that mo