3G

[Jonty]

Bonjour

Just curious as to your opinion on 3G. Will you upgrade?

The main selling points are the abaility to see who you're calling, albeit a little jerkily (similar to a streamed webcam image, in terms of quality). High-speed services will also allow video clips, games and Internet content to be downloaded on the fly. Deals have been made to watch premiership goals as they happen on your handset.

But with only one provider currently offering a limited range of 3G services (3, from the people behind Orange), would you switch providers? Have you already switched? If so, what do you think? Or are you waiting until your provider, or preferred handset manufacturer, launch their 3G products?

Are you unwilling to pay ~£400 for a compatible handset, and then a lot of money for the contracts involved (all as a result of the £x billion licenses, I presume)? Do you have a 2/2.5G phone which can do almost everything that the 3G phones can? Or do you simply think it's not worth the expense when your friends are unlikely to upgrade? Or would you simply not use the new services? Would a pay-as-you-go option make a difference?

lol, so many questions! Personally I'm happy with my 2.5G handset, so I won't be switching anytime soon. I'm just interested because I've yet to meet anyone who wants to switch, which is a little worrying considering the money spent on purchasing the 3G licenses (as we consumers end up paying via increased tariffs etc. ).

Anyway, enough rambling from me! Your thoughts, if you please

Happy Easter!

 

[PR.]

Not until the phone providers cut their prices and I'm not paying over £200 for the worst looking handsets since the original PAYG Motorola phones

 

[Embattle]

It'll take time for better handsets come out, although I reckon the costs for the service will remain high for a while due to the high price paid for 3G licenses by the phone companies.

 

[Jonty]

Thanks for your comments For what it's worth, I agree, the handsets really aren't all that spectacular. That said, once the likes of Nokia and SonyEricsson enter the market, things will hopefully start to look up.

I just did a quick search of the BBC to find the final license amount (the stories it came back with weren't showing 3G in a positive light) and it turns out the industry paid £22bn for the UK licenses, and €50bn in Germany. Add to that an average startup cost of £3-5bn just to advertise things and 'set the ball rolling' and it suddenly seems clear why the prices are so high

Thanks for your comments

 

[PR.]

Yer but the problem with companies charging rediculous fees for their services is that no one uses them, eventually they either reduce the fee so that it is worth while or they go bankrupt.

I was hearing £1 a message for video messages. Why would I use that instead of 10p for a text message? Sure you might use it to say "Happy Birthday Mum!" or something, but you aren't going to use it to replace Text messaging so the whole thing is gonna remain a niche product until they drop those prices, and in the mean time the phones won't sell because of the very slow uptake (i.e. no point having a video phone when your mate has a Nokia 3210)

 

[Jonty]

I agree PR In some ways there are parallels (amongst other things) with the Xbox. Microsoft, like the companies holding the 3G licenses, have a phenonomal amount of money to throw at their projects. But just like the Xbox, there comes a point when enough is enough and market forces require prices to drop (no doubt there is some economic term for this ).

Like you say, 3G phones need to be widespread, especially when video messages may not be compatible even on 2.5G phones.

I guess time will tell. I don't doubt we'll all be using 3G and beyond eventually, but I believe the process will be gradual rather than a mass exodus, as seen with the introduction as pay-as-you-go contracts.

I was just curious whether it was just me, or whether people generally weren't that keen. Thanks for your thoughts!

Kind Regards

 

[(Shovel)]

For me, I want a phone to phone people. I have started using the personal organiser in my T68, and the Outlook syncronisation is rather nifty.
But downloading goals? Why? What on earth would I want to do that for?

I mean, the T68 would let me send a picture in my text (not MMS as in the T68i) if I so wished. I never have done.
Why? Mainly because when I got my phone, there was no one else with a compatible one. The same will be true of the 3G adopters. If it wasn't so expensive then early adoption might be worth a look, but they don't seem to be offering any lifetime incentives to make people pay more for a service that they wont be able to properly use for two years.

As I say, for me a phone is a phone. Some little extras on the phone are nice, but 3G is so full of gimicks but very little practical use imho.

 

[Testin da Cable]

Originally posted by (Shovel)

For me, I want a phone to phone people.

my thoughts exactly.

 

[Jonty]

I have agree Unless you go down the street of a PDA/Phone hybrid, using a 'proper' OS, then the vast majority of phone use is for traditional calls, text messaging, and the odd game of Snake. Even WAP never took off as its supporters hoped.

Whereas 2.5G technology has been made accessible (MMS messages, for example, when sent to incompatible phones will instead receive a nice text telling them to go to a specific webpage to view the message), 3G technology has no such options. And I'm still sceptical as to why you need to see who you're talking to, or, as you say, why you'd want to see goals on your phone when it's likely you're in a pub or at home watching it on TV.

If the quality were better, then paramedics could use the technology to consult with doctors about a patient's injuries; but alas it's not.

I guess the vote sums up people's opinion in general Hands up who thinks Gordon Brown was in hysterics the day the bidding finished for the 3G licenses in the UK

Kind Regards

 

[Jonty]

Hello

It seems 3G may have it's uses after all! hee hee.

Kind Regards

 

[Xavier]

actually at the moment, 'three' the UKs only 3G brand is suprisingly cheap.

the first tier of their monthly tarrifs gives you 1000 minutes of normal voice calls plus video minutes for 60 quid - compared to over £100 for the same on orange and £95 for 'Max' on O2.

Looking at the 3G services specifically they really aren't there yet - the only stuff Three let you access is a wall-gardened layer of content with none of the 'real' WWW, they don't even let you use the handset as a modem right now... they provide the data cable with the NECs and even a handy guide to setting it up, but unless you're a business user prepared to pay the earth for your connection you won't be able to do anything for at least another 6 months.

So personally I'm shelving my USIM until SonyEricsson get their first 3G phone, the Z1010, out onto the market, and there is a little more in the way of choice and providers, Voda are due to go live before November and Orange early next year, which should mean better packages and something other to do with that high speed connection than downloading Angry Kid and Bottom clips.

 

[Jonty]

Just spotted this interesting article on The Register concerning Nokia's 2G/3G 6650 phone. Quite an interesting idea.

The Register
Nokia has begun shipping its 6650 handset ... tempting users with the phone's ability to switch between GSM and WCDMA networks seamlessly.

In other words, it will hop between second-generation networks and 3G networks. Nokia claims this is a market first.

...

The handset features a built-in 640x480 digicam capable of taking 128x96 video footage (what else is 3G for?) at "more than ten frames per second". It has 7MB of memory to hold up to 15 seconds of video, and can interface with PCs and other devices via Bluetooth, USB and infra-red. The 6650's Lithium Ion battery supports up to 14 days standby time and up to two hours 40 minutes GSM talk time (two hours 20 minutes WCDMA).

Kind Regards

 

[wyrd_fish]

well, do you live, as I do, out in the sticks???

out here, north yorkshire, there is very little broardband and should you wish to get a 3G phone your going to have to wait untill an undisclosed date to get all that video lark in your area...

yellow = pic & voice now
red = video now