Smartphone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Be sure to register in our forums! Share your opinions, help others, and enter our contests.


Zune Thoughts

Loading feed...

Digital Home Thoughts

Loading feed...

Pocket PC Thoughts

Loading feed...





All posts tagged "cdma"


Monday, July 13, 2009

HTC Snap Coming to Canada from Telus Mobility

Posted by Jason Dunn in "HTC-based Microsoft Smartphones" @ 01:26 PM

"...the HTC Snap is an easy to use smartphone with a slim and stylish design and a full QWERTY keypad. The enhanced Windows Mobile 6.1 platform will enable users to sync their email, contacts and calendar with TELUS mobile email, plus HTML web browsing on TELUS' 3G network and almost anywhere they travel around the world with TELUS international roaming."

The above quote is from a Telus press release, which seems to be impossible to find online, but here are some other quotes from it:

  • Network support: 3G EVDO Rev A and Quad-band EDGE to stay productive and entertained on-the-go while travelling abroad or across Canada
  • Optional microSD memory expandable up to 16GB to store documents, music, videos and photos
  • 2.0 MP camera/video to take and share pictures with family and friends.
  • TELUS mobile email, TELUS Visual Voice Mail and TELUS Portal by Pocket Express

The interesting thing here is that this is a CDMA phone with EVDO Rev A but also quad-band GSM - so when you're in North America you can rock the better speed and range of CDMA, and when you travel you'll roam onto the GSM network. That's a big deal for anyone that has a CDMA phone and is used to leaving it behind when they travel internationally. Note also that Telus nixed the trackball - too bad, I liked that thing. No word on exact pricing.


Wednesday, July 2, 2008

MetroPCS MetroFlash welcomes Verizon, Sprint customers -- and their devices

Posted by Rocco Augusto in "Smartphone Talk" @ 04:02 PM

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/...stomers-and-th/

"MetroPCS may not have the largest wireless footprint in the States, but they did take a jab at the larger two CDMA carriers by announcing their intention to take on any Verizon and Sprint customers ready to jump ship -- as well as any "compatible" devices they may want to bring along with them. Sprint already supposedly does this (although we've still yet to hear of it actually really happening), but the specifics of MetroPCS's MetroFlash seem equally unclear. It doesn't sound like they'll reprogram just any CDMA device that walks through their doors, though, just the ones they've had a chance to test on their network. Definitely kills the buzz (and the number of devices that can be ported), but a little open is still kind of better than totally closed, right?"

One of the things that have always annoyed be of CDMA devices and carriers is the almost non-existence of openness between them. With my GSM/HSDPA handset I can pop in a SIM card from almost any other GSM network and be up and running with a snap of my fingers. This is something that is almost impossible to do on CDMA networks… heck even switching your current device on the same CDMA network is a hassle. While I give MetroPCS a pat on the back by trying to stand apart from the crowd is it really enough? What benefit is there to being open when the whole process of enabling the handset on the network is so ridiculously cumbersome?


Monday, April 28, 2008

Sprint discontinuing Voice Command on July 1st

Posted by Rocco Augusto in "Smartphone Talk" @ 09:00 AM

http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=2964

"Sprint's not going out of its way to make a big fuss about it, but its long-standing Voice Command service will soon be no more. The service, which allowed Sprint-Nextel phones to dial two buttons and then give voice commands to place calls, will be discontinued on July 1st, 2008, meaning that all your server-based contacts will soon be inaccessible. Aside from removing the VC fee from your monthly bill, Sprint's advising users to download and print their contact lists, and better still, it's encouraging users to rely on handset-based voice-activated dialing (or pick up a new phone if their current one can't pass muster). So long, Voice Command -- we can't imagine too many folks actually missing you."



I'm not sure if any of our Sprint readers take advantage of their carrier based Voice Command service, but if you do it would be a good time to back up all of your contacts now! It turns out Sprint is pulling the plug on this service on July 1st, 2008 and whatever you do not backup will be sent to the vast CDMA heaven up above. To be honest, I'm surprised they didn't pull the plug on this service a few years back when it started becoming more popular to use the VC services on the handset instead of via the network. Better late than never, huh?

  • Read
  • Discuss
  • Permalink
  • Source: Engadget Mobile


Australia Bids Farewell to CDMA

Posted by Darius Wey in "Pocket PC News" @ 06:00 AM

http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttels...?ObjectID=42298

"Telstra Country Wide Director, Gary Goldsworthy, today confirmed that the old CDMA mobile network would shut down across the country at midnight tonight, closing a significant chapter in the history of telecommunications in Australia. "At midnight tonight Telstra will commence the carefully planned closure of the redundant CDMA mobile network. Today really is the last chance for remaining CDMA customers to move across to a new mobile network, such as the Telstra Next G™ network, and remain connected" Mr Goldsworthy said. "CDMA technology has served Australia well over the years but has now been superseded by more advanced third generation mobile technology such as the Telstra Next G™ network, which carries about 7.5 times the data carried on the CDMA network at its peak."



CDMA coverage in Australia will be axed at midnight, starting from the east coast and progressing toward the west coast in accordance with local time zones. Telstra has been at it for two years, urging CDMA customers via letter, phone, and SMS to make the switch over to Next G. But this has been much to the discontent of a handful of rural customers, primarily due to concerns that the UMTS/HSDPA network suffers from poorer coverage in remote areas of the country. Like it or not, however - the clock is ticking. Any Australian readers here happy/unhappy about this?


Sunday, March 23, 2008

PC Magazine Review the Motorola Q9c

Posted by Rocco Augusto in "Smartphone News" @ 01:00 PM

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,281...,2276312,00.asp

"Since its inception, the Motorola Q has been successful. Versions of the popular slim handheld—originally billed as the "RAZR smartphone" at just 0.4 inches thick—can now be found on three carriers, with the device available in both CDMA and GSM versions. When Motorola revamped the Q, Verizon saw the new model first and branded it the Q9m. AT&T followed with its upgraded version, the Q9h, which bested the Verizon model with its excellent software bundle. Now Sprint finally has a new Q, and I'm pleased to report that the Q9c is a highly capable, inexpensive ($99.99 with a two-year contract, after a $100 mail-in rebate) smartphone, even if a few flaws hold it back from true greatness."



PC Magazine has reviewed Sprints Motorola Q9c handset. Though I'm sure Jerry probably cringed as much as I did at the sheer mentioning of the RAZR, this is still a good read! If you are a Sprint user who is looking for an inexpensive and sleek looking Windows Mobile Standard device, than head on down to your local Sprint-Nextel shop to pick up this bad boy!


Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Sprint's Samsung Ace reviewed on Mobile Tech Review

Posted by Rocco Augusto in "Smartphone News" @ 08:58 AM

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/pho...Samsung-Ace.htm

"If you think the Samsung Ace looks familiar to you, well, it is. We’ve seen its close cousins, the Samsung BlackJack late last year and the Samsung BlackJack II early this year, both on AT&T. While AT&T customers might think the Ace is old news, Sprint made a safe choice for its own customers by providing a proven and popular device that’s also a world phone. The Samsung Ace sits in between the BlackJack and the BlackJack II feature-wise with Windows Mobile 6, full QWERTY keyboard, EVDO and 1.3 megapixel camera. There is no GPS or Wi-Fi onboard. One thing that Ace is superior to both BlackJacks is the processor: the Ace has the Marvell PXA270 running at 312MHz. This world phone runs on Sprint’s CDMA network in the US with support for Sprint’s EV-DO for fast data; and it also comes with a SIM slot and the technology that allow users to use GSM/GPRS overseas."



Tong Zhang from Mobile Tech Review has given us a pretty good review of Sprint's newest Windows Mobile Standard device, the Samsung Ace. I'm not a huge fan of the Sprint network, or any CDMA network for that matter, but I do love the fact that this handset comes equipped with a SIM card slot for overseas travels. Unfortunately, those hoping to pop in their US carrier based SIM cards will be disappointed as the device runs off of the 900/1800 MHz GSM frequencies which is more popular in Europe and Asia than it is on our side of the pond.


Saturday, April 21, 2007

HTC Libra: HTC Vox Variant for the CDMA Network Cleared by FCC

Posted by Kris Kumar in "HARDWARE" @ 08:55 AM

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/04/20/htc-libra-clears-fcc/

"Verizon customers, give yourselves a little pat on the back; for the moment, anyway, it's you that are the envy of the world's HTC fans. As you may recall, the Libra is essentially a Vox with the GSM radio switched out for a CDMA one -- and with it, of course, comes 3G data, a feature sorely missed in the Vox. Even better, the Libra will allegedly be software upgradeable to EV-DO Rev. A for an added boost."

User submitted image

The FCC has cleared the HTC Vox's cousin, the HTC Libra. The Libra is designed for the CDMA network. It is not known who will be carrying this Windows Mobile Standard edition device - Verizon or Sprint. Also, HTC has requested for confidentiality until May 30th. So hopefully we can expect another announcement by then. :wink: Click here for the FCC documents.


Saturday, September 9, 2006

GSM vs. CDMA: GSM Expands Lead in Americas

Posted by Kris Kumar in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 10:15 AM

http://www.betanews.com/article/GSM_Expands_Lead_in_Americas/1157052101

"GSM has taken a majority share in North America, according to data released Thursday by industry group 3G Americas. As of the end of the second quarter of 2006, GSM had added 100 million new customers over the past year to end the period with a 51 percent share. The technology's share grew 13 percent over the past year, further solidifying its lead as the top wireless technology. The group pointed to CDMA's loss of momentum in key countries like Brazil as a reason for GSM's growth, as well as increasing numbers of CDMA operators transitioning to what has become the de facto global standard."

User submitted image

As a GSM supporter, I am happy to announce this news. I would like to see more investment be made by the carriers and device manufacturers in the GSM market. ;-) Wish the article had provided some numbers in terms of subscribers using GSM in the States and around the world. Does anyone know where we can find those numbers? Getting back to GSM, I like it because it is a not a proprietary system and I benefit from global roaming. But for someone else, the coast to coast coverage in the States is more important and would prefer CDMA. The thing that I don't like about GSM is the multiple bands that the handsets must support to enable global roaming; wish the device manufacturers would make Quad-band a standard on all their models.


Wednesday, August 16, 2006

CDMA "Mobile Broadband" Deployment in Europe

Posted by Mike Temporale in "NEWS" @ 09:30 AM

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?ContentId=6546

"Nordisk Mobiltelefon is launching a nationwide CDMA450 network in Norway to provide telecommunications and broadband services to consumers and enterprises. CDMA2000 is now deployed across the European continent with 12 operators offering voice and broadband data services in Belarus, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and the Ukraine. Other operators are planning to deploy similar CDMA2000 services in Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia and Sweden."

It appears that CDMA is being offered more as a mobile broadband service than for mobile phone usage. Regardless, it's pretty interesting to see the rise of CDMA in the land of GSM. :)

  • Read
  • Discuss
  • Permalink
  • Source: Pocket PC Thoughts


Monday, May 8, 2006

The Frustrations of CDMA Devices

Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 09:47 AM

(this article was written with Pocket PC Phone Edition devices in mind, but it applies equally to the Smartphone market, perhaps even moreso because CDMA devices are so rare)

Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place: CDMA devices offer great transfer rates with EVDO, and in North America at least, UMTS is almost nowhere to be seen. So if you want speed, you need an EVDO device. As a Windows Mobile geek, my frustration is that there's not a lot of choice when it comes to devices. Worse, CDMA devices (well, outside of Korea at least) don't have SIM cards that can easily move from one device to another. Why is that so frustrating for me? A few years ago, Samsung sent me an i700 for review. I was excited to review it, and had emailed the head of PR for Telus (our CDMA carrier here) in Alberta. She agreed to loan me an account with 1xRTT data so I could test the device. Great right? Not quite.

It turns out that Telus, like many CDMA carriers in North America, will not activate devices that originate from outside their network. Telus is particularly strict about this, because the engineers refused to activate the phone even with the PR person trying to convince them. Can you believe that? So, ultimately I had to send it to Janak to review, and he dished out an amazingly thorough review.
Three years later, the situation repeated itself: Microsoft sent me a Palm Treo 700w to review. I was looking forward to it, long being envious of the hardware design of the Palm OS Treo. This time, I knew Telus wasn't going to activate it, so I didn't even bother trying. It was pre-activated on the Verizon network, the idea being I'd just be on voice/data roaming here in Canada. I happily unpacked the box, charged it up...and promptly couldn't get any data service. A bit of debugging here and there, several emails back and forth with my contacts at Microsoft, and they opted to send me another one. The second 700w had exactly the same problem. :( This time I got connected directly with Verizon support and they were unable to explain why it wouldn't roam. So I ended up sending the second 700w back, and once again, Janak ended up writing a huge review on the phone that I couldn't review (though he didn't get the phone from me this time). You'd almost think this was nothing more than me wanting to get Janak to write reviews once every three years. :lol:

So in the end, it always comes back to the same things: CDMA devices, no matter how cool, are significantly less flexible when it comes to being able to easily connect to any carrier. Mobile device geeks like me don't wait for a device to be offered by carriers, especially not Canadian carriers who tend to be six to twelve months behind their counterparts in the USA (it used to be much worse, believe me). The Qualcomm announcement is good news, but there's no indication of anything changing with regards to seeing SIM cards in CDMA phones. The CDMA carriers enjoy their lock-in power a little too much, and don't realize it's likely costing them more customers than it's keeping them.

So I remain a GSM guy with a SIM card, always looking for the ultimate Windows Mobile device - and never being able to step into the realm of true wireless high-speed.


Thursday, December 15, 2005

Motorola Q CDMA EV-DO Version for Verizon Wireless Approved by the FCC

Posted by Kris Kumar in "HARDWARE" @ 06:30 AM

http://phonearena.com/htmls/Motorola-Q-CDMA-for-Verizon-was-approved-by-the-FCC-article-a_861.html

The CDMA EV-DO version of the Motorola Q has been approved by the FCC. The initial speculations about this BlackBerry killer Smartphone, nick-named the RAZRBerry, has been confirmed. Based on the FCC test report photographs, phoneArena.com has confirmed that this Smartphone will be launching on the Verizon Wireless network. Now the only remaining question is - when will it launch?

User submitted image
Figure 1: FCC test photograph of the Moto Q, showing the Verizon logo.

Motorola has requested the FCC to keep the photographs and the user manual confidential. :-( The complete set of FCC documents, minus the product photographs and the user manual, can be viewed over here. The FCC ID for this Smartphone is "IHDT56FQ1". Check out the FCC test reports to view the above photograph. And in case you want to know more about this Smartphone, check out this post.
User submitted image
Figure 2: Another FCC test photograph, showing the Verizon logo.


Saturday, October 8, 2005

CDMA Version of the Motorola Q Pops Up

Posted by Kris Kumar in "NEWS" @ 10:00 AM

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000220062364/

"We can�t exactly condone someone dropping six large on any cellphone, especially one that�ll probably be officially available in a few short months, but CTI NYC.com claims to have an EV-DO version of Motorola�s Q Smartphone for sale. If legit � and we tend to believe that it is � this would more or less confirm the rumors going around that Moto is going to introduce a Q with EV-DO sometime next year, when it�d likely be going head-to-head with Palm�s EV-DO-enabled Treo 700w."

User submitted image

8O How badly do you want the Moto Q? Are you willing to shell out SIX THOUSAND for this RAZR-thin Windows Mobile Smartphone? I added one to my shopping cart, just for kicks. :lol: CTI NYC.com has the pre-release version of this highly anticipated BlackBerry killer. I don't think I will pay more than $600 for the final-fully-tested version, let alone this pre-release version. What are your thoughts? And oh, by the way, if you think Moto Q is not your style, they have the Pink RAZR also. ;-)


Friday, August 19, 2005

Samsung Kills i645 CDMA Smartphone

Posted by Jason Dunn in "NEWS" @ 03:51 PM

http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=1340

"A Samsung spokesperson today confirmed that Samsung no longer plans to release the i645 CDMA smartphone. The i645 was to be the first Windows Mobile Smartphone with EV-DO high-speed data, and was slated to be offered by Verizon Wireless. According to the spokesperson, the decision was made jointly by Samsung and the carrier. It is believed the i645 has been replaced on Verizon's device roadmap by the Motorola Q, which also runs the Windows Mobile Smartphone platform, and is also expected in an EV-DO version."

PhoneScoop reports some grim news for those of you waiting for a new CDMA Smartphone: the Samsung i645, the only CDMA Smartphone I was expecting to see anytime soon, has been cancelled. This is fairly grim news, because people on CDMA networks have had essentially no choice when it comes to Smartphones: it was the Samsung i600 or switching to a GSM network. I got to use the i645 at CES in January of this year, and it was quite a nice phone. If the reason Samsung cancelled this phone is that Verizon didn't want to carry it, the future of the CDMA Smartphone is even more grim than I thought.


Friday, February 25, 2005

Sprint To Launch New Samsung Phone Using Both GSM And CDMA

Posted by Mike Temporale in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 09:00 AM

http://www2.sprint.com/mr/news_dtl.do?id=5740

"Sprint today announced the introduction of its first digital quad-band phone, the Sprint PCS International Phone IP-A790 by Samsung, giving multinational business customers a wireless connection to the rest of the world at simple, flat-rate pricing in supported GSM countries abroad. When used in conjunction with a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, the Sprint PCS International Phone IP-A790 by Samsung allows customers to make voice calls on both CDMA and GSM networks in more than 130 countries where Sprint has roaming agreements in place. The phone also functions as a multimedia device on the Sprint Nationwide PCS Network so customers can view on-demand streaming video and audio and shoot video clips with the embedded camera and camcorder."

I think more manufacturers should take this type of approach. Building the phone so that it can handle whatever network the user wants to use it on offers more flexibility to the phones owner. The IP-A790 should be available early next month from Sprint PCS, in case anyone is interested.


Sunday, September 26, 2004

Global CDMA Alliance

Posted by Kris Kumar in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 08:00 AM

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=aa5747364bb1f67c

"China Unicom is hosting a two-day meeting of CDMA mobile operators in Beijing Thursday and Friday, aimed at setting global industry standards...The company hopes to form a global alliance purely for practical reasons, said Unicom's executive director, William Lo. Without common standards among different operators and vendors, CDMA mobile phone users cannot transmit data between different networks."

Kudos to China Unicom for being the pioneer in implementing Removable User Identity Module (R-UIM) and for initiating the process of forming global alliance of CDMA operators. And once again Verizon has let us down by not participating in this important meeting. :-( R-UIM is a smart card, similar to the GSM SIM cards, that holds subscriber information necessary to receive wireless service. It enables the CDMA network subscriber to change handsets by merely switching the R-UIM card from the old handset to the new one and activate the new cell phone on the network, without calling the carrier's customer service for re-programming the device. It also enables international travelers to roam on GSM networks by using the R-UIM card in a GSM phone (instead of the regular SIM card). What I am not sure about is, whether or not the cell phone user can switch CDMA carriers and use their R-UIM enabled phone on the new carrier's network? Another reason why this meeting is important is because the Smartphone world will soon be getting its first R-UIM capable phone in the form of the HTC Vivida. :)

Tags: cdma, alliance, global

Friday, August 27, 2004

HTC Vivida - CDMA Smartphone for Verizon Wireless?

Posted by Kris Kumar in "NEWS" @ 05:00 PM

http://phonearena.com/htmls/readnews.php?id=587

"HTC is getting a lot of attention from Verizon Wireless these days. As we have already reported, the #1 US carrier will presumable carry the HTC Harrier � a PDA like device with Bluetooth, VGA camera and EV-DO hyper-fast data capabilities. Little information was available about second device from HTC for Verizon Wireless (tentative) � the Vivida. Now we bring you exclusive detailed information about it. The sliding style handset is jam-packed with features like large 176 x 220 pixels display, VGA camera, IMAP4/POP3 emails, MMC/SD memory extension slots, Bluetooth, HTML and WAP browsing, SyncMC and Radio. The price and the exact date of availability are not certain, but expect to see it around Q4 of 2004."

User submitted image

Verizon Wireless + Smartphone 2003 device = :rock on dude!:

This news has taken me by surprise. Even more surprising is that the launch is expected to be around Q4 of 2004. Check out the other photos and the specifications of this device over here. HTC is coming out with Smartphones with impressive styling. And this one with the slide out casing is sure to get Smartphone lovers drooling.
User submitted image
User submitted image

I have posted only 3 of the 7 photos that have been published on the PhoneArena.com, so click on this link and check out the rest. :drool:


Wednesday, July 28, 2004

CDMA Growth In US Is Very Strong

Posted by Kris Kumar in "THOUGHT" @ 05:00 AM

ShivShanks, the CDMA flag bearer for our site, had promised that he would provide us with some compelling numbers that would prove beyond doubt that CDMA is where the current US market is headed. And he has delivered on his promise :) I must admit that looking at the figures, one can tell that CDMA is growing at a faster pace.

� Verizon added 1.5 million new subscribers last quarter, the largest subscriber gain in the carrier's history, bringing the carrier's subscriber base to 40.4 million.
� Sprint added about 0.9 million customers.

The CDMA subscriber base grew by almost 2.4 million in the last quarter. The one thing that bugs me is that if the rumors regarding Motorola's plans to shelf MPx100 are true, how come Motorola can design a GSM phone and give it up. And not consider trying out the same for the CDMA market? I hope Motorola and Samsung are keeping a close watch on these figures. And that these numbers are convincing enough for developing a Smartphone for the CDMA networks. I wish Verizon would provide numbers on how many of its customers have a data plan. That would give the Smartphone manufacturers an approximate idea of the market size.
� Cingular Wireless, Verizon's biggest rival, added 428,000 customers in the same period.
� AT&T the third-largest U.S. provider, added 15,000 customers as it began to reverse earlier losses.
� T-Mobile numbers are awaited. And they would definitely be better than Cingular's numbers.

Even with T-Mobile's good subscriber count, the combined subscriber base increase for GSM won't compare with that of CDMA. In ShivShanks own words "So all in all GSM still trails CDMA in the US, but for T-Mobile would have been slaughtered in terms of growth figures."

Update: Sprint PCS subscriber count was incorrectly quoted as .5 million, instead of .9 million and has now been corrected. With the correction, the CDMA subscriber increase for the last quarter went up from 2 million to 2.4 million.

  • Discuss [82 replies]
  • Permalink
  • Source: ShivShanks

Tags: very, cdma, growth, strong

Saturday, April 3, 2004

CDMA Finds Work In Europe

Posted by David McNamee in "NEWS" @ 12:30 PM

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/36754.html

CDMA seems to be gaining strength in Eastern Europe, but not quite how we'd expect. There is a version of CDMA that runs in the 450 MHz band, formerly used by analogue networks. The 450 band can cover a greater geographic area with fewer towers. Because of this, CDMA 450 is finding a home as a solution for rural areas where installing 850, 1800/1900, or 2100 MHz equipment is cost prohibitive. Moscow Cellular and Delta Telecom have already launched CDMA 450 in Russia. Portugal, Belarus and Uzbekistan have also established CDMA 450 networks, with Sweden on the way.

Tags: europe, cdma, work, finds

Friday, November 21, 2003

PC Magazine Reviews The First CDMA Smartphone

Posted by Jason Dunn in "ARTICLE" @ 11:43 AM

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1382808,00.asp

"Following the lead of AT&T Wireless, which introduced Microsoft's Smartphone platform to the US with the Motorola MPx200, Verizon Wireless has introduced another Smartphone, the Samsung SCH-i600 ($500 street with a two-year contract). The SCH-i600 is a dual-band PDA/phone with support for 800-MHz and 1,900-MHz CDMA; it's only the second Smartphone to hit the market and the first to run on CDMA. It's a bit larger, and at 5 ounces with the standard battery, heavier than the 4.2-ounce Motorola MPx200, but if you need CDMA's superior coverage, you won't mind carrying the extra ounce or so..."

Overall, a positive review - 4/5 points. Quite good! He didn't go into the usability of the unit though - the review is mostly regurgitated press release specifications. Anyone seen a really good review written by someone who has one of the units? We requested a review unit from Samsung a while back, but it appears we're not a big enough "fish" yet. :wink:


Wednesday, July 9, 2003

One Reason Why I Like GSM (GPRS) over CDMA (1XRTT)

Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 03:30 PM

You can't truly understand the beauty of being able to move a GSM SIM card into a new device, and have it work, until you try to do something similar with a CMDA device. You can't.Samsung was generous enough to send an i700, their awesome 1XRTT device with a built in camera, to review. They sent it to me a little over a month ago, and I figured "Well, Telus is the local CDMA carrier here in Calgary, so I'm sure I can connect with their PR people, get a demo account, activate the phone, and write the review." The first part went well - I got in touch with a nice lady from Telus, she said they could give me a demo account to use for the review. Then came activation time.The activation process was painful - we were looking for the ESN number, and couldn't find it on the device, so there was a flurry of emails back and forth between Telus, Samsung and myself as we tried to figure this out. By the end of the nearly month-long process, I was informed that Telus only let devices onto their network that they had been tested. Since they hadn't yet tested the i700 (and won't unless they decide to sell it), I might be able to get the i700 activated by, oh, 2004. :roll: I'll have the same problem if I can get my hands on their i600 Smartphone - which basically makes any CDMA useless to me as long as Telus has their current activation policies in place. <sigh>Contrast that with the GSM world - I'm currently using the Fido network, and I had a SIM in my XDA until I broke it. Then I moved that SIM into my T68i and used it as a data modem over Bluetooth with my Dell X5 and a Socket Bluetooth card. When I received my SPV Smartphone, I put the SIM in that, and have been using it since. Zero problems: I just put in the SIM, and it worked. Isn't that the way technology is supposed to be? Magical? You just plug it in and it works, the first time, and every time. The importance of being able to do that can't be overstated: while most people don't have as many devices as I do, the ease of being able to get a new phone or Pocket PC, pop in a card, and just use it, really can't be underestimated.The CDMA people could really learn a few things from the GSM camp...


Top Smartphone Software

News Tip or Feedback?

Contact us

Thoughts Media Sites

Pocket PC Thoughts

Smartphone Thoughts

Digital Media Thoughts

Zune Thoughts

Apple Thoughts

4Smartphone
Recent Posts
  • Phillip Dyson: RSS Aggregator/Reader are you using?
  • Pete Paxton: Samsung B7330 Windows Mobile Smartphone Surfaced
  • speereosoftware: Speereo� Voice Launcher SMARTPHONE Edition released.
  • Hedge: Eternal Throne for Smartphone and SmartBlock - save 30%
  • radar84: What To Buy?? Pharos Traveler 619 VS Blackberry 8300 Curve
  • kornalius: Pocket Programming Language v2.1 is out now!
  • Pete Paxton: Windows Mobile Loses 2.7% of Smartphone Market in Q2 09
  • Erna Camelia: SECURE SMS Released
Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Sponsored links