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06/30/2004, 01:18 PM
#174
At one time or another over the past five years, I've had phones with AT&T, Tmo, Verizon, and now Sprint with the TReo 600. I have to say that Sprint has been pretty responsive compared to the others, and for where I live, the signal coverage is great. I can hold my T600 on Sprint on one hand and a Verizon handset in the other in my house. Both companies have towers within sight of my house. Verizon's signal is weak and drops out where Sprint's is rock solid and crystal clear. AT&T doesn't even register a signal in my house (tower's a mile away).
As for phone manufacturers like Samsung, Palm, Motorola, LG, etc., it seems to me like phones in the US are released at regular intervals with incremental upgrades to the hardware/firmware adding little things that could/should have been on the first version of the hardware. Yeah, sometimes they change the shape a little, other times, you just notice that it's the same phone with a different model number and more features.
In Europe, I'm told (by a friend in the UK) that few if anyone would consider buying a phone that didn't have a built-in camera and bluetooth functionality. Seems like in the US we hear, "Oh, that's not a popular item here so, we didn't include it on our hardware. Too expensive you know, saves you money. ) Then, six months to a year later, after you've spent money on hardware, they add a few new features and hype up the advertisement to get you to buy another phone. "Sorry, the manufacturer doesn't upgrade phones or firmware, we will sell you a new phone though..." (Heard from a local Verizon sales person discussing a Samsung phone with a client.)
So, here we have the Treo 600 without bluetooth but with a lo-rez camera. And less than a year after the original T600 release, we start hearing rumors of the next Treo (The ACE!) having bluetooth, a better camera, blah, blah, blah. Are you surprised? We're already getting whipped into a frenzy to sell our T6's on E-bay and upgrade before the new phone's even officially announced.
I believe I read somewhere (don't know if it's true, but it makes sense) that the current T600 has a spot on the circuit board for adding bluetooth in the future. I also heard that the Palm OS in the existing Treo can't or won't be upgraded. You can't add BT as internal after-market hardware, but you can buy a new T600 (when released in what, 2005?) with bluetooth added for just another $600. Oh, and that SD card slot in your old T6, well, that just doesn't have the power to drive a BT SD card you know, but the next version will. Just shell out another six bills.
It's all marketing. Convince me to buy the base unit with just enough features to keep me happy for a while, then a little later, tempt me with new features to buy the phone again because it will do more, be even more useful. It's a vicious consumer cycle designed to make the corporates money, and it works pretty damn good. Why sell one fully loaded phone when you can sell a partially loaded phone and get me to buy another. THey make twice as much money off me that way Why update the phone OS for the user when you can force them to buy a new phone if they want new OS features?
I will admit that when I bought my T600, bluetooth wasn't high on my list of needs. I wanted to upgrade from an old Palm V to an integrated phone/PDA platform (got tired of carrying a phone, pager, and PDA, they were making my suit pockets all poochy.) I looked at the Samsung i610 with WinCE2002 on Verizon and was not impressed. The T600 just seemed to suit me. My recent purchase of a new Apple laptop with bluetooth has convinced me that this is something I want on my Treo too. Is it worth another $600? Nope, I'll hold out for the drivers and in two years maybe consider moving up.
Done venting, I feel better, life is good... :-)
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Originally Posted by gharrod
