I just noticed this on the email I was sent from Mobile Industry Review reader, Vlad, about the Seidio G1 battery. I posted the piece earlier — then on the bottom of the Google Reader email, saw an advert from T-Mobile for the G1.
Incidentally the deal is you get the G1 free with 700 minutes or 1,400 texts (or any mix of the two), unlimited internet and an 8GB memory card for £30 per month. Probably at least an 18 month contract too.
Connected advertising, eh?
That’s the one good thing with Windows Mobile.
ActiveSync.
Your contacts sync correctly.
Same with Nokia handsets running Mail For Exchange. It all just works.
Every since I arsed about trying to get Google, Plaxo, Apple Address Book AND Exchange to sync… big screw ups.
BIG BIG screw ups.
iTunes and Google repeatedly sync and create duplicates for some contacts.
A total sodding bind.
So much so that my 2,000 or so contacts are now 10,000… have a look at this:
Joy.
Reader Darren King knocked me over this Gizmodo story about a chap who took a bullet to his chest.
Only that’s exactly where his Motorola RAZR was — sat in his breast pocket.
“I stopped and I lifted up my sweatshirt and I took out the cell phone to check it to see if it was damaged and this bullet falls out,” Richard told the local CBS affiliate WWL. He said the shot—which was strong enough to tear a hole in his sweatshirt—felt like a punch to the chest.
Well I never.
It’s ok though, as Gizmodo explains:
Investigators said that the bullet could have come from as far away as a quarter of a mile, and that people shoot guns in that area all the time.
So, just like Bas Vegas, Basildon, Essex, then?
There are a lot of things pushing me toward buying a piece of shit simple handset. I’m seriously considering buying a really simple S40 Nokia handset, or maybe a Sony Ericsson (if I can put up with the lack of decent contact and calendar synchronisation).
I want a phone that works when I need it to.
I want a phone that people can hear me speak on, unless my signal strength is shot to shreds. If I have more than 2-3 bars out of 5, I expect the other person to hear me properly. The fact that most folk can’t hear me speaking on my vodafone Blackberry Bold is rather worrying.
But by far the biggest arse with being me is that I like to buy new stuff. Bleeding edge stuff. That runs down batteries like no tomorrow.
Case in point today at Future of Mobile. I left the house with the following devices fully charged:
- Vodafone Blackberry Bold
- T-Mobile Blackberry 8800
- T-Mobile UK G1
- T-Mobile N95 8GB (that doesn’t ‘do’ data)
By 8pm the Bold was screaming red. BATTERY LOW was constantly flashing up. It was so annoyed with me for using it, it decided to flash yellow every few seconds to remind me how shit the battery is. That’s not even a full sodding day’s usage.
Not to worry. I’ve got the G1 handy.
But that’s a world of pain. Despite NOT Using it at ALL today, I took it out at 830pm to find that it had 21% battery left.
To be clear: I have not used it. I have not DONE anything with it. Sitting idling with the odd email update has flocked the majority of the battery.
Shite.
My 8800 Blackberry is on 95% power. So at least I still have a handset that I can use.
I think I need a rethink.
I either need to take a leaf out of the books of other MIR contributors such as James Whatley, Dan Lane and Ben Smith, and carry a Proporta or other such mobile charger around.
That really annoys me.
Or maybe I should faff about with multiple device batteries?
Hugely disappointing, given the cash I’m blowing on these devices.
Maybe I should chuck everything else and just use the Blackberry 8800?
[ Written using the rather limited keyboard on my Vodafone Netbook connected via Voda GPRS on the 2245 to Southend Victoria... so there might be quite a few stupid tpyos. ]
I love it when I see mobile phones being put to good use, and I also love it when say for important issues, mobile phones are being utilised to capture a target audience in the best sense and way possible.
I was browsing around my daily choice of news reads, when I came across an article where a simple SMS message is being used to highlighting the need to have HIV tests in Africa. I think it’s brilliant. It’s short, snappy, and highlighting a point, and trying to induce change with it.
So why then, doesn’t this happen here in the UK?
Now, I’ll tell you, I think it was around a week ago now I received a letter in the post informing me of the free Chlamydia tests I can have. It’s a brilliant service, and I have to praise my local Primary Care Trust for providing it, and for the notice about it. But do you know what would be better?
Tell me via the methods of communications I use most. And by that I mean E-mail and SMS.
I admit, I always check I have post, and I do write the odd letter (usually a complaint though), but I do use the “snail-mail” system. But, it’s not engaging, it’s not relevant, and it’s certainly not in touch with the speed of information transfer and communication I’m used to.
Whenever I speak to someone my age, it’s never “Oh, I got this is in the post this morning…” it’s “I got an e-mail a minute ago about…” and “Look at the text I just received!”. The old system of postal mail, I love it, it’s quaint and good to use occasionally, but it’s not good for informing me about a free Chlamydia test I can have.
What would have been brilliant would be a nicely worded (although not txt spk msg) with a link to a free WAP site. If that’s too much to ask for then maybe a service where I could text back my door number and post code to receive more information in the post, or maybe even a test pack.
This really isn’t rocket science, and nor is this asking too much. The most common methods of communication for young people (and probably, most people now), is via our phones. Not to mention, the effort required to get a reply is next to nothing, compared to the mini-form I would have to fill out, then the bother of finding an envelope. And, with what is it, one in fifteen or ten people getting Chlamydia now, wouldn’t it only just make sense to target me, and all my peers using this method?
Obviously, there is an issue as to how, say my local Primary Care Trust would get hold of my mobile number, and then issues with data-storage and privacy – then again, I was slightly shocked at how information I’ve given to my GP has riddled its way into a mail-merging system. But, if there was a way in which this system could work, then SMS could be used and become part of the greater-good.
But even say if Mobile Networks became obliged to send out such messages to all people aged nineteen or below, then this system would work brilliantly.
Food for though I think, and I would like to see something developed in the near future which maybe utilised the powers of SMS and even MMS more.
Any ideas, questions, thoughts or suggestions please e-mail them to me at Samantha@mobileindustryreview.com
To all 250,000 readers, if you’d like to check out Comes With Music, Nokia’s latest wannabe attempt to make music work for normobs accustomed to absolute rubbish Nokia user interfaces, then check out some other sites. All About Symbian might be a good start.
A Google for Comes With Music should work, also.
As always, we heard about it all after the event. Goodness knows what they’re up to at Nokia Towers. We would have brought you an entire TV show dedicated to Comes With Music had we known about it all.
But don’t fear! Don’t fret!
Oh no. Here’s the email that arrived this afternoon from Nokia:
Dear Ewan,
Please see the link below to view the multimedia news release that contains B-roll material and sound bites in broadcast quality from the NOKIA REMIX event that took place in London yesterday.
For viewing the on demand web cast, visit http://events.nokia.com.
Should you have any questions or comments, please send feedback to Danielle Ross.
So if you’d like to watch some B-Roll of the event — that’s your link up there.
We will, whenever we can be bothered, bring you some Nokia related content.
Although, actually, I don’t think we will, come to think of it. What is the point?
Comes With Music. It’s ok. It’s certainly not brilliant. It doesn’t match the iTunes experience one jot. Is it mass market? Yeah. Your normob will soldier on and wrap their head around the rather involved UI. Your average 16 year old will put up with it. Just like they do with their current Nokias. And it’ll work. And it’ll position Nokia nicely with music.
Next.
So, if you’re up for a bit of B-Roll — that’s the link up there.
Otherwise, well.. I’ve a note from Carphone Warehouse telling me the Nokia Comes With Music handset will be retailing for just under 130 quid shortly. I’m not be disposed to Carphone Warehouse either after experiencing their not-Lifeline Insurance service. But I was thinking of going and buying a handset so I can check out Comes With Music.
It’s the right thing to do.
I just don’t feel up for shedding out the cash to both Nokia and Carphone Warehouse today.
I’m fascinated by the pricing of mobile phones and phone contracts. The mobile business has always been dominated by a small number of providers, who offer suspiciously similar but subtly different price plans, that have always looked to me like they are designed to confuse me. Bundling a handset with my contract confuses this further: of course the handset isn’t “free”, a proportion of my monthly rental is going towards the cost of that. I just don’t know how much, and so I don’t know how much the bundled minutes and texts are actually costing me.
Except on my Three contract. What Three do is they show you the price for the tariff, then itemise the extra cost for the handset. And that means that I can see exactly how much I’m paying for those minutes. And it allows me to make an informed decision about how much the shiny new mobile is worth to me
Here’s an interesting perspective from regular contributor Malcolm Murphy.
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In my case, I pay 20 quid for 1100 minutes or texts. Or, to put it another way, less than 2p per minute or text. Just think about that. Less than 2p per minute to make a call, to a landline or a mobile, any time of the day or night. That’s cheaper than my landline provider, who want a connection fee, plus 5p per minute from me during the day, more if I want to call a mobile. Less than 2p per text message, when I’m continually informed by people in the industry that the wholesale cost of sending a message is around 3 euro cents – a little over 2p.
Except, it’s only less than 2p if I actually get round to using all those minutes or texts. And, as the people from Three are already well aware, I don’t. Well, not usually. So, I’m probably paying more like 3 to 4p per minute/text. Even so, that looks like good value. And it’s a good deal for both of us. The operator knows that I’m going to give them at least 20 quid per month for the rest of my contract. And in return for me probably buying more minutes than I need, I get a certain amount of predictability on how much my bill will be. Of course, anything international throws the predictability out of the window, but let’s put that to one side for the moment.
Now, my example may be extreme because I signed on when Three had a promotion, but it’s not massively out of kilter with the rest of the deals out there. Yesterday, for example, I walked past a Vodafone shop and saw a SIM only offer: 600 minutes and unlimited texts for 20 quid a month. So, let’s generalise and say that in bundle deals are around 3-4p per minute or text.
Things get interesting when we consider the out-of-bundle rates, or what you’ll pay on PAYG. These rates are at least four or five times the in-bundle rates. Ouch. So, either, the operators are gouging me if I go over my inclusive allowance, not to mention all their PAYG customers, or the in-bundle rates are very cheap.
I have no inside knowledge of how much it costs an operator to provide the service, but if I had to guess, I’d say that the answer to the above is somewhere in between. If I used all my minutes every month, then I suspect I wouldn’t look like a very good customer. I strongly doubt that the operator would be losing money servicing me, but they won’t be making the huge margins that their shareholders have come to expect.
I’m interested to see how the headline price for a contract will change over the next couple of years – my guess is that we will move from the 30-35 pound level that seems to be the norm currently to a 20-25 pound level. What I’m not so sure about is whether we’ll see handsets, or inclusive minutes, or both, compromised to achieve that.
But for now, while I despair at the packaging and marketing , I think that (contract) mobile price plans generally represent decent value. What do you think?
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