Is 3G a necessity for mobile phones these days?
By Will Park on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 1:47 PM PST In Devices, Samsung, Windows Mobile
The fact that we’re seeing brand-new handsets being cooked up in R&D labs around the world without 3G radios in tow is a surprisingly sad revelation indeed. With the almighty Motorola (NYSE: MOT) MOTOZINE ZN5 failing to give complement its 5 megapixel Kodak camera with an HSDPA data connection, we figured the 3G oversight was limited to Moto’s somewhat myopic vision.
Alas, it seems Samsung has given in to making new mobile phones without any 3G guts to back up its smartphone roots. Powered by Windows Mobile Professional 6.1, the Samsung i740 brings integrated GPS, FM radio, Bluetooth, microSD card slot, and 3 megapixel camera to the table. And, seeing as how WinMo’s Professional-flavored mobile OS is running the show, the 2.8-inch touchscreen makes sense. But, with nary an EDGE connection to speak of, the Samsung i740 will be hobbling along at GPRS speeds. Sad, isn’t it?
The decision to keep the pricier 3G chipsets out of handsets is likely motivated by both financial and demographic factors. Of course, saving a few bucks on every handset allows for larger margins. But, are handset manufacturers catering to demographics without a need for high-speed data by doing away with 3G data? And, if they are, how large a market is there for devices with pokey-slow wireless data connections?
I have a Black Nokia N82 (which I want to sell, if any1’s interested)
And it doesn’t have NAM 3G frequencies. I don’t seem to mind.
The only thing I’d want would be video calling, other than that edge is pretty darn fast
I have an N73 with EDGE and haven’t used a 3G phone yet. I mostly use gmail, gmaps and opera occasionally and it’s ok for the most part. But I think I adjust my data usage based on the fact that the connection is slow. I’m disappointed that the ZN5 will only have EDGE because I really want a high end camera phone (the N73 is just sooooo slow) and it is one that is likely to get picked up by AT&T. Maybe I hold out for Samsung i900, but doubtful.
id say it was a necessity as of 2 years ago! Just because the iphone now has 3g why is it suddenly a necessity! Basically 3G hasnt been implemented in the US pretty much until now – hence in the US its probably becoming a necessary. In Europe and of course Asia it was a necessity a while back!
Actually, considering the recent research study that finds mobile internet use the highest in the US, I would argue that the US wireless market is more demanding of high-speed data (for web access).
But, Europe does enjoy a more prevalent 3G market. The next question is, what about 3.5G? My UMTS experience in Europe has been on par with my EDGE data connection in the US – which is considered a 2.5G technology on the conservative end.
Well thats 1 study that misses out a lot of data intensive markets so seems pretty flawed to me. However, I’d attribute the data use to the far higher iphone penetration in the market.
3G – well I have been using 3.5G gor a year now, vanilla 3G is too slow (whenever I have had to connect using standard 3G). To be honest Im lookking forward to HSPA, that really will improve the browsing experience, putting it on a more equal setting with desktop browsing/streaming etc.
Agreed, studies are inherently flawed in their sample populations (unless the study is incredibly far-reaching).
HSPA is great and all, but I can’t wait for AT&T to flip the switch on the 20Mbps HSPA+ network in 1-1.5years. Talk about desktop browsing! Wireline eat your heart out.
3 letters…. LTE