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Cingular Renews Vows to Microsoft

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Lack of Interest or Too Expensive?

crood

Jan 12, 2005, 8:42 AM
I am very inteersted in a smartphone, but they cost more than I am willing to spend. You can get a decent PDA and a new phone for a lot less than the wireless providers charge for a smartphone. This is especially annoying since they are upgrading their networks every few years, so the phone portion becomes obsolete.
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jwbass1985

Jan 12, 2005, 9:01 AM
I agree with you on that when it comes to the mpx series, but the siemens sx66 for Cingular is, i think, a great value. When you think about it, if you go to BestBuy or Circuit City and try and buy a pocket pc with the same features, you're going to spend anywhere from 500-600 dollars, and when you add the phone feature in and sell it on a 2 yr. contract for 550 dollars, I think it's a good deal.
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phillyslickster

Jan 12, 2005, 6:19 PM
True. I had the MPX 220 and yes it was expensive. I also noticed that the Outlook sync didn't work properly among other problems. Cingular couldn't provide support. They told me to call Motorola. Motorola told me to call Cingular. Finally, Motorola told me to send it to them and I should receive it back in about 6 weeks--maybe earlier. I sue the phone for work and it wasn't like they were going to offer me a loaner phone in the meantime. I have had much success with the Treo and pocket PC phones even though they are larger than the MPX 220. Yet, I want a device that is going to be able to perform when I need it to perform and not sporadically.
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phonescoopjunkie

Jan 12, 2005, 10:05 AM
crood said:
You can get a decent PDA and a new phone for a lot less than the wireless providers charge for a smartphone.


I just don't understand why providers still sell the phones. Why not have Nokia or Moto stores where you purchase the phones and then call the service providers to get hooked up, just like landlines? Then, the rate plans would be cheaper for the consumer because the providers wouldn't have to buy them and give them out for free.
Why is there not a carrier bold enough to do this? Or in a move of unity, why don't they all do it together?
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justdarick

Jan 12, 2005, 10:31 AM
Personally, I think that is a horrible idea...

Reason being, for the unsavvy user, they would go in, buy a phone, and not know anything about it, and expect it to work with every provider. I understand there are ways around this, but I don't feel that a "sales person" would always lead them in the right way. Either from ignorance or greed. Atleast when they are in the Cingular Store and you have to get a Cingular contract, you know that it will work flawlessly on their network.

Now on the other hand, if we were in a Utopia and all networks were exactly the same, and people didn't have to worry if there handset was going to work on another provider, or if this that or the other feature would work correctly I could see this. It would be ...
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crichton007

Jan 12, 2005, 11:45 AM
There's always users who won't understand technology but to have a Nokia store they could easily indicate which providers a certain model will work with.

I actually think this is a good idea but it does raise certain questions about functionality. Right now Verizon is about the only provider that has the phone 100% locked down so you have to get everything (wallpapers, games, ring tones, etc.) only from them. Now that Nokia is going to compete against Qualcomm 's BREW I'm sure more providers will go this way.

What about people living in more rural areas where it wouldn't be viable for Motorola or Nokia to open their own store?

It does raise questions though...
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phonescoopjunkie

Jan 12, 2005, 12:48 PM
But in rural areas there are few if any Cingular or Verizon stores, anyway. The people would have to drive to a Nokia store and buy the phone they want. The store rep would tell them which phone works on which networks. It's not that hard. Then if they somehow aren't able to activate it, they carry it back to the store. That way there is no waiting for an exchange to come in the mail. I think it would save everyone a ton of grief. Think, no contracts to get a new phone. You just go in and buy it.
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zjc2a

Jan 12, 2005, 1:41 PM
phonescoopjunkie said:
But in rural areas there are few if any Cingular or Verizon stores, anyway. The people would have to drive to a Nokia store and buy the phone they want. The store rep would tell them which phone works on which networks. It's not that hard. Then if they somehow aren't able to activate it, they carry it back to the store. That way there is no waiting for an exchange to come in the mail. I think it would save everyone a ton of grief. Think, no contracts to get a new phone. You just go in and buy it.


I think it is a good idea, In Europe they do have these stores but everything is GSM so you just put in a sim car download the settings if you need to from the nokia website and done. Simpl...
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phillyslickster

Jan 12, 2005, 5:54 PM
When you purchase from the Sony Ericsson website, you just insert your SIM card and download settings from your carrier as well, which is always nice. Once I moved over to ATT Wireless from T-Mobile over a year ago, I noticed that Sony Ericsson didn't have the 850 MHz band on it--on the flip model phones and P900. Just receintly, Cingular has released a Flip model phone with Cingular, but there's no bluetooth. 😢 I'd love to see this kind of store come here to the US.
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phillyslickster

Jan 12, 2005, 6:30 PM
Honestly, I believe that many of the sale reps in the stores are ignorant when it comes to the products that the store offers. I was in the Cingular store over the holidays to add a line on my account and the sales rep was baffled when a potential customer was asking him questions about different phones. I helped the customer by asking him what he was looking for in a phone and what he needed to accomplish with it. I answered the questions he had. The customer ended up purchasing a more expensive phone and accessories. The salesperson was telling this man the lower end phone would things that it wouldn't.
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jramossteel

Jan 12, 2005, 8:35 PM
phillyslickster said:
Honestly, I believe that many of the sale reps in the stores are ignorant when it comes to the products that the store offers. I was in the Cingular store over the holidays to add a line on my account and the sales rep was baffled when a potential customer was asking him questions about different phones. I helped the customer by asking him what he was looking for in a phone and what he needed to accomplish with it. I answered the questions he had. The customer ended up purchasing a more expensive phone and accessories. The salesperson was telling this man the lower end phone would things that it wouldn't.

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I agree, as sad as that is... ...
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muchdrama

Jan 12, 2005, 8:37 PM
jramossteel said:
phillyslickster said:
Honestly, I believe that many of the sale reps in the stores are ignorant when it comes to the products that the store offers. I was in the Cingular store over the holidays to add a line on my account and the sales rep was baffled when a potential customer was asking him questions about different phones. I helped the customer by asking him what he was looking for in a phone and what he needed to accomplish with it. I answered the questions he had. The customer ended up purchasing a more expensive phone and accessories. The salesperson was telling this man the lower end phone would things that it wouldn't.

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jramossteel

Jan 12, 2005, 8:40 PM
muchdrama said:
jramossteel said:
phillyslickster said:
Honestly, I believe that many of the sale reps in the stores are ignorant when it comes to the products that the store offers. I was in the Cingular store over the holidays to add a line on my account and the sales rep was baffled when a potential customer was asking him questions about different phones. I helped the customer by asking him what he was looking for in a phone and what he needed to accomplish with it. I answered the questions he had. The customer ended up purchasing a more expensive phone and accessories. The salesperson was telling this man the lower end phone would things that it wouldn't.

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crichton007

Jan 12, 2005, 11:51 AM
I agree with this sentiment. Even for the $500 or so for thie Cingular Siemens that's too expensive. I've had a PDA since early 1999 and I've just gotten my 3rd one (I'd still be on number 2 if it hadn't been stolen). If I decide to spend the cash on a PDA it would be nice to have a converged device but I'm then locked into a specific service provider. If I change providers or want/need a new feature I'm forced to upgrade. This isn't just about what I need in a PDA anymore but it's now also about what I want/need in my wireless service too.

The rub here is that because this is a converged device there is more R&D that goes into producing these hence the higher cost.

The functionality may be greater than the two items separatel...
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