Phone Scoop on CTIA Fall 2004

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/ctia_2004_fall/' target='_blank'>http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/ctia_2004_fall/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Every spring, the CTIA trade organization holds a well-known trade show for the U.S. mobile phone industry. Every fall, they also hold a smaller show, called CTIA Wireless I.T. &amp; Entertainment. The name of the show describes the official focus, but because of the timing, many companies use the show as an opportunity to launch regular consumer and phone products as well. This year's show was in San Francisco."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20041101-PhoneScoopCTIA2004.jpg" /><br /><br />Of particular interest to us is the <a href="http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/ctia_2004_fall/index.php?p=auwm">Windows Mobile part</a>. We've been tracking the HTC Harrier and Blue Angel units for some time, but there's some cool information to drool over nevertheless.

[felixdd]

Some people might be disappointed by the lack of a megapixel camera. PalmOne executives defended the decision by pointing out that most current megapixel modules either produce poor-quality images in low light, or are too large to fit inside the compact Treo.

Is it just me, or does PalmOne always seem to have to "defend the decision"? If they produced what people really wanted, and not their conception of what people wanted, then no such defense will be needed.

Built one with camera, and one without. And for the camera model, either do it right, or don't do it at all. Don't do a half-ass job and then leave it to the PR guys to defend. The same goes for including OS6 in something, or supporting WiFi, or if you look further back in history: virtual graffii, slider for T|3, and so forth. PalmOne seems so slow a company to react to market desires it's a wonder why their still here. And especially with the WiFi issue, PalmOne by any other name (&lt;cough> Microsoft&lt;/cough>) would have been slapped with an anti-trust suit for not supporting any WiFi card except their proprietary one.

I don't hate the Palm camp (gasp!) nor do I want them to go under. I want competition in the market and I want Palm to do their best and stop stagnating, because otherwise MS is going to take them down with a quick surprise attack. Many times have I wanted to go to Palm (just to sate my gadgetry appetite) but have been held back -- mostly by the square screen, lack of WiFi, or poor battery life (T|3).

(Odd place for a Palm critique I know, but the smartphones shown don't really appeal to me -- maybe if someone wrote a review that will change.... :mrgreen: )

[MultiMatt]

I know that the "HTC Harrier and Blue Angel" device has been officially announced for Sprint, but does anyone have info on when Verizon is going to make the announcement for the device?!

I am droooooling in anticipation! :drool:

UPDATE:
I just found the following snippet while perusing for more info:
Verizon Wireless has been working to add EV-DO to its cellular-wireless network. This will bring its data-transfer speed up to a theoretical maximum of 2.4 MBps.

Naturally, this means Verizon will have to release some devices that support ED-DO. One of these is going to be the XDA III, designed by High Tech Computer (HTC) of Taiwan.

Unfortunately, Verizon Wireless Info is reporting that Verizon Wireless has run into problems deploying EV-DO, which is going to delay the roll-out until the middle of 2005. Even then, it is only going to be available in select cities (San Francisco, Tampa, and New York City).

It's possible the MDA III may be released by Verizon Wireless before then without EV-DO enabled.

:cry:
Matt