T-Mobile in Germany Remove Camera from MDA III: Much Rejoicing

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pocketpccity.com/articles/2004/10/2004-10-13-T-Mobile-Adapts.html' target='_blank'>http://www.pocketpccity.com/article...ile-Adapts.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"T-Mobile in Germany is adapting its version of the mobile handset (MDA III) for the enterprise by removing features. Following the lead of Verizon and Sprint in the United States—both of which offer a camera-less palmOne Treo 600—the carrier giant is releasing a version of the MDA III without a digital camera. The goal is to make the smartphone more attractive to enterprises, as many companies often don't allow their employees to carry devices with cameras to protect their own and clients sensitive data."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/MDAIII.jpg" /> <br /><br />Sometime, less is more. I believe that this is one of those cases. Less cameras in PDAs and phones, means that you can take them with you more. T-Mobile are to be applauded taking the camera out of the MDA III. It would be nice to think that they were adding extra battery capacity etc to make use of the extra space, but that's unlikely. That's why it would be good if more phone and PDA manufactures left the cameras off most models. They could be lighter / have more battery capacity / smaller / have more features because they don't have onboard snappers. Just a thought. Now, how do I get hold of a German MDA III? ;-)

[Sven Johannsen]

Yeaa!!! maybe the tide is turning.

[felixdd]

Cameras have their place...but I really don't understand why manufacturers insist on including them in enterprise models, which is really not its place

[gorkon280]

Options are good. I agree there should be one with, but let's not eliminate them all together. Sometimes, a cam phone IS desirable in business and even in the enterprise. Examples are (once the high Megapixels one hit):

-Realtors....this could save them time. They could just develop a moblog like sight and the realtor can get a house posted on the MLS, including a picture, very quickly.

-Wire Guys: Our infrastructure guy (the guy that takes care of the wiring closets) really wants one on his Nextel, but can't deal with the low res ones. Once the high res ones hit, he's having us order him one so he doesn't have to carry a camera to take pics of the closets.

-Server Support: Would it not be easier to snap a pic of the LED code (for AIX guys) or even a short movie of the LED flash sequence and then upload it to the suport folks?

There are more ideas for integrated cameras. I think what i sreally needed is a integrated camera etiquette course more then anything and if your working on something top secret, well, then I understand why you are concerned about the camera. For most folks, I'd be more concerned about the integrated storage then the camera. The storage could be used to REALLY steal company data.

[Jonathon Watkins]

Cameras have their place...but I really don't understand why manufacturers insist on including them in enterprise models, which is really not its place

Agreed. Maybe as Sven says, the tide is turning. We'll see how the next generation of PPCs and phones looks. The trend is already worrying however, with 4 out of the 7 VGA devices available (http://www.firstloox.org/VGAppc.htm) sporting a camera. :?

Lets hope the manufactures listen and leave the cameras out.

[pcraigmile]

Does anyone know if there are plans to bring the XDA III to the US with T-Mobile? (with or without the camera)

Actually, given how good these cameras tend to be on PDAs, I would be happy for them to leave out the camera!

[whydidnt]

AAhh,

The tired camera debate, again.

Some want them and some don't. Though it seems those that don't seem to advocate NO devices with camera rather than a choice. If 4 out of 7 VGA devices have camera's then 3 don't. It seems to me that manufacturers are already doing a great job giving us the option to chose a camera or not (almost 50%).

If you read the news, you'll see that Nokia claims their recently financial struggles are because they were slow to offer camera phones. The market will dictate if cameras are included in phones and PDA's or not.

[xendula]

Strange, no mentioning of it on the German T-mobile site (http://www.t-mobile.de/shop/allehandys/1,7150,10189-_0-0--all,00.html), where that phone's specs (http://www.t-mobile.de/shop/handy/1,4855,2963-_2903-0-1-2,00.html)still mention a camera.
Would you really pay so much money for that device though? It's starting at 450 EURO (take it times 1.27 to get the dollar price!) with a two-year contract or you can buy it for 780 EURO without a contract 8O
Nice to see more and more quad-band devices coming up, though.

OOOPS - there WILL be a cameraless phone. I didn't scroll that far down. No mentioning of the price yet.

[cshields1]

I have an iMate XDA II with, ufortunately, a camera that I've used 5 times in a year. Take the camera out, knock $75 - $100 of the price of the phone. Not I'm interested ... Better yet, let consumers order a phone from a menu .. you want a camera, ping $100, with no camera, -$100 off your order.

[whydidnt]

I have an iMate XDA II with, ufortunately, a camera that I've used 5 times in a year. Take the camera out, knock $75 - $100 of the price of the phone. Not I'm interested ... Better yet, let consumers order a phone from a menu .. you want a camera, ping $100, with no camera, -$100 off your order.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective I guess), it doesn't cost anywhere near $100 to add a camera to these devices. The hardware cost is probably under $10.00, since the machine it's being added to already has a viewfinder (screen) and cpu to do all the work. All the manufacturer has to do is add this cheap camera, and ta-da, instant camera phone. That's why we see so many. The manufacturers mostly look at this as a very cheap way to add a feature ot their device.

I quite happy that TMobile (Europe, anyway) is realeasing one of these for those of you that can't use camera equipped device everywhere. Bear in mind that the current XDAIII/PDA2K has the same bluetooth stack as the iPaq 6315, which basically renders it useless for typical phone usage. I know since I have both of them setting here unused on my desk, hoping for a ROM upgrade to fix this issue.

[ctmagnus]

Now, how do I get hold of a German MDA III? ;-)

First of all, learn how to spracken zee doitch ;)

And I've said it before, Me Wantee!

[Arne Hess]

Now, how do I get hold of a German MDA III? ;-)

First of all, learn how to spracken zee doitch ;)

The way you've spelled it, it sounds like Dutch... ;-)
But anyway, you can buy it from some resellers who flash it with an English ROM. The drawback is the keyboard which is different since we have a QWERTZ keyboard instead of the QWERTY keyboard plus some ÄÖÜ and ß ;-)

BTW: you can find a photo of the camera-less version of the HTC Blue Angel at PPCW.Net now.

[Mark R Penn]

I recon, as someone else said, that there needs to be choice.

I run an enterprise. Admitedly it's a very small enterprise, but it is one none the less. I'd really really like to have a) a decent quality camera in a decent business (i.e. long battery life, robust, not tiny like a piece of jewellary) phone, so that our service engineers could send in pictures of issues they find there and then, possibly avoiding a costly return visit, and b) a descent camera built into a PPC, so that our sales guys could use it for surveys and make notes on the pictures there and then, again making sure they had all the info needed first time.

We very rarely find clients that have any issue with camera's, because most of our work is either on building sites or on the roofs of buildings! Likewise as a business owner, I know that if someone wants to steal info from us, they're far more likely to use the photocopier than a camera! If they want it, they'll get it.

That doesn't mean I don't understand why different kinds of businesses are edgy, but please don't assume that all businesses are against the idea of cameras in phones/PDA's - some of us would welcome such usefull tools.

I think it's quite funny that this discussion centers arround an integrated phone/PDA BTW - to me THAT integration makes far less sense than camera/PDA or camera/phone does!