08-07-2003, 07:53 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Somewhere Along the Way, Mobile Phones Became Real Computers...
And when that happened, they started acting like computers: they crashed. 8O Walk with me down this path...Until the year 2000 (give or take a year), mobile phones were just that: phones. Sure, they might have had a game or two, and a few tried to include calendar functionality, but the vast majority of people used them as phones, nothing more. I've had various cell phones for over a decade now, and I don't remember any of my early cell phones crashing or locking up. They just worked, but they only did one thing: phone calls.Sometime around the Sony-Ericsson T68 generation, phones became more than just voice terminals: Bluetooth, GPRS, ringtones, screen graphics, semi-real PIM functionality. The T68i was the first phone I owned that crashed on me - sometimes Bluetooth just wouldn't work. When I beamed a contact from my Pocket PC to the phone, it would lock up the phone, forcing me to remove the battery. It's just like a real computer! :lol:When I was down at the Handango Partner Summit in late July, they had a demo table with all of the latest mobile devices from the Windows, Symbian, and Palm platforms. All the new Nokia phones, new Sony Ericsson phones, etc. Microsoft had an Tanager Smartphone and a Pocket PC Phone Edition on display as well. I was trying to figure out the keyboard on a Nokia phone, when the person near me was playing a game on the new Nokia N*GAGE. Then a funny thing happened - the phone crashed, and it actually blue screened. I kid you not! 8O The phone crashed and rebooted, and the person using it walked away in disgust.What's the moral of this story? As phones become increasingly advanced, they're prone to the same issues that affect our desktop computers and PDAs. Nokia and the others in the Symbian camp might have a lot of marketing muscle, but they're also new at the operating system game. Microsoft, on the other hand, has a lot to learn about the consumer mobile device market - but they excel in building operating systems. It's an interesting battle being fought in the market, and ultimately I believe it will breed strong competition and a desire from all parties to improve rapidly.
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08-07-2003, 08:20 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 137
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Funny you should mention the T68... I have a T68i, and it is the phone phone I have ever owned that I have to reboot every couple days to get it to behave after a lockup or just strange behavior. Very frustrating.
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08-07-2003, 10:12 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 165
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Re: Somewhere Along the Way, Mobile Phones Became Real Compu
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Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
Nokia and the others in the Symbian camp might have a lot of marketing muscle, but they're also new at the operating system game. Microsoft, on the other hand, has a lot to learn about the consumer mobile device market - but they excel in building operating systems.
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I disagree with that paragraph because I think you're failing to take it a step deeper and not considering some important factors.
I think that Microsoft is excellent at marketing, it's just that for some reason which I cannot understand, they choose not to market their smartphone very well. It's not a case of can't..... it's won't. I mean, where are all the TV adverts and full page advertisments that were out for WindowsXP? Microsoft could do it if they wanted. Maybe they just know that the Smartphone isn't ready for normal people yet?
As for Symbian's OS expertise, are you saying that because you saw a device crash (a device that hasn't reached the market yet because it's still being worked on), it's proof that the whole platform is unstable and proof of a lack of expertise and stability? Would you like to make a similar judgement based on how often a Microsoft phone crashes?
And my SPV crashes far more regularly than any Symbian device I've ever owned, so while WindowsXP might be an excellent OS, Smartphone 2002 isn't yet.
Anyway, just my opinion. I'll no doubt learn very soon how wrong I am ;-)
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08-07-2003, 11:36 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 315
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I have no experience with either Symbian or Microsoft's Smartphone platform, but I do know that all three of the Motorola phones I've owned have infrequently crashed and reset themselves and on occasion lost some of their settings. I would admit that it isn't often, maybe every six months or so, but the phones aren't capable of much beyond voice.
Hopefully I'll find out if I can tolerate a Smartphone in the next couple of months.
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08-08-2003, 02:33 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4
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I've noticed my T68i reboot during a GPRS connection, suddenly I loose my connection on my iPaq and I'll see the phone just booting up and displaying the "Welcome to T-Mobile" message. I'd say my phone crashes more often than all my PCs (home and office) and iPaq combined now.
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08-08-2003, 02:59 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 355
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I have not yet had my SPV crash on me, although I expect it is just a matter of time - it has locked up once, requiring me to power it off and then power on again. As far as that goes, it is certainly no worse than my PPC, which needs a soft reset every week or so, and sometimes spontaneously does it itself! :roll:
My first impression of my SPV, though, was the boot time - it seems to take forever to boot up! I was in the habit of powering off my cell while in the office, since I was next to my deskphone, and only powering it up when leaving the office for lunch, etc, but so far, I've been leaving my SPV on constantly - I have been pretty much charging it every night anyways, and that saves me the extended boot time when I leave the office. Yeah, my little Nokia took time to power up too, but the SPV just seems to take forever - is it maybe based on the Win98SE kernel? 
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08-08-2003, 03:23 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 10,981
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Re: Somewhere Along the Way, Mobile Phones Became Real Compu
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Originally Posted by TANKERx
I think that Microsoft is excellent at marketing, it's just that for some reason which I cannot understand, they choose not to market their smartphone very well. It's not a case of can't..... it's won't. I mean, where are all the TV adverts and full page advertisments that were out for WindowsXP? Microsoft could do it if they wanted. Maybe they just know that the Smartphone isn't ready for normal people yet?
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I'll have to disagree with you on this one. The current SmartPhone platform is aimed more at the corporate market than the consumer market. How many ads do you see for BizTalk Server? Backoffice Server? eCommerce Server? These are all successful Microsoft products, but they are not marketed to you and me. They're aimed at the corporate market.
Until the Microsoft Smartphone is a little more "refined" and gains some market share, these devices will be marketed to large corporations and the enthusiast. So TV and full page ads are not what is needed.
Back on topic...
My Sony Ericcson T200 had a huge hissy fit earlier this week. And that's a basic phone, nothing special. I think the increase in mobile phone crashes is caused by the decrease in time to market. Budgets are tight, and companies are rushing to get products out the door. This is often reflected in the quality control and testing.
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"I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious" - Albert Einstein |
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08-08-2003, 04:41 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 49
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Re: Somewhere Along the Way, Mobile Phones Became Real Compu
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Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
What's the moral of this story? As phones become increasingly advanced, they're prone to the same issues that affect our desktop computers and PDAs. Nokia and the others in the Symbian camp might have a lot of marketing muscle, but they're also new at the operating system game. Microsoft, on the other hand, has a lot to learn about the consumer mobile device market - but they excel in building operating systems.
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I can't help but laugh when I read this. :lol: Jason, I love your site Pocket PC Thoughts and I usually agree with your opinions, but I think you're wrong about this one.
First, Symbian is way ahead of Microsoft when it comes to Phone operating systems. And I'm sure you'll even admit that Microsoft's current build of the SmartPhone OS is less than stable (personally, I think it's junk. I usually love MS stuff but the Smartphone OS? bah, give me an Ericsson or Nokia phone anyday)
Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens, Samsung and Motorola has been in the Cellular Phone market for years now and they have a better understanding on how to make a "good" phone and know which OS is the best to use. Microsoft on the other hand is the newbie here and still has a lot to learn in terms of Phone OS', the SmartPhone 2K2 is a step in the right direction for them, but at it's current form, it's junk. Unless MS can improve the OS and Major Phone manufacturers like Nokia, Samsung and Ericsson adopts the Smartphone OS, I don't see Microsoft winning this market anytime soon. Samsung, the 2nd bestselling phone brand cancelled their plans to make a phone based on MS' Smartphone OS, this fact give Sendo's choice of the Symbian OS over the Smartphone OS more sense.
Oh, BTW, the T68 wasn't the first phone to be more than just voice terminals,I think that honor goes to the Ericsson R520 since it has everthing the T68 has except for the colored screen. Jason, I'll forgive you for this mistake since America and Canada is so slow and outdated when it comes to GSM technology. :lol:
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08-08-2003, 04:52 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 49
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Re: Somewhere Along the Way, Mobile Phones Became Real Compu
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Originally Posted by BlueRocket
I'll have to disagree with you on this one. The current SmartPhone platform is aimed more at the corporate market than the consumer market. How many ads do you see for BizTalk Server? Backoffice Server? eCommerce Server? These are all successful Microsoft products, but they are not marketed to you and me. They're aimed at the corporate market.
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Corporate market? C'mon, the only reason why MS entered the Cellphone OS market is that they see how big the market can be, and the big chunk of the cellphone market is made up of ordinary joes like you and me. Saying that the Smartphone is targeted for the corporate as an excuse for its low volume sales is just that, a poor excuse.
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08-08-2003, 10:21 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 176
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My SPV has crashed once in 3 months, I'm perfectly OK with that as it's still a pretty new platform.
On the other hand, my old Sony T39 required a reboot every 3-4 days after it locked up. Very frustrating.
On another point...
The problem with the mobile phone market is that it's still led by the handset manufacturers who are just driven to shift new handsets. They then develop new 'features' whether customers want them or not.
The carriers are forced to take (and therefore promote) the new features on these handsets. Problem is, the development cycle of the features is so short, they are often launched when they are poorly supported and poorly implemented. Thus, they are frustrating and difficult to use. People try it once, and then give up. (not to mention that they are really expensive).
For example, even now, GPRS coverage in London is spotty and quite unreliable.
These new features (GPRS, Multimedia messaging, cameras etc.) will only appeal to a small proportion of the moble phone user anyway so they are going after an ever dwindling customer base who 'want' or 'need' to upgrade.
So, the Smartphone platform is niche, very niche. It compliments my iPAQ in a nice way, I can get my email, browse the web, I can see my appointments & reminders when I don't want to carry my iPAQ. Would I want to use it as my sole PDA? No way.
Given what proportion of business users actually use a PDA (I'm guessing at < 5-10%), how many use a phone (I'm guessing > 95%), go figure the market opportunity - ZIP!
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