New Nokia Phone

John writes: "infoSync has posted the official information about the two new Nokia phones which is going to be unveiled today. Quote: 'The Nokia 7650 will be the world's first 2.5G Symbian OS mobile phone with advanced messaging and imaging capabilities ...' It looks like ICQ on the mobile phone is closer than ever!" Includes a built-in camera and various comments about this not coming to North America anytime soon.

Comments

ICQ -- not new

[TheTomcat]

This is not meant as a troll, but:
I've been able to ICQ to/from my GSM handset (as SMS) for ~1 year now.

More info here.

Apparently, one of our local CDMA carriers (Tellus) is offering AIM on their phones, as well..

Re:Very slick

[easter1916]

Simple answer - number of subscribers to the different standards. "Regular" GSM is used throughout Europe, the Middle East, the Orient, etc. North American GSM has a tiny installed base. Standardize with the rest of us and you can use these goodies too.

Sigh...

[Asahi Super Dry]

I know there are restrictions on cell phone design here in the US (eg sparser grid-->more powerful transmitter needed-->bulky phones), but I still get jealous when I see the new European and Japanese phones that are coming out. And for god's sake why doesn't anyone use text messaging here? Once you get some practice typing on the keypad it's not as big a hassle as you might think, and quite convenient.

Re:Sigh...

[reo_kingu]

Here in Japan you can get a super-light tiny little phone with a 200 hour battery life and a digital camera built in for free with your subscription. And I get an extra 50% off of that because I'm a student.
I love it here.
Did I mention that even the middle school students in Japan have cell phones?

Arghhhhh!

[uslinux.net]

Does everything in the world need to be "internet accessible" or "web-enabled"?!?!?

How long before phones start getting hacked or spread MS LookOut worms? How long before phone spamming becomes the norm?

*Sigh* I want the web for convenience. I want to web to make my life easier. I don't need the "cool" factor of every internet-capable device. I don't need my refrigerator ordering food for me, and I certainly don't need IRC on my phone. Frankly, I find it easier to CALL someone rather than attempt to type on a frickin' phone (or follow an IRC session with 50 people on one of those little phone LCDs). But I digress...

Am I the *only* person who feels this way?

Re:Arghhhhh!

[GauteL]

Not at all... but why are you complaining like this? This isn't even insightful, it is just a typical ranting.

You can actually buy a completely different phone if you want to, you know that right?

People have different usage-patterns, and thus there are lots and lots of different phones on the market. If you feel you belong to a group that are not covered, I suggest you write a letter to the phone-makers and argue why you think it would be benificial to both you and them to create "your dream phone".

ya but.

[jon_c]

What's the point? Trying to type an email on my nokia is impossible, unless these people come up with a better way to input text it really doesn't make since on a cellphone.

Currently the system is to type each letter by pressing cycling through the number keys, i.e. press '1' for 'A', 'B', 'C' etc.. Nokia does feature a auto-complete feature which might be handy, but I haven't had the motivation to make any use out of it.

-Jon

Re:ya but.

[jandrese]

Hmm, you both complained about the tediousness of entering text on your phone and your lack of motivation to use the autocomplete in the same sentence. Isn't the autocomplete supposed to make the text entry on the phone less tedious? What am I missing here?

You can write your own programmes

[streetmentioner]

I think the most important thing is that you can write your own programmes (in C++ or Java) for it. You can download the SDK from www.nokia.com.

(Bias: I work for Symbian)

Re:one more step towards total integration

[Jus'n]

Just 7 years ago very few people had a moblie phone, they were huge bricks with a battery life of 20 minutes.

Err.. I think you mean 17 years ago. I actually still have my Dad's first cell-phone. A car-mounted behemoth about the size of a metal Aladdin lunchbox (the kind with the thermos inside). You could open up the trunk and disconnect it from the car and haul it around with you if you wanted, but the built-in antenna wasn't so good. Back when Cellular One was the only carrier around, and there was no such thing as "free minutes".

Now we all have our digicam-watches, TiVos, DVD/TV/sound system players/recorders, Internet fridges (order food online as you use it), and miblie

[sic] phones that can do pretty much enything you want except act as a sextoy [watch this space!].Err... I don't know anyone with a TiVo, DVD/TV/sound system player/recorder, or internet fridge. Where do you live, Dot-Com-Boom-Fantasyland?

As this trend increases, the total personal device (phone/pc/watch/camera/whatever) will evolve. It will do everything, go everywhere with you. It will interact with all the other devices in your life, making things easier and more personal. The electronic walls will change shade as you go into a public buliding, billboards will only advertise things you want. It'll be a better world

So, to you, a world where your every taste, preference, and spending habit, not to mention exact location, is recorded, tracked, and sold to every street-corner spammer is a "better world"? Okay, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume you're not a wanted felon, you're not into any "subversive" pastimes, and you'll never do anything the PTB will consider dangerous to the public morality. You're a good little subject, but such invasion of privacy can still be extremely inconvenient or dangerous. Imagine walking to a lunch interview with your prospective new employer when the side of the restaurant lights up with an ad for your favorite head shop. Imagine what your mom would think when you're [insert non-offensive holiday here] shopping with her and an ad pops up with your name on it, touting your favorite foot-fetish porn rag. You're out with your buds getting sauced, and your secret Pokemon or Britney Spears addiction is blasted across the billboards. You're angling for a raise, but your boss reconsiders when he sees not a budget motel ad on your office wall, but directed advertising telling you that Pergo now makes laminate flooring for your 100m yacht (hers is only 75m). Do you think the advertisers would let you "turn off" such a service?

No, I'd rather not live in such a world, thank you.

ICQ on a mobile phone?????

[RatFink100]

It looks like ICQ on the mobile phone is closer than ever!

Why would anyone want this? Why would I ICQ when I can talk to someone?

Re:Why all the stupid features ?

[10Ghz]

"And sms ? I don't get it, why don't you call the person?"

Because sometimes SMS is better. Sometimes you can't call someone. Sending a SMS is discreet and quiet.

Sometimes you have to send someone a small piece of information (address, shopping-list etc.). It's easy to send SMS, than to call. And the person receiving the info doesn't need pen&paper because the info is stored on the phone.

Why do people use pagers? SMS does everything a pager does and more.