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Just In Case 3G Isn't Speedy Enough
Roland Piquepaille writes "Will we soon be able to download music or videos on our cell phones? Yes, with the arrival of the next 3.5G technology, as reports Jennifer L. Schenker in this International Herald Tribune article. "NTT DoCoMo Inc., the Japanese company that introduced the first third-generation digital mobile phone service in the world, is preparing to pioneer wireless services that are at least 40 times as fast." DoCoMo will use "a technology called HSDPA, for high-speed downlink packet access, also known as 3.5G, [which] is expected to deliver data at as much as 14.4 megabits a second." This new technology will not arrive in Europe before 2006 at least. Check this column for a summary."
"All European operators are eventually expected to move to 3G networks to ensure that there is enough capacity to handle voice and increased data traffic."
I don't think it will be introduced in Europe in the near future. Even WAP is a total disaster here. When will these people learn that we don't need 14.4 Mbits on our cellphone? We just want to make a call and send SMS. Japanese people may like the newest gadgets but in Europe, people do not get excited by this technology..
History matters..
It would be nice to have an mp3 player that you could travel with and continuosly download music to without having to dock it to a stationary PC.
other than that and multiplayer gaming, what cell phone applications possibly need this bandwidth?
They are having a hard time coming up with useful applications for current cell phones with gprs as it is.
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but we'd prefer broadband in our home for less than a kidney/month and have it *now* instead of 14Mb in our cellphones in 3 years.
How come greece sucks so much that we're the only goddamn country in europe that still hasn't got dialup.
i pay fucking E100/month for sucky dialup.
you really think this 3g shit is going to make us happy?
get lost.
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Three a mobile company here in the UK has been selling handsets and access for a while that provides music/maps/video downloads and calls.
And nobody is buying them. The salespeople standing outside the Three shops in London look more desperate everytime I walk past. The introductory special offers have been extended in an attempt to boost flagging sales.
Mobile phones and SMS meet a basic need for communication, 3G and video phones don't really add anything to this. Look at the desperate advertising campaigns from Three etc trying to convince us that it's cool to be able to see someone while talking. Nobody is advertising 3G as 'useful' or talking about features - it's all image.
I disagree with you. I think the technology is poorly conceived. Don't get me wrong, it is brilliantly done and very, very clever but it still does not "work". There is no way that I would make a call to my missus in a public place, shouting at a handset held two feet from my face. There is no way I would take out my expensive phone and make a video call in the pouring rain. There is no way I would make a video call whilst walking because I would end up bumping into people, standing on dog turds or falling down stairs. I cannot use the phone in bright light because of the ill-conceived TFT screen.
Basically I can only fully use the phone inside, in privacy. I'm sorry, I have a life.
When we can get less dropped calls and actually get decent cell phone coverage away from the interstates. Check out the cell maps of the major carriers, they all hug the lines created by interstates. You go to a rural area like I'm from and the coverage is crap. IMHO the feature set of cell phones is starting to creep into the "that's cool, but I don't think I'll ever need it" category. The camera phones have got to the be worst.
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