Verizon Crippled Bluetooth Features in Motorola V710

djdoubles writes "Apparently Verizon Wireless has put firmware with crippled Bluetooth features in the new Motorola v710 phone. A lot of people have been anticipating a Bluetooth phone from Verizon, only to be disappointed by lack of OBEX. Verizon says they have no plan to add OBEX because it doesn't fit their business model--greedy bastards. PC Magazine doesn't have very nice things to say either. More discussion here."

Comments

What are you complaining about again?

[stecoop]

Would you rather get shoot with by the BlueSniper with a virus-outy BlueSnarf dart? And we wonder why Ericsson is moving on to other projects - highlighted from the greedy bass-turd article ...so wireless carriers can charge people... Gotta get paid ya know.

And if you really want a blue tooth phone there is a nifty niche and free capitalist market called eBay.

Re:What are you complaining about again?

[BoldAC]

But Verizon disabled the phone's Bluetooth file-transfer function, so you can't wirelessly transfer photos to your PC without using the carrier's for-pay Pix Messaging service

Yeah, they are doing it for security reasons... yeah, right. As the quote above shows, it's all about the dollars, baby.

Re:What are you complaining about again?

[Davak]

Sadly, the system works.

Charging per minute instead of a flat rate -- that makes them more money.
Making it difficult for people to trade ringtones -- that makes them more money.
Charging to send little alphanumeric messages -- that makes them more money.

and...

Charging to send pictures through a server instead of directly -- that makes them more money. It's cheap money now as the pictures are small. But when the camera resolution increases or when the phone/cameras can create audio/video, the time required to be online is going to greatly, greatly increase.

The world of cheap hardware and expensive services just increases and increases...

It's now safe to turn off your computer.

[Doc Ruby]

What are *you* complaining about? In fact, *how* are you complaining, by using Slashdot? Don't you know that the Internet can give you a virus? Throw away the computer, and never worry about viruses again. Same goes for dating...

The Ericsson is moving on from *inventing* Bluetooth, to capitalizing on its innovations through mere marketing. That's how tech capitalism works. And since you won't be using eBay anymore, to avoid getting scammed, you might not be interested in learning that Bluetooth phones need a telco carrier, like Verizon. Boy, are you lucky you won't have to make any hard choices anymore.

Re:As an owner of this phone...

[madcow_ucsb]

Yeah and I was told a year ago by their executive offices that there'd be a tool released by Verizon "in 3-4 weeks" to go in via the data cable and upload progs and ringtones without GetItNow.

Don't believe a thing those guys say...

Re:Verizon is developer-unfriendly

[ElGuapoGolf]

Verizon's *main* reason for disabling the OBEX functionality on this phoen is simple... they do not want you to be able to take pictures from your phone and send them to others via bluetooth. If the disabling of BT was simply for security, you'd be able to transfer pictures using that nice 40 dollar data cable they'll happily sell you. But you can't with that either.

I bought my bluetooth phone from Cingular for 2 reasons. I can sync my calendar, and use the handsfree in my car. The phone itself was 100. With Verizon I would pay 200 for the phone (yeah, I know you can get it for 179 from joe's phone shack, but whatever) and I'd pay another 40 for the data cable to sync with my calendar.

What's the point of Verizon even offering this....?

Re:Verizon is developer-unfriendly

[Pii]

This only makes sense if you are making money selling the hardware...

US Wireless Tecos don't make any money on selling the phones themselves... They lose money.

All of their cash comes on the back end, through service agreements, long term committments, overage changes, and add-on services with their accompanied charges.

It doesn't make business sense for Verizon to let you transfer pictures for free, when they could instead charge you for on-air minutes.

Don't worry... Capitalism has a mechanism to protect you, the consumer. It's called choice. Use another provider, but there are trade-offs. Cingular or TMobile may has cooler phones, with better features, but their coverage areas are far weaker that Verizon's.

You need to decide up front what you need out of the service... The ability to make phone calls anytime, anyplace, or a cool techno toy that can send pictures to all your pals?