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No 3G for HP Until 2007
An anonymous reader writes to tell us CNet is reporting that HP will not be bringing 3G support to any of their new 'smart phones' until at least 2007. From the article: "[HP] cites the costs associated with the service, coupled with the fact that 3G's killer app -- TV and video streaming -- isn't yet viable on mobile phones as the primary reasons for its decision. '3G is still only occupying 3% of the world pie,' HP's Vice-President for Consumer Products and Mobile Business Group in the Asia-Pacific region, Chin-Teik SEE, told CNET.com.au at the company's 'magical mobility launch' event in Hong Kong last week."
HP's stance is not completely on the level. Yes, for the GSM world, including the US, 3G is not really here yet and pricing is also steep for data. But for CDMA, 3G is very much here (Verizon and Sprint) and pricing of 3G (EVDO) for handsets is very reasonable ($15/mo). And there are several decent multimedia and smartphones that support CDMA/EVDO (3G) already, with more on the way. So it is HP that is not keeping up with the market (at least for CDMA in the US).
I dont know about Asia, or the rest of Europe, but I know France already has 3G.
The 3G coverage is still pretty small (Paris and most big cities I think) but 3G phones are being marketed there (mostly high end phones).
As for the services, apparently its mostly TV on your mobile and faster internet speeds.
As for the US, The first US cell phone provider (Cingular)is using GSM, on both 800 and 1900. (Europe is using 900 and 1800), so its not that alien at all. They also have started deploying UMTS (aka 3G) in a few select market.
Basically today in the US it seem to turn into a battle between Cingular (GSM - 54M customers) and Verizon (CDMA - 51M customers), after that you get Sprint (CDMA - ~47M) and T-Mobile(GSM - ~20M) and thats about it for nationwide providers.
So far, you probably still have better geographic coverage with CDMA networks, but as far as demographic coverage its going to be pretty much the same.
What "increased mail capability" are you talking about?
If sending camera-phone photos becomes painless (not having to wait 5 minutes for a tiny picture to upload or download), or using non-ASCII characters becomes simple, then you've got yourself what I described in the original post.
If you mean something else, I'd love to know what.
In South Africa 3G networks are becoming more mainstream. The cellular provider here, Vodacom, has set up the pricing structure as follows:
* 3G video calls are charged at the same rate as your current voice rates. That's very forward thinking in my opinion, as it means there is no cost differential between making a voice call or a video call. Video calling is great, don't knock it till you've tried it. I'm hearing impaired and the streaming quality of 3G is so good that I can lipread the person at the other end and have a proper conversation; something I've never been able to do until 3G and 3G cellular phones were introduced (I'm using a Sony Ericsson V600i fyi)
* 3G data usage is charged at the rate of R2/mb, which is around 0.32 USD per megabyte. That's for out-of-bundle rates, so if you signed up for a data bundle, the per megabyte rate would be even lower. Data speeds are unbelievably fast - last week I had to retrieve an email attachment in the client basement parking (prior to a meeting with the client). Attachment was 2Mb in size, it took less than a minute to download it. I have noticed, however, that this depends on how crowded a 3G cell area is - the more 3G users, the slower the speeds.
The next technology on the horizon that will replace 3G is HSPDA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) which in theory should offer around 2Mbit/sec. Until then, 3G is a very good stepping stone that will last for a few years yet, and I would think that manufacturers who don't hop onto the 3G bandwagon reasonably early stand to lose a lot of their potential marketshare.
Cheers
The real difficulty here is power consumption. Most 3G radios use 2Wh where as a GMS/GPRS can use less than 1Wh. Combine this with a high power XScale processor and you going to have a short battery life.
Perhaps, next generation of 3G radios will provide longer battery life. After all there is only so much one can do with a 3Wh battery.