Uncle Miltie

The Google Phone, Unlocked (Confirmed and More Details)

Wait until pricing comes out to brand this the ultimate device. Unless Google plans to subsidize the phone out of their own pocket, it likely will cost in the $600+ range, the same range that made everyone so upset when the original iPhone came out. It definitely will have a market, but that market will vary depending on the sales price.

I do agree that if Google were to roll out it's own network, even as a MVNO, that it could make the game very interesting...

AT&T OKs VoIP For the iPhone, Too Bad Google Voice Isn't VoIP

Seriously, TechCrunch needs to get a bed with their infatuation of all things Google. They take at face value everything Google says (which has been shown previously to be about as evil as every other company), and assume that Apple is lying about the FCC stuff. Here's a suggestion - assume that both companies (and AT&T as well) are lying to a degree, and you'll be closer to the truth.

Second item - 99.9% of the US public has no idea what Google Voice is, and even fewer actually have it. Quit acting like this is the worlds greatest tragedy because Michael Arrington can't get a Google Voice app on his iPhone.

Since TechCrunch is soon to be releasing their own device (which will undoubtedly receive nothing but praise in TechCrunch), I would suggest that they get dropped from Seeking Alpha as they will no longer be an independent blogger, but will now actually be a manufacturer with a dog in the fight. And I'd hazard a guess that they have some tie-in with Google on it...

Why Apple Should Start Wooing Verizon Like Google

The title of this article should read "Verizon needs to roll out LTE ASAP so it can get iPhone". Until the big V gets it done (like Bell did in Canada), no iPhone. It's as simple as that.

Blackberry’s 26 Advantages over iPhone

I stand corrected on other BB models. We have an 8820 and a Curve 8310 at home, and neither device has a card that can be accessed without removing the battery. The Curve supposedly can have the card removed without removing the battery, but I have yet to find a practical way to do that...


On Aug 10 02:05 PM Wireless Wiz wrote:

> To be fair, this is an untrue statement. For instance, the Bold
> has a side door slot, the Storm does not require removing the battery,
> and most , if not all, new Blackberries I have seen have this same
> feature - either a side loading slot or a slot that all you have
> to do is to remove the battery cover and you can hot-swap the memory
> card.

Blackberry’s 26 Advantages over iPhone

This article doesn't sound anything like an investing article - it sounds like a BlackBerry fanboy's defense of his toy compared to the iPhone. In our house, we have 2 BB's and 2 iPhones, and are familiar with the pluses and minuses of both devices. Several of these BB advantages are very debatable, offered a skewed presentation to benefit your argument, are more a criticism of the carrier, and are purely an advantage based on your own point of view. For example:

>1. Blackberry can be used on almost every carrier in the world (over 475 of them). In the US, the iPhone is available on AT&T (T) only.

True that iPhone is AT&T only in the US, but it's also offered in over 80 countries on over 100 carriers. Including T-Mobile in Germany. Exclusivity is a regionally determined item, and is undertaken by nearly every carrier in nearly every market - even for several of BB's devices.

>3. Most Blackberries have keyboards ..... Helps while driving, walking, carrying something in your other hand – all the time.

Good luck with that. I've yet to see anyone successfully text with one hand any faster on a BB than on an iPhone. And any texting while in motion is a DISADVANTAGE.

>4. Blackberry uses standardized (=inexpensive and available everywhere in the world) MicroUSB connector for synchronization/charging. iPhone has a much larger proprietary 30-pin connector.

Blackberries are notoriously finicky about their MicroUSB connections - they don't work with every MicroUSB cable and can be a pain to get one that they like. And the iPod / iPhone dock connectors is as close to being universal as you can get.

>5. Some carriers such as Verizon (VZ) and Sprint (S) offer unlimited international Blackberry data roaming for $40/month or less.

Go ahead and try to use your CDMA VZ or S device outside the US and see how incredibly useful that unlimited data roaming really is - not so much when there are no CDMA towers outside of the US and Japan.

>7. Blackberry has expandable memory. iPhone is fixed and sold at 8, 16 or 32 gig only.

BB has to be expandable, because with a stock 128MB of on-board memory, there is no storage space for anything of note. To change the card on our BB's requires removing the battery - hardly a convenient thing to do with any regularity. I have over 2000 songs, 6 full length movies, 70 apps, and 2000 photos on my 32GB iPhone, and have 15 GB free. No need for another card when you have that kind of storage space.

>11. Blackberry allows communicating peer-to-peer via PIN identifier, circumventing the email system. No such iPhone equivalent.

Peer-to-peer communicating is only useful if your company doesn't lock out that service - and many do (my wife's, for example). However, there are hundreds of IM clients available for both devices and SMS on both devices that also bypass the e-mail system.

>12. Skype (EBAY) on the Blackberry? Yes, from anywhere to anywhere. Skype on iPhone? Only if you’re on WiFi.
>
>13. Sling on the Blackberry? Yes, it’s free. Sling on iPhone? $30.
>
>14. Google (GOOG) Voice on the Blackberry? Yes, it’s free. Google Voice on iPhone? Verboten.

These are limitations of AT&T, not the iPhone itself. If you're criticizing Apple's selection of AT&T, fine. Then ask why Verizon wouldn't step up to the place when Apple originally offered the iPhone to them first.

>24. Price: Unlimited iPhone voice/data service, including unlimited SMS, is $150/month. Blackberry can be had for much less. For example, unlimited Blackberry service is offered on Sprint for $100/month, T-Mobile USA $125/month, MetroPCS $50/month, although AT&T/Verizon match the iPhone at $150/month.

Again, you're comparing carriers - not the devices. The iPhone data plan is $30 a month for unlimited data on AT&T. It's actually cheaper than most BB data plans on other carriers.


Nearly every point listed is debatable, skewed and subjective. Hardly an investing article.

Voice Search: A New Age Has Dawned

On Nov 17 04:40 AM fatcat wrote:

> I use my phone mostly for calls and some texting,and occasionally,direction...
> or checking the market...and most people I know,of all ages,do the
> same.
>
> I wonder how this brave new world of phone apps can be properly monetized
> over the short term,in the face of hard economic times.Anyhow,how
> many questions do you want to ask your phone each day?
>
> Good article..

Having used an iPhone for 1.5 years, I can assure you that while I do use it for making phone calls, the killer app on the iPhone is the web browser. It can't be said enough - once you start using the web on the iPhone, you get hooked. The experience is significantly better than any other phone I've used or tested.

This will be a neat additional app, but the killer app is already on the iPhone.

9 Feature Comparisons: G1 vs. iPhone

Here's one serious mistake in the description of the G1 people are making - the hardware is NOT first generation. HTC has been making phones for years, mostly sold under trade names for other companies (see the ATT Tilt as a clear example of a similar handset to this TMob one).

What is first generation is the OS. And that's where Apple has a significant advantage. The iPhone runs a streamlined version of OS-X (basically the full version minus the features not needed for a phone). It's a mature OS with a very solid feature set. The G1 has a first generation of Android. How stable it is and how fast it's patched have yet to be seen. This is a major difference in the two phones.

And, of course, there is Android Market / Amazon as compared to iTunes / iTMS. We have no idea how Android market will look. We do know how Amazon looks - I happen to prefer iTunes over Amazon by a wide margin.

It will be interesting to see how this works. Even more interesting will be when we see Android on other hardware - some more powerful, some less, and undoubtedly with a lot of different feature sets. How well Android adapts to the additional hardware, and how dumbed down the apps have to be to work with the least capable hardware could potentially be an achilles heel for the platform.

It sure will be interesting to watch though...