| Author |
So I got 3G. It don't impress me much. |
Bobajobbob
Joined: Mar 03, 2005
Posts: 41
PM |
Hi all
I'm looking for a few pointers to get more out of 3G because right now I am slightly underwhelmed by the experience.
First I should say that I am impressed when using the phone as a modem with my Powerbook for great browsing speeds when travelling around. (though the data charges do scare me a lot, all 3g shoudl be charged like broadband access as far as I am concerned. Fixed rate for unlimited access)
What I am not impressed by is the Vodafone Live portal. It is nothign more than a hawking shop for ripping off teenagers for ringtones and pictures as far as I can see. Yes you can find some news stories and the weather buried deep down after clicking through a number of pages but once you find a decent page you can't even bookmark it to return quickly in future. (this could be a phone limitation I guess).
It really is a serious turnoff that the focus is always on selling tat. Sure everyone likes a new ringtone every once in a while but it shouldn't form the basis of a 3G portal such as Vodafone. So much could be done with this technology and yet every time you try to explore the site just as you think you might have found something interesting you find there is a charge attached. This is an enormous turn off and literally has me turning the phone off every time in exasperation.
Can anyone suggest to me some good Wap shaped sites, general news portals, weather, tech gossip etc etc. Live news updates would be good as would be some sports clips. The odd free download wouldn't go amiss either. Basically everything that vodafone Live should be but isn't.
cheers |
|
|
PercyC
Joined: Dec 14, 2004
Posts: 3
From: Chemnitz
PM |
Try www.gewappnet.de . It's a german wap-page providing dozens of links to english and german speaking wap-pages.
This message was posted from a T610 |
DeLa
Joined: Jan 22, 2003
Posts: > 500
From:
PM |
I don't have 3G but can understand what you write, especially about the scarce useful or interesting content. It is really disappointing. Plowing through menus to find tiny bit of information.
A few wap-sits deliver valuable content and appear to have engaged the single five nerds that understand how it should look like. Have a look at mobile.yahoo.com and/or mobile.yahoo.com/ or www.bbc.co.uk/mobile for some good examples of what can be done on tiny screens. |
Sammy_boy
Joined: Mar 31, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Staffordshire, United Kingdom
PM, WWW
|
I for a short while had a '3pay' phone, and was also distinctively underwhelmed by it, it didn't live up the the hype. 3's content was ringfenced (not sure if it still is), i.e. you could only access their content, you couldn't get to external sites like Esato, etc.
imo 3G is being mismarketed as a gimmick, as the OP said they all seem to be pushing the stupid and trivial things like ringtones, not the fast browsing speeds and high download rates. I just hope that when O2 launch their 3G service they learn from other's mistakes and don't use their 3G for their own content only or mainly for flogging ringtones. I'm staying put with 2/2.5G for the forseeable future, as there is no real incentive yet for migrating over.
I don't know about anyone else, but I am starting to feel more and more like a big walking wallet for various companies to just come up to and take money off 
"All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke
|
govigov
Joined: Jul 30, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Back home - Cochin
PM |
quote from the bbc site...
Mobile edition
If you are able to access the internet on your mobile phone or PDA then you can get a mobile edition of bbc.co.uk. The mobile edition is tailored to suit your device and provides you with a selection of information which you may find useful whilst on the move. The address to go to is bbc.co.uk/mobile.
If you have 3G mobile phone you can view selected clips from bbc.co.uk's Video Nation simply by making a video call to 62750. Dial the number and then press the video call button.
|
phsychomantis
Joined: Jan 24, 2005
Posts: 146
PM |
Have tried video calling
This message was posted from a T230 |
Bobajobbob
Joined: Mar 03, 2005
Posts: 41
PM |
I haven't tried Vid calling yet because I don't know anyone else with a 3g phone. I am considering buying one for my wife however because we both travel a lot and it would be cool to be able to keep in touch that way. It isn't really the killer app for me though because webchat/iChat does this already for a lot cheaper though with less flexibility.
I checked out the BBC site listed above and it is exactly what I was looking for. Simple fast and nothing for sale. thank you for suggesting that. I am suire that there is valuable content out for the mobile medium but it is definitely not easy to find and certainly isn't made any easier by vodafone's terrible offering. |
DeLa
Joined: Jan 22, 2003
Posts: > 500
From:
PM |
What also worries me is that (apparently even with 3G) the operators control all the access to content and the content-providers seem happy to step in that scheme. Usually a valuable news source sells its content to only one provider. E.g. CNN on wap in Belgium is only accessible through Vodafone (Proximus) and the same goes for De Standaard, the site of a leading newspaper (Imode only).
Fortunately there's sites like the BBC and yahoo, but if you are looking for local news there's almost nothing for free. Which would be 'acceptable' if it were open to everybody or if the connection itself weren't that expensive already.
By the way the BBC and yahoo sites are also perfect and fast on wap 1 on CSD with any basic wap-fone. |
dave_uk
Joined: Mar 06, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: London, UK
PM |
Those who are waiting for the networks to stop using 3G as a money-making scam, attempting to flog their own (rubbish) ringfenced content, instead of opening up the high data speeds and video capability to be put to real use will be waiting along time IMHO.
This is one of the only areas where they stand a chance of recouping some of the ridiculous money they paid for the licences in the first place, and is therefore unlikely to disappear. 3's voice tariffs are loss leaders and once the mobile equivalent of VoIP is commercialised, that's the end of voice revenue for the networks. The real money is to be made from data services and value added services (push email etc) but, with costs per Mb being forced down by the arrival of 3G, unless the networks "do a 3" and block access to external sites, there's no guarantee that you'll be buying the content from them, when you've got the whole web to surf.
3G is not the answer to our mobile prayers, but it's a step in the right direction where ultimately, 3G and Wi-Fi converge to give the consumer a fully mobile, high-speed, high-res solution - well that's what I think, anyway! 
Dave
|
Davo_169
Joined: Sep 06, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: perth/thredbo
PM, WWW
|
the sports section on that bbc site seems pretty cool
|
Vlammetje
Joined: Mar 01, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Den Haag
PM, WWW
|
3G technology development probably is the answer ot our prayers (whether UMTS itself should be the prevailing technology remains a qeustion to me though) but along with the offering of more and higher data speeds and streaming options, the operators come along with dollar signs in their eyes.
Theis selling of devices has little to nothing to do with what we the customers want. Their selling of devices has everything to do with what they want us to see, hear and buy.
The V800 under Vodafone is a perfect example. Vodafone offers this phone with great discounts when purchased in combination with a data and voice package. What they do not tell you, is that this data package is to be usely only on vodafone live! services and only on the vodafone live! portal. If you, the modern, tech minded customer, think the provider wants you to explore the phone to it's max capabilities, you are dead wrong! If you wish to browse sites other than vodafone, you will pay extra for your disloyalty. 
(needless to say I asked this specific question before taking out my subscription and was told I could browse anything I wanted without paying extra.  )
It's like having the best and fastest broadband connection of the world on one's PC, and being allowed only to watch the top 5 pophits (over and over) without limits.... everything else, like a good news site, a personal blog or a movie costs extra.
Tought me lesson or two:
1) never trust the sales person, they will tell you what you want to hear, instead of what is true.
2) never ever ever ever ever ever get limited datasubscriptions ever again.
It's not 3G or the phone itself that is disappointing (far from it!), it is the immature content, obviously not aimed at the adult user who can actually afford the phone, that is downright insulting.
|
Sammy_boy
Joined: Mar 31, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Staffordshire, United Kingdom
PM, WWW
|
Nicely summed up there Vlamm, the precise reason I'm staying with 2/2.5g for now!
I have a perfectly good broadband connection at home (but unfortuantely at this moment in time not one fully working computer! :evil ), and my P900 for when I'm out and about, perfect for checking Esato or the BBC news site, sending/recieving emails etc., which is all I need currently.
When the 3G content and services 'grow up' a bit, I'll probably migrate. But as Dave_UK says, this isn't going to happen any time soon!
"All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke
|
Vlammetje
Joined: Mar 01, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Den Haag
PM, WWW
|
the 2.5g vodafone live portal is just a useless actually  and offers no real reason for not using 3G
I do actually like the speeds, especially so when using the phone for modem and as I now know I simply paty extra for using the phone for the purpose I bought it for.
It's not 3G per se though, it's the policies of operators that ruin the experience, and that is just the same on 2.5G as it is on 3G imho.
|
dave_uk
Joined: Mar 06, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: London, UK
PM |
@Vlamm
I completely agree, but unfortunately, our ability to use 3G services is inextricably linked to the operators that are screwing everyone around. It remains to be seen whether T-Mobile and O2 (in the UK) will adopt the same policies, but when data transmission charges come down to a reasonable level, the situation should change, as it then won't matter what the operators offer for free. Orange UK already offer 1Gb of data for £75/month (inc VAT) which I'm sure is better than Voda's rates (certainly is over here).
Vodafone, good as their service is, have been and always will be one of the most expensive providers globally - seems to me they are a bit too arrogant to be competitive, instead preferring to focus on their huge Corporate customers.
|
luvsanro
Joined: Jan 22, 2004
Posts: 156
From: SAN
PM, WWW
|
Same xperience. 3g just givs fast speed internet.Watching streaming video broadcast has no fun on small screen.
|
|
|
Posted: 2005-03-03 14:46
