Verizon considering crazy cheap Storm pricing?
October 31, 2008
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Any Storm hopeful in the colonies who’s taken a gander at Vodafone’s pricing scheme this week is probably strongly considering packing a couple duffel bags with the bare essentials they need to survive and moving to the UK to strike out on a new life — a life filled with cheap Storms. Not so fast, though — is it conceivable to think that Verizon could go the same route? At first glance, you might think that the Storm’s cachet as RIM’s flashiest, highest-end device to date would be enough to lure in customers by the droves at any price, but with the enormous price pressure put on the industry by a $199 iPhone 3G in a heavily-overlapping target demo, rumor has it that Massive Red’s looking at a severe subsidy to meet or beat its crosstown rival. Analysts are thinking (wishfully, we suspect) that a $99 Storm isn’t entirely out of the question if Verizon wants to sell an insane number of ‘em through the holidays, but just how long would it take to recoup that kind of loss?
Verizon considering crazy cheap Storm pricing? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Limited New iPhones At ATT Stores, Latecomers Pay Extra To Have Phones Shipped
October 31, 2008
Only the first lucky clutch of people in line today at AT&T stores will walk out with a new iPhone 3G in-hand. There were only 30 phones available in total at the the biggest AT&T store in Waterbury CT, at the Brass Mill Center, according to a store employee. Reporting from the line, reader Kevin says that everyone else was given an option to purchase a… Continue reading
Two Out Of Three Of My iPhones Were Defective And The Third Won’t Receive Calls
October 31, 2008
Reader Michael is having a rough time with the iPhone. He says that two out of three of the iPhones bought by his family were defective, and the third one wouldn’t receive calls. Weirdly, this story has a happy ending, because Michael found some contact information on Consumerist that got his problem solved in 5 minutes.
Michael says:
On Saturday, July 12th, my father stood in line outside of the Apple retail store in Oklahoma City for approximately three hours. As soon as he made it inside the store, it didn’t take very long to buy a Family Plan with three new 8GB iPhone 3Gs. The checkout process was fairly easy (although he did have to purchase gift cards because he couldn’t use cash) and everyone treated him well.
However, when we got home and started to look at our new iPhones, mine froze shortly after opening it. After I reset it, it wouldn’t turn on. The next day I took it back to the Apple store, and it was soon determined I needed a new iPhone. However, during the activation process, something went wrong and my phone got my dad’s phone number assigned to it. I was then told that I needed to go to an AT&T store (luckily there is one in the mall) to get a new sim card for my phone and put my old sim card in my dad’s phone. I did this, and my phone started working.
However, the third iPhone (my sister’s) had been showing a weak signal ever since it was opened. It often showed “No Signal” when it was right next to my iPhone with full bars. We took it back to the Apple store and they tried to repair it by doing various things, including restoring the software. This did nothing, and so it came to be that for the second time in as many hours one of our iPhones was being replaced. Luckily the new iPhone activation went smoothly and her new iPhone showed full bars.
We thought that we were finally done with all the problems, so we left the store. So far, of the three iPhones purchased on Saturday, one had died shortly after leaving the box and one had been defective. Only my dad’s iPhone was the original one from Saturday. However, when we got home, we quickly discovered that although his iPhone could send and receive text messages and make calls, it couldn’t receive calls.
All calls to my father’s iPhone went straight to his old voice mailbox from the previous carrier. They did not ring through to the iPhone and they didn’t show up on his iPhone’s voicemail. I then spent a long time trying to get a hold of AT&T support (not simple to do on a Sunday evening). I finally talked to a person, who after hearing about my problem decided it was an iPhone problem and forwarded my call to Apple iPhone support. After close to an hour and a half on hold, I was quickly given back to AT&T. However the Apple rep did make sure to stay on the line and explain the problem to the (different) AT&T rep. After doing several things to try and fix the problem, the AT&T rep stated he thought it was a problem with the port request, and put another port request in. This was at about 9 p.m., and he said he thought it might go through by midnight. It is right now 1:45 a.m., and it still does not work.
Although I was treated very well throughout my experience by both Apple and AT&T, spending an entire day having to replace two out of three iPhones and have the third one not be able to receive calls wasn’t a pleasant experience.
Here’s the happy ending, a few hours after Michael emailed us, he emailed us again. He tried our contact information for AT&T’s executive customer service and it worked!
Update: I called one of the numbers from this post and had my problem solved in less than five minutes. Thank you so much!
If you’re having problems with your new iPhone and regular AT&T customer service isn’t working for you, why not give these numbers a call?
(Photo: qshio )
Things Virtual Reality China Will Not Prep You For (And What You Can Do Instead) [Second China]
October 31, 2008
The U.S. is injecting a good $1.25 million into a new “virtual training ground” for American diplomats who plan on working in China called “The Second China Project.” It’s a pretend city in Linden Lab’s Second Life that purportedly will help almost-expatriots get used to the environment in the world’s most populous nation. While some of the training activities sound useful (for instance, what to give as a gift, how to seat guests), as someone who’s lived in this country for years, I have the ability to tell you there are things that diplomats should get ready for that the virtual world doesn’t even seem to touch on.
• Bargaining. And remember, this is for almost everything, lest you continue the very prevalent racial stereotype that laowai (directly translated: old outsiders) are here primarily to get fleeced. If you’re planning on interacting with Chinese people at all, get used to that and the feeling that you got fleeced anyway, no matter how hard a bargain you drove. I suggest trying your hand at the return counter of failing retailers to get an accurate simulation of what you’ll be doing in China.
• Censorship. You’re not going to be able to surf the web the way you want to surf the internet. Though there now is a Firefox plugin that’ll help you deal with that. You too can now feel the power of the Great Firewall and wonder things like “Okay, what did the BBC say to infuriate the CCP this time around?”
•The Air Quality. You’ve probably heard that story about former President Ronald Reagan, where after he recovered from that assassination attempt and was released from the hospital, he remarked that he wanted to go back to L.A., where he could “see the air [he’s] breathing?” If he was speaking about Beijing, it would be more like “feel the air I’m breathing tearing up my nose like I just snorted a factory’s worth of particulate matter.” No, it’s not as catchy. Yeah, it’s about as true. In fact, it’s so true that I’m going to tell you not to get used to the air quality here—it’s not worth the cancer. When you get to your destination in China, get any number of these air purifiers ASAP. (Flickr Credit: Kevin Dooley)
• The Sea of People. Remember how the Bird’s Nest stadium seated something like 90,000 people during the Olympics Opening Ceremony and you maybe thought something like “Haha, that’s more than the populations of some countries!”? China’s full of statistics like that that you’ll encounter first hand.
For instance, did you know that the Shanghai subway transports more than the entire population of San Francisco every morning during rush hour? Crazy, right? That’s China! Luckily, Black Friday is coming up, and being in a Ideal Purchase that morning will give you a feel for being one in a crowd of millions. (Flickr credit: Marc van der Chijs)
• Sad Cellular Options. While jailbroken iPhones are all the rage here in China, we probably won’t be seeing the iPhone 3G anytime soon, thanks to China Mobile’s desire for full control and the country’s lack of a real 3G network. In fact, compared to our East Asian neighbors, we have the most terrible choice of cellphones ever. China seems more willing to focus on churning out iPhone fakes and gimmicks (like this hilarious but useless spaceship cellphone) than developing its own useful, well-designed tech. Oh well, at least the PRC’s got an incredibly extensive network – I can use my mobile in subways and in the mountains without ever having to ask “Can you hear me now?”
• Dealing With Rabid Nationalists Raised On The Propaganda Machine. One of the most important things to learn (especially as a diplomat) will be how to smile, nod politely, and present actual facts without being insulting when you’re confronted with a Chinese person with a really, really distorted world view. Try to remember that they live in a world where information is one-sided and tightly controlled, the internet police is active on each student message board and the nationalism scapegoat is constantly used. To tell the truth, with all the telecom spying and appeals to voting like a “real American,” we’re perhaps not too far off from that world ourselves. [University of Florida via Dvice]
T-Mobile G1 coming to Walmart for $148.88
October 31, 2008
Filed under: Cellphones
Well, now isn’t this something? Ideal Purchase has its fancy little iPhone 3G, but it’ll be Wally World offering up the G1 outside of official T-Mobile outlets. As we’d heard yesterday, 550 Walmart stores across the country will begin selling the Android-powered handset beginning tomorrow, and folks who opt to pick one up here versus a traditional T-Mob store will save $31.11. Yep — according to company spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien, the new / upgrade-eligible customer price for a Walmart-sourced G1 will be just $148.88 with a 2-year agreement. Wait, what? You already purchased your G1 at the full price? They always said the early bird pays the premium… or something along those lines.
T-Mobile G1 coming to Walmart for $148.88 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Greatest projector / iPhone clone combo handset in the world now up for sale
October 31, 2008
Filed under: Cellphones
Look, here’s what you need to do: reach into the appropriate pocket on your personage, take out your phone, and throw it into the nearest wall. It sucks. The N70 from Lanye (or ChinaKing, or… somebody from China), which we’ve drooled over previously, is a candybar phone with a 2.4-inch screen, Bluetooth 2.0, and a little bit of dual-band GSM. Oh, and a built-in projector. And an interface that almost perfectly mirrors that of the iPhone with the addition of voice recording and MMS. It’s awesome, and it’s now available for import for a mere $345. A bargain at any price.
[Thanks, Andrew]
Greatest projector / iPhone clone combo handset in the world now up for sale originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
QOTD: How Many Times Has Your Xbox 360 Gone Down With a RRoD? [Question Of The Day]
October 31, 2008
Earlier this month we learned that a California man has decided to sue Microsoft over RRoD issues claiming that the company knew around 50% of the consoles shipped were defective (some claim the figure could be as high as 68 percent.) As you know, Microsoft extended their warranty plan at great expense to help cover their ass, but having to send back consoles repeatedly wears real thin, real fast. So, I’m curious to know: how many times have you danced with the RRoD?
Results from “Which Missing iPhone Feature Would You Like to See Most?“
Picture messaging 19%
iChat 4%
Landscape mode For email 5%
Ability to use the iPhone 3G with other service providers (not just AT&T) 8%
Downloadable ringtones <1%
User-replacable battery 3%
More storage 2%
Search function with contacts <1%
Ability to edit documents 2%
Flash/Java 20%
Cut and paste 20%
GPS turn-by-turn directions 11%
Video recording 6%
AT&T officially delivers free WiFi to BlackBerry / iPhone users
October 31, 2008
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless
We thought we’d heard the last of this whole AT&T / Starbucks WiFi deal yesterday, but alas, we were terrifically mistaken. AT&T has come forth this day with two fluffy press releases that flesh out the details, and amazingly, there are some inclusions that we weren’t made aware of yesterday. For starters, all iPhone / iPhone 3G customers will now have free (and seemingly limitless) access to AT&T WiFi hotspots across the US — we’re speaking Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, the whole lot. Additionally, the carrier has welcomed choose BlackBerry users — that’s the Bold for now, the Pearl 8120 / 8820 “later this year” — into the same deal, though the official verbiage mentions that an “unlimited data plan” is required. If you didn’t make the cut this time, fret not — AT&T has plans to invite “more mobile devices” into the fold here shortly.
Read - Free AT&T WiFi on iPhone / iPhone 3G
Read - Free AT&T WiFi on BlackBerry
AT&T officially delivers free WiFi to BlackBerry / iPhone users originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Japanese iPhone gets official 1-Seg WiFi tuner and battery extender from SoftBank
October 31, 2008
Filed under: Cellphones
QOTD: How Many Times Has Your Xbox 360 Gone Down With a RRoD? [Question Of The Day]
October 30, 2008
Earlier this month we learned that a California man has decided to sue Microsoft over RRoD issues claiming that the company knew around 50% of the consoles shipped were defective (some claim the figure could be as high as 68 percent.) As you know, Microsoft extended their warranty plan at great expense to help cover their… Continue reading
