Alright, you ultrafast mobile broadband zealots, whip out your calendars and draw a big red tick around the middle of 2011. Verizon's CTO Anthony Melone has identified next summer as the carrier's release window for its first LTE handset, which should be preceded by the 4G service being rolled out by the end of this year. If you're wondering what you'll be using on that
"faster than 3G" network while waiting for the
vanguard handset, we saw plenty of
LTE-equipped gear at CES and let's not forget about that
1080p-decodin' NVIDIA tablet that was teased during the show. The one bit of bogus news from Melone was the statement that contracts with "as much data as you can consume is the big issue that has to change." Verizon seems resolutely set on introducing some type of tiered or metered price plans, which is unfortunately the same path
AT&T is headed down. The message from the networks is therefore clear: with great (downloading) power comes great (bill-paying) responsibility.
posted March 11th 2010 3:45AM
What the h e double l is that thing ??
@ChillyCat
That, my friend, is something called the "N Gage". It was Nokia's attempt in the early decade at a gaming handheld / cell phone combo. Unfortunately, while it was a good concept in theory, in practice it really fell flat on its face. There were a few noteworthy games, but overall the device failed to gain any traction in the market. Software performance on most titles was poor (framerate issues, etc.), awkward controls, and the device itself was too clunky to be taken serious as a phone. If you think holding a sidekick up to your head is bulky, just imagine trying to hold one of those things in your hand while talking.
I think the concept itself was too ambitious for the time it was conceived. The technology just wasn't there to make it work properly but also come in a manageable form-factor.
Thanks...r34p3r
Seriously, I had NO idea wtf it wuz.
Now that I know.....I'm totally mystified design
people could possibly think this was a good idea.
@r34p3r Now, now, there will be no badmouthing the N-Gage or it's QD successor. Those phones, at the time, were state of the art. They were solid albeit a bit on the big size (which was necessary to make long gaming sessions comfortable), had tonnes of 3rd party applications enabling things like DIVX videos, MP3s, SEGA Emulation, GameBoy Emulation, PDF Reader etc. They were highly customisable with full shells to skin with, 3D screensavers, even system changeable fonts (I had it in a miniscule Comic Sans MS font ^^).
They accepted memory cards up to 2GB (which was a big deal back then, considering it only acknowledged support up to 512MB or so, if I remember correctly).
The games were plenty and many were graphically stunning for a phone. Tony Hawk, Tomb Raider, Asphalt and Super Monkey Ball to name a few, and Worms had made its best portable version yet, complete with flying sheep, holy grail and all!
After selling my N-Gage to buy a QD upon its release, it lasted me up to last year as my secondary phone. THAT, is a solid build.
There will be no badmouthing the N-Gage :).
@ChillyCat
Yeah, the N-gage and N-gage QD were commercial failures, but they deserve respect in the smartphone hall-of-fame. They were just a bit too ahead of their time, I think--flash memory was too expensive, no camera, Java games didn't cut it, and back when they were released paying that much for a phone was unthinkable. But all in all, it was a pretty cool gadget. :)
@Mindlessbeing
I was an N-gage owner!! And before the l33t want to start shitting on it, you gotta think about the TIME. Back then, the only smartphones were Palm and came with a stylus; the 'new' Razr was $700 imported, and not yet avail in the U.S.
Yeah, everything described was true... gaming wise, it was pretty lackluster (I think I had two games for it, one of which being Tony Hawk). The grafix were a notch below PS1 grafix, which again... think abuot 2002 - 2003 and you'll realize that wasn't half bad for a phone.
But here's why this phone deserves respect for it's intentions: Running Symbian OS, it's the first phone I ever used that allowed... now wait for it.... wait... ok.... ALLOWED INSTALLABLE APPS!! Oh, and I could mention it's online-gaming connectivity, but that would blow some people's minds I think. A lot of people spend too much time crapping on its failures, re-hashing the attitude at the time of its release, rather than take a look back and realize how important Nokia and Palm were to bringing the rest of you your Crackberries and iPhones. I would also go out on a limb and say all those companies learned from the N-gage's failure. I don't think there would ever have been an iPhone or Android if Nokia didn't take chances like this.
@ChillyCat Sprint will have upwards of 10 4G devices by next summer.
@Hate Everything I think the iPhone was based on the iPad. The iPad has been in development for a long time, I think ever since Jobs canned the Newton. I think he canned the Newton and just started fresh on a new project based off of the Newton's form factor, then eventually added more advanced features as time passed. Then, around the early 2000's Jobs figured no one would want a tablet with no connectivity to internet, so he created a sub division of the iPad project based on a GSM enabled mini iPad (iPhone). This iPhone would do almost everything that the iPad could do in a smaller form factor, and it would provide a fair instal base for the proceeding iPad, which also added more features like 3G into the mix for constant internet connection.
But anyways the point was I believe the iPhone is a child of the Newton (80's) and the iPad (90's, I think) rather than the Nokia N-Gage, which is a cool device.
boooo ngage
@N900androidOS
lol ngage
@N900androidOS my heart literalyl skipped a beat when I saw the N-Gage QD
wait, so its bad enough we have a cap at our home broadband, now we have to pay as we go on data?
fcc, fix these fools.
@AlexSanchez Its bad enough the fcc just mentioned they want broadband as a right for all.
How long until home connections are deemed useless just like a landline phone is useless when you have a cell phone.
@AlexSanchez
If AT&T and verizon follow through with the data caps they just lost a customer for good.
@AltairDusk People better vote with their wallets on this. Korea by some measures has the most advanced network, but their access costs are ridiculous, their usage rate is abysmal and smartphones barely exist as a result. On the other hand, unlimited data have been boones for handset manufacturers, consumers and even the likes of AT&T who have continuously outpaced their previous highs on profit and revenues on the back of the iPhone. Ridic.
@sweetelectro I still have a landline, sometimes it's good to have something to fall back on when the power is out and the towers are jammed because everyone is calling on a cellphone.
Why is it with 4G, the next wave in tech, we get this "no more unlimited data plan" hindrance?
@AlienSix
What I don't get is that if the whole data usage thing is soooo out of hand that they have to cap it, why the FUCK do they keep pushing data plans and phones that use more data on everyone? And why the FUCK do they keep making it easier to use more data with faster networks and better phones?
"The new DROID, from Verizon, DO MORE WITH DROID!*
*Requires expensive data plan. It's expensive because it's UNLIMITED!"
"Well folks, it's not our fault, ya'll just kept upgrading to more expensive phones with data plans. Don't know where you got the idea in your head that we have enough bandwidth to support all ya'll, though, so we're gonna have to start chargin' ya more. You just use too much data, don't you get it? Ya'll are a bunch of gluttons! It's as if you've seen our slick multi-million-dollar TV commercials and decided to give us more money, expecting us to be able to support what we spent so much money sellin' ya'll! Data gluttons, I tell ya!"
I just hope T-Mobile doesn't follow suite. That would sadden me so...
SPRINT FTW!!!!
or ill just hold on to my 3g pre as long as possible
Yet another consumer rip-off. Introduce so-called "4G" technology for higher speed, then render it essentially useless with data caps.
Disgraceful. More proof that the U.S. economy is a house of cards, a paper-shuffling Ponzi scheme where very little of value is created or delivered; even ephemeral things like data have their value gutted by despicable business practices while consumers scurry to pay.
@Information Central
Sprint/Clearwire will be uncapped on 4G. And they'll have a handset a year sooner than vzn. How much you want to bet it'll be cheaper too?
@Information Central
Tiered plans are a great idea actually. I don't need an unlimited plan so why should I be forced to pay for one. All I need on my handset is a 1gig plan. Now with the growth of netbooks, I would like a 5 or 6 gig plan.
Your analogy is also ridiculous because you already only get 5 gig using so-called unlimited plans. Whereas, I can get a 15 gig plan in the UK.
I tried consuming as much data as I could two months ago. Apparently Verizon and I have two different meanings of unlimited.
@insky
If they have such problems with people using too much data...why is the data plan still required to buy the Droid? (or any other smartphone for that matter) While most ppl want the data plan...there are some out there, me included, who don't want/need the data plan....but still want to phone for it's wi-fi.
@Stereotype
Oh, they want you to pay them, to be sure. They just don't want to give you anything in return.
It's a good thing we have anti-trust laws that protect us from oligopolies price fixing and back room anti competitive deals. Oh, wait, I forgot, we pay for them with nothing in return too.
@wraith404
Therein lies the rub. if you meter data, don't be differentiating data plans between handsets anymore because the primary argument for that is moot.
@insky
i have trouble breaking 500mb a month on my tour using it every day for heavy gps and web use.
i have no clue how i would break the 5gb cap at this point.
@d889
Tethering
Why does this site sometimes randomly not post your comment, and revert back to the whole "we sent you a confirmation E-mail" thing? Despite the fact that you're already logged in with that confirmation password, and the E-mail is never sent.
@Information Central
It's called the: comment-system-sucks feature. It's always been an unfortunate hallmark of Engadget.
I think I pay to much for "data" as it is now. You (AT&T) charge me seperately $20 for txt & $30 for web & email when all of it is still "data". So you're getting $50 bucks on top of the $70 I already pay for voice. I only use at the max 500mb of "data" and send around 8,000 txts a month. For $50 I should be able to continue to use as much as I want. All the money I'm paying them would think they would be working on a way to lower my monthly "data" fees.
@EagleyeSmith
I don't even mind the charges that much.. I'm okay with paying a flat monthly rate for what I choose to consume... What I hate is that service providers try to get you on the charges you didn't know you were going to be charged for... for instance ATT won't let you shut off incoming texts, but charges you for it... Service providers want tiered access so that when you consume more than you expected, they can charge you out the rear for it!
Cell phone companies are so much more predatory than credit card companies and cigarette manufacturers combined! (Yes I made a blanket statement without any justification... )
@someguy7234
I don't mind the monthly flat rate charge concept. But charging me premiums on things like txts is just a rip off. Txt, Email, & Web are all the same thing...Data. It cost them basically nothing to handle a txt message. I don't see why I have to pay 20 bucks a month for unlimited. Then, for a "non" smartphone you get unlimited txt & "data" for 30 bucks a month.
I think that it should be 20 bucks a month (unlimited data & txts) for non-smartphones. Hell, I would even live with a 30 dollar a month charge if they included txts with that too since smartphone use more data then basic phones.
@EagleyeSmith
Txt messages are not data actually, they're sent along with the carrier signal. That 160 character limit? Thats because that was the size of the buffer in the carrier signal. The carriers figured out that if they're sending this data constantly, they could make use of it and send your txt messages along with it.
You should be even more outraged as it costs the carrier NOTHING EXTRA to send and receive the txts from and to your cell phone.
@samsmith3
Ouch, that hurts even more. Just makes me feel like a dumb idiot when I pay my bill.
@samsmith3
What part of basic economics do you guys not understand?
Verizon and Att rape you on a per monthly basis for both overall cost and what they charge you for (i.e. text messaging) and they are GAINING millions of customers. Sprint includes it unlimited and free and at a lower overall price and they are LOSING customers.
What incentive is there for Verizon or Att to change anything? If you want differences you need to vote with your wallet. Period.
Believe it or not, I miss my old NGage QD. Got the thing for free with contract, and the thing was stalwart for 2 1/2 years. It finally bit the dust when I drank to much and decided to take a bath with it in my pocket.
R.I.P my old, misunderstood friend.
End of unlimited data????
What a joke. It's already capped.
what do you mean end of unlimited data
Verizon has a cap of 2 GB per month. It's been that way for years, even as phones become ever more capable of pulling down more data. In the name of chasing ever higher profits, the gatekeepers feel that they can charge whatever they want as a toll for access. I wonder if people are so addicted that they will pay whatever price just to keep their data coming...or will there be a backlash against the corporations? After all, a thing is only worth whatever the market will bear.
@StormChaser
Most people don't even look at their phone bill. They just pay it. People will still pay the crazy amounts for "data". You really can't "backlash" against them. Sure some people won't pay it but the majority of people will and thats all that matters. You need them, they don't need you. Just think about how much more convenient, efficient, and effective your life is with a cell phone. And its not like you have much choice...only 4 major carriers in the US and they're all the same, they all have a gimmick.
Only way it would change is if customers got some FCC regulation in their favor.
@EagleyeSmith Our political climate is not one in which more regulation is likely. Unfortunately.
@StormChaser -__- whatever happened to "supply and demand"??? really really saddens me that it all comes down to how much corporations think they can get away with charging, as with texts... where they can get away with charging 500- 1000% (or more in some cases) of what it actually costs to process and send the message...
there really will be no more excuse for these kinds of prices when the "Lord of the Servers" is finally standard for service providers... the thing apparently can download every movie ever made in less than 4 seconds, handle every man woman and child on a video conference at the same time, and download the entire library of congress in less than a second... Cisco apparently is developing this (covered on Yahoo)
@noimbeing serious *every man, woman in child, IN CHINA ...sorry left that out...
@EagleyeSmith I'm not sure, I would like to be optimistic about it. Two things, handsets and OSs will have some role in this, if Apple, MS and Google are all major players, which it seems like we can maybe expect they will have more individual clout than consumers. I believe it is in their interest to have happy consumers on unlimited data plans, Apple has done an excellent job getting, while an expensive minimal entry cost, and excellent package based on value that was available to every other consumer on AT&T wanting something comparable without the iPhone...especially the original which was $10 cheaper. As long as their is an unlimited option consumers might flock to it and carriers will have to react.
End of unlimited data? It was never unlimited in the first place (5GB), so nothing is ending. They probably just going to jack up the price by introducing an even lower data cap.
Side talkin'
Come on Google wifi: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/10/google-to-launch-1gbps-isp-service-in-select-markets-at-competi/
If the new handsets have a wifi chip in them and Google or some other provider develops a city or nationwide wifi network I would be extremely happy to pay for the smallest cellular data possible.
@killshot230
What?
Google's 1Gbps service is fiber not Wifi...
You need to read your own linked article.