The title of this post is the same as a thread I started over on the HowardForums – and once again, thanks to Elias for the heads-up!
It seems that Telus Mobility has launched their own pre-emptive strike against the coming JesusPhone… Their unlimited data plan is email and IM-only (according to their site, anyway) and is more than twice as much as Bell’s mobile browsing bomb, but interestingly they will allow you to use the plan with a BlackBerry — traditionally a “power” device targeted at the business crowd.
The specifics of both the Bell and Telus plans are still being widely contested on all fronts, but things are definitely looking up from last April when I was paying Fido a whopping $40/month for a mere 7MB of BlackBerry email!
I predict that Rogers will shortly be forced to play its hand and officially announce before Christmas that the JesusPhone is coming in early 2008. Still, its going to be a tough holiday season for employees of Rogers stores:
Potential Buyer: What are you offering that matches the cheap unlimited data plans available from Bell and Telus?
Rogers-type Person: We’re going to be the exclusive provider of Apple’s iPhone in the new year, with a special unlimited data plan and visual voicemail!
Potential Buyer: Yes, but Bell and Telus are offering their unlimited plans right now on any handset…
Rogers-type Person: Um, we’re getting the iPhone…
For me the best part about all of this is seeing the public at large starting to get the power of mobility. The “I just need to make calls” mentality is slowly fading into the background, and the perceived value of having the internet in your pocket is definitely on the rise.
If you’re finding yourself behind the curve the CBC ran an exhaustive feature on the mobile landscape last week on their technology site — or you can just browse around the pages here and get up to speed…
Filed under: Desktop, Mobile | Tagged: Bell Canada, BlackBerry, Canada, Email, HTC, Telus Mobility
I made the switch today, unlimited data on the HTC Touch! I used googlemaps on it today and it works excellently. Its so refreshing to not have to worry about data use…takes me back to my hiptop days.
Congrats on your new device! How are you liking WinMo so far?
Does the Touch have a finger-sized on-screen keyboard like the iPhone, or a smaller version more suited to a stylus? Feel free to use this space for a full review…
> Does the Touch have a finger-sized on-screen keyboard like the iPhone
I have used it and it’s really tiny, not a good thing. I tried and had to resort to using the pen.
Now, having said that (and I admit this may be old skool for you Windows Mobile users, but the first I saw it) the handwriting recognition from cursive writing was incredible. It also supports it’s own version of Graffiti for use older-skool Palm users. I think the keyboard would be my third option and a distant one at that: it’s so tiny!!!
Again, the device suffers from the same lack of consistent design aesthetic the iPhone pulls off in spades. The interface of the HTC is all over the map. It seems the software guys weren’t talking to each other.
Still, I went to my own site and it downloaded very quickly and fairly accurately; no flash but I was on the real web with IE.
Why do I have this sinking feeling Rogers will just play dead and gouge?
Okay, here is my mini-review:
So far, the most disappointing part of the phone is that its attached to Bell. That said, reception is good, and 1X (which is all we have in our area) still seems faster than EDGE. I imagine EVDO would only be better.
As for the switch? Well, I actually moved to prepaid, since I don’t really use voice much and all I need is a text plan and the browsing plan, both of which are offered on Bell prepaid. I must say, the headaches of prepaid have become apparent to me again though, I may be going postpaid soon. The network in my area appears to be very much the same as Rogers. Neither are up to date (i.e. no 3G) but both offer decent coverage and voice quality. The switch to CDMA was a big thing for me, as I’ve had 12 phones in the last year and a half so I switched almost monthly. I will have to get used to just using this one for a while. Thats perhaps a good thing, since buying/selling phones isn’t cheap.
Now for the device itself:
Coming from a bunch of Nokia’s (E61, N75) I was pleased with the build quality. Unlike my Nokia’s, there is absolutely no squeaks or rattles anywhere. This device is built very solidly. It also feels terrific in hand with the soft touch. The interface is surprisingly finger-friendly, in that most of the buttons, even if they look small, are easy to hit with your finger. A good example is the “x” button in the top of the screen. If you look at screen caps, its tiny, but just hitting the corner of the screen with your finger always works for me. The device is quick and responsive to everything I do, and the touch controls are excellent in general. The only problems are in the picture album, which can sometimes be a little touchy (teehee). Also, when you flick scroll in IE it doesn’t always scroll smoothly, so its hard to tell where you want to stop on the page. While we are on that topic, IE seems pretty speedy and smooth, so I’m not sure if its worth the switch to Opera.
All of Bell’s Touches come with a new keypad that sports two letters per key (a la BB Pearl) and it actually works very well. I swear I can actually type faster then with my E61 because your fingers don’t have to travel so far and you don’t have to put much energy into taping the keys. In my opinion, its actually one of the better keyboards I’ve used in a while. The speed of the device helps too in this case.
Windows Mobile 6 Professional (or whatever its called now) is much better than Smartphone Windows (which I had on my HTC S620), the only pain in having to install Outlook Express to Sync your contacts with your phone. Windows already has a decent address book, why not use that? Or at least give us the option of using it.
All of the software that HTC has added is smooth and quick, and very finger friendly, but I wish some of it could be customized (insert 3rd part app I haven’t found yet here). For instance, the Music in TouchFlo guides you to the Bell Music app, which is tres lame in comparison to the Audio Manager already installed on the device. Also, the “Email” button goes to the Outlook email inbox, but I would prefer it to go to my current free push-email service inbox, emoze.
Overall, I’m happy with it. The greatest thing is that I know I haven’t scratched the surface of its abilities yet. There are tonnes of apps and modifications to make the device better, and with unlimited data and the power of a good proc under the hood, there is much more to come for my little Touch. Having available 3G (soon) is the icing on the cake.
Thanks for the review! I had forgotten that you’re in a non-3G area — hope Bell hooks you up soon.
Rick, the design inconsistency you speak of isn’t necessarily HTC’s fault — their TouchFLO interface is ultimately just a skin, covering up the WinMo fugliness that lies beneath.
As a former TyTN user I’ll go on record with my opinion that HTC makes fantastic hardware; maybe HTC users will be able to flash-upgrade their devices with Google’s Android OS when it comes to market…?
I don’t know, I personally dislike the Smartphone version of WinMo, but so far Professional has been doing the job nicely. Might not need to many modifications.
AC:
Say, this couldn’t be the real reason for all the data deals with 2 of the big 3, could it?
http://tinyurl.com/yopo4n
Just wondering…
Ed
Ooh, nice find, Ed! I wouldn’t mind seeing T-Mobile in Canada one bit, if only to keep prices in check…
Elias, WinMo “professional” is the new moniker for what used to be called Windows Mobile for Pocket PC Edition, right? And it gives you the ability to edit and save Office documents, rather than just view them?
I have no problem with the functionality of WinMo — this Mac snob just isn’t a fan of its Windows-y look.
AC:
The feds must read this blog…
http://tinyurl.com/2ea542
they mention 3 potential new entrants: Quebecor, Allstream, and Shaw. Big guns and existing competitors for the big 3.
Cheers,
Ed
I’d be more welcoming of a foreign carrier, for two very pragmatic reasons:
1. There could be actual competition for GSM-specific service in this country with a multinational like T-Mobile.
2. Amidst the bitching and moaning of the “big three” someone did rightfully point out that clearNET and Fido, themselves the smaller players of their time, couldn’t cut it on their own and were eventually assimilated.
We’ll have to see what January brings, I guess…