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Darren New <dne### [at] san rrcom> wrote:
> Invisible wrote:
> > Also, what's with all these "locked" phones? What's all that about?
> It keeps you from using the phone with a different carrier. Since the
> carrier subsidized the phone, they "lock" it to keep you from buying a
> cheap phone from them and then using it without paying back the subsidy.
IIRC, that's illegal in Finland. (Which is the reason why the Finnish
release of the iPhone has been so postponed.)
--
- Warp
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Mueen Nawaz <m.n### [at] ieeeorg> wrote:
> I'm still one of those folks who refuses to get a cell phone. (Actually,
> I have a cheap prepaid one for emergencies, but that doesn't count).
> Don't know about the UK, but I just think they're way overpriced here
> and I have no intention of getting into a contract. And I don't like
> their practices, the cell phone culture, etc.
Don't know about how things are where you live, but at least here
cellphones are *by far* the cheapest way to own a phone line. A landline
is nowadays a lot more expensive than a cheap cellphone connection.
Especially if you don't call a lot (like in my case) it can be *ridiculously*
cheap. (My last cellphone bill was something like 23 euros. And the bill was
for the last 6 months. I actually just changed to an even cheaper contract,
so the bills will lower even from that.)
It can be very handy when your few friends can contact you anytime
anywhere.
--
- Warp
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Warp wrote:
> IIRC, that's illegal in Finland. (Which is the reason why the Finnish
> release of the iPhone has been so postponed.)
Probably. It's a pretty annoying practice. I believe the politicians are
putting restrictions on it here, and in theory the GSM standard (IIUC)
says you're not allowed to do this either. (It would kind of defeat the
main purpose of having a SIM to start with.)
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
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On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:32:27 -0400, Warp wrote:
> Don't know about how things are where you live, but at least here
> cellphones are *by far* the cheapest way to own a phone line
In the US this is typically not the case, or hasn't been until recent
years. I know my mom only has a cell phone now, but she's got a pretty
good plan. Understanding cell phone plans in the US requires a degree in
advanced mathematics in many cases.
Oddly enough, gym memberships also tend to have very complicated pricing
options IME.
Jim
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Jim Henderson wrote:
> In the US this is typically not the case, or hasn't been until recent
> years.
Yeah. When 96%+ of the households are already wired for land lines, it's
pretty cheap to get a land line connection. Cell phone prices are
coming down because of the competition here, but the whole confusopoly
of pricing is bizarre.
I saw an ad just this morning, describing how you could sign up for a
plan that would let the parents dynamically limit the number of text
messages and minutes the children could have. As in, "you didn't pass
your math test, so you only get 20 minutes of cell phone this month."
The cynical part of me immediately assumed that the phone would continue
to allow calls, and the parents would just get charged overage fees. :-)
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
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On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:59:15 -0700, Darren New wrote:
> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> In the US this is typically not the case, or hasn't been until recent
>> years.
>
> Yeah. When 96%+ of the households are already wired for land lines, it's
> pretty cheap to get a land line connection. Cell phone prices are
> coming down because of the competition here, but the whole confusopoly
> of pricing is bizarre.
Yeah. I don't even know what rate plan I'm on (I think it's a fixed plan
since that's the corporate standard and it's paid by the company - which
is why I don't know) + unlimited data for the BES service.
The thing that's surprised me is how much prices have increased for
landline and cable services in the last few years.
> I saw an ad just this morning, describing how you could sign up for a
> plan that would let the parents dynamically limit the number of text
> messages and minutes the children could have. As in, "you didn't pass
> your math test, so you only get 20 minutes of cell phone this month."
> The cynical part of me immediately assumed that the phone would continue
> to allow calls, and the parents would just get charged overage fees. :-)
I wonder if that's how it really would work; that'd make for a quick
sale, but not a lot of retention. Thing is, many business people seem to
only think of the quick sale.
Jim
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Warp wrote:
>
> IIRC, that's illegal in Finland. (Which is the reason why the Finnish
> release of the iPhone has been so postponed.)
>
It's illegal in Finland, except for 3G phones.
And the locking is pretty far useless. If you can get the people to make
eg. 24-month contract (after which, at least in Finland, you have to
offer to open the phone), they will pay you the same money, even if they
used competitors SIM-card (which makes it stupid to use competitors SIM,
while it costs more, so...).
--
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
http://www.zbxt.net
aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid
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Warp wrote:
...
> It has several cool features for games: Not only the touchscreen, but
> it can detect its own orientation with respect to the ground with a
> gravitometer (which allows the game to react when you tilt the device)
> as well as an accelerometer, which allows the game to detect if you
> move the device and do something accordingly.
> From what I have heard the gravitometer is very accurate, allowing it
> to detect even small changes in tilting (in all possible directions).
...
I would think that the gravitometer and the accelerometer is
the same thing.
It can be done with ICs like this:
http://www.hitachimetals.com/product/sensors/accelerometer/
From the key features lists:
Capable to detect "Static(Tilt) and "Dynamic"
--
Tor Olav
http://subcube.com
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Tor Olav Kristensen wrote:
> I would think that the gravitometer and the accelerometer is
> the same thing.
It does make for some funky apps.
http://iphoneappreviews.org/mach-dice-holographic-dice-simulator/
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
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Warp wrote:
> From what I have heard the gravitometer is very accurate, allowing it
> to detect even small changes in tilting (in all possible directions).
The accuracy is impressive, particularly noticeable on this game:
http://labyrinth.codify.se/
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