This may very well be my next cell phone. What’s missing? Notably, a GSM, or CDMA module. There is no way to reach a traditional wireless carrier on this device. Its a smartphone, without the phone (otherwise known as a PDA, albeit a fancy one). It has WiFi and Bluetooth. Combined with a bluetooth headset + Skype-In/Out/Voicemail, it becomes a very capable telephone.
A new carrier, Skype is in town. And it’s a whole lot cheaper than the Verizon’s/Cingular’s/Sprint’s of the world. (Try 2 cents-per-minute to China. And 2-cents per-minute while you’re in China for that matter - no roaming fees). Plus free in-network calling - really free, as in $0.00, not as in “free Verizon-to-Verizon if you give us $60/month”. Your whole phone bill could drop by an order of magnitude, even if you throw in an all-you-can-eat hotspot plan.
Charles is experiencing life without a GSM connection right now, and he’s actually not missing much. His phone died while traveling, but even so, he’s been very reachable. He can call me, I can call him. Granted, WiFi doesn’t have the coverage of GSM, but 95% of the places that I make calls, I’m sitting under a hot-spot of some sort (either at home, work, airport, etc). I’d be fine with those other 5% going to Voicemail.
Why not?
(I’m half-kidding, half-serious about this being my next cellphone. Of course, I realize there are tradeoffs in convenience if I were to really ditch GSM, but isn’t it interesting that its POSSIBLE? right now!)
June 14th, 2005 at 1:28 pm
The choices in phone carriers is even more complicated now. I decided to call you yesterday. To call your office, I could either use Skype at 2 cents per minute (actually, I still have a few Euros in my Skype account courtesy of an offer from Plantronics), or use my cell phone, which is a sunken expense with free long distance until I use up my minutes, and then it’s something like 40 cents a minute. I don’t get good cell reception in my office, and the Skype connection quality varies depending on the bandwidth and equipment involved. Since Skype actually had a better chance of giving a good connection, that’s what I chose.
When that went to voicemail, I decided to try your cell phone. It’s a free call if I call from my cell phone and you have the same carrier, but I don’t think you have the same carrier. Again, 2 cents a minute on Skype, but there are exceptions for reaching cell phones with SkypeOut in some countries and I don’t remember which ones. Ah, but between Dallas and Fort Worth, calling a cell phone from a land line is usually free if I don’t dial “1″ first. So I used the land line, a sunken expense with no time limits.
Clear as mud? :-)