New 3G Phones

Yep, I know it's not a 3G phone :) I was just saying that I was interested in getting the 6260 before I decided to go for 3G.
 
There are reasons why the Nokia 6630 has been designed the way it is. Check it out here along with many more phones at this Russian website (English translation link below).
This site has comprehensive previews and reviews (including actual photos take with the phones). You can see the effort which has gone into this site, not like some of the other sh***y phone review sites :)
http://www.mobile-review.com/index-en.shtml
 
Yeah thats a great site for reviews - I found it yesterday.

I think the 6630 is a stunning looking phone, I just wish there wasn't such a delay in releasing it.
 
I was disappointed when discovered Nokia 9500 is not a 3G phone.only EGPRS or EDGE enabled.

Nokia seems to slowly losing its magic ( any big company does that sooner or later)
 
Vodacom 3G : will a 3G phone with CDMA network standard work on the vodacom network????
 
V800

Well it's nice to see a thread discussing the phones here...
Lets get on with it. I got myself a K700i in Jan now I wanted to wait before upgradeing since I wanted to get the V800. Actually through a few quirks i can still upgrade... I was told I could do an accelarated upgrade in October. Then in Jan I got an SMS telling me I could upgrade in Jan... Now it's March and i still don't have the phone I want.

Getting back to the point. The K700i I got in Jan is really nice. A small issue bugged me. The Vodacom branding on the phone. At first it was a minor irritation . haveing those pictures there (You can't delete them FYI - Cannot delete protected item). Then attempting to do a backup of the entire phone caused my PC to complain that it doesn't have rights to access a file and it would abort the backup.

So I did what any normal customer would do. I went to the vodashop where i bought the phone (Hatfield) - They cant help me I have to go to the other hatfield store since they have a repair centre.
That started my run around, Hatfield, Menlyn, Vodaworld. And every time I got the following replies: "It can't be done it's part of the phone" or "Not a problem we'll just reflash the phone/do a software upgrade" (Ironically they're surprised if it didn't work.)
So after a couple of visits to the SE developers forum and the SEtool forum I finally got a nice technician at Menlyn to direct me to someone that can help.
Ixia surprisingly refused to help me since they have an agreement with vodacom. Also 111 was quite useless in this regard.
I eventually went to Vodaworld and the conversation went something like this:
Retnox:"can you remove the vodacom branding on this phone - I had it 2 weeks and it's bugging me"
Tech: "Not a problem we'll upgrade the software and you can have the phone within an hour"
Retnox:"Are you sure?"
Tech:"100% its not a problem"
Retnox:"Are you really sure?"
Tech:"Let me get my Supervisor on the line and make certain for you.."
Retnox:"Thanks"
Tech:"Can you speak to my supervisor?"
Retnox:"Sure"
Sup:"Sorry It can't be done... It's part of the phone"
Retnox:"Can I book the phone in then.. Will it help"
Sup:"It cant be done"
Retnox:"I'll book it in anyway"
Tech:"So?"
<Here's where my recearch finally payed off.>
Retnox:"Book the phone in with your advanced repair centre as a level 3 repair with <name withheld - PM me if you really need to know>"
<Tech looks bewildered as I give him the name, number etc. he picks up the phone and confirms that the persion is actually working there and is a SE product specialist.>
As i get the repair order I notice that the phone is booked in for 7 to 10 days.
Retnox:"Why is it booked in for so long?"
Tech:"It needs to get sent to Head office"
Retnox: :confused:
Retnox:"You mean the advanced repair centre?"
Tech:"Yeah"
Retnox:"The one on the other side of the parking lot?"
Tech:"Yeah"
Retnox:"Can't I just walk over there and book in the phone myself then?"
Tech"No... <lotsa reasons why I can't etc..>"
So I take the repair order and cross out the 10 days and write above it "Second Day Repair"

I collected the phone the next day.

Now I got a bit off track on this rant.. I just want to know. Will I have the same issue with the V800? Probably I guess.

It wasn't on the list of new phones on Monday.. When can we expect to be able to order it?

And isn't the V800 getting a tad old? I mean the V802 is out already.
The Z1010 is till listed as "Comeing soon" on the SE South Africa site. no mention of the V800 or V802 yet. I doubt it will even be launched here. or will it? Its basically a older version of the K700i with 3G and memory stick capabilities. It's hardware is so similar to the K700 you can run a K700 with Z1010 software.

Well enough ranting. I'll leave you guys to punch holes in this rant and maybe get a few gems in the intrim.
 
SE V800i

@V3G

Any news as to when the Sony Ericsson V800 will be available, and costs?

Thanks
 
Motorola A1000

I've noticed that alot of you are discussing 3g phones. I would be interested to see what the opinions are to this Moto phone.

Having been a Nokia fan for close on a decade, I have found this offering from Motorola to be the best 3g phone yet (Its made most of Nokia's 3g phones seem archaic).

Beyond all the bells and whistles that 3g phones can offer, this phone I've seen offers something no other current phone can match... And thats GPS.

Its a pity to see that both VodaCom and MTN don't have a keen interest to release the phone, according to its initial release date for SA, they are about 3 months overdue.
 
Vodacom does not decide which handsets are released. The handset suppliers decide which phones they bring into the country and present to Vodacom to certify.

If the phone pass the certification, they become available to the retail channel.

If you like a specific phone, put pressure on the vendor to make it available. They often have different agendas when releasing products into the local market.

Think about it, if Vodacom could release more phones, more air time would be sold. So, it's not a case of Vodacom not showing an interest in releasing a phone like the A1000.

The A1000 was discussed in another thread on this forum and some concerns were raised around it's stability.
 
I have read about the concerns raised about its stability. Interestingly enough, i'd like to know how people can discuss about stability since noone in South Africa has had a real go at the phone.

Reading many international forums discussing 3g phones, it has been made clear by the public that the A1000 has been rated top compared to other 3g offerings.

With reference to pushing the vendors to release the phone, I have already spoken to Moto SA, they said the reason that they havent released the phone is because:

1. Vodacom: Decided to go with the E1000
2. MTN: Will not launch the phone before they release 3g

So the response from them is that it is out of their hands and in the networks hands.

It seems that depending on who one speaks to, the easier response to give is 'Its someone elses problem, not mine.'
 
Telkom: It's an ISP/Cellular/modem/weather/computer problem
Everybody else: It's a Telkom problem

I think it's a South African thing.
 
Prescription said:
1. Vodacom: Decided to go with the E1000
2. MTN: Will not launch the phone before they release 3g

So the response from them is that it is out of their hands and in the networks hands.

It seems that depending on who one speaks to, the easier response to give is 'Its someone elses problem, not mine.'
Click to expand...

Prescription,

As stated before, more (endorsed) phones on the network means more airtime, thus more revenue for Vodacom. Therefore Vodacom will endorse any phone presented for certification.

Obviously we cannot comment on MTN's strategy but, in this forum, we've seen people buying 3G phones from MTN (Nokia 6630). From this we can deduce that MTN is selling 3G capable phones and not waiting for their network to go live.

I believe it's more an issue of when Motorola will bring the A1000 in. It's quite new and Vodacom is still awaiting the test models from Motorola. The E1000 became available December 2004, long before the A1000 was announced.

On this point, the Nokia 6680 has gone into testing.

This will excite many forumites :)
 
vodacom3g said:
Obviously we cannot comment on MTN's strategy but, in this forum, we've seen people buying 3G phones from MTN (Nokia 6630). From this we can deduce that MTN is selling 3G capable phones and not waiting for their network to go live.
Click to expand...

I can confirm this! I got a 6630 from MTN when i renewed my MTN contract, but use it with my Vodacom SIM. Got an E1000 from Vodacom but really dont like it... Important point to note - the 6630 has NOT been certified for use on Vodacom's network - it failed the certification tests. So if you do what i did and use it on their network, dont expect any support. having said that, it has worked 100% to date... i actually really like the phone!
 
To confirm, the 6630 is currently not endorsed, but I'm pretty sure it will be in the (probably near) future.

It's normally a process of going back to the supplier to sort out a few glitches.
 
CodeMaster said:
@V3G

Any news as to when the Sony Ericsson V800 will be available, and costs?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Vodacom3G any info on this one? It was getting tiresome playing pingpong between SE (0861632222) and Vodacom Upgrade department. I already know that new phones are listed on the 7th of each month. I also know that Vodacom can launch a phone any time during the month so I've been dilegently phoning every week just to see if I might get a scrap of new info.

So today:
SE - Spoke to Riaan @ 9:30 "Its upto the Network operator on when to launch the phone"
V Upgrade: Spoke to Batseba @ 9:36 "We don't know, It's not listed on our stock list, but you can check with us on the 7th"

Oh any news on the Z800? It's spesifications looks exactly like those of the V800 only it takes the newer Sony Memory Stick. :p

Please don't think I'm always being negative all the time. I sometime I really do get some well-informed people on the line from time to time. For example Last night Helena @ ~9:00 on your 155 number was really professional and well-informed. It's people like her that make up for all those times you want to throw the phone against the wall.
 
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