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2008 Overview
2007 was a significant milestone on mobile phones features. Features like MP3 players and megapixel cameras became the standard. Certain features like waterproof phones went out of style. 2008 will follow many of the trends set in 2007. The strong presence of the RAZR reflects the popularity of thin phones. The flip style RAZR reached its peak during 2007. This does not mean thin is going out of style. Thin sliders will be popular during 2008. The gangbuster sales of the LG Chocolate and Samsung D809 prove this fact very well. The launch of the KRZR will probably be the last great flip thin phone.
Whether the phone is high end, mid range or low end, it comes in all form factors: flip, slider and candy bar. This year will also bring the end to the middle tier phones. The mobile phone market is polarizing. There are people who only want a phone that can talk and this represents the low end. On the other side, some people are demanding more features on their phone. This forms the core support for high end phones. Fashion phones will also fall into that category. In short, 2008 will be very similar to 2007 but with much more emphasis on the high end. As phones increase features, it lightens up the number of electronic devices one must carry. The trend is already exist. Mobile phones have already swallowed up the market for pocket calculators, watches (to a certain extent), MP3 player and cameras. The next device to be swallowed will be GPS devices, gaming devices and possibly a powerful PDA. This trend will be accelerated during 2008. It is unlikely that phones with built in GPS will trickle down to the $100 range.
The average mobile phone lifecycle is 18 months. This means it is imperative that mobile phone selection must be made with great care. If one selects the wrong phone, one has to live with that choice for a long time. No one wants to buy another phone at full retail price after purchasing a phone. This buyer's guide is designed to assist customers in making the correct decision. At StudentPhones, we want to make sure that our customers are satisfied with their purchase. In addition, a better phone decision will lead to a more enjoyable experience. One should try to buy a phone with the future in mind to avoid early obsolesce. When buying a phone, many features and buzzwords will appear, this guide will help you understand what they mean. This way, you can decide what features are needed in your next purchase.
18 bit (262000 colors) LCD reflective screens
This represents the most high end color display technology available. This will give the most vibrant colors. Specs are still numbers. A reflective screen will work better outdoor especially under sunlight. Lesser screens will not be visible under the sun. More colors means more vivid graphics and a better gaming experience. The downside to all these new technologies is that they consume more power than before.
World Phones
Many phones with tri or quad band are advertised as world phones. This means the phone will work in countries outside of Canada. The rule of thumb is to look at the frequency that it supports. A triband phone with 850/1800/1900MHz will work mainly in the American continent and many other high income countries. A phone with 900/1800/1900MHz is designed for the Asia, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Austrialia. The lack of 850MHz support will mean that it will not work in many countries in South and Central America. A quad band phone will work in every country except Japan and South Korea. A phone that has 2100MHz WCDMA will work in Japan. These phones are rare and it is not likely that Fido or Rogers will carry it.
TV
Many phones are advertised as TV phones. This does not mean that it can replace a TV. It is designed to play streaming video from a provider. For example, the O'Reilly Factor is a 1 hour show on Fox News Corporation. No TV phone will display the show from beginning to end with no interuption. At best, it will have clips of segments from the show. It will be another 2 or 3 years before a TV phone can compete with a conventional TV. Expect this feature to be deployed on Fido and Rogers around the first half of 2008.
Digital Rights Management
This feature is something most people do not want. Most CDMA phones have this feature. It basically restricts ringtones, MP3 files, graphics from being transferred to another device. In some cases, this mean the phone will only accept files from the provider' portal. GSM phones are slightly better.
MP3 Player
MP3 phones were heavily promoted for the past 2 years. The current batch of phones support more MP3 related functions. Many of them support functions like Shuffle, Repeat and Playlist. These functions were absent from earlier mobile phones. Mobile phones that play WMA files are still largely absent. This will be a feature that one must wait until 2008. As phones become more advanced, it will be able to replace an independent MP3 player especially if it is equipped with removable memory. Removable memory is the most valuable feature on a MP3 phone. By using a memory card directly with a computer, this will greatly increase the speed of transfer. Many mobile phone data cables are restricted to USB 1.1 standard. This will limit transmission to 11 Megabit per second. On a USB 2.0 memory card reader, it can transfer up to 400 Megabits per second.
There are two main memory card standards in the mobile marketplace. MicroSD or Transflash is the most popular amongst mobile manufactures. Nokia, Samsung and Motorola mostly use this standard. It is available in sizes from 128 MB to 2 GB. The other memory card standard is from Sony, it is called Memory Stick M2. There are variations in this standard. Only Sony Ericsson phones use this standard. It is available in sizes between 128 MB to 4 GB. If you purchase a phone with removable memory, it makes sense to purchase a memory card at the same time. Since memory is not free, one should try to conserve space. Variable Bit Rate MP3 files should be encoded at about 128kbps to 192kbps to maintain near CD quality. This will take about 80 MB per album. On a 512 MB memory card, it will fit about 8 albums.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a personal area network technology. In other words, it is not intended for long distance data exchange. The range for Bluetooth is about 30 FT. Bluetooth is a low power networking standard that allow headphone, cars, computers and printers to communicate together. For example, on an Acura TL, a Bluetooth phone can pause the radio when an incoming call is present. The driver can access speed dialing from a steering wheel. The driver can also talk without holding the handset against his face. Some newer phones also support the A2DP Bluetooth protocol. This will allow a stereo content to be transmitted from a phone to a wireless headphone. Imagine cycling or white water rafting with no cables to get caught with something.
Bluetooth also allows an easy way to exchange data. For example, one can send a vCard (virtual business card) with Bluetooth. This eliminates the need to physically enter phone numbers when swapping numbers with friends. Content like wallpaper and photos can be swapped with freind. Some providers may restrict what can be transferred via Bluetooth. CDMA providers are the worst offenders while GSM providers are better.
1 Megapixel+ Camera
VGA cameras are yesterday's technology. They are barely usable for e-mails. Cameras having 2 Megapixel cameras can be used to print a 4x6 print. 1 Megapixel should be bare minimum that one should accept for 2008. Cameras are starting to have stabilization technology which enhances picture quality with shaky hands. Auto focus and optical zoom will only appear on high end phones in the middle of 2008. Widespread use will have to wait.
WCDMA or 3G
Rogers and Fido will both be introducing 3rd Generation technology very soon in 2008. This will allow for much faster data transfer rate. While EDGE may be good for about 128 kbps, 3G can easily transmit 300 kbps. This will allow streaming video and TV show. In addition, video conferencing will be possible. Even if such features do not interest you, you can connect it to a laptop and enjoy high speed internet from your laptop. In North America, 3G will be implemented on 1900MHz and 850MHz. This means European and Asian 3G phones operating at 2100 MHz will not work.
Smart Phones
The differences between a fully loaded phone and smart phone are subtle. Many high end phones have organizers, MP3 players, cameras, video recorder, picture editing and internet browsers. Smart Phones runs an operating system that allow additional software to be run. Many phones can run Java applications. Smart Phones can run software written in C++, C, Java and other languages. This increases the number of applications that it can run. For example, a Symbian program will work on Nokia N92 and Nokia 6630 without much modification. Java software cannot be very powerful due to hardware abstraction. No Java software can decode WMA files on the fly. While Symbian programs can decode WMA on the fly. In other words, Smart Phones are much more flexible in terms of the software it can run. Smart Phones also tend to have more powerful processor and more memory. There are two major Smart Phone operating system in use right now: Windows Mobile and Symbian.
Lithium Polymer Batteries
This is the evolutionary step up to Lithium Ion battery. It packs more power in a given area. This will give you more talk and play time in a smaller package.
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Car Charger
If you have a car, a car charger will allow you to charge the phone while your engine is running. People on the go who constantly need battery power will appreciate this feature.
Bluetooth Headset
This allows you to listen to your caller and talk with them without having a wire around your body. The more advance ones will even allow you to listen to music without wires.
Bluetooth Dongle
This device will allow a Bluetooth enabled phone to communicate with a computer. This eliminates the need for data cable. On the plus side, since Bluetooth is a standard, the dongle can be used with any Bluetooth enabled phone. If you swap phones a lot, this will save you a lot of money. The dongle will allow your phone to send contacts, messages, audio, video and photos to your computer. This is all done wirelessly without the mess of data cables.
Speaker Stand
This allows you to listen to your tunes when your phone is docked at a desk. Many will allow charging and playing music at the same time.
Screen Protector
Many phones beg to be displayed. How many will put a phone in a leather case all the time? If you do not use a leather case, your phone will be subjected to shock and scratches. One way to prevent scratches on the LCD is with a screen protector. This small thin sheet of plastic can be replaced when it is scratches. Many are installed almost invisible. This is a perfect harmony between protection and style.
Memory Card Reader
This will allow you to use the removable memory card from your phone. You can drag and drop MP3 files on your Windows PC to the memory card. The speed is much faster than a USB data cable.
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4 Items - Total $670.00
