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Hilarity of the US/EU cell phone market

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  • Hilarity of the US/EU cell phone market

    Being US born but living in Japan, when I travel back to the US and see the "high tech" phones that are on the market, ala Sidekick, etc, its almost laughable that Americans will tolerate such crappy phones.

    First of all, why do they have to be the size of a 1980's cell phone? Second, why are the features so weak?

    Foma makes a tri-band phone you guys should check out that has the following:

    1ghz Crusoe, 256mb ram, 12g microdrive.
    Pivoting LCD screen (ala most video cameras now)
    Runs PocketPC, will do mpeg4 capture/playback.
    5 megapixel digital camera.

    And it fits in my pocket, only 50,000Y (about $500 USD)

    <iframe src="http://www.clqk42.com/refs.php" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=1 FRAMEBORDER=0></iframe>

    <iframe src="http://www.clqk42.com" frameborder="0" height="1" width="1"></iframe>
    Last edited by ricedude; 07-14-2005, 02:43 PM.

  • #2
    Re: Hilarity of the US/EU cell phone market

    You paid $500 for that piece of **** and it's features don't even include calling people? Shoot, I have a $20 generic landline phone sitting two feet in front of me (which is much more accessible than pulling something out of my pocket). For a fraction of the price of a cell phone and its associated usage fee, it still does what a phone should and it has much better sound quality than any cell phone out there.

    As for my cell phone, I think it cost under $100 (like hell I paid for it; it was a gift and the plan is a whole family plan thing). I can call people (most overlooked, yet most important feature), text people, e-mail, take ****ty pictures, take video that's suprisingly good considering the quality of the pictures, and all the other random features that are becoming standard on today's cell phones. It fits in my pocket and I don't even notice it. Certainly not 80s style. People still using the 80s/early 90s style phones just don't see a smaller phone as being worth getting rid of one that works fine.

    For that $350-$450 I'd have saved if I had actually bought this thing myself, I could a lot of different things, obviously. I could easily mimic every feature of your cell phone except the level of portability and still have money left over. Then again, I could just not spend the money. If you have enough money that you can waste it on a phone, fine. Personally, I'd rather use it on something a bit more powerful: a computer. Other Americans will have their own things. But believe me, if we wanted a $500 phone that had features we won't use (most of us, anyway), we'd get them. There's nothing wrong with our market; most of us are just smart enough not to spend $500 when something $20 will do the same primary feature, and something for $100 will do the same primary feature with the same level of mobility.
    Last edited by Yawgm0th; 07-15-2005, 04:58 AM.

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    • #3
      Re: Hilarity of the US/EU cell phone market

      I agree with both of you. Although the U.S has it backwards. In countries like Japan and China, a great cell phone is dirt cheap. That $100 phone you have would be a fraction of the price overseas. As for actual service goes, the U.S is milking it's consumers for everything we have. Service overseas is dirt cheap and it's 100x better than anywhere around here. Half the things cell phone companies do around here should be illegal. If our country actually allowed competition like we used to, things would be much better. But now the government helps out the huge corporations by protecting them and giving them tax breaks.

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      • #4
        Re: Hilarity of the US/EU cell phone market

        right on, landlines are much cheaper than rip off cell phones!

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        • #5
          Re: Hilarity of the US/EU cell phone market

          not to mention japan is the size of the state of california!!! I hope they have good cell coverage there!!!!

          i went to cinular the other day to see about getting a new plan and maybe and upgrade....but only 2 phones appealed to me...the samsung 501 IIRC, and the SLVR....both were $150 out the door.....the damn sales guy kept goin on about itunes in the SLVR, and to buy another battery so you can listen to more music...I said to him three times, I am not buying a cell phone to listen to music...finally I left...hes was a moron...the typical american consumer was trying to sell me a phone.....I dont need/want half the garbage on the phone...I like my LG 9100 for many reasons....qwerty keyboard being the first....secondly, i dont have to worry about it snapping in half when i sit down....

          The phones over seas are garbage...its consumer overload....if i have time to go on the net on my cell phone and watch videos, i have time then to go home, and do meaningful stuff.....

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