Roland Tanglao's Weblog

Looking for a gift for a Canadian Social Geek? Then you are in luck. I'll show what's cool and give you a tour of the difficulties of being a Canadian Social Geek (there's no such thing as free trade in reality between Canada and the USA since it's even harder now than in the past to get gadgets over the border)

1. N95-1 Nokia Cameraphone ($650 from dell.ca)? Why because you can upload awesome cameraphone pictures automatically with suspend/resume to flickr for free over Wifi using ShoZu (every social geek knows where to find free wifi) and if you are rich you can do it over EDGE. Be sure to get your geek to upgrade the latest N95-1 firmware update which makes the phone much more stable when using ShoZu. And if you are really rich get an N95-3 ($619 US from Amazon USA) and upload over 3G over the r*poff Rogers and Fido 3G Network. Oh and you can do great videos but there's no automatic video upload solution (ShoZu will automatically upload 10MB videos which is far too little since that's less than a minute of full res video on the N95). Why not Sony Ericsson? Because ShoZu doesn't work so well on their phones (granted Sony phones take great pictures, better than the N95, it's just their software is even cr*ppier than Nokia's and even harder for 3rd party developers). Trust me your SGeek will love the quality of the N95 pics!
2. Apple iPhone - $US399 from Apple USA + about 150 bucks including shipping for a Hardware SIM unlock so it can work in Canada - lousy pictures but the most usable phone the world has ever seen for SMS, web browser for twitter, utterz, jaiku, etc. Notice how there are no CDMA devices on this list. That's because CDMA s*cks :-) (at least the Canadian and US implementations of CDMA s*ck, the fact that there are no SIMs means CDMA users are forever enslaved by the CDMA carriers) and even if it didn't there are no cool devices for it. Sorry Windows Mobile and RIM aren't cool and email is great but it ain't overly social :-) !
3. Chumby - display your friends flickr pictures and RSS feeds on this cute truly open hardware and software device - $179 shipped only to the US (but you know somebody in the USA you can ship this to right?)
4. Eye-Fi WiFi SD card ($US 99)- if you can't afford an N95-1 or 3 then this is the next best thing. Your point and Shoot or Digital SLR with SD to CF adapter = poor man's ShoZu. It ain't ShoZu because it doesn't have suspend and resume if connectivity is lost but it's the next best thing and the 2nd fastest way to get your pictures social. Ahem, not available in Canada. Buy in the USA at Walmart, Amazon, Costco.
5. One Laptop per Child (give one and get one for $US 400 and they ship to Canada, hallelujah!) - cool Linux laptop with built in mesh networking
6. Canon Digital Rebel XTi ($650 with decent kit lens but get the 50MM too):
   Rebel Xti + EyeFi Card and CF to SD adapter + Canon 50 MM f1.8 lens (about $100) + ISO 3200 + f1.8 = shoot in almost dark conditions and upload to flickr over wifi the moment you get to one of your locations with WiFi e.g. your house or work, the Nikon D40 is also an awesome camera but it doesn't take the Nikon 50MM lens so it ends up being more expensive (coz you have to buy a 3rd party 50MM fast lens or similar lens like the Sigma 30MM F1.4 to get a fast low light prime lens)
   
7. Nokia N800 ($274.99 from dell.ca) or N810 Linux (only available in the USA!) Internet Tablet - great for mobile blogging, twittering, jaikuing etc, also does mobile Skype very well! The N800 has two SD slots for a maxium total of 16GB of storage; the N810 has one slot but has a keyboard.

Allowing both CDMA and GSM in North America is like allowing left and right hand drive cars simultaneously. Alec nails it. Personally, I'm ignoring CDMA (since I don't have the cash to have a boring CDMA handset, the GSM ones are so much more fun for multimedia creators like myself; I am tempted by EV-DO but again no extra money for this) ; it'll either go extinct or more likely through software all phones will run every possible standard because we are unfortunately not smart enough as a society to just choose one.

FROM Driving on the right-hand side in a left-hand wireless world. — Alec Saunders .LOG:

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The wireless infrastructure is also a commodity. The Europeans got it right when they recognized this and mandated GSM over CDMA. One or the other didn't really matter, by the way. There are technical differences between GSM and CDMA, but at the end of the day nobody except industry people and operators care. What was important was standardization because it allows the ecosystem around the rest of the technology stack to flourish. By choosing not to choose, however, regulators have allowed an artificial lock-in to occur built around networking technologies. The absurdity of the latest round of telephones with CDMA built in for North America, and GSM for the rest of the world illustrates this problem very neatly. Two standards, two sets of royalties, and lord knows how many radios results in a limited choice of handsets, and more expense for the consumer. It's as if we allowed right-hand and left-hand drive cars in North America, built separate highways for each and invited the road operators and auto manufacturers to compete. Then, because some people's houses and businesses are on one road/auto standard and others on another, the industry decided to build cars with two steering wheels that can drive on either road standard.

Consumers are best served when commodities are delivered in standard ways. And because monopolies tend to act in the best interests of shareholders rather than consumers I would argue, in disagreement with my friend Mark, that when the market reaches a point where competition is not being served, standards should be dictated.

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UPDATE: The SIM functionality (there appears to be no user replaceable SIM) appears to be controlled through the iTunes store. Very interesting. 

I am not a cellphone hardware engineer but it seems ridiculous to support EDGE and support CDMA which is what Boris is implying ("If the iPhone is, indeed, a CDMA phone, then the whole will the iPhone be locked to Cingular question is a bit moot: without SIM cards, you can't take it to another network.") but hey we could both be wrong. More likely, the iPhone is GSM and uses EDGE data and the SIM instead of being user replaceable is hardwired in the first version of the iPhone. The soap opera continues :-) !

FROM The Mossberg Solution - WSJ.com:

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But the iPhone has a major drawback: the cellphone network it uses. It only works with AT&T (formerly Cingular), won't come in models that use Verizon or Sprint and can't use the digital cards (called SIM cards) that would allow it to run on T-Mobile's network. So, the phone can be a poor choice unless you are in areas where AT&T's coverage is good. It does work overseas, but only via an AT&T roaming plan.

In addition, even when you have great AT&T coverage, the iPhone can't run on AT&T's fastest cellular data network. Instead, it uses a pokey network called EDGE, which is far slower than the fastest networks from Verizon or Sprint that power many other smart phones. And the initial iPhone model cannot be upgraded to use the faster networks.

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It would be cool if somebody actually implemented a system where we could move GSM SIMs to CDMA phones and vice versa so with one SIM or R-UIM you could use mobile phones from CDMA or GSM suppliers or networks but the odds of that happening I'd imagine are the same as the odds were of Betamax winning over VHS :-) ! [And yes I know that CDMA technology is used by 3G GSM!]

FROM Removable User Identity Module - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia via email from David

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Removable User Identity Module (R-UIM), a card developed for CDMA handsets that is equivalent to the GSM SIM and 3G USIM except that it is capable of working in both CDMA and GSM phones and networks. It is physically compatible with GSM SIMs and can fit into existing GSM phones as it is an extension of the GSM 11.11 standard

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EMAIL FROM David:

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It seems that not only are R-UIMs the equivalent to SIMs, according to the Wikipedia article they're actually compatible with SIMs and can be placed into GSM phones:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removable_User_Identity_Module

It can actually store provisioning information for both types of networks:

http://www.china.org.cn/english/BAT/109251.htm
http://www.cdmatech.com/products/ruim.jsp

Technically, the R-UIM is basically kind of like of an extension of a SIM card that is defined in the "GSM 11.11" standard:

http://www.ttfn.net/techno/smartcards/gsm11-11.pdf
http://www.3gpp2.org/Public_html/specs/CS0023-0.pdf

Perhaps the CRTC should simply say that all providers in Canada (regardless of the underlying network) must use R-UIMs?

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I am unencumbered by knowledge when it comes to R-UIMs on CDMA phones. Are they really the CDMA equivalent of SIM cards (which allow people to switch phones).? If so, it seems logical (but unfortunately nothing is logical in the 'krazy' world of the mobile bandwidth oligopoly) to make their use mandatory and to make R-UIMs work across different Canadian CDMA carriers so people can switch carriers just as easily as they can switch numbers. Have any other CDMA carriers around the world done this? I'm guessing no and I'm guessing this is yet another reason why CDMA will continue to lose market share world wide.

FROM Telecom Trends: Looking forward to Videotron wireless:

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A new entrant on this market would be a nice thing. But beside a 4th entrant, maybe the CRTC should mandate first the Bell, Telus, Virgin Mobile and other CDMA operators to let customers port their CDMA handset. So that to really complement the MNP of March 14th.I find this situation where to benefit from the services of one operator you have to buy "one of his phones" and you can't use he same phone on another CDMA network. The case with Virgin Mobile which operate on the physical infrastructure of Bell doesn't allow one to buy say a CDMA smartphone from Bell and activate it with Virgin Mobile is abusing for me. I am used to the european market and maybe porting CDMA phones from one operator to another is by far an efficient way to bring competition and innovation in this market. R-UIM technology have been around for years but operators still hold back the customer's freedom to choose the best offer. I don't see where a customer will benefit from a 4th operator.

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Hmmm. Provocative. I am not a big fan of CDMA but I doubt this will happen! Check back in 2011!

From Why CDMA will die!
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I believe that by 2011 (in another five years) the market share of CDMA family in the world will be less than 2%. There are many analysts out there who do predict that CDMA market (CDMA, CDMA2000, etc) will shrink but their estimates are quite generous. Currently, the market share of CDMA family in the world is around 18% but is dwindling gradually (while GSM family currently holds 81% of the market). I believe that this decreasing rate will soon pick up pace to shrink quite drastically in an exponential fashion leading to its ultimate demise.

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Laugh out loud. Slogan des Tages! Go GSM go!

FROM Telecom Trends: Technology versus Service:

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He said that TELUS has been playing catchup with Rogers in some areas of wireless applications because of Rogers' use of GSM and the greater number of applications that exist for that platform. He noted the earlier availability of RIM Blackberry as an example.

We can argue about whether or not CDMA may be a better network technology, but what is clear is that consumers are more concerned about what they can do with the technology - not the inner workings themselves.

Look at Betamax as a great example.

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The Nokia N93 (with crazy transformer form factor, not for normal users definitely!) looks like a perfect phone to run ShoZu! I want one! This phone basically implements my 2010 dream phone (3 megapixel, 3x optical zoom) 3 years ahead of schedule . And it does 3G as well as GSM and EDGE so it will work with our cr*ppy Canadian cellphone networks that currently offer GSM and will soon offer EDGE. Question: Is there a CDMA 1X or EVDO phone that's this compelling? Hmmm I think not! I really don't understand why CDMA and EV-DO continue to exist other than as a futile, desperate attempt to stem the GSM and UMTS juggernaut. As Alex blogged CDMA and EV-DO phones continue to s*ck (mostly clunky and cr*ppy BREW and Windows Mobile phones).

I doubt the N93 bundled Flickr client is as good as ShoZu. Specifically, I doubt the bundled flickr client has suspend/resume functionality when you lose and regain mobile connectivity. I hope to be proven wrong on this one! Nokia, please bundle ShoZu with future phones!

FROM Review: Nokia N93 (MobileBurn):

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Starting with multimedia capabilities, the new Nokia N93 includes a 3.2 megapixel auto focus camera with Carl Zeiss optics and 3x optical zoom, a 2.4" QVGA display, and full audio/video playback capabilities. The camera is worth noting, not only due to its still image capabilities, but also its ability to capture video in VGA resolution at 30fps - enough for a good experience while utilizing the built in TV-out functionality. As with the other two devices announced from Berlin today, the N93 supports direct uploading to the Flickr photo-sharing site from the handset's Gallery and Camera applications. Storage-wise, the N93 includes 50MB of on board memory, and miniSD expansion.

On the connectivity front, the 3G capable Nokia N93 again has everything covered. Bluetooth and Infrared support is complemented with the inclusion of 802.11b/g WLAN connectivity, with UPnP for simplified streaming of media to compatible devices.

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