Trade Descriptions ... ??

Thought the next thing would be to hear it from the horse's (or donkey's!) mouth. Phoned customer services and decided that we woudl try the India call centre today. Got through to a lovely lady who knew exactly what I was about to say when I mentioned the A920 and missing functionality. In the call centres they use a intranet system very much like the Ask 3 service on the webby (go look it up - has all the manuals and stuff) and she pulled up pretty much straight away an official statement.

Here we go ...

"The Motorola A920 does not have Bluetooth. This includes all Bluetooth profiles and therefore means that no Bluetooth device such as headsets carkits or laptops with Bluetooth adaptors can connect to the A920 over a Bluetooth link."

"Althrough there is an Infrared window on the right hand side of the handset, this will not function. This includes all Infrared profiles and therefore means that an no Infra-red capable device such as laptops can connnect to the A920 over an Infrared link."

"Should a user want to connect the A920 to their laptop or PC they will need to use the USB cable that is Supplied in the box."

Veena Machado, Customer Services, India.

That out of the way ... I had a good chat with her and surprisingly she was fairly knowledgeable. 3 seems to be playing the game fairly dirty. The features advertised on the website are provided by the Manufacturer (Motorola) ... so I didnt need to take it apart to find the IR and BT chips! 😛 However, the services provided by the network may differ from those provided by the manufacturer. Thanks 3.

Anyway nothing we didnt know. However she knows that 3aus are ahead of us and she says that shes expects 3uk to follow suit in terms of the (chargable) firmware upgrade, business tarifs and data connections.

Any customer that wants a refund on these grounds is entitled to it under the 14 day money-back, and for any customer over the 14 days, 3 will have to consider each individual case.

You heard it here first folks ... I'm keeping mine. 😊

Hmmm ... a little rooting round various 3owned websites turned this up ...
http://www.l33tspeak.com/a920/a920_bt.pdf

For those that dont want to d/l it here are the good bits ...

Transferring and exchanging information.

Another great feature of your Motorola A920 is the ability to connect to
a computer using a USB cable or a Bluetooth� wireless connection (will
be available late in 2003 and will require an upgrade to your handset
software to use Bluetooth�). This means you can transfer files such as
photos and music between your Motorola A920 handset and your
computer, and you can sync your handset�s contacts, calendar and email
with your PC software.

We recommend you regularly transfer contact details from your
Motorola A920 to your PC, so if your handset is lost or stolen, your
contacts will be saved.

Note: Your handset has an infrared port, but this functionality is not
available.

Again ... you reckon they will make their minds up? 😛

Even more, if you look at the 3 Developers Competition for the A920, all the prizes include both the A920 phone and a Motorola Bluetooth Headset, which would seem a wholly inappropriate prize if you can't actually use it 😊

Steve

The phone does look like it is very good, but the network sucks. Unlike other 3 phones where the phone sucks too. I kinda want one, but is it worth putting up with 3?
:-?

[quote="swing"]Even more, if you look at the 3 Developers Competition for the A920, all the prizes include both the A920 phone and a Motorola Bluetooth Headset, which would seem a wholly inappropriate prize if you can't actually use it 😊

Steve[/quote]

Daft init?

As for putting up with three ... they might be poo, but they are getting there. The scotland call centre is infinitely better than the indian one - at least they have a little technical knowledge. As for the network - I get the odd drop-out, but the services seem to be flaky as hell. I'm sure they'll come, but they seem to be very unreliable for keeping a connection at the moment. It'll just sit there trying to download stuff then come up with a variety of excuses as to why it cant. It seems to be least stable it you're in a 2/2.5g area then go into a 3g area. You've got more chance it you power cycle the phone and then try it. In fact my emails are musch more reliable in a 2.5g area than in a 3g one!

James

Hi
Just a quick note.
The handsets shipped for the prizes will support Bluetooth there's current handsets in the market will just need the firmware upgraded.
Ta :robot:

Solutions Implementation Manager

Sounds exciting! So we've got a true pro amongst us ... Yay!

J

Yay indeed!

And i suppose there willbe a charge for firmware upgrades... which by their nature fix bugs and things that dont work properly, which therefore means the handset is faulty, and therefore should be free!!

Anyone know what the latest firmware is??

[quote="emcneil"]The handsets shipped for the prizes will support Bluetooth there's current handsets in the market will just need the firmware upgraded.[/quote]

Nice to know.

Now, if 3 also enable the IR port and open up the device to 3rd party apps then the sales from techies like me will increase no end, but right now, it's something that needs a little more work before I'll jump to buy one, especially if the firmware upgrade is chargeable.

Plus, it appears the 3 network still needs some work 😊

Steve

The network does... as for the firmware upgrade, it does cost money - it's gonna be $50 in Aus so prolly somewhere ni that ballpark in the UK. The IR will never be enabled.

As for the firmware being chargable, I think 3 will prolly play it along the lines of there will be 2 branches of firmware - 1 avec BT and the other without ... this way, it can be classed as an "upgrade" and therefore not a bug fix and be chargable ...

J

[quote="james_preedy"]The IR will never be enabled.[/quote]

Have they stated any reason for this? The hardware supports it, the OS and UI support it, so it's only a decision by 3 not to enable it.

Not all of us have Bluetooth on work provided IT equipment, although I do have IR, which I use for both my current PDA and phone.

Steve

Nope, your guess is as good as mine ... 😞

It is probably harder to stop apps and data being transferred via IR if it is working, than it is to stop them being transferred by the desktop software. The easiest way is to terminate the IR altogether.

It is strange that three wants to hobble these early adopter phones when the very people using them are the ones who will a) pay for decent apps if they exist, and b) do great dev and alpha/beta testing on the new ones. Without lots of good apps, then this (and all 3 handsets) are just a phone with some expensive possible add-ons, which will never appeal to the mass market. For the mass market, the phone should come loaded or free to load. See under 'Palm Pilot'.

Three will never make money from selling apps, only from use thereof. The driver therefore is how many handsets, and how many apps are out there. Alas three will be a business school case in a couple of years, filed under 'Forgot about applications.' See it there, behind Apple Newton and Psion Organiser?

I wonder how DoCoMo works? Does it support my theory? Or am I just plain wrong...