David Pogue Takes on Verizon and the v710

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

Bluetooth, of course, is a short-range wireless cable-elimination
feature. On a cellphone, it offers four juicy features:

1. You can do your talking on a wireless Bluetooth headset, leaving the
phone in your pocket and both hands on the wheel.

2. You can use the phone as a wireless Internet antenna for a laptop or
palmtop, making Internet calls from anywhere--without even taking the
phone from your pocket.

3. You can sync your computer's address book into the phone, saving you
the trouble of having to re-enter them. (You can also sync the address
book to the dashboard computers of certain Toyota Prius, Lexus, BMW or
Acura models.)

4. You can shoot files back and forth to other Bluetooth gadgets.
Thanks to this feature, you can take pictures with your Bluetooth phone
and then transfer them wirelessly to your Mac or PC.

The V710's page at the Motorola Web site sums it up like this: "From
wireless talking to wireless synching, this phone makes it happen."

What it doesn't say is: "But Verizon makes it NOT happen."

Verizon, it turns out, has turned off features 3 and 4. If you want to
sync your address book with a computer, you have to buy a $40 cable. And
if you want to transfer pictures, you'll either have to send them by
e-mail or use Verizon's Pix Messaging service--25 cents per photo. (You
can't transfer pictures via the phone's removable memory card.)

read the whole article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/30/ [...] EMAIL.html

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

In article <B_27d.1072$z04.856@twister.socal.rr.com>,
"Gregg Hill" <bogus@nowhere.com> wrote:

> From Motorola, in response to my sync questions regarding phonebooks and
> pictures via Bluetooth:

Do you have an auto responder that posts that any time V710 and Verizon
Wireless appear in a message?

--
Stop Mad Cowboy Disease: Vote for John Kerry.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

Michelle,

It only shows up when it is OBVIOUS that the original poster did not see it
previously or saw it but ignored it. In this case, it seemed as though the
poster was not aware of it coming "in November" according to Motorola. To
answer Opentoe's remark, the fix is being released by Motorola, not Verizon,
so the date *may* be more trustworthy.

I'm curious. Why did you not flame the original poster for not seeing the
other posts on the subject of the V710's Bluetooth fix in the works?

Gregg Hill



"Michelle Steiner" <michelle@michelle.org> wrote in message
news:michelle-A78641.19591030092004@news.west.cox.net...
> In article <B_27d.1072$z04.856@twister.socal.rr.com>,
> "Gregg Hill" <bogus@nowhere.com> wrote:
>
>> From Motorola, in response to my sync questions regarding phonebooks and
>> pictures via Bluetooth:
>
> Do you have an auto responder that posts that any time V710 and Verizon
> Wireless appear in a message?
>
> --
> Stop Mad Cowboy Disease: Vote for John Kerry.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

Michelle,

I was responding to his comments (What it doesn't say is: "But Verizon makes
it NOT happen." Verizon, it turns out, has turned off features 3 and 4. If
you want to
sync your address book with a computer....) in the last paragraph above the
link, not the article he quoted. Right after I hit send, I thought I might
get a response as to posting the same answer. I'll let all future ones go
unanswered. It has been fairly well thumped to death, anyway!

At least Motorola has specific information (the OBEX profile) as to the
cause of the crippled Bluetooth. For all those folks who bought the V710,
let's hope their fix is out in November.

I hope the LG VX-8000 or Audiovox 9900 do not turn out as poorly as the
V710.

Take care!

Gregg Hill



"Michelle Steiner" <michelle@michelle.org> wrote in message
news:michelle-029B35.00204301102004@news.west.cox.net...
> In article <1277d.1098$z04.310@twister.socal.rr.com>,
> "Gregg Hill" <bogus@nowhere.com> wrote:
>
>> It only shows up when it is OBVIOUS that the original poster did not
>> see it previously or saw it but ignored it. In this case, it seemed
>> as though the poster was not aware of it coming "in November"
>> according to Motorola.
>
> In this case, we couldn't tell whether he previously saw it or not
> because all he did was post an excerpt of an article from the New York
> Times; he also gave the URL for the complete article, which, by the way,
> says that the fix was coming--but it doesn't give a date.
>
>> I'm curious. Why did you not flame the original poster for not seeing
>> the other posts on the subject of the V710's Bluetooth fix in the
>> works?
>
> I'm sorry that you thought I was flaming you. It's just that you have
> posted that so many times, that I really did get to wondering whether
> you set it up as an auto response.
>
> And I didn't flame him because all he did was post an excerpt of an
> article.
>
> By the way, six weeks ago, Motorola was saying that the patch would be
> coming in October (actually, they said "in about two months" ).
>
> --
> Stop Mad Cowboy Disease: Vote for John Kerry.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

Since you had to sign in to see it, I did not read the article. Thanks for
the update.

Gregg Hill


"Michelle Steiner" <michelle@michelle.org> wrote in message
news:michelle-B6A543.00524701102004@news.west.cox.net...
> In article <AN77d.1104$z04.115@twister.socal.rr.com>,
> "Gregg Hill" <bogus@nowhere.com> wrote:
>
>> I was responding to his comments (What it doesn't say is: "But
>> Verizon makes it NOT happen." Verizon, it turns out, has turned off
>> features 3 and 4. If you want to sync your address book with a
>> computer....) in the last paragraph above the link, not the article
>> he quoted.
>
> Actually, that entire message (except for the link) is quoted directly
> from the article. It was not the poster's comments.
>
> And from everything I've read, features 3 and 4 are not in the phone
> because Verizon didn't want them there, so Motorola either turned them
> off or removed them completely.
>
> The only one I am concerned about is synching the phone with my Prius,
> and I'm finding that that's not all that much of a big deal because my
> bluetooth headset is seemingly more convenient because it can handle
> voice dialing.
>
> -- Michelle
>
> --
> Stop Mad Cowboy Disease: Vote for John Kerry.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

"Michelle Steiner" <michelle@michelle.org> wrote in message
news:michelle-029B35.00204301102004@news.west.cox.net...

> And I didn't flame him because all he did was post an excerpt of an
> article.

And apparently that article (I didn't read it myself) had something about
not being able to transfer pics and ringers by using the transflash card,
which is untrue and therefore I would not trust anything else that the
article might have contained, assuming that it had a statement about the
transflash card.



--
God Bless America!

Bob the Printer


Our web pages are located at:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/bdolson/

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

Maybe a loud voice from a big newspaper will urge Verizon un-cripple the
bluetooth features sooner rather than later.

Here's the whole article:

New York Times Circuits, 9/30/04

A New Phone and Techie Controversy at Verizon

Last week on "The Amazing Race for the Perfect Phone," Verizon Wireless
announced that it was emerging from its cocoon of technological
backwardness.

At long last, the carrier with the best signal coverage began offering
a full-featured flip phone with camera, voice dialing, speakerphone,
memory card and Bluetooth: the new Motorola v710. Best coverage, great
phone ‹ what more could a gadget freak want?

Unfortunately, Web sites and blogs are teeming with complaints about
one particular aspect of the v710: its crippled Bluetooth features.

Bluetooth, of course, is a short-range wireless cable-elimination
feature. On a cellphone, it offers four juicy features:

1. You can do your talking on a wireless Bluetooth headset, leaving the
phone in your pocket and both hands on the wheel.

2. You can use the phone as a wireless Internet antenna for a laptop or
palmtop, making Internet calls from anywhere ‹ without even taking the
phone from your pocket.

3. You can sync your computer's address book into the phone, saving you
the trouble of having to re-enter them. (You can also sync the address
book to the dashboard computers of certain Toyota Prius, Lexus, BMW or
Acura models.)

4. You can shoot files back and forth to other Bluetooth gadgets.
Thanks to this feature, you can take pictures with your Bluetooth phone
and then transfer them wirelessly to your Mac or PC.

The V710's page at the Motorola Web site sums it up like this: "From
wireless talking to wireless synching, this phone makes it happen."

What it doesn't say is: "But Verizon makes it NOT happen."

Verizon, it turns out, has turned off features 3 and 4. If you want to
sync your address book with a computer, you have to buy a $40 cable. And
if you want to transfer pictures, you'll either have to send them by
e-mail or use Verizon's Pix Messaging service ‹ 25 cents per photo. (You
can't transfer pictures via the phone's removable memory card.)

"That's Verizon for you," wrote one disgruntled customer. "They want
you to pay them so that you can send your own photos to yourself."

"The v710 is targeting technophiles," wrote another. "Crippling these
features is an act of bad faith that undermines the desires and
expectations of the core customers for this very product."

So irritated are Verizon's customers that the Web site
NuclearElephant.com has instituted a hacking competition
(www.nuclearelephant.com/papers/v710hackers.html). Crack the crippling
code, and you win the pot contributed by interested parties (about
$1,660 so far).

Rumors are rampant. Consider, for example, what PC Magazine wrote on
this issue. "Verizon says that crippling Bluetooth implementation is a
'fraud prevention' tactic to prevent strangers from sending unsolicited
text messages to your phone." Well, if that's really the rationale, we'd
better start calling it Verizon Mindless; unsolicited text messages sent
by Bluetooth is not, ahem, the greatest nuisance facing cellphone owners
today.

Or consider this exciting bit of news (posted at
www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1007961.html, a blog full of V710 tips
and discussion): "[Moto told me that] due to demand for the device, it
was released prior to full Bluetooth support; however, a future software
upgrade will enable full Bluetooth support."

That frequently repeated rumor, as it turns out, is absolutely false.

So what's the real story?

Sure enough, money is at the root of the problem, but the greed isn't
all Verizon's. "We have a lot of Get It Now services," explained a
company representative, "and our partnerships with those vendors [the
third parties that supply downloadable games, ringtones, screensavers
and so on] preclude our permitting the open architecture of Bluetooth."

The company's concern, of course, is that you could download the
ringtones and games ‹ a multi-billion-dollar business, industry-wide ‹
and then share them with your friends wirelessly.

This isn't the first time we've seen product features compromised in
the name of copy protection, but it may be the first time it's hit
cellphones. (Unfortunately, it seems to be a trend; the Bluetooth of the
new BlackBerry 7100 from T-Mobile is disabled in the same ways. "There
are two main reasons that drove our decision. First, our engineers
design our products with tight security in mind," a spokesman told me,
not entirely convincingly. "Second, we try to avoid the tradeoffs that
result from cramming unnecessary features into our product." )

In Verizon's case, at least, there are three strands of hope.

First of all, "the address book piece will be changed," the rep told
me. A software update for the V710 ‹ timeline not yet announced ‹ will
permit wireless synching of your address book with your computer or your
car. Hurrah!

Second, even if the V710 is Verizon's first Bluetooth phone, it won't
be the last. "Bluetooth is new technology. It's going to evolve. As we
work the tech into more and more handsets, you'll see different
variations."

Finally, while there are no immediate plans to permit Bluetooth
transfers of ringtones, photos, games and so on, the company isn't the
"corporate ogre" it's being made out to be, according to the PR rep. If
enough customers push back, the company could change its mind.

"Verizon Wireless always errs on the side of conservativeness. We feel
that our first and foremost obligation is to provide quality phone
service." Nonetheless, she concluded, "This conversation is not over."

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

"jadder" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:nobody-459B54.19150203102004@newssvr21-ext.news.prodigy.com...

> if you want to transfer pictures, you'll either have to send them by
> e-mail or use Verizon's Pix Messaging service < 25 cents per photo. (You
> can't transfer pictures via the phone's removable memory card.)

Like I said in a previous message, THAT'S RIDICULOUS! I've transferred many
many pictures and both mp3 and midi files that I use for ringtones by using
the transflash card, both TO the phone and FROM the phone (like for example
pics and videos that I have taken with the phone)

I wouldn't trust anything that this paper prints after they've made a
statement like the above!




--
God Bless America!

Bob the Printer


Our web pages are located at:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/bdolson/

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

"David S" <dwstreeter@spamisnaughty.att.net> wrote in message
newssm1m099t39gm346e8l7qpav8hom8tijlu@4ax.com...

> Let's just be clear: did you get your phone from Verizon, with all the
> Verizon soft/firmware?

Yes of course! I got it from a Verizon Wireless store on Labor day. To my
knowledge this phone is Verizon Wireless only (for now anyhow).

Do you have personal experience of this 'supposed' fact that files can not
be transferred via the transflash card? Or are you going only by what that
article had to say? If the latter, then you are a fool, believing what is
printed in a newspaper.

Think about it for a bit. What good would the transflash be if you couldn't
copy/move files back and forth between it and the phone?


--
God Bless America!

Bob the Printer


Our web pages are located at:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/bdolson/

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 03:07:40 -0400, "Bob the Printer" <bdolson@comcast.net>
chose to add this to the great equation of life, the universe, and
everything:

>"David S" <dwstreeter@spamisnaughty.att.net> wrote in message
>newssm1m099t39gm346e8l7qpav8hom8tijlu@4ax.com...
>
>> Let's just be clear: did you get your phone from Verizon, with all the
>> Verizon soft/firmware?
>
>Yes of course! I got it from a Verizon Wireless store on Labor day. To my
>knowledge this phone is Verizon Wireless only (for now anyhow).
>
>Do you have personal experience of this 'supposed' fact that files can not
>be transferred via the transflash card? Or are you going only by what that
>article had to say? If the latter, then you are a fool, believing what is
>printed in a newspaper.

I was just considering the possibility that it's a functionality that Moto
put in and VZW disabled. I do not know if it is available other than
through VZW, but many phones are, so I thought it likely.

Since your phone is a VZW-issued phone, I will take your word for it.

(I often read things in newspapers that I know are just plain wrong.)

--
David Streeter, "an internet god" -- Dave Barry
http://home.att.net/~dwstreeter
Remove the naughty bit from my address to reply
Expect a train on ANY track at ANY time.
"[T]raffic has been at a standstill in downtown Athens for several thousand
years; at some intersections you can see ox-drawn carts that have been
gridlocked since the Bronze Age." - Dave Barry

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.verizon (More info?)

Bob the Printer wrote:

> "David S" <dwstreeter@spamisnaughty.att.net> wrote in message
> newssm1m099t39gm346e8l7qpav8hom8tijlu@4ax.com...
>
>
>>Let's just be clear: did you get your phone from Verizon, with all the
>>Verizon soft/firmware?
>
>
> Yes of course! I got it from a Verizon Wireless store on Labor day. To my
> knowledge this phone is Verizon Wireless only (for now anyhow).
>
> Do you have personal experience of this 'supposed' fact that files can not
> be transferred via the transflash card? Or are you going only by what that
> article had to say? If the latter, then you are a fool, believing what is
> printed in a newspaper.
>
> Think about it for a bit. What good would the transflash be if you couldn't
> copy/move files back and forth between it and the phone?

What good would Bluetooth be if you couldn't swap files between your
phone and PC, laptop, PDA, or other friends with Bluetooth compatible
devices. Wait a minute - Verizon screwed that up too! Sorry - I knew
the answer to that question before I posted this. Bob the Printer
probably knew the answer to it if he took the time to THINK before posting.