Linked by Moochman on Tue 26th Jun 2012 19:42 UTC
According to N4BB.com, internal documents from RIM have been leaked, revealing the screen sizes and form factors of two phones planned for commercial release.
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Member since:2009-06-20
That is right.
On the other hand, why do a smartphone actually makes phone calls? The main reason for this that I see is that in order to have wireless internet, you need a phone contract anyway. There are very few data-only contracts offered in the whole world. Without that constraint, we may have seen a cleaner division between phones (sturdy, reliable but limited in functionality) and "communication devices" (which are now exclusively tablets, but could have been improved PDA).
Edited 2012-06-27 14:37 UTC
RE[4]: Comment by itanic
by Morgan on Wed 27th Jun 2012 16:09
in reply to "RE[3]: Comment by itanic"
Member since:2005-06-29
A smartphone actually makes calls because it is still a phone. People who buy smartphones want a convergence device; they want to be able to carry a Swiss Army Knife of communications gear. For some people, the phone part is of so little importance that they carry a basic but reliable dumbphone and pay for the added expense of a 3G/4G tablet or laptop.
I think the smartphone as a reliable phone is still a very important device, and manufacturers/OS vendors should never put the phone functions second to the data functions. If they do, they should market the device as a data terminal first, with a phone thrown in, kind of how Palm did with the Tungsten W (a really nice device that I had the pleasure of owning back in the day).
Member since:2005-07-06
There are very few data-only contracts offered in the whole world.
"Very few", from where do you get that? There are tons of them, also prepaid, usually meant to be used with USB "modem" or some such... but you can place the sim card in any type of mobile device.
A smartphone makes phone calls because it's a phone.
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Member since:
2005-06-29
I am, for one. My full time job requires that I have a phone at all times (government job). My part time job doesn't require it, as long as I can be reached in some fashion. But I also do a lot of consulting work on the side, and many of my clients prefer the professionalism of a voice connection rather than texting.
If it were up to me, I would never talk on the phone. My fiancée is the same way; we communicate almost exclusively by text and email when we're not together. But given my work requirements, a cellphone that's actually a decent, usable phone is critical. That became painfully apparent every time I used an Android phone; a dialer that crashes or is otherwise buggy on a phone is unacceptable. In those instances, I may as well have had a miniature tablet for all the good the "phone" part did me.