tin_the_fatty weblog

I passed Hutchison 3G’s sales centre in Hutchison House yesterday, and had a first peek at their offerings.

Two models, both from NEC, were on show. The cheap sub-HK$1K handset was flipping massive! It was in fact even bigger than my “Phone from Hell”. The more expensive models aren’t really much smaller, but then you wouldn’t expect any of the 3G phones to be small. They are supposed to be “smart”, and “multimedia”, so their screens have to be relatively big. Until people accept MicroOptical Displays, or we have tiny holographic projectors, the compromise between physical size and screen size will also hinder the products.

Figure-wise the subscription plans aren’t all that bad. Value-wise I am not so sure. 3G network coverage is spotty. Network roaming is apparently far from seamless. If you don’t know anyone with one of these 3G phones, then you won’t get to use the video phone feature, which renders your new gadget pointless.

From the POV of a network software developer (versus content providers, i.e. folks who sell SMS ringtones, graphics and Java games) the ideal platform should be reasonably powerful, addressible from the Internet, and w/ accessible development tools. Those new 3G phones are definitely powerful. Whether they are addressible from the Internet depends entirely upon the network itself. Hutchison could easily, and I hope they do, implement IPv6 on their 3G network. I doubt the sales drones at Hutchison would be able to give me such information. It supports Java thou.

I am skeptical as to whether 3G devices would be an ideal platform. Services providers have adopted the cable-TV-by-the-minute approach, and regard the handsets merely as the delivery platform, in which case they would want total control over their devices. Also note that unlike GSM handsets available in Hong Kong today, those Hutchison NEC handsets are all locked, meaning that you won’t be able to make use of another network, unless you have the handset unlocked by Hutchison for a price.