The fundamental argument in your comment is that U.S. phone companies are pretty uncreative when it comes to innovative technology. I would agree with such a comment. The Japanese are really into mobile technology and it shows. However, do you have evidence that suggests Americans even want this stuff? Maybe they just don't care. I know a lot of people who just don't want high tech phones. They want big buttons, readable screens and just a reliable voice service. Period.
I'm all for generalizing the cell phone's use as a small-platform computing device, open source, user customizable to the max. But there are also unforeseen limitations forced upon the manufacturer which can be very surprising. If there were sufficient (and convincing) evidence that customers vigorously demand a feature, ***and it could make carriers lots of money***, I'm sure that it will be implemented in time. Sometimes, though, manufacturers and carriers are just too scared to change anything. This is especially true in the U.S. mobile market. In Japan, there is a strong interest and intrigue for new technologies that isn't present widespread in the U.S. It's just a simple cultural fact. When and if that changes, it may be easier for you to propose something as "simple" as throwing IR into the mix. Or, maybe you are on the verge of making some serious money... :) David On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 11:55 AM, acton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I respect your opinion. However, as I am aware, it is the phone > manufacturer who has to decide what hardware to incorporate into their > products to sell in a particular market. The market in Japan seems to > be the leader for phones - even the US is a laggard in this respect. > > Let me quote from a Mercury News report about the lacklustre response > for the iPhone even though Apple reported it sold 1 million in the > first 3 days : > > "For example, young people in Japan take for granted the ability to > share phone numbers, e-mail addresses and other contact information by > beaming it from one phone to another over infrared connections. Being > without those instantaneous exchanges would be the death knell on the > Japanese dating circuit. > > While the iPhone has Bluetooth wireless links, it has no infrared > connection. > > The iPhone lacks other technology long available on Japanese cell > phones, such as digital TV broadcasts, a built-in camcorder, voice > recognition and an "electronic wallet" function. " > > For the whole article, click here: > > http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9898056?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com > > I think the Andriod team should look at market needs and if they want > to be a global phone OS. As an open platform, Android should support > as many market needs as they can. After all, anyone can submit a new > feature for all to use, isn't it? But this does not mean a > manufacturer should (or want to) install all the features - this > should depend on what they need for the market they want to enter. > > That is what I understand is the benefit of an open platform, imho. > > > On Oct 2, 4:12 am, Al Sutton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > For 'phones Bluetooth is pretty much a "must have" because of ear > > pieces, GPS integration, and in-car speaker systems which wont work well > > with the line of sight requirement IR has. > > > > imho, given that Android already has 802.11 & BT I can't see there being > > a lot of call for another communication technology. > > > > Al. > > > > acton wrote: > > > It all depends on what you want to do with wireless data transfer - > > > i.e. sharing or swapping videos and photos. These are going to be > > > very large in the next 6-18 months with 3 megapixel cameraphones and > > > soon 5 to 8megapixels. > > > > > Even today some Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones continue to support old > > > IrDA - at 1Mpbs. All new phones from NTT Docomo, Softbank, KDDI, > > > Sharp, Casio, Kyocera, etc support the faster 4Mpbs IrSimple > > > protocol. That is also complemented with a whole range of portable > > > photo printers: > http://acton-acton.blogspot.com/2008/09/printing-from-your-phone.html > > > > > I have seen demos of phone-to-phone sharing of photos and user > > > generated videos using IrSimple - it is fast! less than 1 sec. Let > > > me know if you want to see the live demo - I can bring it to one of > > > the dev meetings! > > > > > I know some Japanese companies are trying to get in touch with the > > > Andriod product team to include IrSimple into their spec. Anyone can > > > help to do that? > > > > > regards, > > > -acton > > > > > On Oct 1, 1:32 am, Al Sutton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > >> The HTC spec sheet > > >> (http://www.htc.com/www/product/g1/specification.html) makes no > mention > > >> of it so I would assume that it's not going to be there initially. > > > > >> IR ports have died off with the increase in popularity of Bluetooth > > >> because of bluetooths advantage of not needing a line-of-sight link > > >> between the two devices, so I would go out on a limb and say that I > > >> think it's unlikely IR will ever make it into a Android device. > > > > >> Al. > > > > >> sai wrote: > > > > >>> I have been trying to find on the android home page, I see Blutooth > > >>> and wireless support but there is no mention of the infrared port, > any > > >>> ideas if it is supported now or may be later ? > > > > >>> Thanks > > >>> Sai > > > > >> -- > > >> Al Sutton > > > > >> W:www.alsutton.com > > >> B: alsutton.wordpress.com > > >> T: twitter.com/alsutton > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. 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