Sysadmin Field Notes

October 28, 2004

The Scobleizer posted regarding choice of mobile phones on Russell Beattie's blog about looking for a new phone. I'm with Tim and Jeremy. I've been chasing the "perfect" mobile phone/web/pda combination since I first tried to actually use the calendar and paid seventy stupid bucks for the "Sprint Wireless Internet Connection Kit" for my Motorola Timeport (which was really just a startac but with a slightly different shape so all the accessories were incompatible).


The main reason that nothing about the wireless web can get me excited is because it's completely carrier controlled. The phone network itself existed for 50 years before any real customer innovation came along, thanks to it's closed nature. The phone company definitely owned it, and hacking was not tolerated. They've done the same thing with the wireless internet. They cripple the phones, removing features that people might actually use. They cripplie their internet gateways to retain control. They require you to have a business plan and negotiate with them to get the details of how to use various parts of the network. Hobbyists and hackers are almost completely locked out.


When I picked up my Sanyo 6400, one of the first things I thought would be cool would be to hack together (for fun) a little webpage that used the 911-location service to stick my currently location on a map on my web page. Nope, not possible. Not only were those features not enabled yet, but in order to do it you had to approach sprint with a business plan to get the details and approval. I'm not even 100% sure that I can download java applications to the phone even though it supports it. Certainly the VM and features are crippled enough that it's never made it worth it for me.


Okay, well lets add some multimedia to the phone, certainly I can just download it over the internet. Nope, that feature is disabled (either on the phone or the internet gateway). You have to buy some software to download ringers or images to your phone, or pay $x.99 a month to get their stupid "ringer" service. My ATT blackberry ships with a crippled internet browser that you can only enable using a strange, unsupported hack.


The hardware is dismal as well. One phone has a decent interface, but doesn't have good internet support. Another phone has great SMS, but has a horrible screen, or some horrible user interface deficiency. They all just manage to suck in some profound way.


The internet exploded because anyone could use iit for whatever they wanted, without restrictions, and they could plug anything they wanted into it. If the network was really open there would be almost limitless possibilities. None of these cooler applications have appeared because it's just too much of a hassle to develop them.


I would -love- a useful mobile revolution. But until there is more open hardware and software available, it just ain't gonna happen. Why don't the carriers just charge for the airtime and get the heck out of the way? The airtight control they keep over what devices are allowed on their network chokes the life out of any sort of real innovation that might happen.


Eventually, things will probably get somewhat useful. But as long as the phone companies ironclad control over the ends of their network, the pace is going to be inredibly slow and frustrating.