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High end unlocked Nokia phones now available on dell.com

Do you have $500 burning a hole in your pocket -- and you don't want an Apple iPhone?  Dell is riding the ultra-high-end mobile phone craze with the addition of halo phones to the Dell.com online store. 

This week, Dell introduced a number of Nokia mobile phones to its long list of consumer electronics.  These phones are completely unlocked, meaning the devices will work with just about any GSM carrier in North America.

Dell currently offers several new unlocked Nokia and Pharos phones, without contracts:
Most retailers for GSM phones, especially Nokias, rely on carrier discounts -- the customer must sign up for a contract in order to purchase the phone.  Since these phones are unlocked, no contract is required at purchase.  The Apple iPhone will require a 2-year contract with AT&T and a $499 up-front cost.

Dell's pricing on the phones is competitive with boutique vendors, but generally more expensive than the imported devices listed on eBay.  However, since the phones are available through the Dell Small Business website, coupon codes and bulk purchasing will bring deep discounts for the prudent technophile.

At this time, Dell does not carry any other brands of unlocked phones.

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Lost opportunity ?
By softwiz on 6/19/2007 1:51:40 PM , Rating: 1
Having to make a choice between two phones...

I'd rather get a N95 (not unlocked) over an iPhone anyday. However being in the US, it's doesn't look like it's going to happen. It could have been a great iPhone competitor.

Besides the fact that it's not compatible with Cingular's 3G network, maybe they didn't want this competition.

What do you think ?




RE: Lost opportunity ?
By adam92682 on 6/19/07, Rating: 0
RE: Lost opportunity ?
By softwiz on 6/19/2007 2:22:30 PM , Rating: 1
My apologies. Cingular was the name of the wireless carrier in the US before they rebranded under the name of AT&T recently. I still haven't gotten out of the habit of calling them that.


RE: Lost opportunity ?
By bltoha on 6/19/2007 2:16:34 PM , Rating: 2
Nokia doesn't want to compete seriously in US market. Too much operator-ass-licking required and too narrow profit margins. N95 is a great phone, all-in-one multimedia PDA (GPS & navigator, 5 Mpix camera, 3G etc).

BTW: More unlocked phones in the market equals more REAL operator competition. Operators (Cingulair, AT&T, Verizon etc.) want to sell only locked phones. Customer is then "locked" to one operator and there's no real competition. Air minute prices are lowest in those countries where there's no phone locking allowed.


RE: Lost opportunity ?
By Araemo on 6/19/2007 2:37:05 PM , Rating: 2
"Besides the fact that it's not compatible with Cingular's 3G network, maybe they didn't want this competition."

Are you sure about that? The phone specs on dell.com say it supports UMTS, and that appears to be what Cingular is using for their highest-speed data access at the moment? It is only in a handful of cities, but I'm used to being left out of high speed access in general, so I'm not surprised. (And my phone still says cingular as the network name, so I'm still going to call it cingular. ;P)


RE: Lost opportunity ?
By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 6/19/2007 2:42:45 PM , Rating: 2
The N95 is most certainly compatible with AT&T's UMTS (3G) network. At least it is here in Chicago.


RE: Lost opportunity ?
By sxr7171 on 6/20/2007 1:00:45 AM , Rating: 2
No it is not, I have one I should know. I have been dying for a version that works on US 3G bands. Right now only the N75 has US 3G bands.


RE: Lost opportunity ?
By softwiz on 6/19/2007 3:16:25 PM , Rating: 2
I live in an area that supports 3G/UTMS/HSDPA.

Here's where I saw it first...

http://reviews.cnet.com/smart-phones/nokia-n95/450...

I then called Nokia USA where it was confirmed that the 3G would not work in the US though they wouldn't say why.


RE: Lost opportunity ?
By softwiz on 6/19/2007 3:21:59 PM , Rating: 2
Here's the relevant section of the CNET article/review linked in my earlier post...

Reviewed by: Bonnie Cha
Edited by: Nicole Lee
Reviewed on 4/10/07

"The bad: The N95 lacks support for U.S. 3G networks;
standby battery life is poor; and performance is somewhat sluggish. The hardware feels a bit cheap, and the sliding mechanism could be more secure. It's also very expensive."


RE: Lost opportunity ?
By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 6/19/2007 4:03:10 PM , Rating: 2
Weird. At the Chicago Nokia store, right in front is the Cingular UMTS demo -- or at least it was there. Maybe they had a falling out. :(


RE: Lost opportunity ?
By Araemo on 6/19/2007 4:50:43 PM , Rating: 2
That is a great example of a symptom of what I see as wrong about the cellular networks/companies: You can't use the network unless you treat the carrier as divine ruler. you can't just connect to the network(Supposing you've paid for access) with any old device that will work. It must be specifically blessed by the network lords.


RE: Lost opportunity ?
By Oregonian2 on 6/19/2007 8:08:16 PM , Rating: 2
I don't think that is true. You can connect with anything that works (by definition pretty much, actually) and with GSM phones it's all the easier in that one only has to move the SIM card from one phone into another to change phones. But it has to be a phone that is compatible, and that's inherently true for all networks, just like one can't use gasoline in a hydrogen car. We recently bought quad-band unlocked GSM phones for european travel and decided to use them at home in the USA as well (with ATT). Our previous phones were Verizon which worked perfectly but won't work well internationally (CDMA). Also no SIM card easy of use (we just buy one from the local carrier in Europe and pay local per-minute pay-ahead charges with our now "local phone"). We had tried the phone out with T-mobile first before going to Europe. Number porting worked great (although Verizon wasn't too happy -- and it wasn't their "fault" as such either, just not GSM). So our phones are only months old and already have been on three cell phone networks in two countries.

Anyway... I had to manually tweek the settings to make data connections work (because it didn't come from ATT) but no problem with the non-ATT phone working.


RE: Lost opportunity ?
By ZuluDK on 6/19/2007 4:11:31 PM , Rating: 2
Just like GSM, UMTS can operate on different frequency bands.
In Europe UMTS is working at 2100 MHz, but that frequency is already used for something else in the US.
Therefore US operators are using the 850 and 1900 bands for UMTS.

Nokia N95 only supports UMTS 2100.


Why would I want...
By daBKLYNdoorman on 6/19/2007 6:10:31 PM , Rating: 2
Why would I want to buy an unlocked phone? If I get a phone, then obviously I would subscribe to a service provider. I would get that phone cheaper and I would still be able to do the same things I would do with an unlocked phone.

And also, isn't Dell supposed to be selling computers instead of phones? They attempted to enter the TV market a few years ago and failed. Now they are trying to enter the phone market with overpriced unlocked phones and fail again? Come on... who is running things at Dell?




RE: Why would I want...
By hubajube on 6/19/2007 6:31:32 PM , Rating: 2
You could take the unlocked phone with you when you left assuming it's compatible with the network you were switching to. I know, not likely to happen but that's why people do it. For me, I get a new phone when I switch carriers (because I've been a customer for a quite a few years) so unlocked phones aren't for me.


RE: Why would I want...
By daBKLYNdoorman on 6/19/2007 7:00:28 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah, and after a year or two, the battery life on your phone becomes abysmal. There's so much frustration that you just HAVE to get a new phone.


RE: Why would I want...
By bltoha on 6/20/2007 3:03:45 AM , Rating: 2
All new phones use lithium-ion batteries which last at least 3-4 years in normal use. Besides, new Li-ion battery costs about $10.


RE: Why would I want...
By Oregonian2 on 6/19/2007 8:18:56 PM , Rating: 2
When we visit Europe, we buy a local SIM card and use the phone as a "local phone" there. Makes using it there MUCH MUCH MUCH less expensive than international roaming. Wouldn't work if the phone was locked. Likewise I know from talking to the guy at a local T-mobile store that a lot of Europeans come in to buy pay-as-you-go service (and a SIM card) doing the very same thing but in the other direction. Wouldn't work with locked phones. If our T-Mobile SIM card still worked (expired a week or two ago I think), we could switch back and forth between T-Mobile and ATT by just changing the card.

P.S.- Why do you say Dell failed in the TV market? Do you know something? They're still offering TVs (the report that they were leaving that market recently was bogus).


How about CDMA phones?
By christojojo on 6/19/2007 2:36:17 PM , Rating: 2
I use cricket, which, uses CDMA. Besides the Razr is there a gadgety phone that I could use.

I keep on Googling and all I seem to find are fly-by-night operations.




RE: How about CDMA phones?
By Devo2007 on 6/19/2007 4:42:24 PM , Rating: 2
Won't happen.

With CDMA-based carriers, they pretty much lock you to using their phones only. If you were to bring in a handset they don't sell, they won't activate it.


RE: How about CDMA phones?
By bltoha on 6/20/2007 2:58:58 AM , Rating: 2
Not very free market in CDMA, is it? Locked phones & markets = higher prices. Good for operators, bad for customers.

"Free" carrier-locked phone isn't so cheap after 2 years of high running costs. Big corporations just love to mislead consumers.


Geez
By mdogs444 on 6/19/2007 1:44:46 PM , Rating: 2
Im surprised they didnt start their own wireless service!

I can see it now "Dell Mobile".

Whew, I just woke up from a bad dream.




RE: Geez
By tungtung on 6/19/2007 2:55:56 PM , Rating: 2
Yea they definitely should ... maybe not down there in the States, but here in Canada, monopoly is seriously bad for customers. We're being milked left and right for everything. Imagine seeing a $40 bill for a $20 plan (and that's not including other "additional" charges for using extra minutes, SMS and stuff).

By the way those phone prices are pretty competitive with other online retailers I've seen so far. Not the cheapest I know, but it's within reasonable range.


Lost Opportunity?
By mondo1234 on 6/19/2007 2:10:58 PM , Rating: 3
The N95 looks good. Cudos to Dell for going against the grain. At least it is Symbian and not Windows Mobile. There are also more linux phones coming into the market.




Sucks.
By RMSistight on 6/19/2007 2:19:45 PM , Rating: 2
That's what I dont' understand. How could Nokia make such a kick ass phone and yet it doesn't work with Cingular's 3G network?




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