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1.  

   

   fuzzmanmatt, Sep 6th, 2005 @ 3:08am

   
   

   No Subject Given

   I would like Japan's market. They have awesome phones, and my friend who is stationed in Korea says even the cheap phones over there blow the hell out of the crap that we pay top-dollar for over here in the states. American cell phone companies suck, plain and simple. A lot of it rests on the FCC, and almost as much on the consumer. Stupid Americans and their love of Wal*Mart. You will be the death of yourselves, and you'll be dragging me along with you.

    

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2.  

   

   Sean, Sep 6th, 2005 @ 6:00am

   
   

   Re: No Subject Given

   That's true. I've been stationed in Japan and S. Korea, and they always have the cool stuff LONG before we do (in the states).

    

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3.  

   

   Anonymous Coward, Sep 6th, 2005 @ 6:51am

   
   

   Re: No Subject Given

   Absolutely. I spent the summer in Japan and it was obvious that their technology is generations ahead of ours. Not only did the phones have every feature known to man, they worked everywhere, even in the subway tunnels. The sad thing is that American companies who develop a lot of this technology don't market it in their home country. I guess that is mostly a result of the market though.

    

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4.  

   

   alex, Sep 6th, 2005 @ 8:14am

   
   

   Re: No Subject Given

   Are you kidding?!?! Thank the infinite wisdom of the mighty cellphone gods that the cellies don't work in the subway tunnels. Can you imagine the LOUD inane conversation we would have to be subjected to if they did work down there. I believe in Japan you're only allowed to text msg in the subway and not subject your fellow riders with obnoxious conversation about what you had for dinner last night. You can definitely bet your life we won't have that kind of courtesy in the States.

    

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5.  

   

   Chris, Sep 6th, 2005 @ 8:21am

   
   

   No Subject Given

   I'd rather have better coverage, longer battery life, and better sound quality - than more craptastic features I never use.
   
   My current phone is an *archaic* Motorola V400. I'd still have my black dot matrix style V60 if it weren't for the fact that I broke the antenna off and the flip stopped working.

    

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6.  

   

   Pete Austin, Sep 6th, 2005 @ 8:34am

   
   

   It's a Generation Thing

   Personally I'm with Mike. I want a cheap, simple 'phone that "just works".
   
   But here's a true story. Last Christmas I was travelling by train at the same time as a load of schoolkids were going home. The train got stuck in a tunnel and the lights went out. And you know what, it didn't get dark. Almost every kid had a cellphone out - not talking because we were in a tunnel, but using so-called "advanced features" - and there was literally enough light from all the glowing screens that I could have read a book.

    

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7.  

   

   Anonymous Coward, Sep 6th, 2005 @ 10:07am

   
   

   Re: No Subject Given

   Exactly. Old women will give you dirty looks if you are acting inappropriately, and, decreasingly, kids listen. Amazing that a thousands-year-old culture and massive population density actually fosters a greater sense of community.
   
   Of course, thanks to the brash behaviour of kids in our craptastic sitcoms, Eastern kids are learning to follow up inappropriate behaviour with just plain rudeness. Yay for America's Culture!

    

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8.  

   

   Jonathan Grubb, Sep 6th, 2005 @ 11:21am

   
   

   People want *good* features

   I think you are making an extreme conclusion based on this survey. You say people are "really not all that interested in multi-function phones," but the article says people are not interested in a few half-baked multimedia features. Once these features work well of course people will use them. If the features suck (e.g. 25 song limit, lame headphones, etc) people will not use them.
   
   Surveys often say people aren't interested in non-voice features, but the same people use advanced features without thinking about it. Before phones had clocks built in, people taking a survey would have responded that they didn't need a clock since a wristwatch does a fine job.
   
   Right now people carry a phone and an ipod; when a combined device works just as well nobody will choose to carry both.

    

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