BostonPocketPC

Back on Feb. 6th, Steve Hughes posted on some... um - "irregularities" regarding the now-infamous zzzPhone, which promised a fully-customized phone with lots of bells and whistles, including Windows Mobile for the OS, for only $149. At the time, Steve made some very valid points that led to the conclusion that this was in fact a scam - at least from the point of the price including a licensed copy of Windows Mobile on board.

Turn to today, when I decided to pay a visit back to the zzzPhone web site. Lo and behold - the specs now list the operating system as Windows for Mobiles.

Folks, this is the third time I have seen this operating system change. First, it went from Windows Mobile to Windows Mobile 6. This was not long after there were some inquiries to the "manufacturer" regarding whether or not Windows Mobile 6 was included. On a side note - the radio stack frequencies supported conveniently changed early on after it was noted in some forums that the frequencies listed would not support all US networks. Timing is everything, they say... ;-)

I still encourage people to take a good look around the zzzPhone web site. Try to find any copyright notices for operating systems. Any partnerships with OS licensers. Take a good long look at the mockups of the screen for the zzzPhone. It could very well turn out that these phones are running a legitimate OS on them, but Windows Mobile or Symbian? I don't think so.

I will be curious to hear from those who have spent the $149 to find out what they discover. Hopefully, they aren't expecting a refund if Windows Mobile is not on board. You see - the "service guarantee" on the zzzPhone web site states the following:

We guarantee our products to be free from manufacturer defects and will repair or replace your order within 30 days if there are any manufacturer defects in your phone.

A different operating system that works likely won't be considered a "defect", and there is no money back - only a replacement.

As always, ladies and gentlemen - Caveat Emptor...

Internet | Wireless Technology

2/19/2008 10:19:10 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [2] | Trackback

4/16/2008 5:26:42 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

WARNING
after two months still no word from them after they collected my usd 354 for the upgraded version with 7mp camera and larger memory. Last week i asked my money back and heard nothing from them so i really think it's a scam.

Wim |wvenAT NOSPAMexpo-denhaag dot nl

5/7/2008 7:22:33 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

I got mine early this week (ordered in February).
My order was for base phone, custom orange color, flashlight, waterproofing and car kit.
What I got was:
Base phone with custom red color
2 SIM card slots
1 microSD slot with 1GB micro SD card
About 1GB additional storage on camera - 500mb on phone and 500mb in "DRM Rights" folder
1 camera - not the 3MP advertised, max resolution 1280x900
3800 mAH battery
3000 mAH battery
Euro wall plug (100-240ac) with US adapter with USB output
Car plug with USB output
USB cable for charging and connecting to computer
Earbuds with control button
Hard to tell if I got "waterproofing"

I got a nice letter saying that the flashlight was not available and they had substituted TV, a $59 value.

Additionally, the camera will record video.

There is bluetooth, but no wifi.

As far as I can tell, the only "custom" feature of this phone is the color. It's painted, not moulded. I suspect it will not hold up that well. All the other features are probably identical on all shipped versions of this phone - although if you ordered extra memory your microSD card will probably be bigger.

What I got is reasonable value for the price. The 2.8" touchscreen is nice and clear. The menus are mostly straightforward. Documentation is available from the zzzphone website and is long and detailed but not very helpful. The OS is NOT Windows Mobile 6 as it was spec'd when I ordered this, but I didn't really think it would be. I use the dual sim cards - one for phoning and a different one for a GPRS plan and discounted weekend sms. Mine is a triband GSM phone (900/1800/1900) - fine for where I currently work in Indonesia - don't know if it would work in the USA.

All main menues and most submenus are in English. Some submenus are in chinese.

Kevin FitzGerrell |fitzgerrellAT NOSPAMyahoo dot com