'Unlocked' vs. 'Subsidized' cellphones

$400 $49.99
At our retail store, we emphasize to our customers the value of buying an unlocked or 'unsubsidized' phone. It has always occurred to me that when companies like Verizon or T-mobile offer these awesome new toys at prices like $49.99; it must be too good to be true. And it is...

They simply build the rest of the price of the phone ($400) into your 2 year contract that you must sign. In the long run, (2 years) you end up paying around $200 extra through your jacked up monthly bills.

"Let’s say that you buy a MyTouch 3G, one of T-Mobile’s most popular smartphones, for $400, and sign up for its unlimited voice, text and data plan for $60 a month. The total cost of the phone over two years would be $1,840.

If, instead, you buy the phone subsidized by T-Mobile for $150, that same plan will cost $80 monthly — bringing your two-year total to $2,070.

If you reject the subsidy, you’ll actually have $230 to spend two years from now, and $20 every month you keep the phone beyond that.

So... conventional wisdom tells us you should buy the phone upfront at full price and pay less monthly or; get a used phone from a cellphone recyclery and save even more money.

Check out this New York Times article for more info.

Puma's Solar Cell Phone

I have to admit that I am a bit of a fashion hound and I personally can’t get enough Puma for my kick around gear and computer bag. I know this is a cell phone recycling blog but I have to say that they make a quality product for those of us who bike to work.

My interest in this article is because I have seen electronics manufactures that make washers and dryers get into the cell phone game but now we have a brand that is synonymous for making shoes. The German sportswear company has partnered with French telecommunications company Sagem and developed a solar-powered phone. It has a touch screen, a camera, a pedometer, a stopwatch, a GPS tracker, and built-in mapping software designed for runners and cyclists.

I am excited that we have a new fresh idea in the industry. We should all follow the progress of this idea not just because it is solar powered but because if they succeed we could all be carrying a phone that looks like it was purchased out of a foot locker from the mall.

New ways to experience your cellphone

Microvisions Pico Production is leading the way towards evolving technology. Now you can project movies, pictures and text messages directly from your cellphone. This feature would be great for giving presentations on the go.
Another new product is Motorola's Golden -I that sports a 15-inch virtual PC display.
One thing is for sure, cellphone manufacturers are looking to the future for innovative technology and the coolest gadgets.
One hope from this burgeoning market is that we should see an influx of diversity in the cellphone market.

Mobile meets Facebook Zero

Social Media Giant Facebook has released a new version specific to mobile phones. More and more people are interested in accessing their facebook accounts to upload photos/videos updates while on the go. I believe Facebook was meant to be mobile.
The new dawn of Facebook zero will allow users to hop on this low-bandwith app on their phones.
"The social network recently said over 100 million people now access Facebook from their phone".

The slimmed down version is apparently already available and called Facebook lite; however it is currently meant for the developing world where internet connections are slower.

As more and more applications and ideas spread through the mobile web, we can expect to see an exponential rise in individuals purchasing phones specifically for their web browsing capabilities. Google's Nexus one and the Iphone still remain champions of this hurdle into the future.

Long Term Evolution soon to hit U.S.

With the exponential growth of mobile internet use, service providers are looking to the future for answers to their mobile traffic problems. With roughly 500,000 million people now using the 3G network and with those numbers on the rise, a faster form of data transfer is greatly in need.
The '4G' network is said to deliver up to 500 times the speed of most broadband services today.

How will this affect the cellphone and recycling industries?

1. There will be many old phones left in the dust for newer models capable of handling the 4G speeds... i.e. where do the current billion or so phones end up? There will be major growth in cellphone recycling in the next 5 years.

2. Competition will push the cellphone manufactures into hyperspeed and apps for mobile devices will reach their acme.

3. Wireless will completely replace fixed link.

"Wireless internet access is going to be a better, richer experience than fixed link access." said Professor Michael Walker, group R&D director at Vodafone told Wireless 2.0 conference in Bristol, organised by Silicon South-West.

The age of wireless is upon us, be prepared to recycle your old devices and embrace the future.

For more info check out this blog 3G4G and a recent NYT article.

Winter Olympic medals made from recycled e-waste

An interesting article came out today from Scientific American that the 2010 Vancouver Olympics are using recycled metals. “Each medal was made with a tiny bit of the more than 140,000 tons of e-waste that otherwise would have been sent to Canadian landfills" says Larry Greenemeyer.

This is not just a good idea it is a great idea that the Olympic committees are looking at greening the games and looking from their past achievements and advances on what ideas can make the games more eco friendly.

You can take a look at all the ways that corporate sponsorship and the city of Vancouver are actively promoting a greener Olympics.

I will personally pledge that if Denver Colorado ever submits a successful bid that Cellular Recycler will donate a container of used cell phones that will have an even larger percentage of the precious metals found in them than the Canadians used by recycling cathode ray tube glass and computer parts.

With the 250,000+ cell phones that can be smelted for precious metals we will work with other American refineries, coordinate some serious nationwide e waste community recycling drives and get the precious metals to 100%.

If my readers would like to talk to me personally I would be glad to open up the communication lines and develop a real plan for the next Olympics that are held here in America of the 2012 games in London.

Google Chrome Tablet?

Will Google make its own version of the much anticipated Apple iPad? Lots of people think so. Chances are it will be presented as something like the NExus One. Google may work with other hardware companies to produce pre-versions/DROIDesque models until it has perfected it enough to release the official Google Tablet.

There have been numerous complaints about the recently release iPad. Namely its lack of a camera and multitasking. Will Google fix this?

For more info check out Google's open-source Chrome project Chromium.

$499 for Apple's new iPad

Unveiled to the world today, Apple has made history once again with its revolutionary iPad. Steve Jobs' magnum opus will change the mobile world.

Starting at the hardly believed low price of $499 this new machine is sure to rock the world.

Available for shipping in the next 60 days, customers will begin to experience the future.

It is the dream of many, to have a high speed internet connection and mobile device suited for the experience wherever you go. Now apple has created the sleek new ipad.

What remains unclear is whether the iPad will be a phone replacement, or simply another thing to carry around. What would make an iphone user switch? How revolutionary is it really, if you can only make phone calls over the internet?

We shall see.

Read this article for the live blog feed from today.

Will the iPad deliver? goodbye to cellphones?

Apple's latest high-tech gear to be unveiled Wednesday January 27th.

The 'iPad' will sport all the same in/out connectivity as the current iPhone 3GS, including a 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack, built-in speaker grills, a microphone, GPS, 3G connectivity and a 30-pin dock connector. A 10-inch display is framed by a black border that bleeds into its wrap-around aluminum enclosure.

Functioning as a Macbook/iphone hybrid the 'ipad' will hopefully run wireless internet everywhere phone service is available. Will it be 4G compatible? Almost certainly.

What will this do to cellphones?? Are people going to run bluetooth off their ipads and never pick up a cellphone again? How may this push Google to create their ultimate wireless internet device?

Endless possibilities.

Google Wave and the evolving social networks

Well my friends, good old Google has done it again. WAVE...

Perhaps you've heard of it, perhaps not.
What is a wave exactly? Well...
For well over a year, Google has been developing a revolutionary online social tool, the Wave, which integrates email, instant messaging, and social networks into one program.

A wave is equal parts conversation and documentation.

People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more in real-time.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

They have had this project going for over a year and half and are finally making steps towards giving it to the public. If you have the time watch this video, it is long though, let me warn you, but thrilling none the less, it will rock your world..

So... wave, online super social tool. This new software integrates our email, instant message and social networks into flowing livestream waves. You can watch your friends as they type a response live to your email, or easily add a friend to the conversation. This is truly revolutionary.

I think this will be google's advantage in selling it's Nexus One phone, they will have already developed the software to fully integrate this extraordinary social tool into their handheld mobile devices. I am excited to see how well this catches on, but just from this video I think it will spread fast and radically change the way people communicate. Oh Google...

There is a lot more to say about this subject and I will follow up soon.

For more check out this article at lifehacker.

The Death of Contracts

So the evolution has occurred.

Apple's Iphone is the dominant mobile internet device in the world, but now Google, the search engine powerhouse, has attempted to keep up with them.

What I see as Apple's major downfall was its contract with AT&T. That restricted so many people from owning and using the Iphone. It also created an elitism surrounding the Iphone.  You have to pay a monthly premium just to use the damn thing, whereas, if they sold it unlocked, it could have been bought and used for any service and would have ended up in more hands.

What I love about Google is it's ability expand and simplify.  Granted the Nexus One costs $530 new unlocked $179 with T-mobile contract, but it will hopefully lead to better and better internet capabilities on mobile phones. Google is also making a big step by freeing us from the chains of service provider contracts, which has not been a widely practiced strategy thus far.

I believe the time of contracts and subsidized phones will soon come to an end in America.  People are sick of all the bureaucracy and unpleasantness of dealing with cellphone companies.  I've traveled abroad and no one else is using contracts, it is simply a trap employed by America's major phone corporations.

Google's easy to use retail site online also simplifies things and gives some power back to the people.  No more waiting in long lines at the whim of phone company's time schedule.
This is how we at  Cellular Recycler operate; no contracts, no messy experience, we just sell you a phone as it is, for what it is worth and you choose what you do with it.  Once Google phones make it through their first short-life, we will fix them, refurbish them and give them life once again... at a much cheaper price.

We are in an exciting time, Mobility and Internet access have merged and this will change the world... quickly and forever.  Beware the birth of the 4G network.  For a full review of Google's Nexus One release please check out this blog from the release party.