I have to agree partly, people don't know what their phone is capable of, after I got Sprint, I was deciding for months (just recently) got a new phone for a contract-free on AT&T (GSM = more phones) and I know what my phone has, of course my Curve 8300, I didn't decide on months, price was an influence, it doesn't have a true gps, but I can still use GPS (thanks to 911 thing) and has EDGE. I believe the problem here is that carrier's are not pushing the manufactures to build phones, the way they wish, but to build phones more carrier minded.
for ex. The Touch Pro, in the US you can get 4 different editions of it, true the 2 of them are different for a reason, but why couldn't AT&T just use the standard GSM Pro (w/ US 3G) instead of it's own modifications. Of course that was probably a bit off topic, I just think people in general want a more "all-in-one" device so they don't have to carry a DAP or a PMP, a phone and a camera, so the phones does all 3.
Carriers here love customizing phones. The only logic behind the added production costs / delays and disabling of features is to try to squeeze some sort of revenue out of it. Instead the consumers end up with poor performing phones with glitches. How many of the best selling phones in the world, NOKIA, are comically not even sold by carriers here.
Why don't they stick to what they know best which is processing calls and data and let the phone manufacturers do what they do best, designing and manufacturing phones.
The AT&T version of the Touch Pro (HTC Fuze) only has minor hardware changes. The only major change is the removal of the front-facing camera for video calling, which isn't supported by US carriers and can only be used for webcam by a few mobile chat clients (MSN messenger, etc). The addition of the PTT (who the hell uses this feature?!) button is actually helpful once you figured out how to remap it to something. The rom I use (NATF's v4.0 from xda-developers) already mapped it so that the short press is voice command and long press brings up camera/shutter button. The glossy black battery cover (fingerprint magnet) on the Fuze is similar to the Diamond's back, and you can order the non-glossy rubbery one online and fits right in.
Now on the software side... the stock Fuze is absolutely terrible. I didn't like the AT&T theme in TouchFlo3D, and the AT&T bloatware on the phone robs precious memory. But this is only annoying for users who are afraid to flash their device with a custom rom, and if it helps subsidize the cost of the phone, this minor inconvenience is worth it IMO.
All in all, my phone is close enough to the GSM Touch Pro- I can flash the same roms and radios, and have 99+1% of the functionality (-1 front camera, +1 side button).
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I have to agree partly, people don't know what their phone is capable of, after I got Sprint, I was deciding for months (just recently) got a new phone for a contract-free on AT&T (GSM = more phones) and I know what my phone has, of course my Curve 8300, I didn't decide on months, price was an influence, it doesn't have a true gps, but I can still use GPS (thanks to 911 thing) and has EDGE. I believe the problem here is that carrier's are not pushing the manufactures to build phones, the way they wish, but to build phones more carrier minded.
for ex. The Touch Pro, in the US you can get 4 different editions of it, true the 2 of them are different for a reason, but why couldn't AT&T just use the standard GSM Pro (w/ US 3G) instead of it's own modifications.
Of course that was probably a bit off topic, I just think people in general want a more "all-in-one" device so they don't have to carry a DAP or a PMP, a phone and a camera, so the phones does all 3.
Carriers here love customizing phones. The only logic behind the added production costs / delays and disabling of features is to try to squeeze some sort of revenue out of it. Instead the consumers end up with poor performing phones with glitches. How many of the best selling phones in the world, NOKIA, are comically not even sold by carriers here.
Why don't they stick to what they know best which is processing calls and data and let the phone manufacturers do what they do best, designing and manufacturing phones.
The AT&T version of the Touch Pro (HTC Fuze) only has minor hardware changes. The only major change is the removal of the front-facing camera for video calling, which isn't supported by US carriers and can only be used for webcam by a few mobile chat clients (MSN messenger, etc). The addition of the PTT (who the hell uses this feature?!) button is actually helpful once you figured out how to remap it to something. The rom I use (NATF's v4.0 from xda-developers) already mapped it so that the short press is voice command and long press brings up camera/shutter button. The glossy black battery cover (fingerprint magnet) on the Fuze is similar to the Diamond's back, and you can order the non-glossy rubbery one online and fits right in.
Now on the software side... the stock Fuze is absolutely terrible. I didn't like the AT&T theme in TouchFlo3D, and the AT&T bloatware on the phone robs precious memory. But this is only annoying for users who are afraid to flash their device with a custom rom, and if it helps subsidize the cost of the phone, this minor inconvenience is worth it IMO.
All in all, my phone is close enough to the GSM Touch Pro- I can flash the same roms and radios, and have 99+1% of the functionality (-1 front camera, +1 side button).