Sharp Ruined by Live

[loekashe]

I am I the only one that thinks that some great Sharp phones (GX10, GX10i and GX20) and perhaps some other ones have had their attractivness significantly reduced by the fact that Vodafone Live make it difficult to get phone content from anywhere except their Live service by (for eg) making the the ir port on the Gx10 only for Modem use for your computer and not for transfering file between a PC or another phone. The GX20 seems like an excellent phone but this slyness has ruled it out for me. I suspect that this is why they omitted Bluetooth from it. I evntually opted for the P900
(end of moan)

[Dynamoo]

I can transfer files to and from my GX20 just fine. It works in exactly the same way as any other phone I can think of in that respect.

I think though you're looking at it the wrong way.. what Vodafone have done is pretty clever, they've found a really desirable phone and arranged for it to be under exclusive contract to themselves. This is good news for Vodafone, but they're not the only cellular provider at it.. look at the LG 7100 and O2 X1, basically pitching to the same market.

For me it was a no brainer.. I liked the look of the GX20, I'm already a Vodafone customer, so I parted with a fairly hefty upgrade fee to get one and am quite pleased with the way it just works out of the box without me having to tinker with it.

You're right about Bluetooth.. it would be nice to have, but to be honest I never use Bluetooth on my other phone so it's no great loss. And you're also right that it would be nice to see these handsets more widely available.. I think Vodafone has certainly gotten a better deal out of this arrangement than Sharp!

(Note to moderators - this is in the wrong forum, I think)

[Sid]

I think that Sharp has gained a lot of experience working with Vodafone in producing phones for the Euro/APAC market. Also, Vodafone has aggresively promoted the GX10 and GX20 in nearly all it's GSM operations worldwide as their "flagship" phone. That kind of publicity can not be bought easily.