Unlock the Phones

My current cell phone, a Nokia 6085 is fine for what it is… a phone. To be honest, I’ve dropped the thing, smashed the outer window/display and generally abused the hell out of it. In the year or so that I’ve owned it, it’s become a dinosaur. The advances in smartphones has been pretty impressive in that time and I’ve been looking at many new smartphones (including the iPhone).

To be honest, I’ve been quite excited by the idea behind Google’s operating system Android. I like the idea of an open source language that encourages innovation. I also like the idea of broader handset choice. I’m currently an AT&T customer but I want choice. I’m not a fan of the Blackberry and I might not want an iPhone. When I saw that Palm was releasing a new smartphone, I was interested. Then, I read a first look report and some of the New York Times coverage. The phone will be exclusive through Sprint.

It’s time that hardware manufacturers start to unlock phones, charge more for them, and let us take them to the provider of our choice. I’d like to see more hardware running the Android platform that I can use on any network. Currently the only one I’ve found has been the Kogan Agora from Australia. While it looks like a cool phone, it would be nice if I didn’t have to buy something sight unseen from halfway around the globe.

Maybe if we had more choice and interoperability here in the United States we’d also have more powerful devices.