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T-Mobile customers have been waiting for what seems like years for the cell service provider to give us a 3G data network.  Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and AT&T have had 3G networks for quite some time, giving us mobile broadband access to the Internet.

T-Mobile has finally started the rollout of the 3G network, starting with New York City.  The new UMTS/HSDPA network will appear in other markets as the year goes on, hopefully in Portland where I could get access to it.  Currently, according to Om’s post, there are only 4 handsets available for T-Mobile’s 3G network.

However, thanks to the Nokia Blogger Relations program, I have a Nokia N81 8GB.  I would *love* to use this phone on a 3G network here in the States.  It won’t work on AT&T because they use a proprietary HSDPA network.  My hope was that T-Mobile’s network would be compatible with this Nokia phone.  Unfortunately, it’s not, because like AT&T, T-Mobile has chosen to “lock-in” customers by also employing their own proprietary 3G network.

This means that handset makers such as Sony/Ericsson, Nokia, and others who want to build a 3G handset are going to have to make 3 versions.  One for the Europe market, one for AT&T’s US network, and now one for T-Mobile’s 3G network.

This also means if I have a handset that works on the 3G network here in the States and I travel to Europe, I won’t have 3G access to the European network.  *Shrug*

TechCraver Tags: 3g | hsdpa | nokia | t-mobile

I have been trying to get Qik installed on my Nokia N81 8GB ever since reading Scoble’s experience with the software last week.

For those of you unaware, Qik is software that allows you to stream live video from your Nokia NSeries’ webcam, complete with audio. Qik uses the data plan on your mobile phone for network. 3G with AT&T is probably the best way to go, but I’ll be using T-Mobile’s EDGE data access and wi-fi, when I’m in range of an access point.

Think ustream.tv, but in your pocket, making you able to do live video casts whenever the mood strikes you. This has major implications. You can do your own live video conference or shoot live video whenever you want. You can become your own live news story if per chance you see a burning building or car accident.

Eager to try Qik out, I went on the site, entered in my phone number, and waited for the introductory SMS to come to my phone. The SMS never came, so I emailed Qik support. After a while, the introductory SMS came so I fired up my mobile browser and verified my phone number through their mobile web system. I was then told I’d have to wait for another SMS with a link to the application install file. That SMS never came so again I emailed Qik support. I heard back from a Qik person and was off and running!

I fired up the Qik application and since I was at home, told Qik to use my wi-fi. Having Qik.com up on my mac, within 3 seconds I saw the video and heard the noises that I was making in the room coming through my web-connected computer. pretty freaky to think I can do a live video cast from my mobile phone and make it available to web users who go to my qik site.

The next test…how would Qik work over EDGE, considering it has only a fraction of the bandwidth as my wi-fi. Well, I reset the Qik application after specifying T-Mobile’s edge connection and again I saw my video streaming live on the web. The delay was only 5-7 seconds…not much worse than the wi-fi uplink from before.

At this point I’d say Qik is easily a disruptive technology. At any point in time I can fire up Qik and do on-the-go interviews or videocasts. How amazing!

This also speaks volumes for the Nokia Nseries hardware platform. Qik was able to use the Nokia because of it’s great built-in camera, wi-fi (or cellular data access), and open Symbian operating system as a platform for building this fantastic application.

I’m so excited!

PS: I found Qik’s tech support team, notably Bhaskar Roy to be very helpful! Thanks guys!!

TechCraver Tags: 3g | disruptive technology | edge | n81 | n81 8gb | nokia | nseries | qik