Why Doesn't Samsung/LG Bring Phones To US?

[hl0m4n]

so my dad recently came back from korea and brought back some really nice phones made by lg and samsung.

samsung/lg phones in korea are way ahead of us in the USA especially when it comes to internet (#1 fastest) and connectivity.

one phone caught my eye which was an iphone looking one with a LED screen (yes not lcd, but LED), comes with a small antenna for TV, touch screen, looks like an iphone but does so much more.

so my question is we sell samsung/lg phones here in the US so why don't they just make the few modifications on the phone and start selling that technology here?

[scollins]

Probably because it isn't the PHONE, but the infrastructure, that needs to be upgraded. Hell, AT&T is already over-taxing its systems with the iPhone, and they need to invest in their infrastructure just to keep things moving along as they are now.

The same goes for the other carriers too. They just aren't upgrading their infrastructure fast enough or often enough to add those additional features. Some day Apple will make the iPhone available to other carriers, and with the other smartphone companies ramping up their game too, all of the systems will come to a screeching halt.

AT&T in particular irritates me. I'm sitting in Husky Stadium at the University of Washington, watching a football game. I see that AT&T is a sponsor of the team, with their logo right there on the score board about 50 yards away from me. I look at my iPhone, and I've got NO SERVICE!??! Seriously? No AT&T service in an open air stadium that is supported by AT&T? I can get a signal if I leave my seats and head to the southern concourse, but give me a break.


Oh, and I also have a Verizon Aircard, and there are plenty of places in Seattle where I can't get a good enough signal to even log on. I'm looking for that douchebag in the commercials to show up and say "Yep, we're good!" so I can beat his ass with my Blackberry and Aircard (both Verizon.)

[n3985]

Korea uses CDMA, which is similar to Verizon. My Korean high school buddies used to buy their phones in Korea, take it to an independent Verizon dealer and program it to work. The call feature worked, but nothing else lol.

CDMA was adopted by the US for the sole purpose of not only adhering to the GSM world standard so I wouldn't be surprised if the government wish to see more phones from Motorola...etc than foreign companies. The extra tariff and lack of subsidies on the Korean Samsung/LG phones will probably make them too $$$.

[Comet]

CDMA is outdated

Samsung and LG phones have always been nice to look at and it ends there... unless they stepped their game up lately, I've hated every phone I've ever owned by them.
I used to go overboard on my phone buying (worst I've done is 35 phones in a month) so I'm not talking out of my ass..

But yah, it's the carrier's fault more than the phone.. faster EDGE isn't the phone.. chances are your phone supports better EDGE than the carrier can provide.

I recall owning the nokia 7700.. it got discontinued so fast because most of its technology wasnt supported practically anywhere.
It had TV on it. couldn't get it to work for the life of me... I don't think that feature is supported even now.

the first mobile IP Datacast receiver designed to demonstrate the mobile phone television experience using the DVB-H network.

this was back in 2004.

[Maestro]

The reason you do not see these phones is because the US carrier control what phone are allow to work on their network for the most. This is very true with Verizon, since the disable many feature of the phones since they want to charge you for everything. Live a TV tuner they would never allow this since they want to sell you their v-cast video service.

Also, most of those so call "cool" product coming out of those country are garbage, Korea and Japan both use their home "close" markets to test out technologies before they put them on the world markets. They may have the cool factor but how well do they really work.

Think about it this way how many app can you get for that phone, apple has 75K today, and it just works.

[Comet]

controlling the phone is only true for CDMA

GSM phones cannot be controlled. All features work so long as it is not a branded phone.

CDMA however are all branded

[G-Mach1]

Originally Posted by Comet

controlling the phone is only true for CDMA

GSM phones cannot be controlled. All features work so long as it is not a branded phone.

CDMA however are all branded

Not 100% true. If the phone is locked it can't be activated. In NA most of the phones sold are locked. It doesn't matter whether it is a CDMA/UMTS or GSM network.

Like some one said here in NA you don't see most of the phones (sold in Asia or Europe) because it the Network here doesn't support them. Having said that most of the carriers in NA (Atleast here in Canada) is going to a 3G network or even some are going to the next generation network -LTE.

[Couch]

Originally Posted by scollins

Probably because it isn't the PHONE, but the infrastructure, that needs to be upgraded. Hell, AT&T is already over-taxing its systems with the iPhone, and they need to invest in their infrastructure just to keep things moving along as they are now.

The same goes for the other carriers too. They just aren't upgrading their infrastructure fast enough or often enough to add those additional features. Some day Apple will make the iPhone available to other carriers, and with the other smartphone companies ramping up their game too, all of the systems will come to a screeching halt.

AT&T in particular irritates me. I'm sitting in Husky Stadium at the University of Washington, watching a football game. I see that AT&T is a sponsor of the team, with their logo right there on the score board about 50 yards away from me. I look at my iPhone, and I've got NO SERVICE!??! Seriously? No AT&T service in an open air stadium that is supported by AT&T? I can get a signal if I leave my seats and head to the southern concourse, but give me a break.


Oh, and I also have a Verizon Aircard, and there are plenty of places in Seattle where I can't get a good enough signal to even log on. I'm looking for that douchebag in the commercials to show up and say "Yep, we're good!" so I can beat his ass with my Blackberry and Aircard (both Verizon.)

My roommate said that his office is directly next to a ATT tower. No one with ATT can get service in the building. Now that is crappy.

[Maestro]

Originally Posted by Couch

My roommate said that his office is directly next to a ATT tower. No one with ATT can get service in the building. Now that is crappy.

No that is a function of GSM technology and the structure of the building. Some building if built out of Steel and have Glass that has a metallic base UV filters on it will not allow the GSM radio wave to pass through.

My parent's house is less then 1/2 mile form a tower and you stand outside their house and you get perfect reception on AT&T, T-moble or Verizon network. You walk in the house the signal goes dead, you have to stand by a window to get reception. The reason is simple, the house was built back in the 60's and had plaster walls on top of metal lath so their entire house if a Faraday Cage and does not let RF signal in or out of the house.

The problem is most people have no clue what are the limiting factors are when trying to receive and send an cell phone signal and the just blame the phone or service provider.

GSM seem to have the most problem with interference verses other technologies and this also depend what bandwidth it operates in since there are various frequency bands that GSM can operate

[danniexi]

OP, i know what you mean. i transferred from japan to incheon airport (in korea) and went to the 'IT experience zone' and got to play with some of the phones they had on display. i was very impressed with the DMB (tv feature) as well as the video dialing feature (phones have cameras at the bottom of the screen so you can video chat with the person over the air).

japan had some pretty awesome phones as well including fully functioning digital camera phones (5-8MP with 3X zoom) and HD video camcorder phones. although it seems that the returning trend there are flip phones. i even saw a phone where it's outside cover was a solar panel.

makes the phones sold in the US look like crap.

[quagmire]

Just a FYI, the phones screen is LCD, but just has a LED backlight.

[.:bHd:.]

Anyone know why we cant get service at concerts and stadiums and stuff?? It's an open air place so why would it be a problem? Too many people in the area with a phone?

[Comet]

Originally Posted by G-Mach1

Not 100% true. If the phone is locked it can't be activated. In NA most of the phones sold are locked. It doesn't matter whether it is a CDMA/UMTS or GSM network.

Like some one said here in NA you don't see most of the phones (sold in Asia or Europe) because it the Network here doesn't support them. Having said that most of the carriers in NA (Atleast here in Canada) is going to a 3G network or even some are going to the next generation network -LTE.

any and every phone can be unlocked.
Fido/Rogers doesn't have their own firmware for phones (unless that's changed since 2007)

Locked just means it can only work on the network you've purchased it on. Unlocking it is extremely easy, and that 250$ charge is a total rip off (I used to do it for free). Then, you can flash the phone with new firmware (easy to do if you have the cable, it'll run you up 50$) if you really want.
Tons of gray market dealers in North America for unlocked GSM phones. None of them however carry CDMA.
Rogers/Fido's GSM/3G network does support European/Asian phones so long as the phone supports the band (850/1900) which close to every phone since 2001 does. Triband/Quadband phones can be used world. Switch the SIM card if you don't want to pay roaming fees.

GSM/3G phones are one and the same. No such thing as an exclusive 3G phone.

A lot of people confuse locked and limited software.
Locked means you are locked to a specific SIM card. Doesn't mean all features of the phone is locked. I don't know how CDMA does it because quite frankly, no one gives a damn about such a deprecated network.

But that's how it works with GSM:
You have network locks on phones sold by the carrier that can easily and LEGALLY be bypassed.

as for this LTE (or UMTS as it is better known), this is mostly for data plans, and phones already support it. My current phones do.

[Couch]

Originally Posted by Maestro

No that is a function of GSM technology and the structure of the building. Some building if built out of Steel and have Glass that has a metallic base UV filters on it will not allow the GSM radio wave to pass through.

My parent's house is less then 1/2 mile form a tower and you stand outside their hose and you get perfect reception on a AT&T, T-moble or Verizon network. You walk in the house the signal goes dead, you have to stand by a window to get reception. The reason is simple, the house was built back in the 60's and had plaster walls on top of metal lath so their entire house if a Faraday Cage and does not let RF signal in or out of the house.

The problem is most people have no clue what are the limiting factors are when trying to receive and send an cell phone signal and the just blame the phone or service provider.

GSM seem to have the most problem with interference verses other technologies and this also depend what bandwidth it operates in since there are various frequency bands that GSM can operate

That's true and I tend to forget about things like that.

[samwoo2go]

Originally Posted by Prowess Symphony

Korea is tiny. USA is huge. They have better gps and phone stuff over there because its much easier to manage such a small area. Costs too much for us to do that.

ya well shit, at least hook up the top tier cities!!! like LA, NY, Chi town, etc etc. Im sure Korea country side don't got shit on Seoul either, but at least Seoul's got it.