SlyFerret

Just saw this via the Samsung Mobile twitter account.

Samsung Moments Brilliant Amoled Display To Showcase Mobile Digital Tv Chip At Ces 2010 Samsung Newsroom

I'm wondering if this "unveiling" at CES isn't possibly a major reason why we haven't seen any updates for our devices yet.

-SF

AndroidSPCS

Interesting, thanks for the info.

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SlyFerret

I tweeted back at them to find out if maybe the existing Moments that have been sold already have this DTV chip in them, but I haven't gotten any response back.

With my luck, it will be an updated version of the Moment hardware. Which would suck, considering the device was only out for a couple months.

-SF

mysticmead

from what I was reading on that... it appears that the current Moments do NOT have the DTV chip in them

agent0014

The article above? It seems a bit vague to me. Do you have other sources for this assumption?

momentoid

Typically a company's attention is dedicated to CES where multiple new products are show cased. To avoid diverting attention from these major product announcements, minor updates will not be announced even if they are ready. If there is one, I don't expect a bug fix release for Moment until the later half of the month.

Last edited by momentoid; 01-05-2010 at 12:40 PM.

momentoid

Specs for Moment on Samsung site indicates the following:
senses. accelerated Moment? (SPH-m900) - Sprint Phones - Mobile Phones | SAMSUNG
Mobile TV
DMB- or DVB-H-receivers in mobile phones allow the mobile user to receive TV-programmes in high quality

Last edited by momentoid; 01-05-2010 at 12:48 PM.

mysticmead

both those quotes came from, here.. Samsung Moment Exclusively From Sprint Selected As First Mobile Phone To Demonstrate Mobile Digital Tv Chip At International Ces 2010 Samsung Newsroom

Last edited by mysticmead; 01-05-2010 at 12:57 PM.

mysticmead

Samsung Mobile USA (SamsungMobileUS) on Twitter is a great way to get news updates from Samsung

sprint (sprint) on Twitter is another good one to follow for updates...

indiana jones

so it doesnt have it? EARLY ADOPTER FAIL!

SlyFerret

Everybody want's to be like the iPhone.

-SF

mysticmead

no... everyone wants to be BETTER than the iPhone...

AndroidSPCS

It says it's being test marketed in DC & Baltimore, so it may be a while before this is rolled out nationwide. I figure by the time this is rolled out nationwide, I'll be eligible for my one year Sprint Premier upgrade anyway, so not a big deal.

I'm going to enjoy my awesome Moment for now, and look forward to the next awesome phone when I'm eligible for upgrade.

SlyFerret

Android is certainly better than the iPhone, in my book!

I still can't help but to compare this in my mind to the iPhone price drop a couple years back.

-SF

indiana jones

lol yea that happened to me. fortunately apple sent me back 100 bucks. i wouldnt mind a new moment with dtv being released if they would have provided better support for this phone which is apparently now the ugly stepchild. this moment just keeps getting better

mysticmead

that $179 pricing is the 2 year contract after the $50 instant and after that $100 mail in... or just go to bestbuy.com and get it for $99

dkjones96

Dammit. It's like the Q and the Q9c. The Q(which I got the day it came out) got abandoned like 6 months later for the 'cooler' Q9c which had WM6 but was essentially the same phone.

Gotta admit though, even though DTV would be cool I'd never use it. With the ability to store 16GB of commercial free shows why would you bother finding a local station that you couldn't even watch after you get on the plane? Couldn't pause to do something real quick or anything like that. Sounds cool at first but isn't really that great... to me anyways.

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Last edited by dkjones96; 01-05-2010 at 03:32 PM.

professoroffruit

Well that means that the phone will get updates now. If not and the "new" moment is only getting updated, I pay the 14 bucks a month for insurance, so my phone is getting broke.

fopp

as do i but....theres also a 50 dollar deductible if i remember correctly

dkjones96

$100 for our phones.

CriticalCritic

Still worth it if they abandon updates for ours. Though I don't see why they would differentiate.

agent0014

Agreed. I highly highly doubt that the update would even be separate between the current moment and the one with the DTV tuner chip. The differences between the two versions would be so slight that it wouldn't make any business sense to put the energy into two different updates, rather just one update that would install everything, including a few drivers that would go unused on our current version. I can speak from firsthand experience that that's the way tech companies operate when it comes to updates... anything else would be a waste of resources.

SlyFerret

I'm really thinking that this is why the Moment has taken a back seat to the Hero. They've been waiting to start the publicity push for the Moment at CES.

-SF

momentoid

Having worked with and knowing how much effort goes into adding a whole new chip/subsystem on an electronic board already in production, I think all Moments have the TV chip incorporated. Just not supported in software. Yes, even after reading the aforementioned news article. Just replace "TV chip" with "TV chip support" in the news article. My guess is this feature will eventually be supported in software release, may or may not be in Android 2.1 update by June, but hardware is there. In fact, that piece of software may already be included in the current release on all these devices and can be flipped ON with a bit in the Sprint Profile/PRL, thus easily enabling it for the Washington/Baltimore customers. JMHO.
------------------
Device manufacturer confirms: No DTV chip in Samsung Moment currently being sold since Nov 1. http://twitter.com/SamsungMobileUS. Well, so much for the hope of early adopters.

Last edited by momentoid; 01-06-2010 at 10:02 AM. Reason: like the edit says..

gblinckmann

If the DTV Moment is to ship Q1, wouldn't this have to run Android 2.1? Would they really do DTV on Cupcake? I'm guessing when this comes out, we all get the 2.1 upgrade for the "legacy" Moments.

MobstaJ

There are definite hardware changes as indicated by the press release. The new moments will have the additional chip as well as that huge screw on antenna port. It will not apply to existing phones.

I'm just happy to hear that samsung is still working on this phone. I know they promised 2.1 but I think this solidifies the deal.

masbirdies

From the article....

"

Samsung Moment, without the Mobile DTV chip, originally launched in November 2009 as Samsung’s first U.S. handset integrating the open and innovative Android™ platform with the high-speed connectivity of America’s most dependable 3G network3 (EVDO Rev. A.) and oneof the best values in wireless with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM calling feature, available on Everything plans with data.

Samsung Moment represents a new generation of portable Internet access devices and provides access to built-in Google™ mobile services, including Google Search™, Google Maps™, Gmail™ and YouTube™, as well as thousands of applications available in Android Market™. Moment is powered by an 800 MHz processor, making this device one of the fastest wireless phones available today. Moment is also designed with a full QWERTY keyboard for fast and easy messaging and email entry.

Customers can purchase Samsung Moment without Mobile DTV capabilities through all Sprint channels including Web (www.sprint.com), Telesales (1-800-SPRINT1) and our national retail partners. Retail pricing is currently $179.99 (excluding taxes) after a $50 instant savings and a $100 mail-in-rebate with a two-year service agreement."

In my mind, Sprint did a HUGE disservice to loyal customers. Fortunately, I can upgrade again in June 2010. But, to someone that bought the Moment and is stuck for 2 years, I would be PISSED!!!!! The Moment should have released when the above phone was ready!

Last edited by masbirdies; 01-06-2010 at 11:03 AM.

dkjones96

Anybody on this phone qualifies for Premier status. The Everything Data 450 is $69.99 and the Everything Data Family 1500 is $129.99. Both qualify you for an upgrade every year.

The only way you wouldn't is if you are using a Business Advantage plan that is cheaper than $69.99 or you are using the Sprint Relay(data only) plan for $29.99.

Last edited by dkjones96; 01-06-2010 at 11:31 AM.

ydoucare

Wonder if there's any way to get one of these as a replacement down the road when your original Moment "breaks"? I'm guessing they'll have to be depleted of all the original (early adopter fail) retail and refurbs first?

gittinends

So this kind of sucks... I just signed up under my parents' family contract about a week ago and love the Samsung Moment. However, I don't know if I'll be able to sleep at night knowing that mine doesn't support the Mobile TV.

I'm wondering if this will be available to everyone around March, and how much price difference there will be.

Still within the 30 days, so I'm really debating canceling out and waiting.. What do you guys think?

dkjones96

One question to ask yourself. Would you use it? It's a cool feature don't get me wrong but when/where would you use it?

agent0014

I asked myself that very question last night... and I absolutely would not. I'd much rather watch what I want to watch when I want then just watch an OTA signal... hence my DVR with the 1.5tb drive hooked up at home lol.

We already have SprintTV... how often have you all used that? I've used it once, when I got my first Sprint phone. It is indeed a cool feature, but if I've got my phone and I'm bored I'd rather read news articles or play my complete collection of NES games on my emulator

gittinends

Very true, I'm going to take all of this into consideration and think on it as well as conduct some more research.

BTW agent- where did you get all the emulator/rom stuff going on your phone? I'm still a newb Appreciate it!

agent0014

There's emulators for NES, GB/GBA, SNES and oldschool Sega in the market... most have a free and paid version... the only difference is the paid version allows instant save states in most cases. I don't really use the save state thing that much but I did pay for my NES one, because I really do try to support developers on things like this... it's how our app collection gets better... both in quality and quantity.

As for the ROMs, I only have two things to say:

1) legally to use a ROM you must own the original disk/cart the game came on, if you're concerned about that sort of thing

2) I'm not going to post links, but you'd be surprised how easily available things like old ROMs are with a quick visit to the googles.

EDIT: I should also mention that I'm really happy I went with the Moment over the Hero when it comes to the emulators... I can't even begin to imagine how awful trying to play any of these games would be using only the home button set and a touchscreen!

Last edited by agent0014; 01-06-2010 at 02:59 PM.

jebrank

1) legally to use a ROM you must own the original disk/cart the game came on, if you're concerned about that sort of thing


Just thought I would say that they are no longer covered by copyrights! Thats why they are so easy to dl now!! Go MARIO!!

4runneradam

On samsungs twitter page

" The current Moment selling with Sprint does not have the Mobile DTV chip needed to receive Mobile DTV."

electricsheep

As long as the legacy Moment get Android updates, I could care less about DTV.

This probably explains the lack of commercials and the treating the Moment like a bastard child of their Android phones. They probably didn't want more people pissed that a phone that has only been out 2 months is already coming out with a hardware upgrade. It also explains another rumor I read that said 2010 was when Sprint was going to start pushing the Moment.
-Eli

IOWA

I think it will be a while before the moment2 comes out. The chip just barely got approved and it takes months just to put it in production

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SlyFerret

They responded back to me yesterdy via twitter. The DTV moments will be the same hardware, with the addition of the new chip.

That should bode well for us as, as far as keeping the first round of Moment's firmware in sync with the DTV moments.

Has anyone seen a writeup anywhere on the web where someone has done a disassembly of the Moment? I'm wondering if there is an unused socket on the board... That would make adding the DTV chip really easy if Samsung planned that far ahead.

-SF

dkjones96

There are photos of one disassembled but I can't find it right now. From what I can remember there wasn't an extra socket but in a compact unit like this they would use a BGA chip on the board itself because there is no room for much to be socketed.

Keybeeetsss

I'll be able to truly say that when Slingbox becomes available for the androids; thatz the only thing I'm realllly missing from my previous phones

SlyFerret

Very true! An EE, I am not.

-SF

raiderep

I came across this the other day. It might not have very good shots but if your adventurous you can explore the innards yourself with help from this. At your own peril noobs!

How To: Tear down the Samsung Moment

Schwamy

Well this sucks. I just got done bragging to my friend who owns a Droid how I was going to be getting DTV and he wasn't.


Oh the irony.

SlyFerret

The DTV moments will look identical to the current ones. When the new ones are available, he'll never be able to tell you've upgraded.

-SF

Schwamy

True, but I like the funds to do that. D:

agent0014

Yeah... sorry to burst your bubble...

Nintendo Anti-Piracy - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

jebrank

no bubble burst but I do stand corrected.

dbpaddler

kinda sad that an "improved" model is announced two months after the original is out. they haven't even fixed the problems in the current version. I'm still pushing for a Nexus like slider from HTC for gen 2 and scrap the Moment altogether.

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AndroidSPCS

Like you said the Moment is only 2 months out, and new firmware has been put out by Samsung, albeit takes some technical skills to apply.

So this means they are not allowed to make enhancements / announcements for the phone? Kind of silly, I think.

I think it's great they're announcing this, it means this phone is being kept up-to-date and well supported.

Of course expect people to bitch about this...given how they bitch about everything else...

Last edited by AndroidSPCS; 01-09-2010 at 08:30 PM.