Just came across this and thought y'all might find it interesting.

http://www.spareonephone.com/product.html

Verrrrry interesting! I've been wanting something like this forever. I like that it uses a common, user-replaceable AA battery, although a lithium AA is probably going to last longer than most users will keep one of these phones around.

Besides running out of juice, if your phone malfunctions or is broken, you can swap out your SIM card and continue to make and receive calls at your usual number. I would assume that contact info saved to your SIM card would also be accessible.

Even without a calling plan, I would assume that it is capable of dialing 911 all by itself. Maybe no E911 features, but I'm OK with that. I wonder if the FCC would have problems with that, though? The FCC didn't seem to like those mobile phones that were recycled but not re-activated on a calling plan and given to victims of abuse so they could call 911. You don't hear about those programs anymore.

I looked around a bit. Seems like MSRP of $49 later this year. Hopefully less when it hits stores.

Do GSM phones even work on American cellular networks? I thought American networks were CDMA-only...

Too bad GSM coverage in the USA is so bad compared to CDMA.

The USA GSM carriers are AT&T and T-Mobile.
Sprint and Verizon are CDMA.

FWIW, GSM phones are generally more innovative, as the GSM standard requires "any device with a valid SIM" to be able to use the GSM network, while CDMA is totally under the control of the carriers, who can decide what devices are allowed to connect to their network.

All of this will be moot in 6-7 years when we have transitioned to LTE anyway.

And you should use that setting.
I was in Canada in December, and I was connected to the hotel WiFi. I was demonstrating how to download a 675MB movie to the iPhone for the client. When I put the phone down, the WiFi dropped, the phone switched to 3G and merrily downloaded the 672MB it didn't get via Wifi.
My overage was - for a few moments - thousands of dollars, but the folks at AT&T reduced that to "only" $200 for the 800MB Canadian data plan.

Note: Canada has the most insanely high data rates for phones anywhere

That's probably AT&T charging most of the money, usually how roaming charge goes. How much do you guys down south pay for data in your plan? I pay $30 for 6 GB per month.

GSM frequencies are kinda being phased out already, the company I'm with is HSPA/LTE (with legacy CDMA support) and GSM phones can't even recognize the SIM card.

Yep, I agree that roaming charges account for most of the damage. Our data rates are still comparatively high, but not that high.

Canada has GSM and CDMA networks that pretty much overlap each other in coverage. Smart phones on either system use a SIM card; older phones do not. Obviously, you can't take a phone or SIM card from one system and port it to the other.

Rogers is the primary GSM carrier, and they're not going anywhere --they're in it for the long haul. Definitely not being phased out, though they may put more marketing emphasis on some regional markets as opposed to others.

Bell has moved to HSPA mostly and maintain CDMA for legacy support, and I suspect both Bell/telus and Rogers will move onto LTE as technology matures.

I looked all over the web site and couldn't find a price, Did I miss something?

As I mentioned above, MSRP $49 later this year.

From the press release:

iPhones are either GSM or CDMA; they are different models with different radios. As far as I know that's true across manufacturers, I'm not aware of any phone that will do both CDMA and GSM in the same handset model.

The iPhone 4 did not, but the iPhone 4S does exactly that, has both GSM and CDMA radios in the same phone. It was cheaper for Apple to put both in one phone than having to engineer two different phones.

And, all features don't work the same. I think the Verizon still will not allow phone use and internet use at same time? I hear it's Verizon not allowing it yet.

Not very useful for iphone owners unless you plan to crack your phone open. Not a good idea unless it is already dead and you don't plan to repair it. It is super easy to damage the lcd/digitizer/etc when open them up.

You're quite right. My mistake. I looked that up specifically before I posted and I was still wrong .



I thought that was a Verizon network technology limitation and not how the phone is provisioned.

This would be a deal-breaker for me if I wanted to move to Verizon. Being able to look something up from my email while on a call isn't something I use every week but when I need it I really need it. Similarly, not being able to use the phone while tethering is something I use at least once a week.

Not sure what you mean here- you don't have to disassemble the iPhone to remove the sim card, if that is what you are referring to. Sim card is very easily removed with a simple tool that is included with the phone, or a small paper clip.

anyone have any clue if this upcoming "SpareOne" device would work using the Tracfone system? (ie: do tracfones even have sim cards?)

we live very remotely with little-to-none cell reception, so cell phones are fairly worthless, except when we travel. we own a tracfone we take with us in saddlebags or truck for emergencies.

for $100/yr it has come in handy a couple of times over the last ten years. we even recently upgraded to a never model phone for $15 because the old battery wouldn't hold a charge anymore.

problem has always been that when we go to use it after a few weeks or months, the battery was often dead, so this 1xAA unit seems like just the answer we need.

suggestions/comments/ideas?

yes they have sim cards.when i got a newer phone they send one so i could use my old number on the new phone.it's just a tiny bit of paper with a gold-like coating.i very seldom use mine.

Imagine if these phones came with this waterproof technology:
http://www.boom973.com/jeff/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10334003

It may be better to get an emergency battery charger that runs on AA and charges your usual phone.

It depends. A broken, water-logged, stolen or otherwise inaccessible mobile phone is useless even if you have a charger. Remember the adage, two is one, one is none.

In the UK, SIMs tend to expire if not used for 6 months or so. If you put a spare phone in a draw and forget about it until there's an emergency, the SIM probably won't work. You won't be able to transfer a SIM from your main phone if it's been stolen. (And if getting water-logged is a threat, I'll safeguard my main phone as carefully as I would the emergency phone. No reason why what affects one won't affect the other.)

I'm not arguing against having two phones. By now, most of us have upgraded their main phone at least once, and so have an old phone they can use as a spare.

This may not apply to the UK at all, but before GSM became popular in the US and non-SIM protocols were common here, a mobile phone did not have to be activated with a carrier to be able to dial 911. There was a whole cottage industry of non-profit organizations that recycled donated mobile phones and gave them to battered and abused women to use as emergency phones to call 911 in case they were attacked again.

Does anyone know if the FCC changed that rule about any mobile phone should be able to dial 911? You don't see these donated 911-only mobile phones anymore, but that could be due to the widespread availability of cheap, pre-paid mobile phones now, and not some legal change at the FCC.

I remember that Magnavox used to have a mobile phone, powered by a common battery, that took advantage of this situation to create an emergency, 911-only phone. Great for seniors, too. Flip up the cover and it just had one big, red button to push to dial 911. I believe that was an analog-only phone, which is why the product disappeared as the mobile phone network was upgraded to go all-digital.

A much simpler (and cheaper) solution is one of these:

http://www.gomadic.com/battery-backup-cat.html

It takes AA's and you just get the correct tip for your regular phone and works with virtually any device. I got one of these for a week long bicycle trip I did last summer and used it to recharge my cell phone and GPS every night in the tent. It would recharge my phone in an hour or so. Or you can operate the phone while it's plugged it. I keep it handy at home with plenty of spare batteries for emergencies. I even carry it on long plane flights to recharge my music player if it gets low mid-flight. I only payed about $20 for it and it was well worth it.

i like it! thnx!

Very nice ki7he.