General Forum

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

Evan — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:50:40 GMT

Not gonna lie, Im not likin the vertu that much

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

TWG — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:50:02 GMT

bayerische:
Vertu = Nokia...
But they understood to leave the Nokia logo out.

Yes, you're right. And with that Vertu-Logo they suddenly understand about real quality

And as mentioned right above:

The Serene still stands out from the crowd because of its design. That's the good point :-)

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

bayerische — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:45:48 GMT

Vertu = Nokia...

But they understood to leave the Nokia logo out.

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

Evan — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:08:48 GMT

Sold!

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

Jandyt — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:17:47 GMT

Ther are some fantastic 'phones out there, iphone being one of them, but....

....people still say "Wow" when I get my Serene out.

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

TWG — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:10:49 GMT

Is there any option to send custom ringtones via Bluetooth or does the phone simply NOT accept them?
Did anybody try this out?
Any option to change the display orientation "forever"?

Oh, and please do not compare the Serene with a Vertu ;-)

There are worlds of quality between the Samsung plastic phone and a Vertu or Tag Heuer.

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

Evan — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:12:00 GMT

I n a way it all funnels itself down to style and image. I agree to your point about the iPhone. It is only utilized when used appropriately. I also second the urent need to do away with the Samsung nameplate.

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

jk1002 — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:58:01 GMT

The iphone is in its own little world. If you want to use it as a phone only there is no point. Someone here called the Serene a Dress Phone which in my opinion nails it. The market is there, Tag Heuer has one, Vertu has is an entire brand. They just need to get rid of that samsung logo for christ sake.

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

Evan — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:51:40 GMT

I realize the greatness of the iPhone, I have spent a lot of time with it, it is a fine piece. For me though, this matter of which is better comes down to originality and individuality. I don't want to be like everyone else in America and drive an Escalade with a bluetooth earpiece on. I want a mob of people to stop and ask me questions as if I were driving the new Bugatti Veyron. I could live with a lower resolution screen, and the other minor qwerks, I want to turn heads. With Bang & Olufsen I can do that.

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

bayerische — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:07:22 GMT

Serene, Serenata, Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola... All rubbish compared to iPhone.

It's a matter of opinion I know, and as a Finn I would wish nothing more than a Nokia phone on par with the iPhone.

I understand the idea of getting a B&O phone, if it was a B&O phone, and not a Samsung. If it had the goods to back-up it's price.

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

Evan — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:15:10 GMT

There's always a catch! Well I am going to my dealer tomorrow anyway so I will definitely be askin about it. Thank you all.

Evan

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

Affineur — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:51:21 GMT

The tri-band issue is significant in the US and you should check the coverage in your area for AT&T and TMobile. The Tri-band Serene phone is compatible 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz systems. In the US a fourth frequency (850 MHz) was added (primarily to the AT&T system) and TMobile has an arrangement with AT&T to swap secondary use of their 1900 MHz signal for secondary use of the AT&T 850 MHz signal. This is the basis for the so-called "quad band " phones which are now the standard in the US (with the exception of Verizon and a couple ofother providers). It has been noted that the 850 MHz frequency provides more reliable coverage in areas with obstructions (tall buildings, mountains, etc.). The issue of coverage for a Serene arises with either provider for the following reason. If you have TMobile as a provider they use the 1900 MHz freq as their "primary" band and if this band is weak, not available (due to use by other customers), or not available due to lack of coverage within thier system then they switch to the 850 MHz band as a secondary customer. If you have a Serene and you pass into one of these areas, your call will immediately be dropped because the phone does not have an 850 MHz capability. Likewise, AT&T use the 850 MHz band as one of thier their "primary" bands and with the Serene you can (depending on location) often be using their "secondary" back-ups, e.g. the TMobile system. In this situation, as you are secondary, coverage is very questionable because the TMobile customers have prioroty over the bandwidth. This is what I learned in speaking with TMobile, AT&T and the B&O Product Specialst.

The bottom line is that coverage with a Serene is highly dependent on your use area and a detailed analysis is in order. You might ask to borrow a live phone from your B&O store to determine how well it works for you. I did this and decided the coverage was too "sketchy". Too bad because for all of the reasons given above, the Serene is a great phone with nice B&O design characteristics.

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

Evan — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:57:22 GMT

Thank you Razlaw, that was very informational and just what I was looking for.

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

Razlaw — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:25:22 GMT

Hope you do not mind my input on the triband issue. I find the phone works 90% of the time for me. I live near the Iowa/Illinois border. There are some rural areas where it will not work. Driving across Illinois to Chicago if I take the northern route I have a full signal the entire way. If I take the southern route the phone is dead for about 1/2 of the trip. Interestingly the southern route has many more cities and larger cities than the northern route. I recently drove to Rochester Minnesota and had a full signal for most of Iowa and part of the drive in Minnesota. I do find that many times in the interior areas of buildings or below ground level portions of buildings it will not work even though it has a full signal outside.

My understanding is that there are four different frequencies that cell phones use. The Serene has three of them, but only one is used by AT&T and other US carriers. If you are in an area where the carrier uses the frequency the phone does not have, it will not work.

Re: Unlocked B&O Serene?

Evan — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:01:48 GMT

I want an iPhone also, but now that everyone and their mom has one its not a head turner. I like comments and I like being different, that almost sells it on its own.

The carrier that will be supporting it if I do choose to get one would be AT&T, and they're 3G network.

Mr. TripEnglish, do you think you could expound upon this tri-band business? I'm afraid i haven't familiarized myself with that and am alarmed by this as I too reside in the states, but spend most of my time in suburban areas.