no offense to cingular, or you... but it really doesnt make much sense to purchase a TDMA phone like the v60 for att or cingular, since they are rapidly DUMPING the entire tdma platform and converting to gsm.

Its like buying outdated technology... in fact in 2 major markets cingular is almost based on gsm (new york/california), so why go tdma at all???

Battery life on tdma is poor, sound quality sucks, call capacity and spectrum use are horrible.... bleh!

the v60 c/i is a better choice for verizon, however, the v60x is slated for release in the next 4-6 months, is 1xrtt ready, provides changeable metal face plates, games, programable ring tones, schedualer, is trimode, and may (BIG MAY) even end up being BREW enabled.

In short, dont buy a phone now, you will soon regret it

 

TDMA wont be dumped by ATTWS for at least a couple of years. GSM will be fully rolled out by the end of this year, however. I dont know about other markets, I'm only aware of my market, SF Bay Area California. But my local ATTWS store says that they will have both TDMA and GSM coexisting for at least a couple more years before TDMA is completely phased out so that they don't force everyone to upgrade phones right away.

As for battery life and sound quality, I can't remember the last time I conciously had to charge my battery since the phone charges while it's plugged into the car cradle. But my previous V60 lasted 3-4 days on a single charge (15-20 minutes of usage/day). Sound quality is good, no worse than any major competitors (comparisons are based on friend's phones on Cingular, Sprint and Verizon in the Bay Area), and decidedly better than some.

Now on to my opinions on the cellular integration. I love it I went back and forth on my decision on the K2C package when I ordered my car, and now I do not regret shelling out the money for it one bit. I love how the callerID comes through on my MFD and my stereo. I like how my stereo shows how many bars of signal I am getting. I love being able to cycle through my phone book, pick up and hang up, control volume and all that through my steering wheel. Everyone who has talked to me or used my car phone has been impressed with the sound clarity. I like being able to yell out a phone number and have the voice recognition pick up the correct numbers (99% of the time). I like being able to tell my car "dial name. so-and-so. dial.". And it's much better than fumbling for my headset every time a call comes in while I'm driving.

I am a gadget geek though, aside from the price my main reservation was being able to upgrade my phone once a year like I normally do. Now that I've gotten used to the integrated phone, I will gladly give up any 3G technologies to keep my current setup. But hopefully all I will need is a new cradle and phone from MB when the next cool toy comes out! Wishful thinking, i know.

Ah well, those are my opinions on the whole phone issue. These opinions are based on how well this setup fits my needs, so take from it what you will.
Hien

 

I have no phone in my car...and yes,if I hit the telephone buttons on the steering wheeI get the"Function not available"message
Richard as you are uin the U.K. I suppose you have a phone fitted...(not to know about the message thing I mean)....or...thinking your question through more thoroughly did you mean cars sourced on the continent?