People have found that their little Minispirons are sporting 3G capability that was unadvertised and is at the moment unsupported. I don’t know whether this is sketchy or cool. On the one hand, they’ve included a part in a computer that has no functionality and you have to assume that you’re paying for it. On the other hand, they didn’t BS the world and try to sell it up when they don’t have a service ready for it. Either way, it’s nice that the thing is there, but I think we can all agree it would have been better if they had A: been honest and B: made use of the 3G from the start.
They say they’ll “be announcing [the 3G card] in a couple of weeks.” Dell, the horse has left the barn, you may as well leave the door open.
Update:
Apparently the Minis being sold in the US don’t have the 3G radios. I guess the quote from the general manager of small-screen devices &mash; “There’s an integrated 3G radio that we’ll be announcing in a couple of weeks” — is Europe only. Kind of misleading!
You say that “you have to assume that you’re paying for it” but even if you don’t know it’s there, you’re still agreeing to the price without the 3G chip. So it’s not like there’s any sort of hoodwinking going on – you pay a reasonable price for something with a defined feature set that you think is worth that price, only to find out it may have additional capabilities. Seems like a good deal to me. And so much better than the other model that manufacturers use these days when they tell you that you should buy something now because they plan on having more features later, only to find that they never come…
Yeah, you’re definitely right. I think I came off as a little too cynical in the post. What I meant is there’s two ways of looking at it: one, I’m paying for something I didn’t ask for or need and the price could have been $40 less or whatever. Two, I’m getting something for free on top of what I already willingly paid. It’s just a matter of perspective.