Hutchison 3G UK Holdings Ltd has locked down the new Motorola-built (A920) smart phone for its "3" service, seemingly in an effort to stop the device being used for nefarious purposes. However, the plan denies users of the device access to applications written for the similar Symbian-based handset from Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB.

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Yeah, it's completely ridiculous.. Well, to me at least. I would never consider such a "restricted" device! Haven't they learned anything from the whole Orange SPV certification ordeal? :-?

Seems useless to buy any "PDAish" device nowadays with a "walled garden" OS...

Due to '3''s stupid "walled garden" approach, in addition to the extremely large size of the unit, I can see this as nothing but a flop.

And what the hell do they mean by "nefarious purposes"... As far as I'm aware there haven't been ANY real viruses for any of the handheld OS's.

As far as I'm aware there haven't been ANY real viruses for any of the handheld OS's.That doesn't mean that the never will be such, though.