Review roundup: Motorola Droid, Verizon's first Android handset - Page 2

True. However, there was an update to the CDMA standard finalized earlier this year which allows for simultaneous voice/data. Even after Verizon rolls out their 4G network, it will exist side-by-side with the CDMA network for the forseable future. So the question is whether Verizon will upgrade their CDMA network to the new standard?

But as of today, Verizon can not support simultaneous voice/data.

However, you should also keep in mind that ATT only supports simultaneous voice/data on their 3G network (from my understanding). And as Verizon clearly and correctly points out in their recent adds, ATT's 3G coverage is very limited. Basically, if you don't live in a big city, you won't have 3G and won't have simultaneous voice/data.

Wow thats beyond abusive.

Where did you go to school?

Good thing 90% of us live in a big city. However, EDGE (2.5G) also supports simultaneous Voice/Data. So, this ad is not as clear or correct as one would think.

Wow a crappy physical keyboard that you can't actually type correctly on and a crappy browser that you can't actually do multi touch zooming on (hahaha, boy will they not be able to read a thing on this device...). Oh what innovative features... after such long time in the making is that the best moto and google can come up with? I would be the first to commend on a good product but this is pathetic.

I would say because your company pays for your blackberry, does not mean its successful. Customer Satisfaction and those looking to replace their existing technology with a better product is considered success..

http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobilize/...infoworld_news

BlackBerry leads the iPhone 40 percent to 30 percent, with Palm's WebOS trailing way back at 7 percent market share

so with your logic, in less than two years the Iphone has jumped into a market and gained over a third of the market and will continue, at current rates of growth, that means Iphone will be at 60% in two more years...

"The survey, taken over a week in September, questioned 4,255 consumers about their phones. The smartphone continues to gain ground: Around 39 percent of respondents said they owned one, compared to 32 percent at the same time last year. Looking forward, 36 percent of those surveyed are planning on purchasing an iPhone in the next 90 days, compared to 27 percent for BlackBerry, and a 8 percent for Palm."

"Apple also came out tops with owners of its phone: 74 percent of iPhone users are "very satisfied" with their phones, which ranks as genuine enthusiasm in the cell phone market -- though little surprise, given both the iPhone's recent topping of J.D. Powers's customer satisfaction survey and a stellar satisfaction rating of 99 percent of iPhone 3GS owners from ChangeWave's own survey in August.

None of the other platforms achieve a majority ranking in ChangeWave's September survey; RIM comes in second with 43 percent of BlackBerry users reporting very satisfied, Palm ranks just 33 percent,....Given the competition -- or lack thereof -- in the satisfaction area, is it really a shock that Apple's finally within spitting distance of the Number 1 market share spot?"


So I would call that more than remotely successful.....

And Fortune 500 would agree that Apple is a success, naming Steve Jobs CEO OF THE DECADE.....

In other news...Balhmer will call Fortune 500 a rounding error and will come out with Fortune 1000 and name himself CEO of the CENTURY....

I've been fairly underwhelmed by the Android devices released so far. I can't wait to give Droid (or whatever the GSM-flavoured version is called) a good play. Android will probably be a very nice OS by version 3.

Still? Apple has only been in the market for 2 years and they are right on the heels of RiM in unit sales despite the excessive BOGO offers.But more importantly, they have already surpassed them in profit. In fact, Apple’s iPhone reportedly accounted for 32% of all profit from all phones worldwide for the first half of 2009. How you can’t see this as impressive is dumbfounding.

PS: Nokia is still number one and will continue to be number one in unit sales for awhile even with their falling marketshare.



That isn’t for all phones, just the ones that are overly subsidized. I wouldn’t be surprised to see other carries follow suit. The cheapest way to buy a new 3GS in the US is to get a 2-year contract with AT&T and then cancel it, paying the $175 early termination fee. Even with the activation fee you are saving quite a bit of money over the unsubsidized price.

You will save around $50 doing it that way because if you cancel within 30 days you will have to give back the iPhone. So you will pay for the iPhone, activation fee, two months of service, and cancelation fee ($199+$36+$69+$69+$175 = $548 + tax on the device and two periods of service). However, I am not sure if they will give you back part of the second period fees.

Google is actively working on a solution for this in an official capacity. I believe the issue (like for the BlackBerries) is a security problem. Someone being able to upload and run a malicious program on a microSD card is what I'm guessing. The fix will probably be released for Flan and subsiquent OSs.

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Then I'm sure you've missed the reports of Android topping the iPhone in marketshare by 2012. The new Android phones have specs to die for and every one that gets bought increases the exposure and userbase. Which means the developers will come en-masse. There's already been a 94% increase in development for Android apps within a month alone!

Once the Android apps reach close to Apple's number, what will Apple have left? Certainly not in specs, as the iPhone has already been passed in technological might. All it's got going for it is the dead-to-nuts simple OS and the apps. Once Android matches in the apps, the only thing left is a choice between the OSs and at that point, I don't think Apple will shine as much as they do now.

I hate to say it, but it's people like you that underestimate the competition that causes your product of choice to start falling behind. Blind faith in a product is never good. How many of Apple's iPhone events have gone and passed with them making the screen bigger or even AMOLED (among the many other things iPhone users have on a wish list)?


Don't like the slide-out? The soft keyboard has gotten great reviews. Just because the browser doesn't support pinch-zoom doesn't mean you can't read on it (your comment is borderline iPhone-fanboy zealot). The double-tap zooming works just fine from the videos I've seen and it scrolls around much smoother than the iPhone does. The higher resolution screen also helps in making the text sharp.

Thanks for the clarification about 2.5G supporting simultaneous voice/data. It would be nice if ATT's own coverage maps were more specific. They used to show where each level of coverage was. But even the design of their coverage viewer hints that they know their coverage is a weakness (things like forcing you to select from a list of individual cities before showing you were 3G coverage exists).

BTW: According to goverment stats, 68% of the US population lives in cities of 50,000 or larger. So still a pretty big portion of people without 3G on ATT.

Actually, you can. Just tell them you don’t have it anymore. Who are they to question what happened to the phone. I did this last year when i bought several 3Gs to sell. Had a wait longer than expected for the jailbreak and unlock, but I made plenty for my trouble. If AT&T raises the cancelation fees you can blame me. I understand fully that I was abusing the system

That's a good point.

One of the great additional features for me, although it isn't applicable to everybody, is having the MobileMe server space to store some of my photo's, music etc...just when my iPhone's starting to bust at the seems it's nice to be able to have that ecosystem to shed some of the pounds.

I've decided to get the next iPhone officially unlocked because I will do a lot of traveling in early 2011. I find waiting for the jailbreak and unlock very inconvenient especially now that you will need to jailbreak again if you restart your iPhone (newer iPhones).

First off - I think there's enough smart people at Apple that if (God forbid) Jobs gets sick again and dies, the iphone will continue to evolve and be great.

Secondly - As long as Apple continues to stay exclusively on AT&T, there will be one giant reason not to buy one.

The iphone is great and everything, but why should someone pay $20 extra a month for unlimited "iphone messaging"? It's no different and it's the kind of scammy BS people have to put up with simply because the iphone is so popular or "desirable" as you put it.

At least with Verizon, their excuse of charging you so much a month for a comparable plan is backed by a solid excuse: Their network coverage is far more superior to AT&T's.

The most practical, mainstream thing to get right now is an HTC Hero from Sprint. They don't have the best coverage, but they have excellent data speeds, and at least they don't make excuses to screw you out of more money. Oh, and unlimited mobile to mobile is nice too. On my particular phone, I tether wirelessly for free, and can hit almost 2mb/s at home. That alone makes up for any shitty customer service lol

Oh, I see, you think the new century started in 2000. How quaint.

that OBVIOUSLY was a troll you were replying to lol. Nobody in the world is dumb enough to think that because a browser's zoom method isn't multi touch oriented, that somehow you won't be able to read the text. It's just not possible for anyone to be so inane.

And the keyboard comment? LOL! Lets see how many words per minute someone on an iphone can type verses someone on a physical keyboard WITHOUT mistakes. Physical keys always trump onscreen. There are downsides to that though, like complication to design and having to manufacture specific phones for specific parts of the world.

AsianBob, this guy was just trying to make apple fanboys look bad by posing as one with borderline retardation.

naughty naughty!

actually, people have been using registry hacks to disable the keyboard on touch pro 1's because the insurance company is replacing them with touch pro 2's right now lol. Scamming aint exactly my thing, but can you blame them when the system is so easy to cheat?

MM is worth all $69/year, but I do with that I could use it as a USB drive, copy local items from MM to the device or to the MM server, and have that be accessible by any computer I choose if I plug it into the USB.



I may have to do that as well. Going to travel Europe next year for a few months. Iceland is about $1USD to 122 Icelandic Kronur.

No I don't, not at all - why would I?
But why do you think 2000 is in the last decade? Do tell us? Won't you? ( foot meet mouth)

No, I saw them.

I'm waiting for Christmas so I can get my iTimeMachine, too.

But hey, Android is off to a great start:

256mb available for app storage. No support for installation of apps to SD cards. Most popular iPhone apps (such as games) easily exceed 100mb. So what exactly is going to fit on the Droid? Probably why it has only three panels.

It had better do gaming, and do it as well and easily as the iPhone.

And users had better really, really like the Droid. In fact, they had better have at least 350 reasons to like it.

And that's just a couple of points of limitation for an unreleased, untested device in a market which is continually redefined by Apple.

Again, if you're in the same space as Apple, your competing product had better be revolutionary. Because just "good enough" is never good enough when competing with Apple.

HA! Perfect

The first decade was year 1 to year 10. That is the first 10 year period. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. There was no zeroth year. That means, if you keep counting up today, 19912000 is a Gregorian decade and 20012010 is another Gregorian decade.

Let me know if you find good deal and I will let you know if I find one. Mark your calendar for Jun 25th 2010

NO! Really?

2010 begins a new decade on the planet I live on.

Where is the planet Gregor?
Do you chant in Gregorian?
So it's you in that picture that runs around in that brown clothed frock with hood!

Is that Gregorian? He might not understand it otherwise.

I have no doubt that Android-based phones will out number iPhone OS-based phones without a couple years, but what I dont believe is that the iPhone will crumble because of it. The Mac is a very successful product yet it doesnt need to have a majority marketshare to still be lucrative and viable. Same goes for the iPhone.

The iPhone has many pluses that an open-source mobile OS cant compete with, just as the Android has its own pros that the iPhone cant readily compete with. There is plenty of room in this growing market for both mobile OSes. Both will thrive, but Apple will likely be at the top of this market with everything else being compared to it.

Really? "Specs"? Do you actually imagine that the average consumer considers a smartphone, then starts asking around about "specs"? Are you picturing people saying to themselves, "You know, I was considering getting an iPhone but I hear that that Droid has, um, I guess, higher resolution screen and camera? Sold!"

I never cease to be amazed at the tunnel vision of geeks. Really, it's astonishing.

As far as "nothing left to the iPhone besides the OS", I guess Apple will stop improving the iPhone at this point and wait for everyone else to finish catching up? And shut down the iTunes ecosystem? And prevent anyone from making any more third party hardware accessories?

I don't doubt Android will do just fine for itself, but talk of the imminent eclipse of the iPhone is absurd.

You better like that phone with Verizon since they are going to rape you to go elsewhere... One thing you can count on with Verizon, they will figure out a way to make you pay.

That termination fee is more than what the phone cost them to subsidize, and it is an obvious ploy to keep people from leaving Verizon once you sign on. If they can not provide good service to keep you they keep you because it will be too much to leave.

They might, maybe they pump them up full of juice to cool them off sot hey can run faster

You are kidding me right? With such a small screen no zoom kills any reading period, even at ultra super duper hd resolution. And so the slide out is a lemon, but no worries there's the one screen one that doesn't even auto correct.

The crux of the matter is that with all that hype from google (no. 1 btw in self aggrandizing and failing to deliver behind ms) this phone is still something that would have been half acceptable three years ago, not something that comes out now after everyone and their brother has got a smart phone out, and it's supposed to bring something to the table. It's a pathetic showcase.

Exactly. I don't know why people keep thinking that for one to succeed the other must fail. There is enough place for everyone as long as everyone plays by the rule. Personally I don't like MS because of they abused their power but I really don't want to see them go down. Actually, I am buying a laptop for my father in few days and it is not a Mac it is a Dell with Windows 7. However, I am kind of pissed that I will have to pay $150 extra for the Ultimate version to get multilingual feature, which is why I am getting a PC to begin with. Mac OS still lacks full Arabic localization even though it is the fifth most spoken language in the world

That explains a lot.

Normal consumers and truly educated “geeks” don’t look at specs. I love how some specs are look at while ignoring others, especially the ones that affect overall performance and usability.

— I don’t care if the display resolution is better if the UI looks unrefined and the layout is abysmal.
— I don’t care if the camera has 80% more pixels if the CMOS and software result is a worse image.
— I don’t care if the CPU is faster, the RAM is higher if the OS and apps don’t work as well.
— I don’t care if the micro-SD card slot can hold more total data if I am limited on my app storage or longterm ability to upgrade my OS (eg: HTC G1).

That is my iDon’t ad.

you're completely delusional and need your head examined.

Verizon can't keep touch pro 2's in stock!

We're still waiting on your explanation why you think 2000 is in a prior decade and why Fortune still has another year left to decide CEO of the Decade.

Can't conjure up anything- eh?

I think his point was that if everyone's always screaming that the iphone has everything they ever wanted, then what's stopping Apple from getting lazy? The 3gs wasn't exactly leaps and bounds over the 3g, but it brought what everyone was complaining that they wanted. What is anyone really voicing a need for these days?

Now as far as saying geeks have tunnel vision, that's really the pot calling the kettle black. Most people around here don't even consider a non-apple-product when there's a counter solution being offered by Apple. You don't need to be a geek to see the potential in things coming from all kinds of different companies. I don't know what you need to be to ignorantly ignore that and just say "Apple's better" without really looking into what you're saying. Case in point: When someone says my phone isn't capable of the same 3d rendering performance as an iphone, I show them XTrakt. In this regard, it boils down to developers simply not paying attention to WM.

Dammit boy! You’ve had it explained by like 3 different people now. The calendar didn’t start on year zero, it started on year one. To say that 2000 started the decade you have to have started CE with year zero.

Watch your mouth.
Moderators- is this derogatory name calling really acceptable at AI?

solipsism-You're the only spewiing out Gregorian explanations on here as if we care.
Did you write to Fortune yet and tell them they made a mistake in thinking this decade ends 12/31/09?????

The iphone sales are impressive and the iphone itself is impressive however the point was its not the only impressive smartphone and not all other phones are due to fail or fall behind the iphone. Which is of course what Quadra says about everything that isn't made by Apple. No one is denying the success of Apple or the iPhone however that doesn't mean that everything else is doomed to fail.


A 350.00 disconnect/early termination fee is abusive by any standard. Doesn't matter if its not on all phones now or not because once you implement something like that it can easily spread to all phones and then be adopted by other carriers. Regulations are suppose to try and tame this kind of behavior but it continues to get worse.