
Verizon Droid Is The Real Deal - davidw
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/18/verizon-droid-is-the-real-deal/
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jrockway
The better CPU is what makes this a better Android phone. I have used Android
on an HTC Magic, where the performance is OK, and I've used it on an Archos 5,
where the performance is _amazing_. Web pages load as fast as they do on a
desktop, screen rotation is instantaneous, and so on. It's very nice.

And FWIW, the HTC Magic performance is about the same as the iPhones I've
played with... so the "Droid" could definitely be the "iPhone killer".
(Because it's as fast, has the same basic functionality, and has persistent
apps. It is nice to have "push" Google Talk, and it's also nice to ssh port-
forward from your phone, and then run an IRC connection over the forwarded
ports. All possible with Android, none possible with the iPhone.)

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hxa7241
That all seems reasonable, but Apple has a powerful brand at the moment. That
must be factored-in too.

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mhb
And Verizon has the best network.

~~~
Retric
That depends on the area. I just got an iPhone and it has much better
reception than my old Verizon phone at my parents.

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kelnos
Sure, but Verizon demonstrably has the best network _overall_. The fact that
Verizon sucks for some locations that AT&T etc. serve well is only relevant if
there are fewer cases for which that's true than when you swap the statement
around.

~~~
theBobMcCormick
Citation please? I haven't seen anything other than Verizon advertising that
would back that claim up. Are there any objective third party comparisons of
US cell carrier coverage?

~~~
mhb
Consumer Reports surveys of their membership.

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jimm
Many friends have told me that Verizon cripples their phones horribly---
removing or disabling features that are available in comparable phones on
other networks.

Will this be true for the Droid?

~~~
mshafrir
Knowing Verizon, until notified otherwise assume no WiFi and no built-in GPS.

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fpgeek
Allegedly, Verizon is softening on these fronts. I expect Droid to include
WiFi and GPS at launch.

My arguments for that position: 1\. Droid specs on phandroid (and other sites)
include WiFi and GPS. Given Verizon's involvement with the phone's development
it would (at the very least) strange if they crippled them. Also, do you think
Google would have been involved with Droid (as opposed to letting Verizon run
with the open-source code on their own) if they knew Verizon was going to
cripple it?

2\. How long would it take Apple to mercilessly expose the "iDon't" marketing
campaign if the iPhone has features (WiFi and GPS) that Droid doesn't?

3\. I remember reading (sadly, I don't remember where) that all future
Blackberrys on Verizon will include WiFi. If that's accurate, Verizon must be
softening on WiFi and there's no good reason to cripple Droid out-of-the-gate.
In fact, I wonder if Droid's WiFi is what gave Blackberry the leverage to
insist on WiFi for their phones as well.

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paul9290
I'll believe it when I see it...

Though after owning a HTC Hero for four days (had 2 both headphone jacks
broke) I liked you could customize the device (though took hours to do so),
multiple screens with widgets (Twitter, Facebook, Mail, Pandora & last.fm all
controlled via widgets on phone's desktop) and the ability to run background
apps, which allowed for real time updates of widgets mentioned.

Ultimately I returned both Hero's cause of issue with headphone jack and the
thing ran so slow; booted up even slower. If this Droid fixes those issues I
might take back iPhone (30 day trial now).

~~~
EastSmith
Well, I've been using HTC Hero for more than a month now and I usually spend
about a hour or more a day browsing, and I found it ... fast. And the browser
is great.

What's this with the boot time? I rebooted it once I think, since buying, and
it was when I had to put another card on it temporally.

~~~
paul9290
Well as noted there is a headphone issue with the Hero, I got two in Hero's in
four days and had same headphone jack issue. For me having these types of
devices connected my car stereo to listen INternet music services is very
important, thus I couldn't keep Hero because it has headphone jack malfunction
issue.

I liked a lot of things with it, but no doubt it's slow and laggy, as well the
virtual keyboard felt clumsy comparative to the iPhone. Let's hope this Droid
provides all the best things I liked about the Hero, while solving what I had
issues with.

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jsz0
I think Verizon is making a mistake getting so caught up with the iPhone.
Android is in more direct competition with Nokia, RIM, Microsoft and Palm
competing across multiple carriers. Apple is still a relatively smaller player
in mobiles but has traditionally strong brand/customer loyalty. I'm not sure
the average iPhone owner cares much about the technical
differences/limitations. There's probably a much lower barrier of entry to
Android for someone who isn't hung up on iTunes syncing for example.

~~~
stcredzero
If Verizon could hold their own with Apple in terms of polish, they could go
on to best them with better access to a better network and more liberal
policies on how customers can use the hardware they just paid a lot of money
for. (Background apps.) By doing this, they could win over the techie and
hipster sets who are the trendsetters.

Unfortunately, I don't think it's in Verizon's DNA to do this.

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b3b0p
I don't understand the statement people are making when they say Apple has had
no competition. They did not create the phone or smart phone market. Maybe I'm
missing something, but didn't Apple only raise the bar in terms of usability
for smart phones and marketing to the consumer? In what area does Apple not
have any competition right now?

I have an iPhone 3G and I'm quite excited to see Android become more popular.

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bcl
Competition is good. One small nit to pick -- The iPhone is capable of
multitasking. It does it now. They just don't allow every app to do it.
Battery life is bad enough as it is.

I wonder how Droid's battery drain will compare.

Also remember that most customers aren't geeks. They don't care if you can ssh
and port forward from their phone.

~~~
spot
there are all kinds of customers. android's true strength is that it's not
tied to one brand, one manufacturer, one feature-set, and one network.

iphone's multitasking is hobbled. with my G1 i can run mytracks and go
jogging, taking calls, photos, and using the web browser along the way. when i
get home i get a map of my route with time/elevation/speed data. and that's
without any privileged api.

~~~
netsp
I'm going to nitpick. Adroid's _strategy_ is that it's not tied to one brand,
one manufacturer, one feature-set, and one network. Time will tell if it is a
strength.

Apple has not launched an Iphone strategy that is the opposite by chance. It
is deliberate.

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pieter
I wonder what the Verizon-Motorola deal means for customers outside the US.

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chaostheory
Since this is on Verizon, the big question for me is "Will Droid have built-in
wifi?"

~~~
iofthestorm
All Verizon smartphones will now have wifi. This is because all Verizon
smartphones now also require you to get a data plan anyway. Kind of meh, but
it's not going to discourage me from getting this phone. Having a data plan is
still fairly useful, and since I'm on a family plan I only would have to pay
for the data plan anyway.

~~~
miles
_"All Verizon smartphones will now have wifi. This is because all Verizon
smartphones now also require you to get a data plan anyway."_

WiFi does not refer to Verizon's wireless data offering, but to 802.11b/g,
etc. Most Verizon phones do not offer WiFi. The iPhone offers both EDGE and
WiFi connections.

~~~
dminor
I believe what he's trying to say is that Verizon used to disable WiFi to
force people to get data plans, but now that data plans will be required,
Verizon will include WiFi.

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brg
While the specs are nice, Google needs to get its app store in much better
shape.

~~~
jamesbritt
It needs to be easy to find and buy apps without having to go through a One
True App Store.

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acangiano
These are the droids that you are looking for. :)

~~~
cbetz
Actually, they had to pay Lucasfilm just to use the word!

See for yourself (and signup if you want)

<http://www.verizonwireless.com/droid>

[EDIT]

This is part of the email you get after you sign up:

"But you don't need a smartphone, you need a supergenius in your pocket. A
phone that listens better than the person on the other end of the call. Apps
of every shape and size. Emails that let you know what they are before you
read them. The greatest web experience on a phone. All working together to get
things done."

Wow. That's a lot of hype.

~~~
hyperbovine
Quality = 1 / hype

~~~
oomkiller
Ok, but if there is no hype, quality is not defined?

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protomyth
One of the commenters of the article stated that the G1 cannot run Android
2.0? Is this just a bunch of FUD or is this true?

~~~
klocksib
They may not be able to update the G1 due to the limited size of the G1's
internal flash. [http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/17/t-mobile-g1-wont-see-
any-...](http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/17/t-mobile-g1-wont-see-any-android-
updates-beyond-1-5/)

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swolchok
Price, price, price. I'll get excited when I buy a device at fixed cost, pay
$30/mo for data, and that's it.

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timf
You can do that on AT&T

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nuclear_eclipse
And on T-Mobile.

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swolchok
Without paying for minutes? Can I use VoIP?

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timf
> Without paying for minutes?

Yes, I had just the 3G data only unlimited plan on AT&T with a Blackberry
(they don't allow this with an iPhone because of an agreement with Apple). I
don't know about their VoIP rules.

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callmeed
How do android phones sync with one's Mac? Is there different software for
each phone/carrier?

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enomar
Sync what? Google devices like the G1 and MyTouch sync over the network to
Google's services (apps, contacts, email, etc.) and over USB for things like
music. I expect the "droid" to be no different.

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sanj
Paper tigers certainly are frightening.

