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Is the Verizon Droid brand dead?

R

rockitdog

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Mar 25, 2013
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Is the Verizon Droid brand dead? At one time the Droids were all the rage but it seems they've really fallen off the radar lately.

I'm intrigued by the Droid Maxx and it's massive 3500 mah battery. I like the big screen and the fact that it's close to stock android. I wish it was a 1080 screen but 720 is good enough.

Does anyone have any experience with the new Droids? Any suggestions?
 
The new droids are basically droid branded moto x's in different shells. Software wise and internally they're practically the same.
 
I'm bummed it only has 294 ppi. That seems so dated compared to other 5 inch displays out there right now.
 
The current Droids are essentially Moto Xs in a different shell. Some software features are the same too.
 
Word on the street is the current Droids are essentially the same phone as the Moto X in a different shell - software's pretty similar too. :p

I don't think the brand is dead yet but it's probably not going to be around for long with Google involved in the designing of products now.
 
I thought rumor had it that this year's lineup completed the contract that Motorola had with Verizon to make the Droid brand.
 
rockitdog said:
Is the Verizon Droid brand dead? At one time the Droids were all the rage but it seems they've really fallen off the radar lately.

I'm intrigued by the Droid Maxx and it's massive 3500 mah battery. I like the big screen and the fact that it's close to stock android. I wish it was a 1080 screen but 720 is good enough.

Does anyone have any experience with the new Droids? Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

At one point "droid" was my only association with the Android OS. I didn't realize it was for Motorola devices exclusively. So yeah, now that Samsung rules the land and "galaxy" seems more synonymous with the Android brand it is definitely off my radar.

It seems a pretty sad reach when they use Edward Norton to make the commercials for their brand identity now. I remember 4 years ago all they had to do was show random red/black images and say "DRRRROOOIIIID" at the end of the commercial and it screamed "coolness" Now, it is on the backs of a 40yo+ actor who for all intents and purposes has been out of the spotlight since the mid aughts or late 90s!
 
I wonder if Droid wasn't exclusive to Verizon if more people would be interested in them. Moto X seems to be selling well by all accounts and it's available on every carrier and there's essentially no difference between between the new Droids and the Moto X.
 
rockitdog said:
I wonder if Droid wasn't exclusive to Verizon if more people would be interested in them. Moto X seems to be selling well by all accounts and it's available on every carrier and there's essentially no difference between between the new Droids and the Moto X.
Click to expand...

yes, if they sold a gsm, bootloader unlockable droid maxx, I could definitely see it selling well.

Similar to the current tmobile MotoX or dev editions.
 
Because the term "Droid" is licensed to Verizon by Lucas et al, it was never going to be a true rival to the iPhone. As a result, the Droid name has become somewhat limited as phones have become less network specific.
 
AustinIllini said:
Because the term "Droid" is licensed to Verizon by Lucas et al, it was never going to be a true rival to the iPhone. As a result, the Droid name has become somewhat limited as phones have become less network specific.
Click to expand...

When Android was a baby, the only Androids I knew of were Droids. They were the "iPhone killer" back then according to people who I knew that had them.
 
mpayne2k said:
At one point "droid" was my only association with the Android OS. I didn't realize it was for Motorola devices exclusively. So yeah, now that Samsung rules the land and "galaxy" seems more synonymous with the Android brand it is definitely off my radar.

It seems a pretty sad reach when they use Edward Norton to make the commercials for their brand identity now. I remember 4 years ago all they had to do was show random red/black images and say "DRRRROOOIIIID" at the end of the commercial and it screamed "coolness" Now, it is on the backs of a 40yo+ actor who for all intents and purposes has been out of the spotlight since the mid aughts or late 90s!
Click to expand...

It wasn't exclusively Motorola, it was exclusively Verizon. HTC and Samsung both made Droids.
 
rockitdog said:
When Android was a baby, the only Androids I knew of were Droids. They were the "iPhone killer" back then according to people who I knew that had them.
Click to expand...

Yes, but once the other carriers got their first Android devices, the Droid name became obsolete. Once the iPhone became available on VZW, Droid marketing scaled back and phones on other carriers were not called Droid. Soon (for whatever reason) devices like the Thunderbolt came out on Verizon and were no longer using the Droid name either.

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thehustleman said:
It wasn't exclusively Motorola, it was exclusively Verizon. HTC and Samsung both made Droids.
Click to expand...

In fact, I believe the HTC Hero was retroactively named "Droid Eris" around the time the original Droid (MOTO DROID) was released. Just found my old Moto Droid in the back seat of my wife's car. Looked to sell it, was offered nothing. Got rid of it.
 
AustinIllini said:
Yes, but once the other carriers got their first Android devices, the Droid name became obsolete. Once the iPhone became available on VZW, Droid marketing scaled back and phones on other carriers were not called Droid. Soon (for whatever reason) devices like the Thunderbolt came out on Verizon and were no longer using the Droid name either.

----------



In fact, I believe the HTC Hero was retroactively named "Droid Eris" around the time the original Droid (MOTO DROID) was released. Just found my old Moto Droid in the back seat of my wife's car. Looked to sell it, was offered nothing. Got rid of it.
Click to expand...
I would have held onto an OG Droid even if it wasn't worth anything. If only for nostalgia sake.
 
AustinIllini said:
In fact, I believe the HTC Hero was retroactively named "Droid Eris" around the time the original Droid (MOTO DROID) was released.
Click to expand...

Ugh. My wife had a Droid Eris at one point. What a horrible phone. My beat-to-hell iPhone 3GS ran circles around it.
 
T5BRICK said:
Ugh. My wife had a Droid Eris at one point. What a horrible phone. My beat-to-hell iPhone 3GS ran circles around it.
Click to expand...

The Droid Incredible was certainly better, but the Eris was terrible, as was 2.X Android versions.

ICS changed the Android game. Jelly Bean solidified the OS as an equal to iOS. At this point, the two systems are matching each other punch for punch.
 
AustinIllini said:
ICS changed the Android game. Jelly Bean solidified the OS as an equal to iOS. At this point, the two systems are matching each other punch for punch.
Click to expand...

Oh, I'm not arguing that point. I just saw "Droid Eris" and had flashbacks about how terrible it was. I owned a HTC One until about 4 months ago and it was great.
 
T5BRICK said:
Oh, I'm not arguing that point. I just saw "Droid Eris" and had flashbacks about how terrible it was. I owned a HTC One until about 4 months ago and it was great.
Click to expand...

didn't mean to be argumentative. "Droid" to me just represents and earlier Android version which was way behind its competition.
 
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