More Details on Motorola Droid Surface

[Speedy2]

The iPhone, at launch was definitely aimed at the RAZR et al more than the WinMo or RIM.

The iPhone was never aimed at the RAZR.
The RAZR was a cheap phone for the masses, which the iPhone will never be.

During its presentation, SJ specifically named other smart phones and their overall crapiness as the main reason why they saw a chance to succeed with this new product. He never compared it to a regular cellphone.


You don't listen, do you?
No one cared about the RAZR outside the US!

 

[Goona]

It's hard to find numbers on it, but the best I can find call it around 850k as of mid September. The Pre was released in Europe this last week, and they are "expecting" to sell another 750k or so worldwide in the first quarter of the fiscal year (Oct through Dec). That doesn't include Pixi sales, which I think are going to be pretty decent - it's a cheaper handset being marketed at the Centro crowd, which sold beyond most people expectations. It goes on sale in less than a month supposedly.

Add that to Verizon getting the Pre in early 2010 and I think by the Pre's 1st birthday we'll see 3+ million webOS handsets out there. As long as the app catalog gets some decent developers on board I think Palm will make it by and do pretty well all said and done.



The iPhone, at launch was definitely aimed at the RAZR et al more than the WinMo or RIM. There was no apps, no Exchange integration, etc. It was clearly not meant to be a business phone, and without apps it wasn't really a "smartphone". It has a good browser and it combined your trendy phone (RAZR) and your iPod. It grew into THE smartphone after a year, though.

webOS is Palm's last gasp, though. Even if they end up having to cut way, way back I think they could survive as a software company. webOS is Linux based and the apps are not compiled, they're HTML/CSS/JS based. You could compile the system onto any hardware, within reason, and the apps would still just work regardless. So, even if the Pre/Pixi don't make it, I could see them licensing the OS out to handset makers like Moto, HTC, etc.

That's one reason I think they went with the HTML/CSS/JS SDK... completely platform agnostic so they have lots of options looking forward.

Again give us the number of Pres sold, why hasn't Palm released the information, instead letting people having to guess at the number. If it was a big seller, they would have released the numbers.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Again give us the number of Pres sold, why hasn't Palm released the information, instead letting people having to guess at the number. If it was a big seller, they would have released the numbers.

have you ever though they might now want to release the numbers because the 2nd they do people will say OH OH look they have not sod as many as the iPhone there for it sucks.

 

[Goona]

have you ever though they might now want to release the numbers because the 2nd they do people will say OH OH look they have not sod as many as the iPhone there for it sucks.

Going by that, then they will never release their numbers. Why didn't they think of that when they had their investors in TV going on about iphone users leaving in droves to the Pre.

 

[shaunymac]

the design is always what is lacking when it comes to these phones. they really just make me want to hurl sometimes.

 

[cumanzor]

meh, nvm.

 

[oban14]

the design is always what is lacking when it comes to these phones. they really just make me want to hurl sometimes.

You'd rather have a phone that looks good with bad coverage, an unstable OS, and bad battery life.

Got it.

 

[FightTheFuture]

these comments easily mirror those of the G1 release, or the Palm Pre release.

a few weeks ago some dude was bashing the iPhone in my psych class while someone reinforced the argument by saying 'yeah, just get the HTC mytouch (or whatever it is) and you'll be set.' what i find strange is that noone uses these other phones for anything else but a phone and a two-way pager. they discount the app store, the music store, or the iPod functionality. i see lots of G1's around but i don't see them actually doing anything with them but txting their friends. ever see someone plugging in headphones to a palm pre? i see more zunes in action then G1s being used as an mp3 player.

it's good to see other phones do well - not only does it push Apple to develop a better phone to stay in line with the competition, but it also helps evolve smartphones as a whole, detaching us from our computers when we're on the go.

 

[marksman]

I will never buy a "smartphone" with a little hardware rodent sized keyboard attached. it is a waste of space and weight. There is nothing smart about it.

Certainly could be an interesting product, but I will wait for them to realease the deluxe or advanced version where I don't have to carry around a little keyboard in case my pet hamster needs to text.

 

[marksman]

More like 20%. 2 grams is twice as much as 1 gram. Do you think you would note a huge difference? Not everything has to be measured in a relative way.

wat?

Your math is backwards.

 

[marksman]

I know plenty of people who feel the same way, including myself. I think the iPhone is fantastic, but nothing is so great that I would subject myself to 2 years with AT&T. Nothing. So I just bought an iPod Touch instead. All of the great apps and OS, none of the horrible service.

I know plenty of people who feel that way about verizon and sprint and every other phone provider.

Quality of network is pretty much an issue with where you are...

Where I live Verizon is awful and unusable and AT&T works awesome.

People need to stop with these generalized statements which are not accurate.

Verizon would not have a higher percentage of people happier with their network if they had the exclusive rights to the iPhone.

 

[Hands0n]

1) I don't care about the OS, but I want it to allow multi-tasking and be stable. The iPhone fails on both counts..

What? The iPhone OS X OS is completely stable and has been since day one. In OOTB stock condition the OS has not had any history of instability.

Ditto Android. Both have been stable as a rock since their release.

Clearly, however, if you want/need multi-tasking then the iPhone is not for you.

 

[marksman]

Physical keys > onscreen keys

The reason is tacticle feed back, most serious texters do it without looking at their device. I find that with the iphone i have to look also it's easy to accidentally hit the wrong letters. Landscape mode helps a bit.

If you don't type much it's not a big deal.

Yeah I hear this nonsense people claim. Tactile feedback is ridiculous.

If I give you a keyboard where the keys are now 10%-15% further apart you are not going to be able to type on it. You will have to learn how to hit the right keys just like you did before.

You type because you know where the different keys are, not because you feel a button press and release. Think about it a bit. That doesn't even make any sense. Like I said, it is easy enough to test out. If you actually typed by touch you would not be fat fingering things when you changed out your keyboard on your computer.

You learn to type based on knowing where the keys are.... Same with a touchscreen.

 

[CQd44]

Yeah I hear this nonsense people claim. Tactile feedback is ridiculous.

If I give you a keyboard where the keys are now 10%-15% further apart you are not going to be able to type on it. You will have to learn how to hit the right keys just like you did before.

You type because you know where the different keys are, not because you feel a button press and release. Think about it a bit. That doesn't even make any sense. Like I said, it is easy enough to test out. If you actually typed by touch you would not be fat fingering things when you changed out your keyboard on your computer.

You learn to type based on knowing where the keys are.... Same with a touchscreen.

Actually, sometimes I know when I make a mistake typing because it doesn't "feel" right. So I backspace and correct it. That's one advantage of tactile feedback.

 

[Frankie.]

So this is the real "iphone killer"?

iPhone is like Google. You won't have an 'iPhone Killer". You may have devices just as good or better but iPhone will always be around the top sellers for phones.

 

[*LTD*]

Yeah I hear this nonsense people claim. Tactile feedback is ridiculous.

If I give you a keyboard where the keys are now 10%-15% further apart you are not going to be able to type on it. You will have to learn how to hit the right keys just like you did before.

You type because you know where the different keys are, not because you feel a button press and release. Think about it a bit. That doesn't even make any sense. Like I said, it is easy enough to test out. If you actually typed by touch you would not be fat fingering things when you changed out your keyboard on your computer.

You learn to type based on knowing where the keys are.... Same with a touchscreen.

Excellent point.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Excellent point.

Its not called touchtyping because you touch the keys you know.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_typing

 

[ChazUK]

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1) I don't care about the OS, but I want it to allow multi-tasking and be stable. The iPhone fails on both counts..

What? The iPhone OS X OS is completely stable and has been since day one. In OOTB stock condition the OS has not had any history of instability.

Ditto Android. Both have been stable as a rock since their release.

Clearly, however, if you want/need multi-tasking then the iPhone is not for you.

Have you forgotten the 2.0 update? My first gen ipod touch went from media playing splendour to a crash prone wreck. Subsequent updates did get better tho!

 

[seedster2]

iPhone is like Google. You won't have an 'iPhone Killer". You may have devices just as good or better but iPhone will always be around the top sellers for phones.

Agreed. I don't think anyone alone hopes to dethrone the iphone. Everyone targets them because they're most recognizable name right now. Droid apparently will not be limited to one handset. This is good news for Google and the customer

Also, the same posters and some media outlets introduce the "iphone killer" tagline to either garner more readers and/or in this case to immediately delegitimize an alternative product.

 

[kdarling]

Have you forgotten the 2.0 update? My first gen ipod touch went from media playing splendour to a crash prone wreck. Subsequent updates did get better tho!

And the update that nearly brought down ATT, because the cellular power control was out whack.

Plus the recent 3.1 bug where many owners suffered from the phone going into permanent sleep.

That's without even trying to remember all the bugs. So no, it cannot be claimed that the iPhone OS has been "solid since day one".

 

[oban14]

What? The iPhone OS X OS is completely stable and has been since day one. In OOTB stock condition the OS has not had any history of instability.

Ditto Android. Both have been stable as a rock since their release.

Clearly, however, if you want/need multi-tasking then the iPhone is not for you.

It crashes all the time, and I think it's gotten worse since 3.0. Mainly when I'm in Safari.

 

[KurtangleTN]

I sort of have a feeling that Verizon will have their 4G network up and running in many areas before AT&T even finishes deploying their 3G network across the entire US.

Anyhow competition is good. Maybe some Apple fans would like to see the iPhone be the only phone and AT&T be the only network, but I'd love to see Verizon, Google and Motorola give Apple a run for their money. A lot of Apple fans are laughing off this device... I'd say not so quick. There is a LOT of interest all over the Internet for the Droid. The most I have seen since the iPhone came out.

Yeah, I have a feeling Verizon will have a lot done before AT&T gets 3G done. According to Verizon they are rolling it out in areas early 2010, and they expect to be done totally by 2013.

When does AT&T expect to be done with 3G?

I think part of the reason is I live in fairly rural area, and AT&T is spotty (and to be fair I'm actually on an unlocked iPhone with TMo but I'm almost always roaming on AT&T) but Verizon covers this place without any dead zones, 3G coverage and no problems what so ever (according to people on AT&T).

I know plenty of people who feel that way about verizon and sprint and every other phone provider.

Quality of network is pretty much an issue with where you are...

Where I live Verizon is awful and unusable and AT&T works awesome.

People need to stop with these generalized statements which are not accurate.

Verizon would not have a higher percentage of people happier with their network if they had the exclusive rights to the iPhone.

Totally disagree, coverage maps aren't generalized statements. If you are in an area where AT&T covers better you are in very rare minority.

Verizon pretty much swept wireless satisfaction, so like I said, it's not a coincidence, and people aren't doing it just to hate AT&T because it's trendy.

 

[Darthzilla]

The bottom line is this...its not cool.

The commercial is kinda cool..the phone...not cool. iPhones are cool...thats why everyoene loves them. MAYBE some peopel will check it out, but it looks exactly like every other iPhone killer...dumb and clunky...

Soem will convince themselves its awesome, simply because its new and or they hate ATT.

BUt its another Pre. Its hype.

Tech bloggers and geeks might find something cool in it....but really...if someone was going to GIVE you either an iPhone of a Droid...you'd all pick the iPhone.

Coolest thing is the name. Next.

 

[KurtangleTN]

The bottom line is this...its not cool.

The commercial is kinda cool..the phone...not cool. iPhones are cool...thats why everyoene loves them. MAYBE some peopel will check it out, but it looks exactly like every other iPhone killer...dumb and clunky...

Soem will convince themselves its awesome, simply because its new and or they hate ATT.

BUt its another Pre. Its hype.

Tech bloggers and geeks might find something cool in it....but really...if someone was going to GIVE you either an iPhone of a Droid...you'd all pick the iPhone.

Coolest thing is the name. Next.

What makes a phone cool, and isn't that entirely based on the person, and can coolness alone save a product, the Cube points to a resounding NO.

Clunky, yet early previews peg it as a extremely solid feeling (IE not cheap cracking plastic), and even with the keyboard only slightly thicker then the 3GS. Forget that it's running a great OS with a growing app library (and like I said, as the more android goes developers will be looking at it as a top priority).

Another Pre? People realized the Pre had serious flaws, it had a nice UI, it's a beautiful phone, but it lacks what both Android and iPhone offer, thousands of apps for anything.

I have an iPhone 3G right now, and I'm tempted to drop it and go for this and if I had the choice I'd probably pick the Droid. Other then apps it has the iPhone beat in everything and I wonder how long iPhone can keep that at it's current pace.

The thing is, I've laughed at these iPhone killers, they've either been total jokes or just don't go far enough to try to beat the iPhone (G1, Mytouch, Pre), but the Droid is the real deal and packs too many pluses over the iPhone to fail.

 

[Goona]

What makes a phone cool, and isn't that entirely based on the person, and can coolness alone save a product, the Cube points to a resounding NO.

Clunky, yet early previews peg it as a extremely solid feeling (IE not cheap cracking plastic), and even with the keyboard only slightly thicker then the 3GS. Forget that it's running a great OS with a growing app library (and like I said, as the more android goes developers will be looking at it as a top priority).

Another Pre? People realized the Pre had serious flaws, it had a nice UI, it's a beautiful phone, but it lacks what both Android and iPhone offer, thousands of apps for anything.

I have an iPhone 3G right now, and I'm tempted to drop it and go for this and if I had the choice I'd probably pick the Droid. Other then apps it has the iPhone beat in everything and I wonder how long iPhone can keep that at it's current pace.

The thing is, I've laughed at these iPhone killers, they've either been total jokes or just don't go far enough to try to beat the iPhone (G1, Mytouch, Pre), but the Droid is the real deal and packs too many pluses over the iPhone to fail.

Bull the Pre had way more hype than this and look where it ended up.