Verizon Droid Is The Real Deal
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
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.)
IMO, Android does a lot for the minimal hardware it runs on, which could be bad for the iPhone -- iPhone OS requires more expensive hardware and is not as featureful.
Will this be true for the Droid?
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.
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).
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.
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.
Unfortunately, I don't think it's in Verizon's DNA to do this.
I have an iPhone 3G and I'm quite excited to see Android become more popular.
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.
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.
Apple has not launched an Iphone strategy that is the opposite by chance. It is deliberate.
Customers do/will care when their friends show them what they can do with Google Voice that they'll never be able to do on their iPhone.
1. Apple hasn't had any real competition up to this point. When customers start seeing Google Voice on other phones, the demand will force Apple to rethink their approval policy. Google Voice may not be on the iPhone yet, but saying it will never be on the iPhone is a stretch.
2. Some customers may respond, "Sure, Google Voice is cool...but can your phone do this?", and then have a conversation with you in an auto-tuned voice using an iPhone app (of course, no one would blame you for smacking them...but there is a segment of iPhone users who will stick with the iPhone purely for the apps...)
Of course, Android's market share may get to the point where developers will be happy working on two platforms (or shifting primarily to Android and it's range of devices...)
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.
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.
People like to be told what to think. "Hype" exploits this for profit.
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.