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Verizon's Challenge To the iPhone Confirmed
misnohmer writes "Verizon has just launched a new set of ads confirming the rumors of its upcoming iPhone competitor: 'Unlike previous Android phones, the Droid is rumored to be powered by the TI OMAP3430, the same core that the iPhone and Palm Pre use, and which significantly outperforms Qualcomm 528MHz ARM11-based Android phones that exist today. Droid will also be running v.2.0 of Android, with a significantly upgraded user interface. The Droid poses a different and more significant challenge to the iPhone than any other phone to date. The Palm Pre could have been that challenger, but it lacked the Verizon network, and users were unimpressed with the hardware. According to people who've handled the device, the Droid is the most sophisticated mobile device to hit the market to date from a hardware standpoint. When you combine that with the Verizon network, you've got something that is most definitely a challenger to the Jesus phone.'"
It always makes me leery when you don't actually get to SEE the product they're advertising. On the one hand, they're promoting intrigue as to what it will look like, on the other hand, it may be a soapbox with buttons drawn on with Crayola markers and they're not sure of how the public will receive it's looks.
That's because the user interface was designed around a desktop OS from 10 years ago.
In personal electronics beauty will beat functionality as non geeks don't want to carry ugly things. That is the iPhone's true success it looks good with a well dressed person. A crack berry makes someone look stuffy all business and no fun.
Besides verizon network is the opposite of AT&T's where one is good the other sucks, and vice versa, they both are limited to major cities and roads for full network access.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Ditto on that, I have a curve 8330. Not a very new smartphone by any measures, but it does what i need and i like the interface enough. GPS locked down by vzw, even though its just a sattelite receiver chip, they want $9 a month to use it, and you have to use their ridiculous vzw navigator program or bb maps. No google maps gps (it will only use cell tower triangulation). Android phones are supposed to be about open functionality, lets just hope verizon doesn't muck it up with their brand of squeeze-em-dry tactics.
I had Verizon for near 10 years. However, this last summer I switched to AT&T because verizon's network was dropping my calls in my apartment half the time or more. And this is just 2 miles outside of downtown Portland, Or. Haven't had a dropped call on my iPhone on AT&T yet.
So just remember that strength of network is not "national", because most people don't move around all the time. Find the network that is best in your area first, then pick a phone.
The big news here is that Verizon is clearly not going to carry the iPhone anytime soon. A few months ago, Verizon and Apple were "in talks". So, what happened? That's the most interesting part about this story. You guys are burying the lead.
And Apple have the worst case of NIH imaginable . The Newton team worked out how to do copy and paste sensibly on a touchscreen device almost twenty years ago. Drag object to edge of screen, it becomes a clipping. Drag it away, you can paste it elsewhere (even after switching apps). Intuitive, easy to use, and yet not done on the iPhone because the wrong team at Apple invented it.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
I was a Sprint customer since 2001, and seriously considered getting the Palm Pre. I played around with it for about 20 minutes in the Sprint store, and then talked to the salesman about it. What I wanted was to get my girlfriend on a family plan with me, and I wanted the Pre. She just wanted a free phone that could do some simple SMS messaging. She did not have any use for a data plan, smart phone, etc... But Sprint requires that on a family plan, if one phone has data, they all have to. That's another $25/mo for something that she did not need!
I told them that AT&T would let me get an iPhone with a data plan and another phone without data, and on the same family plan. The salesman said that with Sprint, that is the requirement. I told him that's fine with me, I'm going to AT&T. I switched to AT&T and got an iPhone, and haven't looked back. Sprint is the one screwing themselves and their partners (Palm) here.