Android is now the most popular...

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

Interestingly, VZW has started selling "certified pre-owned" (probably meaning refurb) on their site at a discount.

I think those are mostly phones that have been used less than 30 days sent back to VZW. There was such a huge push to Android/smartphones over the summer that a lot of people didn't want to be locked into the contract and returned the phone, or returned it to try out another instead. I refused 2 Android phones at the door, so they would still be new. Had I signed for them and opened the box they would be refurbs and VZW would charge me a $35 restocking fee.

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

The fine print isn't so fine considering it was all over the news that they were inflating their early-term fee from the original $175. Then again, if you're that adamant about not paying them anymore, what's an early-term fee going to do?

Smartphone termination is $35o. Regular termination is $175. I used to think that this was ridiculous, but when you think about how most smartphone are really small computers that retail for $550, it's their way of making sure they're not giving away a phone without recouping their loss from having you as a customer for at least 2 years. If you quit the contract, it's the same as you paying full price for the phone; you just do it at the end, not the beginning.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by SolRaven

I bought my first smart phone in July and I was only interested in the Android OS. I almost bought an HTC Incredible, but then bought a used Droid off contract to check it out first. I'm glad I did, because after network & OS comes quality. The fact that Motorola has built such sturdy phones is what sold me to buy theirs. I live in S. Florida where almost all the floors are tile, so durability was a must. My Droid X has a slight dent in one of the corners from dropping it. I'm not sure if a less sturdy phone would've survived the drop at all.

Yes, Moto makes pretty sturdy kit. An old friend was an electrician, and he described one job where he and his partner were working at a nuclear plant, 300 feet up the side of a cooling tower. He managed to drop his Motorola radio, and watched it go bang, bang, bang down the stairway up the side of the tower till it hit the ground. He and his partner decided to just leave it there - they weren't about to climb down 300 feet and back up again to retrieve it. They simply finished what they were up there to do, and picked up the radio when they came back down. The antenna was bent in the fall, and had to be straightened with heavy pliers, but the radio still worked fine when they turned it on.

Nice to hear the Droid is sturdy. I've had several PDAs fail the Drop Test(tm), and it's good to know the Droid probably won't.

Why was Android your preferred choice of smartphone OS?
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Dennis

[devilsadvocate]

Originally Posted by SolRaven

The fact that Motorola has built such sturdy phones is what sold me to buy theirs. I live in S. Florida where almost all the floors are tile, so durability was a must. My Droid X has a slight dent in one of the corners from dropping it. I'm not sure if a less sturdy phone would've survived the drop at all.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Yes, Moto makes pretty sturdy kit. An old friend was an electrician, and he described one job where he and his partner were working at a nuclear plant, 300 feet up the side of a cooling tower. He managed to drop his Motorola radio, and watched it go bang, bang, bang down the stairway up the side of the tower till it hit the ground. He and his partner decided to just leave it there - they weren't about to climb down 300 feet and back up again to retrieve it. They simply finished what they were up there to do, and picked up the radio when they came back down. The antenna was bent in the fall, and had to be straightened with heavy pliers, but the radio still worked fine when they turned it on.

Nice to hear the Droid is sturdy. I've had several PDAs fail the Drop Test(tm), and it's good to know the Droid probably won't.

Radios yes; phones, not so much.

I have an uncle who was a Moto employee when Bell first went to them in the late-'60s about the idea of putting phones in cars. I have a brother-in-law who works there now. Neither one would touch a Moto phone from the past 15 years unless it was A) Free, and B) Required. Now the B-I-L has a DX. Mine certainly feels sturdier than my 1st-gen Razr, but that's not saying much. In my experience LGs get the nod for kid-proof.

Now the radios, those things were/are built like tanks. I remember picking one up when I was a kid...could've worked out with that thing...like a solid block of steel, it was.

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Why was Android your preferred choice of smartphone OS?
______
Dennis

After playing with a friend's Droid and really checking out what it can do, I was impressed. I also liked that Android is open source. It may not have the most apps now, but opening it up gives it the most opportunity to grow in spades.

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

Radios yes; phones, not so much.

I have an uncle who was a Moto employee when Bell first went to them in the late-'60s about the idea of putting phones in cars. I have a brother-in-law who works there now. Neither one would touch a Moto phone from the past 15 years unless it was A) Free, and B) Required. Now the B-I-L has a DX. Mine certainly feels sturdier than my 1st-gen Razr, but that's not saying much. In my experience LGs get the nod for kid-proof.

Now the radios, those things were/are built like tanks. I remember picking one up when I was a kid...could've worked out with that thing...like a solid block of steel, it was.

I suppose it depends on the phone. I never owned a RAZR and never wanted one; actually, I've never owned any Moto before the Droid. I suppose a better statement would be that I'm really impressed with Moto's latest Droids. The orginal Droid is ridiculously heavy next to most phones, but that heavy metal is what makes it so sturdy, with that in mind, I assumed the Droid X would be well built as well, and it is. I like the fact that the casing is metal and the screen is made out of Gorilla Glass. Btwn those two things alone, I should be able to make it to 20 mos. before my NE2. I'm curious to see how well their i1 holds up to being dropped.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

I have an uncle who was a Moto employee when Bell first went to them in the late-'60s about the idea of putting phones in cars. I have a brother-in-law who works there now. Neither one would touch a Moto phone from the past 15 years unless it was A) Free, and B) Required. Now the B-I-L has a DX. Mine certainly feels sturdier than my 1st-gen Razr, but that's not saying much. In my experience LGs get the nod for kid-proof.

My reference standard for flimsy is some of the Palm PDA models, like the Tungsten E. It's not actually a surprise, as they will look for any place they can to shave pennies from the cost of manufacture, but you get things like a power button that tends to stop working.

SolRaven says she dropped her Droid with no worse effect than a dent in the case. That's heartening, as few handhelds I've seen would survive that. It might not be really sturdy, but it sounds like it's sturdy enough.

I got cured the hard way of keeping my PDA in my shirt pocket, and I'm careful by reflex now, but I'll still take any help I can get.

Meanwhile, it may be Moto's name and logo on the case, but I suspect actual manufacture is done by some nameless Asian outfit to Moto plans.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by SolRaven

After playing with a friend's Droid and really checking out what it can do, I was impressed. I also liked that Android is open source. It may not have the most apps now, but opening it up gives it the most opportunity to grow in spades.

Well, the biggest attraction for Android was the open source part, as it meant that any device maker could grab it as use it as the OS for whatever they were brewing, with no licensing fees or obligations. A whole lot of outfits did. The fact that it's modular, and manufacturers can include just the parts needed to support what they intend to offer also helps, and while it was originally meant for smartphones, there's no reason what it powers has to be a smartphone. We're seeing Android powered tablets and netbooks in the pipeline.

But there's a healthy app developer ecosystem as well, and I expect that to grow by leaps and bounds. There are several ebook reader apps for Android, for example, including at least one open source offering that looks capable.
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Dennis

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

A report on the radio stated Verizon stock on the rise, on the assumption that they would soon be carrying iPhones. Maybe the public wants Android phones, but the financiers apparently haven't figured that out.

[TallMomof2]

I'll own an iPhone when it has a physical keyboard, in other words... never!

I purchased an original Droid off ebay when the previous owner switched cell phone providers. It replaced a Windows phone and the Droid phone is far superior. Far more apps, contacts and calendar work seamlessly since I already had them in Google. I could do that with the Windows phone but there were many more system crashes and the range of apps was very limited.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

A report on the radio stated Verizon stock on the rise, on the assumption that they would soon be carrying iPhones. Maybe the public wants Android phones, but the financiers apparently haven't figured that out.

Oh, they have. Remember that the iPhone was originally offered through an exclusive deal with AT&T. I know folks who would have liked an iPhone, but wanted Verizon as their provider because of the broader service area. I believe that exclusive deal is ending. If Verizon can cut a deal with Apple, I think the analysts see a lot of iPhone users jumping ship when their AT&T contract runs out.

This is ultimately about market share for carriers, and popular cell phone models are tools to get share.
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Dennis

[devilsadvocate]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Oh, they have. Remember that the iPhone was originally offered through an exclusive deal with AT&T. I know folks who would have liked an iPhone, but wanted Verizon as their provider because of the broader service area. I believe that exclusive deal is ending. If Verizon can cut a deal with Apple, I think the analysts see a lot of iPhone users jumping ship when their AT&T contract runs out.

This is ultimately about market share for carriers, and popular cell phone models are tools to get share.

Yes, it is. This explains why AT&T is suddenly getting all sorts of brand-new hardware on an exclusive basis such as the BB Torch and the upcoming Winphones. They're looking to bolster their offerings when they lose the iPhone exclusivity, which is supposed to be at the end of 2011 but Uncle Steve is makin' plans...

On that note: Other than a couple of misleading WSJ headlines and wishing really hard, what makes anyone so sure VZW has a lock on a CDMA iPhone? Sprint uses CDMA too. The WSJ article also says the new phone will use the latest cutting-edge network; yes, that could mean VZW's upcoming LTE but it could also mean Sprint's Clearwire-based 4G which has been around in some markets for about a year now. Sprint has maybe half the subscriber base of VZW but almost the same 3G coverage; they currently only have one halo phone (the excellent Evo 4G, 1st cousin to the Droid X) and thus be more likely than VZW to roll over in the event of a Steve Jobs tantrum. Reps for VZW at the CTIA+ show this last week said this whole thing is nothing more than the same rumor that goes around every few weeks. Thoughts?

[=X=]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Oh, they have. Remember that the iPhone was originally offered through an exclusive deal with AT&T. I know folks who would have liked an iPhone, but wanted Verizon as their provider because of the broader service area. I believe that exclusive deal is ending. If Verizon can cut a deal with Apple, I think the analysts see a lot of iPhone users jumping ship when their AT&T contract runs out.

This is ultimately about market share for carriers, and popular cell phone models are tools to get share.
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Dennis

Yes but there is one thing you are forgetting....price! My brother just recently switched over to AT&T because of their data plan tier pricing. He really wanted the iPhone 4. But he could not justify paying $200 for an iPhone when he could buy the Captivate for $.01

In my opinion the Captivate is a much better phone for it's OS and features. However on the HW level they are pretty close.

I myself just purchased the Samsung S Vibrant and think it is a excellent phone.
=X=

[=X=]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

Yes, it is. This explains why AT&T is suddenly getting all sorts of brand-new hardware on an exclusive basis such as the BB Torch and the upcoming Winphones. They're looking to bolster their offerings when they lose the iPhone exclusivity, which is supposed to be at the end of 2011 but Uncle Steve is makin' plans...

I'm not sure if that is the real reason or even the only reason. Verizon's Droid brand have seriously cut into Apple and AT&T. Those Android phones are fantastic. I'm sure with the Droid Verizon gets a lot more control over the phone details and a bigger cut of the revenue. I'm sure with the success of the Droid it's Apple that is more willing to negotiate as they see their market lead dwindle away because of an exclusive deal.

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

On that note: Other than a couple of misleading WSJ headlines and wishing really hard, what makes anyone so sure VZW has a lock on a CDMA iPhone? Sprint uses CDMA too. The WSJ article also says the new phone will use the latest cutting-edge network; yes, that could mean VZW's upcoming LTE but it could also mean Sprint's Clearwire-based 4G which has been around in some markets for about a year now. Sprint has maybe half the subscriber base of VZW but almost the same 3G coverage; they currently only have one halo phone (the excellent Evo 4G, 1st cousin to the Droid X) and thus be more likely than VZW to roll over in the event of a Steve Jobs tantrum. Reps for VZW at the CTIA+ show this last week said this whole thing is nothing more than the same rumor that goes around every few weeks. Thoughts?

Well sprint really has two halo phones as you put it. Evo and Epic. And aside from the screen size and OS Evo and Droid X have next to nothing in common. Moto makes the X and HTC makes the Evo.

As I stated earlier I don't see VZW folding to Apple. They have done well without the iPhone and will continue to do so esp with their Droid platform.

=X=

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by =X=

Yes but there is one thing you are forgetting....price! My brother just recently switched over to AT&T because of their data plan tier pricing. He really wanted the iPhone 4. But he could not justify paying $200 for an iPhone when he could buy the Captivate for $.01

In my opinion the Captivate is a much better phone for it's OS and features. However on the HW level they are pretty close.

I myself just purchased the Samsung S Vibrant and think it is a excellent phone.
=X=

No, I'm not forgetting it, and it will be a factor in the decision.

Verizon's big advantage is coverage. It's a fair bet that your Verizon phone will work regardless of where you are. You can't make that assumption about all the other vendors. People who travel extensively may feel they need to use Verizon as their carrier simply so there will be no question about
placing or receiving calls from wherever they happen to be at the moment.

If that's not a concern, AT&T or other carrier might well be cheaper and a better option.

But meanwhile, if Verizon cuts a deal to offer the iPhone, it's a good bet that people who wanted an iPhone but wanted to stay with Verizon will jump at it, and people who went with AT&T to get the iPhone will consider jumping ship. The analysts are betting that way, which is why Verizon's stock rose on the rumors.
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Dennis