Motorola, it seems, has suffered an embarrassing bout of premature release.
Monday afternoon, the company announced on its Facebook page that the Android 2.1 update would beginning hitting Droid handsets this week. The reaction was huge: nearly 800 “likes” and pages upon pages of excitement-filled comments.
Now, however, the company says the announcement was made in error.
Where’s that damn undo button when you need it?
[via PC World]
Motorola announced via its Facebook page yesterday that the Droid will be getting an over-the-air (OTA) update to Android 2.1. The new version of the Android OS (a.k.a. Eclaire), is currently running only on Google’s Nexus One.
[via Wireless Week]
In my last post, “Smartphones’ biggest drawback? Terms of service,” I shared my experience with my previous smartphone, the HTC XV6800 (TyTN), and how I came to acquire Verizon’s new Droid.
As far as terms of service, Verizon has changed their stupid GPS policy with new devices. GPS is a sweet experience, despite the fact that Google MySQL DBs are surely recording every action of every moment of your everyday life and trying to figure out how to monetize all of those things by delivering ads that will make you spend more money.
The ads, which appear as you move from app to app within the Droid, are so non-intrusive that when you DO realize that there are ads on the screen, it’s somewhat startling. But the most surprising, unexpected thing about the Droid, is that it’s actually, truly, a stealthy Google Phone (gPhone). That fact seems to have been lost by the tech industry and journalists. You don’t really activate the Droid until you enter your Google account – and once you do, watch out.
My Droid grabbed all kinds of information – contacts from my corporate account, personal account, and Facebook – and integrated it into the most cohesive and well-organized address book I’ve ever had. And it did this without asking me, telling me, or with me even realizing that this was going to happen. It did this flawlessly, but it was also a little spooky going into my Contacts book and seeing profiles of friends from FB, along with their FB pictures, who had never been in my personal contacts list before.
Google has successfully consolidated and seamlessly integrated YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, plus GoogleDocs, GoogleVoice, and GoogleReader, which all come together within the cloud. In fact, my experience with the Droid illustrates how neatly Google has been working to position themselves as the central broker in all transactions that take place in your digital life.
For example, I decided to use my Droid to post a video to YouTube and share the YouTube post via FB. To my surprise, when I opened the YouTube app, it took me to a YouTube account I’d forgotten that I had. Google hadn’t forgotten this account, though. Google is the giant, pink cyber-elephant in the room – and Google doesn’t forget.
I’m convinced that Google’s master plan is to get you to use as many services and features as possible so that your smartphone is always turned on, in your hands, and in front of your eyes. Ultimately, Google isn’t a search engine or a cloud-based app delivery company – it’s an information warehouse. Google is advertising, as much as McDonald’s is actually a real-estate company.
If this sounds like a negative review, let me be clear – creepy invasion of privacy and being cyber stalked by a multi-national global company has never been so enjoyable. The Droid’s ability to integrate, organize, and consolidate your entire digital life — your accounts, apps, sites, and digital information – is super convenient. I’d even go so far to say that it’s the world’s most efficient, accurate, and effective PDA to date.
And that’s the one HUGE thing Droid does that the OTHER one – the one with the fruit on the back of it – DOESN’T. The iPhone cannot match the level of integration that the Droid delivers because of the nature of the Google-ness underlying the device, services, and features. And even if that weren’t the case, Google threw in the turn-by-turn GPS to seal the deal.
However, these benefits don’t mean that the Droid is an iPhone “killer.” Droid apps are rougher, less-polished, and there’s a lot more evidence of the DIY, home-rolled Linux community core in the Droid apps – and frankly, that isn’t going to appeal to the broader consumer audience in the way that iPhone apps do.
Despite that, the 10,000 or so apps in the official Android marketplace are overwhelming. There are also several sources for “non-market” apps that don’t require you to do any special “jailbreak” of your phone or otherwise bypass security. We’ll see if Verizon leaves this untouched in the future – but for right now, that’s a significant advantage to the Droid market.
Clearly, the iPhone is the primary competition for the Droid and vice versa. Having 100,000 apps versus 10,000 apps seems kind of like having 40,000 nuclear missiles versus 4,500 nuclear missiles, when 1,500 would be enough to wipe out life on the entire planet. I understand that there are some “special” titles on the iPhone, especially commercial games, that haven’t made their way to Android yet. Time will tell if this is a technical limitation or simply that Android didn’t have the critical mass to attract those game makers. I suspect it is more the latter than the former.
Here are a few drawbacks of the Verizon Droid:
Together, Apple and Google will begin to influence how wireless communications companies do business. I also think that Apple and Google will see the benefit in adding free and inexpensive features that are a value-add to consumers, whereas wireless carriers only have the incentive to monetize every bit of service they can in any way possible.
Frankly, I expect AT&T and Verizon will experience what it feels like to be a faceless customer that can easily be replaced and is only welcome as long as they are useful and generating positive growth and income (after all, Google wants to deliver ads – and they don’t exactly care where you are or what you’re using when you get those ads). I’m kind of excited by that prospect, because wireless carriers have got it coming.
The big change that the Droid brings isn’t the device itself, but rather how it positions Google – and how it exposes how carefully Google has been positioning themselves. The proof of concept is finally there in a way that’s going to start attracting people outside of the tech bleeding edge.
For good or bad, the experience delivers in a way that’s bound to appeal. I’m just not sure what we’re giving away to get to that point. At some time in the future, I may wish for the simple days back, when Verizon took advantage of me by charging me twice for the same service. Of course, that will be my last laugh – if Google, using Linux, delivers themselves to a place where they are far worse than Microsoft ever dreamed of being.
[via Tech Republic]
Jason Hiner: One of the most widely hyped technology products of 2009 is the Verizon Droid smartphone, the first device to use the new Google Android 2.0 platform, which offers much tighter integration with Microsoft Exchange.
I’m Jason Hiner, and this week on CIO Sanity Savers, we’ll look at the Verizon Droid, from a business and IT perspective. We’ll talk about the pros and cons of the device and where it fits in for business. Stick around.
I’ve been a pretty outspoken critic of the first generation Google Android platform. I felt like it was half-baked, clunky, and a pretty poor user experience overall. However, with the combination of the Android 2.0 OS and some good hardware from Motorola, the Verizon Droid feels much more polished. Of course, it’s not perfect and it’s trying to compete in a very crowded smartphone market.
So, let’s take a quick look at the pros and cons of the Droid from a business perspective. First, let’s start with the positives:
Now for the drawbacks:
For more on the Droid, check out my full product review. You can find the link to it in the show notes for this episode.
I’m Jason Hiner, and this has been a quick look at the Verizon Droid. For more, you can find my blog at hiner.techrepublic.com, and you can find me on Twitter at twitter.com/jasonhiner. Thanks for watching. See you next week.
[via Tech Republic]
Verizon’s launch of the Droid has been marred by a handful of bugs that Google and/or Motorola and/or Verizon appear to be squashing pretty quickly (seriously, how much buck-passing goes on behind the scenes when there’s a bug with this device?). One of the most interesting bug stories I’ve heard in a while has to do with the auto-focus bug. Apparently it just didn’t work. The on-board camera would focus, then blur out again.
And then it suddenly started working properly for everyone. The first theory of why it would fix itself was that there was some film on the lens when a Droid was fresh from the factory, but it got cleared off with use somehow. Folks claimed that directly cleaning the lens with a soft cloth would fix the problem, and that much made sense, but other theories had the film getting cleaned by the action of sticking the Droid in your pocket? I wish I lived in a world where things got cleaner the more you used them!
The next theory was that some kind of stealth patch got pushed to the Droids without the owner’s knowledge. Officials quickly denied this rumor. Probably good news that they can’t (or at least, won’t) patch your phone without your choosing to accept the patch.
Finally the real reason for the bug and fix was revealed, and maybe it’s just because I write web scripts for a living, but I really got a kick out of this. The auto-focus routines somehow make use of a timestamp, and the bug was due to a rounding error. In a comment on an Engadget post, someone claiming to be Google engineer Dan Morrill said:
There’s a rounding-error bug in the camera driver’s autofocus routine (which uses a timestamp) that causes autofocus to behave poorly on a 24.5-day cycle. That is, it’ll work for 24.5 days, then have poor performance for 24.5 days, then work again.
The 17th is the start of a new “works correctly” cycle, so the devices will be fine for a while. A permanent fix is in the works.
How crazy is that? Engadget says they tested this by backdating their Droid to November 11th and sure enough, the problem returned. I pity the engineer who had to uncover this one; talk about finding a needle in a haystack.
Anyway, let’s hope they get this patched up before the current ‘good’ cycle ends.
By the way, I’m considering springing for a Droid; if any readers have one, I’d love to hear comments on it. Are you happy with your purchase?
[via IT World]
If the iPhone didn’t finish off Windows Mobile in the smartphone market, the Motorola Droid may.
Windows Mobile is losing the last vestiges of its mojo–if it really had any to begin with–as the Droid and other phones based on the Android 2.0 operating system push the buzz meter needle into the red zone. Many in the media–which can play a big role in steering users to one technology platform or another–sense that Windows Mobile has now been relegated resolutely to has-been status.
[via cnet]
Motorola
This business of iPhone killing is a lot harder than it looks.
Putting together a package that can overtake Cupertino’s magic device has proven extremely difficult, mostly because Apple has created a tight product that is extremely elegent, fun to use and boasts not only a powerful piece of hardware but an almost infinite amount of third-party software.
New leaked documents suggest all the Droid Eris grumblings we’ve heard were true: it should launch November 6, and will supposedly run $99 after rebate. That’s pretty cheap considering it matches the specs of the $180 Hero.
[via Engadget]
We’ve got the DROID in our hands… and it is sweet. Moto claims that this is the thinnest full QWERTY slider on the market, and we’re apt to believe it. The phone is incredibly slick and solid, and we’re definitely looking forward to putting it through its paces. We’ll have more photos, video, and a full review coming, so stay tuned!
[via engadget]
NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Apple’s (AAPL Quote) iPhone success has provoked backlash among its partner AT&T (T Quote) and would-be Verizon (VZ Quote).
The Androids are lining up for battle.
AT&T, looking beyond these iPhone glory days at a post-Apple era, has taken a big step toward offering its own Google (GOOG Quote) Android devices, some say as early as this year.
This shift in allegiance comes as Verizon and Motorola (MOT Quote) prepare to unveil the hotly anticipated Droid, the anti-iPhone — iDon’t, Droid Does — Google Android phone at a press conference Wednesday.
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| Invitation to a Google Android event hosted by Motorola and Verizon |
[via TheStreet]
