All Articles Tagged The competition

Just a few days ago Verizon started their iDoesn’t campaign specifically targeting Apple’s iPhone. Well late last night images started to emerge all over the blogs, including our very own Android Central, giving us a sneak peek to what may be some legitimate iPhone competition. After a hands on, BGR came away mighty impressed. Here are just a few of the highlights spotlighted by BGR:

• It’s thin. Just slightly thicker than an iPhone 3GS and the thinnest QWERTY-slider we’ve ever seen.
• It is the fastest Android device we’ve ever used. (It’s running a TI OMAP3430 processor)
• Awesome capacitive display. Plus it’s huge. Easily the best screen we’ve ever seen on an Android handset, and an amazing screen overall.

The specs seem impressive but I’m not sold on the look of the device yet. What are your thoughts on this new Motorola Android device? Do you think Apple is shaking in their boots? Let us know in the comments!

[Via Android Central via BGR]

UPDATE: TiPb asked a few non-geek friends and most of them didn’t even realize Verizon was targeting the iPhone in these ads (some thought the commercial was saying whatever device they were talking about didn’t do the things listed). Is that an ad-failure, or was it deliberately targeting geeks?

Secondly, Sacha Seagan over at Gearlog brings up the now apparently dual, and now opposite meaning behind “open application” buzzwords – a device totally controlled by Verizon.

Thirdly, does the push for the Droid explain why Verizon seemingly buried the BlackBerry Storm2 announcement?

Original post after the break!

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Hot on the heels of their spunky new “there’s a map for that” anti-iPhone/AT&T programming, Verizon looks set to unless yet more attack ads. Engadget Mobile says:

We’re hearing that the carrier will be kicking off a major new campaign this evening during the Yankees-Angels game that’ll feature “a very different look and a whole new attitude,” calling out the “iDevice” (their words, not ours) for all the things it can’t do.

Yeah, from the network that famously locked down GPS, wouldn’t allow Wi-Fi, and removed OS-specific application markets for their own bloatware, that’s a lot of nerve. Especially given the lukewarm reception Verizon is already getting for their new BlackBerry Storm2 (never mind their deceptive comparisons…), their Android savior still on the horizon, and hardly exclusive, and they seemingly won’t be landing an iPhone of their own anytime soon.

Still, it should also be a lot of fun! If you catch the new ads, let us know what you think!

The first screenshots of Google’s upcoming Android 2.0 Eclair OS have leaked and, aside from being a cream-filled, chocolate covered confectionary of a codename, eh… we’re not quite sure what to make of them. They’re better, but are they HTC Sense UI better?

TiPb made no secret about thinking Android 1.0 (did that one have a tasty codename? Snickerdoodle maybe?) looked a tad under-polished, and 2.0 certainly improves on that, and adds in Exchange support (like iPhone 2.0), Facebook integration (like webOS Synergy), improved WebKit browser (as fast as the iPhone 3GS?), maps with data layers (like PlaceBase?), unified email inbox (yes!), YouTube widget, big honking buttons for use while driving, voice control (like iPhone 3GS).

Check out Boy Genius Report for the full gallery and Android Central for Casey’s commentary, then come back and tell us if this is the Android you’ve been looking for…

First up, the highly anticipated HTC Hero is in Android Central’s house, and Casey gives us a look at the decidedly non-Google Android phone and SenseUI, something closer akin to HTC’s previous Windows Mobile powered TouchFLO3D. And we think he likes it:

We believe that you’ll be stunned at how easy it is to use and how polished it all works. If you’re looking from the myTouch 3G or T-Mobile G1, you can’t help but be jealous of the Hero. The UI offers a great experience while still maintaining the same lovely Android and even adds a better browser! We have no hesitation in saying that the HTC Hero is the best Android phone available and after using HTC Sense, will be for quite some time.

Next up, I don’t think we’ve ever mentioned “Motorola” and “competition” to the iPhone in the same paragraph before, but with the introduction of the CLIQ, their first device running Google’s Android OS, do we have to stop chuckling at the mere concept?

Maybe. We often say (okay, Chad often says) that Apple designed the iPhone for RAZR users — the first dead-simple, consumer-friendly smartphone. Well Moto built the RAZR, and now they’ve built MOTOBLUR, a new, hyper-social network focused new layer on top of Android designed to hook the heart of the Twitter/FaceBook generation (yes, Icebike, I campout firmly in the former). And they’ve put it on a G1/Dream-style horizontal slider.

Have they succeeded? Engadget says:

Let’s be very clear: though it fares pretty competitively against the aging crop of Google-powered devices on the market today, the CLIQ isn’t the Android phone to end all Android phones. Then again, it’s not supposed to be — at least, we hope it isn’t — because a smallish HVGA display and an overworked, outmatched MSM7201A core aren’t going to win any believers that haven’t already been won over by HTC’s stable. What the CLIQ does do, though, is lay the groundwork for something better — a Motorola that doesn’t cause eyes to roll, a Motorola that makes aspirational phones that people can want to own again.

One thing’s clear, however. The competition is focusing on the social networks, something Apple’s never been historically good at, and something they may still not quite understand. Is it an achilles heel for the iPhone? Not yet, especially not with the App Store. But there’s no MOTOBLUR or widgets or Synergy in the App Store yet, and likely there won’t be given SDK restrictions. So, Apple, howsabout 4.0?

While reaction to Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.5 release ranged from “yawn” to “yeesh”, one device, not even given the stage, certainly seems to have stolen the show — HTC’s HD2.

Theories on why Microsoft didn’t see fit to show off, indeed highlight, the HD2 range from friction with HTC over their foray into Google’s Android OS, to an attempt not to show up other partners whose devices look outdated by comparison. That anyone saw it at all was only due to a few HTC reps carrying it around the show. Microsoft’s latest baffling behavior aside, the device itself clearly shows that if they aren’t going to raise their game, HTC will do it for them:

640×800 capacitive, multitouch screen driven by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, complete with Sense UI built in so deeply Microsoft’s interface is all but completely hidden from the end user.

Our sibling site, WMExperts.com, has been following the device since it was known by the code-name Leo, and report that it should be making its way to the US in the first part of 2010.

It’s nice to see some competition, if not from Microsoft itself then from HTC. But it brings a question to mind — will buyers of non-integrated devices end up going by carrier brand (AT&T, Verizon, etc.), OS brand (Android, Windows Mobile/Windows Phone), or manufacturer (HTC, Motorola, LG, Samsung, etc.)? And will that give the unified devices from Apple, BlackBerry, and Palm an easier shot at mindshare?

T-Mobile has issued a warning that the ongoing, dare we say catastrophic failure of the Sidekick servers could result in permanent data loss if Sidekick users in any way reset their devices during the outage:

“Sidekick customers, during this service disruption, please DO NOT remove your battery, reset your Sidekick, or allow it to lose power.”

Scary, but also an urgent reminder to everyone who uses Cloud Services, including iPhone owners with MobileMe, Exchange ActiveSync, Google Gmail/Calendar, or any other, similar accounts.

Best practices dictate that data doesn’t exist unless it’s in at least three locations: local, local backup, and off-site backup. Cloud covers offsite (so does a duplicate drive at another location), but if any of your data is irreplaceable, even important, you need to make sure it’s backed up locally.

You can typically save emails, and export calendars and contacts. You can get cheap external hard drives and either manually copy your files over or get easy-to-use automatic backup solutions (some, like Shadow Copy for Windows and Time Machine for Mac are even built into the OS).

Storage is cheap, photos, videos, information, etc. can be priceless. Back it up now. If you need help or advice, check out TiPb’s iPhone Forums.

[ZDNet via Engadget]

Microsoft today takes the wrappers off their latest generation of mobile software and services, and our good friend George Ponder from sibling site WMExpert.com gives us the details in his complete Windows Mobile 6.5 review. The pre-amble sums things up well from an iPhone point of view:

For some, the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 may very well be a non-event. But it marks the beginning of a journey for Windows Mobile and a new approach to mobile computing with the Windows Phone.

Rumor has it even Microsoft doesn’t believe WinMo 6.5 is competitive with the iPhone — that’s be next year’s Windows Mobile 7, which even Steve Ballmer thinks is way late to the party. It’s a refresh of a refresh of a refresh. But it does show which direction Microsoft is going, and how the “one OS, multiple handset vendors” strategy is shaping up or them.

Along with Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft is also launching Windows Marketplace for Mobile (think App Store) and the previously-in-beta My Phone online service (think Mobile Me, with backups, and also now with “Find my iPhone” er… “Find my Windows Phone” features!).

WMExperts will be live-blogging all the Windows Mobile 6.5 festivities starting at 10am EDT, so head on over there if you want to join in the fun.

Rumor has it Microsoft is on the verge of axing the Pink Project. Come on, you remember those Pure Turtle phones we’ve been hearing about for months? The ones built by the former Danger/Sidekick team that might run Zune software and compete for the hearts and minds of tweens (TM PalmCast) everywhere? Yeah, those. Axed. Finished. Ballmered.

Seems like since their dear leader Andy Rubin left to father Android for Google, things have been on something of a downward spiral:

Amongst remaining employees, dissent is high. Much of the team uses iPhones around the office, or their old Sidekick handsets. Employees “hate the product” internally, many feeling that the division exists only to “challenge [the Windows Mobile 7 team] and upset them into competing.” Our source outright indicated that they felt the product was never intended to ship.

Malatesta from WMExperts.com is hearing conflicting stories, so take the above with a FUD-sized grain of salt. Still, even if Pink isn’t dead, given what’s left of the Danger team, the designs we’ve seen leaked so far, and the fact that Windows Mobile needs all the help it can get right now, maybe it ought to be?

[MobileCrunch via WMExperts]

While TiPb is still waiting for an iPhone 3.1.1 bug-fix update, not to mention iPhone 3.2 betas to start dropping, it looks like the competition is getting their OS on this week:

• Palm webOS 1.2 didn’t re-enable the iTunes hack (kudos Palm!) but did bring some nifty new features including Amazon MP3 downloads over 3G, the foundations for paid apps in the App Catalog, improved cut and paste, and much more.
• Android 1.6 Donut is expected to hit now’ish as well. A new Android Market is coming with it, but not multi-touch — at least not yet.
• BlackBerry OS 5.0 still doesn’t seem to be official, but is leaking out all over the place (would that Apple had such porous pipes!). It’ll make your Berry more Berry, though it doesn’t seem to integrate a real browser yet, despite what the commercials say…
• Windows Mobile 6.5 might be on 30 Windows Phones by 2010, though even Ballmer is finally admitting Windows Mobile 7 should have been out this year. Bottom-line, it’s a skin-job, and even though it looks hawt’er than a old style centurion, it’s still a machine on the inside.

What does that mean for the iPhone? Even if RIM looks locked in stasis, Palm and Microsoft appear to have up-hill battles re-gaining their traction, and Android is still slowly ramping up, Apple can’t afford to coast. A new OS from RIM, a Palm-style rebirth from Microsoft, and webOS and Android gaining marketshare are all possibilities. Many of these updates have interesting new features that hopefully Apple is looking at and working their own magic on.

So, let’s get on with the 3.2… and 4.0. March is only 6 months away, after all, and Apple needs something else to wow Smartphone buyers with at the next SDK event…