How much of the Motorola Android is hype?
By Michael W. Jones
The upcoming Android mobile phone from Motorola is being hailed as the best thing since sliced iPhone. Is it all based on nebulous futures and hype, or are there some facts behind the latest iPhone killer?
First, what are we talking about here? The soon-to-be-released Motorola Android phone, when you look at the specs, appears to be quite a package. It has the latest Android operating system, a 550MHz TI processor, a PowerVR GPU, 256MB of RAM, CDMA, Wi-Fi, GPS, a digital magnetometer, an accelerometer, proximity sensors, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, a notification LED, four touch-sensitive navigation buttons, and a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard, according to a PMPToday story. That is a very impressive set of software and hardware features.
What it does not have yet is a track record, or any reputation among users. We have all heard the hype about the Blackberry Storm, the Palm Pre, and others. So far, none of them have lived up to their advance billing as The One that will displace the iPhone and the Blackberry. Yet, many mobile pundits are stating as preordained fact that this Motorola Android phone will surpass the iPhone during 2012, if not sooner.
These predictions fail to take into account the popularity of the iPhone, and all of the reasons why it is so popular, all of the features that will be added to the iPhone, and how much the Apple software and hardware will be improved between now and 2012. That is not to say that the Motorola Android is not a marvelous phone, or that it may not win the smartphone wars. It is simply to say that it is not preordained to take the crowns of most popular personal and business smartphone.
The truth is, it is simply too early to tell, just as it was when the Storm and the Pre were being hyped before release. Those two phones sold well, but were not the marketplace phenoms they were cracked up to be in the ramp up to release. All of the smartphones in the marketplace will continue to grow and evolve, and they will continue to leapfrog each other’s feature sets as the underlying technology continues to improve. It takes time to take the lead in a competitive marketplace. Deciding that any phone will be king before it is even born is absurd.
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October 28th, 2009
Wow – what a flashback! Your tone reminds me of all the Microsoft fanboys, whinging before each new Mac OS release since X. LOL
Ok, maybe some folks are jumping the gun by predicting great things for this particular handset, based upon previews and leaked info. But, then, it is equally silly to suggest that it will fail merely because some earlier (non-Android) phones didn’t live up to their hype. Speaking of which, exactly what ‘nebulous features’ are you talking about? Droid photos, specs and videos (plus Android 2.0 teasers) have been everywhere, for a couple weeks. If that kind of pre-release info had been available for the original BB Storm, we’d have known it was a total dog.
Besides, Storm and Pre were lone, proprietary offerings from a single manufacturer and carrier. That’s not the case with Android. In the past few months, the cell industry has shown that Android support is going nowhere but up…manufacturers and service providers are piling onto the android bandwagon faster than you can say ‘reliable, customizable, and free’. For the next year (at least), new Android handsets – and OS updates – will be coming at us like city buses. Don’t like the current one? Just wait a few minutes.
Compare that with Apple’s track record on iPhone.:
– 1.5 years for SDK
– 1.5 years for AppStore
– 2+ years for ‘decent’ phone reception (I still have doubts about blaming the current mess on AT&T rather than Apple.)
– 2+ years for cut & paste
– 2+ years for MMS
– 2+ years for tethering…oops, scratch that.
…plus, of course, one new hardware upgrade, each year. And, let’s face it, nothing too exciting in either case. iPhone still looks pretty much the same and even acts pretty much the same as it did at WWDC, in 2007. I hope everyone really enjoys seeing all those little square icons on every screen.
With Android, in just its first year we’ve seen three major updates. T-H-R-E-E. Each one added significant functionality, while also improving overall reliability. Google even addressed customer complaints (!) about the camera function, touchscreen latency issues and system security. Meanwhile, the manufacturers brought out half a dozen handsets, each (arguably) a little better than the last…and all of them experimenting with new combinations of features. Plus, we’ve been promised perhaps another two dozen new handset models, by the end of 1Q10.
So, sure – I don’t know if Droid is the end-all, be-all of mobile phones. Maybe yes, maybe no. Or, maybe it will just sell well enough to make Verizon & Motorola execs happy. But Apple fans are kidding themselves if they think a single handset ‘beating iPhone’ is the only game in town. Its kinda like fighting the (first millenium) ancient Romans. Even if your city somehow managed to stave off the assault of a legion or two, that didn’t mean you could throw a party and rest on your laurels. There were quite a few more Romans where those first guys came from. And, even if you did survive, it was gonna cost you, big time.