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(Newsweek) How Android is Transforming Mobile Computing.

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bionic77

Member
stressboy said:
These are starting to remind me of NPD threads.
It is frightening how nerds react to competing technologies. Even now it is still better than the Blu-Ray vs HD (I don't even remember the name now) stuff.

Most Android users love their phones and most iPhone users love their phones. Why can't we all just get along?
 

Evlar

Banned
bionic77 said:
It is frightening how nerds react to competing technologies. Even now it is still better than the Blu-Ray vs HD (I don't even remember the name now) stuff.

Most Android users love their phones and most iPhone users love their phones. Why can't we all just get along?
Because we define ourselves by the things we own, and we just loooooove organizing ourselves into competing tribes.
 

bionic77

Member
Evlar said:
Because we define ourselves by the things we own, and we just loooooove organizing ourselves into competing tribes.
I like to think of it as more of a problem of having too much time on our hands and not any real problems to worry about.
 
zoku88 said:
The premiere handsets are $500-600 here. Those are all really high end though.

T-mobile offers no-contract plans, and you probably could buy something for about $100, but it wouldn't be high end.

I'm not sure about the phones you're talking about, brain-stew. Can you link to them? A lot of the (android) phones that come out in America are available world wide (since a lot of them come from Asian companies, anyway.)

That's mostly an issue with games (non-stand OpenGL implementation.) Regular apps wouldn't really be affected.

Here's a review of the £100 SF (its actually a rebranded ZTE Blade), its only really the camera which compares poorly to the high end phones.

http://android.modaco.com/content/z...318802/paul-reviews-the-orange-san-francisco/

The T Mobile Pulse (a rebranded huawei) was the first low cost PAYG Android handset which could really compete with the big boys. Its a little outdated now but is available for less than £100 and still offers a fantastic introduction to Android.

http://mobile.engadget.com/2009/10/09/t-mobile-pulse-review/

Note: This has a 2.1 update available now, I got one for my dad the other day and its really fantastic.
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
I do wonder do those numbers take the ipod into account? That gives apple another device in which to hawk their wares on and such which is a big boon for them IMO.
 
N

NinjaFridge

Unconfirmed Member
brain_stew said:
Here's a review of the £100 SF, its only really the camera which compares poorly to the high end phones.

http://android.modaco.com/content/z...318802/paul-reviews-the-orange-san-francisco/

The T Mobile Pulse was the first low cost PAYG Android handset which could compete with the big boys. Its a little outdated now but is available for less than £100 and still offers a fantastic introduction to Android.
And let's be honest, most negatives are outweighed by the price. It's a great deal and I'm thinking of getting one myself.
 
NinjaFridge said:
And let's be honest, most negatives are outweighed by the price. It's a great deal and I'm thinking of getting one myself.

Absolutely. The one real sticking point is the camera but I doubt you'd find any £100 phone with a worthwile camera. A better camera isn't worth ~£400 to me personally, ymmv.

The 600mhz ARM11 is a none issue imo. The huge 512MB RAM and half decent GPU do as much (if not more) for general usability than a bump in clockspeed would. I honestly believe that the vast majority of users would struggle to notice any major difference between that phone and the £500+ monstrosities that most usually associate with Android. After spending a good amount of time with my Dad's Pulse I'd honestly take it over an iPhone 3G, and this thing beats out the Pulse in damn near every way possible! :D

Oh, and I'll be picking one up for Christmas! :D

Hopefully they'll have Froyo loaded on the thing by then!
 

turnbuckle

Member
bionic77 said:
I like to think of it as more of a problem of having too much time on our hands and not any real problems to worry about.
We do it in everything: Favorite music, favorite team, favorite show etc etc.
 

zoku88

Member
brain_stew said:
Here's a review of the £100 SF, its only really the camera which compares poorly to the high end phones.

http://android.modaco.com/content/z...318802/paul-reviews-the-orange-san-francisco/

The T Mobile Pulse was the first low cost PAYG Android handset which could compete with the big boys. Its a little outdated now but is available for less than £100 and still offers a fantastic introduction to Android.
So, I tried looking for a phone with similar specs to that to compare it to. Part of the problem in the US is that since most people buy subsidized phones (even when they have the choice not to), there's little reason for the carriers to carry phones like that. I tried looking for a phone with similar specs to that (the closest was the Motorola charm, for 270 USD), but I failed. (though, the Charm's display is horrible.)
 

Burger

Member
D4Danger said:
time to break out the ol' patent portfolio

WSJ: You're still charging a license fee for the software.
Mr. Ballmer: Sure.

WSJ: Is that difficult in an environment where Android is free?

Mr. Ballmer: Android has a patent fee. It's not like Android's free. You do have to license patents. HTC's signed a license with us and you're going to see license fees clearly for Android as well as for Windows.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466104575529861668829040.html


bionic77 said:
I like to think of it as more of a problem of having too much time on our hands and not any real problems to worry about.

People discuss technology and business everywhere you look. It's no less mundane than anything else on this entire message board.
 
entrement said:
Nope. Not unlocked. Unlocked smartphones or smartphones out of contract are prohibitively expensive. It's a cartel here with the phone carriers.

Sucks! :/

If Android is getting such high adoption with those restrictions just imagine what it could do without them.


zoku88 said:
So, I tried looking for a phone with similar specs to that to compare it to. Part of the problem in the US is that since most people buy subsidized phones (even when they have the choice not to), there's little reason for the carriers to carry phones like that. I tried looking for a phone with similar specs to that (the closest was the Motorola charm, for 270 USD), but I failed. (though, the Charm's display is horrible.)

A 2.8" 320x240 screen on a $270 phone is the best you can do in the US atm!? Damn, that's worse than I imagined and I honestly couldn't imagine running Android with such a small/low resolution screen.
 
To be fair, three of those activations have been my replacement Droids.

I just discovered the headphone jack on this one isn't working, so I may have to go back to the verizon store this weekend. D:
 

zoku88

Member
brain_stew said:
Sucks! :/

If Android is getting such high adoption with those restrictions just imagine what it could do without them.
It wouldn't make a difference. If there is even a $100 difference between a subsidized price and a non-subsidized price, people will still pick the subsidized phone, because it seems cheaper.
 
zoku88 said:
It wouldn't make a difference. If there is even a $100 difference between a subsidized price and a non-subsidized price, people will still pick the subsidized phone, because it seems cheaper.

Are US consumers really that stupid!? :lol

A $100 difference could be made up within two months of a contract, ffs. Why would you want those extra 22 months of buttrape when you can avoid it?
 

zoku88

Member
brain_stew said:
Are US consumers really that stupid!? :lol

A $100 difference could be made up within two months of a contract, ffs. Why would you want those extra 22 months of buttrape when you can avoid it?
Well, 10 months of contract, actually. Usually not contract prices are $10 less per month.

(The usually phone price difference is $200, so it usually takes 20 months.)

But yea, consumers are generally short-sighted.
 

Dabanton

Member
brain_stew said:
What's the status with PAYG Android handsets in the US these days?

In the UK we can get a fantastic Android handset like the Orange San Francisco with a 800x480 OLED screen, 512MB RAM, 600mhz ARM11, GPS, compass, light sensor and all the rest of it for just £100. Pretty incredible really, you're not tied to any contract at all, can take advantage of much cheaper "sim only" plans (where a £10 plan gets you about the equivalent of a traditional £30 plan and can be cancelled at any time) and save over £500 compared to an iPhone 4 on contract when all is said and done.

I take it deals like this aren't commonplace in the states yet? Its surely only a matter of time though and I wonder how Apple will cope with the onslaught of fully featured, contract free Android smartphones that retail for less than their low end iPod Touch.

After getting acquainted with my Dad's T Mobile Pulse (another sub £100 contract free Android smartphone) I'm just failing to see how I could possibly recommend signing up for one of the arse raping contracts attached to an iPhone4. These £100 devices do absolutely anything an iPhone4 will outside of decent 3D gaming, though even that is improving.

I've got a Pulse and have to say it's a brilliant Phone very impressed by it. I was considering an iPhone but i didn't want to have to sign up to a monthly contract and the price Apple charges for a PAYG iPhone handset in the UK is quite frankly obscene. I've got everything that i want in a phone for now, Touchscreen and android marketplace and i get free internet for 6 months on my phone.
 

Vyer

Member
What I find interesting about the usually stupid 'phonewarz' is how, really, it is meaningless at the moment. (Of course, 'meaningless' is pretty much a defining term in anything involving fanboys/haters, but I digress).

In terms of Android and iOS, neither one of them are hurting, Apple sells it's iPhone like crazy, and the OS is set on the iPod and iPad, two other pieces of hardware that dominate their respective markets.

Android, meanwhile, gets to flourish on multiple carriers and grows with each different handset.

It seems like all their fanboys are screaming at each other, while both of them are getting along just fine thank you very much.


REALLY, this 'war' only becomes interesting when/if RIM gets something going and when MS tries to push out Win Mobile 7.

There is plenty of room for both Apple and Android at this point....but what happens when another player or two tries to muscle in?
 
Meh, Apple is doing just fine in the US, even while being limited to AT&T. All they need to do is bring the iPhone to other carriers and BOOM! market share tripled baby.

EDIT:

Oh wait, it's a Dan Lyons article. I want my 3 minutes back :lol
 

Stat Flow

He gonna cry in the car
I'm interested to see where Android is in five years. Android just started to get its real speed in December. It's been less than a year since Verizon + Google really sparked the Android name.

Also, that 10 billion number is pretty impressive.

Skiptastic said:
What will it be a year from now? That's when I'm going to be for serious looking at this stuff.

Then don't even worry about the shit that's out now. One year from now, the Droid2, Incredible, and Droid X will be sorely outclassed by other Android phones.

brain_stew said:
Are US consumers really that stupid!? :lol

Yes.
 
carlosp said:
i have an android phone and had an iPhone before. I love the phone and the platform as well. I think in a year or two the standard of android software (apps) will be so high that Apple will struggle to keep with. For example everybody says the iPhone looks so good. Just a look at this FREE Rom for almost all the "modern" android phones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or-9T44Bt7M

Jebus that's pretty nice, I am shocked it's coming from China (no offense to anyone.)
 
brain_stew said:
What's the status with PAYG Android handsets in the US these days?

In the UK we can get a fantastic Android handset like the Orange San Francisco with a 800x480 OLED screen, 512MB RAM, 600mhz ARM11, GPS, compass, light sensor and all the rest of it for just £100. Pretty incredible really, you're not tied to any contract at all, can take advantage of much cheaper "sim only" plans (where a £10 plan gets you about the equivalent of a traditional £30 plan and can be cancelled at any time) and save over £500 compared to an iPhone 4 on contract when all is said and done.

I take it deals like this aren't commonplace in the states yet? Its surely only a matter of time though and I wonder how Apple will cope with the onslaught of fully featured, contract free Android smartphones that retail for less than their low end iPod Touch.

After getting acquainted with my Dad's T Mobile Pulse (another sub £100 contract free Android smartphone) I'm just failing to see how I could possibly recommend signing up for one of the arse raping contracts attached to an iPhone4. These £100 devices do absolutely anything an iPhone4 will outside of decent 3D gaming, though even that is improving.

Virgin Mobile has the Samsung Intercept for $250 (£157).

virgin-intercept-10-04-2010.jpg


cfCvP.png


What I don't understand is, can you have these monthly plans without using credit/debit cards? Can you buy top-up cards with cash every month and if you go over your minutes your phone just doesn't work until you top-up again, or in other words no penalties?
 
Well its pretty meaningless unless you think about the past. Nokia won round 1 of the phone wars to the point that they are still pretty much insurmountable in sheer volume of devices sold. The only problem is they don't make money on services or device margins, where Apple shines.
Round 2 is the smartphone wars and getting consumers to purchase 'goods' (I use that term lightly) through an Android Market or Ovi store/App store.

Apple have the Western markets sewn up for at least two more years, with Android definitely coming through in a big way. Nokia can still be competitive though if they remain strong in emerging markets, remember the global market for ringtones and wallpapers is still orders of magnitude bigger than any Applications market. There is little room for more than 4 major players imho, so that 4th spot is the battle between RIM and MS.

Vyer said:
What I find interesting about the usually stupid 'phonewarz' is how, really, it is meaningless at the moment. (Of course, 'meaningless' is pretty much a defining term in anything involving fanboys/haters, but I digress).

In terms of Android and iOS, neither one of them are hurting, Apple sells it's iPhone like crazy, and the OS is set on the iPod and iPad, two other pieces of hardware that dominate their respective markets.

Android, meanwhile, gets to flourish on multiple carriers and grows with each different handset.

It seems like all their fanboys are screaming at each other, while both of them are getting along just fine thank you very much.


REALLY, this 'war' only becomes interesting when/if RIM gets something going and when MS tries to push out Win Mobile 7.

There is plenty of room for both Apple and Android at this point....but what happens when another player or two tries to muscle in?
 

Zaptruder

Banned
The most telling portion of the article is the point it makes in regards to history repeating itself; The fight between Google and Apple is likened to the fight between Microsoft and Apple, with apple taking the same positions in both fights.

They are profitable and successful without a doubt; but if I were a betting man, I'd say that Apple's fortunes will wane once again as their growth and by extension profitability stagnates and falters.

As the smart phone market grows and expands, a majority of that growth will be experienced by Android. That in turn will do wonders in shifing the mobile application market in favour of Android powered devices. That's where the real goldmine exists.

Because smart phones are like the article say, no less than the new computing devices of the future; when they gain the ability to connect to large scale displays via wireless HDMI or some such, they'll essentially replace desktop and laptops. Very likely, we'll come up with wearable displays which will replace monitors and displays by making them redundant; these wearable displays (with full field of vision display, 3D and head tracking) will be the killer combo when paired with the increasing power and versatility of smart phone devices.

The idea of establishing a default application portal/store for the all (or the lion's share of) the worlds computing devices should make any money man cream their shorts, repeatedly, without cessation.

You'll see the inevitability of Android's domination around the same time Nokia throws in the towel for Ovi and switches over to it.
 

tfur

Member
Ripclawe said:

Android is clearly taking Apple's lunch, as well as RIM's.

People spinning this as somehow a testament to how strong iOS presence is... or that Apple doesn't want market share, in my opinion, are delusional. For iOS to be outsold during their launch of the iphone4, and to already be on the decline in percentage is telling. This time last year, people were talking about Apple's untouchable mind share, now look where we are. Apple's niche is not going anywhere, but these turn of events are surely somewhat alarming to Apple.

It will interesting to see how this competition works out. It is definitely forcing everyone to up their game on the technology front.

Also, the patent disputes will not effect anything, other than free advertising and news presence.
 

scorcho

testicles on a cold fall morning
tfur said:
People spinning this as somehow a testament to how strong iOS presence is... or that Apple doesn't want market share, in my opinion, are delusional.
not really. Apple's profits are astronomical because they tightly control the hardware and make a cut off their appstore/itunes. they don't need to have a majority of the market to continue to make money hand over fist, and there's enough growth in the smartphone market to accommodate Android's likely continued rise in marketshare.
 

LCfiner

Member
scorcho said:
not really. Apple's profits are astronomical because they tightly control the hardware and make a cut off their appstore/itunes. they don't need to have a majority of the market to continue to make money hand over fist, and there's enough growth in the smartphone market to accommodate Android's likely continued rise in marketshare.


exactly.

Android will continue to increase marketshare because it's available on multiple devices, with a range of price points, across all carriers.

Apple will not win the marketshare "war" but they will continue to see insane profits with whatever share they have.

as long as all these devices keep improving and pushing against each other to get better, we should all be happy.
 

dave is ok

aztek is ok
If Apple really comes to Verizon next year, that chart will look very different.

Not saying one phone is better than the other - but iPhone has the name and will sell extremely well once AT&T isn't restricting it
 

shantyman

WHO DEY!?
Hitokage said:
When it works, yes, but again, Apple had to muscle its way in and use its relatively large resources to overcome barriers to entry. Everyone else was content putting out shitty phones that couldn't hope to match foreign counterparts.

Yes, they "muscled" their way in by making a product that was almost universally liked and by outclassing the competition.
 

LCfiner

Member
shantyman said:
Yes, they "muscled" their way in by making a product that was almost universally liked and by outclassing the competition.


Part of the "muscling" is about how they convinced AT&T to loosen control of the phone and give Apple more control of it (no AT&T ringtone store, no AT&T bloatware or branding on the device, etc)

according to rumors, they weren't able to get those concessions from Verizon. Which is, if true, a testament to how tough those negotiations had to be.
 

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
That's the key part. Cellular carriers used to be fairly obsessed with controlling the software on their devices, but Apple wanted to retain total control. How did they keep it? By being Apple.
 

ymmv

Banned
Apple IOS vs Google Android = Betamax vs VHS

No way that Apple can win *and* remain profitable in the long term.
 

turnbuckle

Member
ymmv said:
Apple IOS vs Google Android = Betamax vs VHS

No way that Apple can win *and* remain profitable in the long term.


Dunno

Another comparison would be
Mac OS vs Windows.
There's no way iOS will be the dominant platform so long as its exclusive to the iphone, but Apple's never needed to be #1 to be profitable.
 
tfur said:
Android is clearly taking Apple's lunch, as well as RIM's.

People spinning this as somehow a testament to how strong iOS presence is... or that Apple doesn't want market share, in my opinion, are delusional. For iOS to be outsold during their launch of the iphone4, and to already be on the decline in percentage is telling. This time last year, people were talking about Apple's untouchable mind share, now look where we are. Apple's niche is not going anywhere, but these turn of events are surely somewhat alarming to Apple.

It will interesting to see how this competition works out. It is definitely forcing everyone to up their game on the technology front.

Also, the patent disputes will not effect anything, other than free advertising and news presence.
If Apple wanted marketshare so bad, they'd have more than one phone.

I don't think even Apple wants an all-iPhone world. They're happy with their 25% smartphone marketshare on the sales of just one single phone.
 

Chairman85

Member
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
If Apple wanted marketshare so bad, they'd have more than one phone.

I don't think even Apple wants an all-iPhone world. They're happy with their 25% smartphone marketshare on the sales of just one single phone.
While I agree Apple wants to keep producing one single, high profit phone, why wouldn't they want the marketshare if their profit margin per phone is so high? The only thing holding Apple back stateside is the exclusivity agreement.

EDIT: Also, the fact that the US has incompatible networks.
 
Chairman85 said:
While I agree Apple wants to keep producing one single, high profit phone, why wouldn't they want the marketshare if their profit margin per phone is so high? The only thing holding Apple back stateside is the exclusivity agreement.
The iPhone 4 just stopped being "shipping in 2 weeks" today, three and a half months after launch, and this is including all the fear over the antenna problem. They don't want to be selling more than this. They can barely handle the demand they have now.

Guys, electronics are not Highlander. There can be more than one, and every company plans on that.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
Zaptruder said:
The most telling portion of the article is the point it makes in regards to history repeating itself; The fight between Google and Apple is likened to the fight between Microsoft and Apple, with apple taking the same positions in both fights.
They are profitable and successful without a doubt; but if I were a betting man, I'd say that Apple's fortunes will wane once again as their growth and by extension profitability stagnates and falters.
As the smart phone market grows and expands, a majority of that growth will be experienced by Android. That in turn will do wonders in shifing the mobile application market in favour of Android powered devices. That's where the real goldmine exists.
Because smart phones are like the article say, no less than the new computing devices of the future; when they gain the ability to connect to large scale displays via wireless HDMI or some such, they'll essentially replace desktop and laptops. Very likely, we'll come up with wearable displays which will replace monitors and displays by making them redundant; these wearable displays (with full field of vision display, 3D and head tracking) will be the killer combo when paired with the increasing power and versatility of smart phone devices.
The idea of establishing a default application portal/store for the all (or the lion's share of) the worlds computing devices should make any money man cream their shorts, repeatedly, without cessation.
You'll see the inevitability of Android's domination around the same time Nokia throws in the towel for Ovi and switches over to it.

I'm an Android guy, but even I think this is wrong.

ymmv said:
Apple IOS vs Google Android = Betamax vs VHS
No way that Apple can win *and* remain profitable in the long term.

Apple is too strong now to lose like Betamax did.
 

RSTEIN

Comics, serious business!
Are there any real options besides iphone 4 in Canada. I was looking at Rogers and didn't see any of the cool Android phones there...
 

mckmas8808

Banned
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
The iPhone 4 just stopped being "shipping in 2 weeks" today, three and a half months after launch, and this is including all the fear over the antenna problem. They don't want to be selling more than this. They can barely handle the demand they have now.

Guys, electronics are not Highlander. There can be more than one, and every company plans on that.


The HTC EVO has been on back order longer than the iphone 4 I believe. And it's one choice of many on Sprint alone. :lol
 
I chose to buy an iPhone 4 because I loved the hardware and I'm comfortable with the operating system. I would love an Android phone, too, maybe in a year or so when there are more phones that have similar displays/app support. I think Android phones are pretty damn tremendous, particularly the HTC ones.
 

ymmv

Banned
ridley182 said:
Grats. You just came up with one of the most inane comparisons ever :lol

Not really. Sony's Betamax superior but more expensive format lost to a cheaper alternative that was backed by the rest of the industry. There are lots of parallels with Apples's situation.
 
dave is ok said:
If Apple really comes to Verizon next year, that chart will look very different.

Not saying one phone is better than the other - but iPhone has the name and will sell extremely well once AT&T isn't restricting it
Yup.

Android is making such headway because it is on so many networks, and there are so many handsets out there using it. There seems to be new handsets every couple weeks. When you have so many products in the market vs. only 3 models of an iPhone (on one carrier), then of course you are going to eat up a huge part of the market share. The fact that Apple has such a huge market share with only 3 handsets (might as well be 1 really) and on one carrier, speaks to how much it is actually selling. Once those restrictions are out of the way and Apple is on multiple carriers, it will be quite different.

The best part about Android coming along so quickly is that it has created a wonderful competitiveness among all the hardware manufacturers and the consumers (usually) win by getting better hardware. The bad part is now we are seeing the manufacturers and carriers start to interfere more and more with Android itself (see Verizon and Bing) that it creates a very annoying situation and removes a lot of the freedom that Android should bring.
 
ymmv said:
Not really. Sony's Betamax superior but more expensive format lost to a cheaper alternative that was backed by the rest of the industry. There are lots of parallels with Apples's situation.

But look at the size of this market compared to home video then. And look at the marketshare Apple already controls. Not a good comparison.


mckmas8808 said:
The HTC EVO has been on back order longer than the iphone 4 I believe. And it's one choice of many on Sprint alone. :lol
And how many handsets has the EVO actually moved total since launch? If we are going to play a numbers game...


Which makes me think, what is the best selling single Android handset? I am curious.
 

Chairman85

Member
PhoncipleBone said:
But look at the size of this market compared to home video then. And look at the marketshare Apple already controls. Not a good comparison.



And how many handsets has the EVO actually moved total since launch? If we are going to play a numbers game...


Which makes me think, what is the best selling single Android handset? I am curious.
Fairly sure, it's the Motorola Droid/Milestone.
 
Chairman85 said:
Fairly sure, it's the Motorola Droid/Milestone.
I would think the Droid 1 as well. It had the biggest marketing push forever, and it also came out during the time when Android kind of exploded everywhere.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
PhoncipleBone said:
And how many handsets has the EVO actually moved total since launch? If we are going to play a numbers game...
Which makes me think, what is the best selling single Android handset? I am curious.

That's not the point. The point is most of the best Android phones were hardware limited too. Trust me many people in the Android threads have to ask many times where it's best to buy the phones.
 
ymmv said:
Not really. Sony's Betamax superior but more expensive format lost to a cheaper alternative that was backed by the rest of the industry. There are lots of parallels with Apples's situation.
lol you do realize companies other than Sony made Betamax players right? It was meant to become a standard format. iOS only runs on Apple phones, there is no way Apple is going to license it to anyone else. It's just a silly comparison any way you look at it.
 
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