This past weekend, I wrote a post wondering if Android was surging in the U.S. market because Apple was letting it? The main thought was that by remaining exclusively tied to AT&T, Apple was driving some users to choose Android, which is available on all the U.S. carriers. In the post, I posed a question: if it’s not the iPhone/AT&T deal, why do you choose Android? Nearly 1,000 people responded, and a large percentage focused on the same idea: the idea of “openness.”
You’ll forgive me, but I have to say it: what a load of crap.
In theory, I’m right there with you. The thought of a truly open mobile operating system is very appealing. The problem is that in practice, that’s just simply not the reality of the situation. Maybe if Google had their way, the system would be truly open. But they don’t. Sadly, they have to deal with a very big roadblock: the carriers. → Read More
BGR has some screen shots showing the upcoming Motorola line-up for Verizon, including the MZ600, the Motorola tablet. The line-up also includes the Droid Pro, a Droid 2 world phone with faster processor. → Read More
For the last 30 or so hours self-described Apple fanboy MG Siegler has put his iPhone 4 aside (Jason Kincaid and Greg Kumparak held him down while two interns broke his Kung Fu grip) to give Motorola’s Droid 2 a proper test drive. The verdict? A definite step above the HTC EVO 4G.
If you read MG’s review of the EVO back in May, you know he gave HTC’s bundle of joy a merciless, swift kick to the head. Thus, saying Siegler prefers the Droid 2 to the EVO, probably doesn’t say very much. To get a more nuanced review, we enlisted MobileCrunch editor, Greg Kumparak to go one-on-one with MG.
Click ahead for their full review of the Droid 2 and a discussion on Google Voice Actions, the Android ecosystem and yes, those rampant Verizon rumors. → Read More
Verizon just had its entire roadmap leaked to BGR. Some standouts? The DROID Pro with a 1.3GHZ, a 4-inch screen, and global roaming with GSM support. Motorola will also release a phone with the style of a Q with keyboard but rocking Android 2.2. Samsung will also be dropping a 7-inch tablet this year (actually probably in the next two months) on the Verizon network. The Samsung tablet has been been rumored for weeks but Motorola will also enter the tablet world along with a new version of Android, 3.0. This should hit in Feburary. → Read More
According to The Street, Roger Crenshaw, an “analyst,” suspects that Morotola will come out with a 10-inch tablet in November. Why? Who knows. What carrier? Don’t ask Crenshaw. However, clearly Moto needs to keep the Droid love coming and this seems like a good way to do it. A Droid Tablet, anyone? → Read More
Spoiler: It takes 38:53 seconds, with is about 48 hours faster than I could do it. [via AndroidGuys] → Read More
Motorola’s slow decline was halted, briefly, by the launch of the Droid line of phones. Now, however, it looks like the company’s money-making switching subsidiary is no longer going to be making money as it’s just been sold to Nokia Siemens for $1.2 billion. While the company still owns its own handset and set-top box operation, the switching side was Motorola’s bread and butter and now it may be going hungry. → Read More
We know that Verizon is launching Droid X on the 23 – at least when it comes to press access – but it looks like they’re announcing to the rest of the world as well, right now, via a Flash-rich teaser site that allows you to pop in your email for more info. → Read More
An experiment involving the HTC Droid Incredible’s internet tethered to an Xbox 360 has successfully shown you can kill alien avatars of children playing in their basement from across the world – on top of a bridge – over the Missouri River. → Read More
You have to admit, that’s a good looking clone. Sans the logo up top, it looks nearly identical to the Motorola Droid. → Read More
The most important part of a mobile phone’s lifespan is when it’s hacked to run old video games. Few games are more classic than Everquest, the game that brought the MMO to a mass audience. I think that’s fair to say. Anyhow, today’s the Droid’s lucky day! → Read More
If you have a Nexus One or Motorola Droid and play classic games with an emulator, you must do this hack. It essentially turns the Nexus One into a full-fledge portable gaming system. The Wii Remote is even small enough to travel with, too. Can’t you see yourself pulling out the phone and firing up Metroid while cruising at 30,000 feet? I can. [via NeverKnowTech] → Read More
Now here’s a turnaround I never expected. According to a recent results filing, Motorola is working its way back into solvency and is turning a profit and shipping devices like crazy. The company took a slight loss in mobile sales – about $192 million – but that’s far lower than $550 million last year. → Read More
Late last month, a number of sites noted that a very early build of Fennec, the mobile version of Firefox, was available to download for Android phones. However, that build wasn’t official as it was put together by an individual and optimized for the Droid device. Today, Mozilla has itself put out a pre-Alpha build of Fennec that should work at the very least on Droid and the Nexus One.
Mozilla is quick to note that this is a pre-Alpha build of the browser, and is only for testing purposes. But that isn’t stopping Mozilla’s Vladimir Vukićević from announcing it on his blog. “There also aren’t yet any automated nightly developer builds or automated updates to this build; it’s even more of a pre-nightly build (even earlier than pre-alpha). But, it’s usable enough that we wanted to get some feedback on it as we continue to develop,” he notes. → Read More
Google’s Nexus One phone was supposed to be the Internet giant’s big entrance into the mobile market. It was the first so-called “Google Phone” in that Google was entirely in charge of selling the thing, and it carried the Google branding in a more prominent way than other Android devices. Today, the Nexus One just got kicked in the pants — big time — and it’s Google fault.
Verizon, the nation’s largest wireless carrier, will not sell the device. Big deal, you might think — after all, the carrier also doesn’t sell the iPhone, and it seems to be doing just fine. The problem for the Nexus One though, is that Verizon had originally agreed to sell the device. In fact, Google announced the partnership at its Nexus One unveiling event in January. So what happened? → Read More
Bad news, everyone! Remember that Droid update that was supposed to hit today? The one that was supposed to bring Android 2.1 and all of its wonderful features? Yeah, erm, about that.. It’s been delayed. → Read More
Mobile app analytics company Flurry estimates that while Apple sold 1 million iPhone devices in its first 74 days of availability on the market, the Motorola Droid actually shipped more devices during that timespan. Sales of Google’s Nexus One, by comparison, kinda stunk: the company only sold an estimated 135k phones in 74 days.
Flurry reaches its conclusions through applications using its solution for analytics reporting. Because applications embedded with Flurry are said to have been downloaded to over 80% of all iPhone OS and Android devices, the company claims it can make reliable estimates about total handset sales. → Read More
As luck would have it, I’ll be in the market for a brand-new phone in the coming weeks. Terribly exciting, yes. But there’s a bit of a problem: the two “biggest” phones out there, the iPhone and all those Android-based ones, rub me the wrong way. Longtime readers will know that I’m fairly neurotic, sorta like George Costanza from Seinfeld. Does the phrase Jerkstore mean anything to you? That’s 100 percent me. So what’s a person to do when, for reasons I’ll describe, he wants nothing to do with Apple or Google phones? → Read More
