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Image source: AP
Read my full Motorola Droid review here
The Motorola Droid was only released two days ago and already, there are skeptics (probably iPhone fans) who are ready to call it a "flop" because there weren't thousands of people in lines at Verizon stores on Friday like there were for the iPhone and Palm Pre launches.
CNET, which reported the "news" first, is very irresponsible in its reporting. First of all, the Motorola Droid was not just available at Verizon stores; several Best Buy stores sold them as well. It's also important to note that several Verizon customers ordered the phone online and Verizon is known for shipping new orders within two days.
So, you don't buy my argument? Okay, let's look at the Palm Pre. There were huge lines on June 6, the day it was released. But did the phone sell well after the release date? By most accounts, the Palm Pre is the Mariah Carey of smartphones: it's a major flop! In other words, strong sales over the long-run are far more important than first day sales. Long lines may look all glitzy, requiring store managers to take pictures and hand out muffins to all the people in line. But as Palm Pre sales demonstrate, the lines mean nothing.
As mentioned in my review, the Motorola Droid murders the iPhone. While it is not as user friendly, the Droid is definitely more productive.
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Comments
iPhone fans...Droid fans...palm pre fans,
...can't we all just get along...
...and buy a Droid?
Okay...the Mariah mention was totally unnecessary...she's a great artist and has been around for years!
I think analysts have also learned lessons from the Palm Pre launch - shut your trap until the real figures come out. Despite all of the negative comments and speculations made by analysts and fanboys, the Palm Pre still managed to sell 7x better than the 40k units that thay originally were expected to sell.
Today, authors stay away from getting the early cake-on-their-face surprise until the real facts surface. Others don't mind since their rep may not be worth defending.
I used to rely extensively on CNET, but more and more I'm beginning to realize they are a very bad source for "news"... they're frequently behind other tech sites, and they have very biased and opinionated pieces. I live in New York, and while I didn't see hundreds waiting in front of Verizon stores, I know that Best Buy has been pretty packed!
What's with the Mariah Carey comment? Totally unprofessional of the author.
Mariah Carey is fat and ugly.
I had two Droids on reserve at Best Buy. Went twice Friday and once Saturday to pick them up but they were always 2-3 deep with people ordering so I gave up and went to Sam's Club. Best Buy called today to ask if I was coming in because they were the last two Droids they had left. Also went to a Verizon store Friday at 6pm and had to wait for 10 minutes just to touch a Droid.
This all reminds me of the old days of album sales. Remember, when albums sold, how fans of a big artist would gather at Tower Records at midnight the day the album went on sale? The albums would debut at number one that week, but completely drop off the charts within a couple weeks.
Wow! Did you just say "murdered" the Iphone? I love my Iphone; however, I also love great smartphones and give credit where credit is due. What makes the Iphone great is not only its ease of use but how everything just works. My wife has a Hero and though its a great phone, it still has issues with being responsive and easy to navigate. The Hero looks like a great phone on a really good network, but I doubt it will come close to being an Iphone killer. For me, Itunes is a wonderful way to purchase apps and music. With over 50k songs in my library, its easy to move songs back and forth from my Iphone. With a 100 apps that I enjoy it's very simple to add or delete them. How about playing my media? The Iphone is superior to all phones when it comes to a media player. Android has a way to go before it matches the Iphone in this category. Hopefully, the Droid is all that you say it is and doesn't end up like the Instinct and the Pre's.
i picked mine up first thing in the morning with no line.the store had taken names down for those who wanted one and had 20 when i first called.i got to the store and they had more coming cause they had over 50 names listed to pick one up.
i love the phone and and the couple bad reviews of the design and the keyboard i disagree with.i use the physical keyboard more it is the only phone i feel i might keep longer than 6 months.
Got one, and we love it. The wife is super happy with it, can't put it down. I think I've turned her into a geek. The only thing I think that could top us getting a Droid is when my Nokia N900 ships.
>>What's with the Mariah Carey comment? Totally unprofessional of the author.
The Examiner doesn't use professional writers. They use "examiners" who can be anyone. No expertise required.
I thought the Mariah Carey comment was funny actually =) Lighten up!
Anyhow, what was unprofessional was CNET's article that used the size of the lines at Verizon's stores as scientific data that the phone wasn't going to be a hit. Nobody is expecting the Apple fanaticism (which borders on scary) but that doesn't make this not a better device spec by spec comparison.
Yeah, I thought the Mariah comment was unnecessary. Mariah is probably one of the 5 biggest-selling recording artists in history of music...with more hit songs than any other solo artist living and dead. Which is probably why if her song or album doesn't hit #1...it's already a flop?
And I own a motorola q9h...I dont want to buy the Droid. they're good with simple basic phones, but they're just not that good with higher-level phone computing...but yes, their phones are durable.
Oh please Mariah Carey is a fat pig who deep discounts her songs so they can be hits.
I love my new Droid. I also think Mariah Carey is an old fat talentless cow,
Ha Ha. The author is a droid apologist.
Everybody and their mother knows that the droid was an epic fail. Verizon expected lines ... now they back track and say they didn't. They had signs for the lines all set up at the store near my place and... nobody showed up. Tsk Tsk... we'll know when motorola/verizon announces the numbers. The droid was DOA. I feel bad for all the Apple haterz .... no, the iphone isn't gonna fail. The only phone that will kill the iphone 3G is the iphone 4G. But 3 months from now ... we'll be like .."droid who? what ?".
My teenaged nephews haven't even heard of it until I showed it to them ... and the moment they saw it they exclaimed "its Fugly!!!". Ha Ha
The Mariah mention didn't even make sense...
If you meant to say that the Palm Pre is going to stick around and still be selling 20 years from now, then the "Mariah Carey of phones" comment would have been appropriate.
Ignorant...
I really have to say the quality of articles here continue to get weaker and weaker. I have always known that the examiner never used professional writers and that is what I enjoyed, but I have to say in the last few months I have read stuff that was a complete mess by being filled with errors, hatred (very unprofessional, writers who don't like something are able to say it without name calling or exaggerations) as well as the Examiner is allowing writers to write stuff that has no reliable source to it (Not this article in particular).......
did u mean to say mariah flop from her glitter movie. cuz she is far from a flop music wise. not a nice thing to say or compare her to
"While it is not as user friendly, the Droid is definitely more productive." Oh wow, sign me up. I will not be able to navigate as well or as easy, but that will equate to me being more productive.
Just left verizon wireless after playing with the droid......apple has absolutely nothing to fear from that phone
I have owned a Droid since Friday. Now...let's discuss the "bad" keyboard "News Sites" have reported on. All I can figure is that somewhere an Apple iPhone fan reviewed the Droid and purposefully trashed the (Gosh forbid) physical keyboard. Now every reviewer is copying the quote to save time...instead of trying the damn thing. It took all of 5 minutes to fall in love with it. First, the keys are well spaced...so typing accuracy is superb. Second, they have just the right amount of spring when pressed, unlike other keyboards. Third, the lack of beveled keys was a worry of mine, but it turns out to be better. It makes for quicker typing since you can slide your thumbs from key to key quicker. I didnt expect that. Last...the onscreen keyboard (if you prefer in some cases) is actually worlds better than iPhone. With this one, you can use fingernails and sharp objects, unlike the iPhone. As far as ease of use...it's closely mirrors Apple in every respect and at times improves.
Actually the lines DO mean something. But you have to look at who is in the lines. In the case of the Pre, it was mostly tech geeks, and most of them had the phone that first weekend. WIth the Droid and it's overtly male-centric commercials, most users will again by tech geeks and people that understand the "iDon't" commercials, such as people posting on this page. But most people don't (no pun intended) understand the meaning, and really don't care. The Droid will sell well to men and tomboy-ish women, but it will never sell like the iPhone, because even though some say it "murders" the iPhone, none of those people are your mother, sister, or wife.
People hate mariah cuz???? You low lifes , mariah ain't fat, people are starving themselves to look thin and you criticise mariah? You dirty sluts!!!!
Having read a lot of the "flop" articles I can with confidence say that they were written by iSheep and iApologists. It's a shame that people's personal prejudices are allowed to shine through in articles that are supposed to help the consumer.
Just left verizon wireless after playing with the droid......apple has absolutely nothing to fear from that phone
Andre and Mariah's other "lambs": this article is about a phone, not Mariah "Can't Sing" Carey. She's a has-been. Put her in the same category as the Monkees.
In terms of the Droid...yes, it's a great phone. But it's not as consumer friendly as the iPhone. It is better than the iPhone but it won't sell as well.
JC - the keyboard does take a little bit of getting used to. I wish the keys were raised a little bit more. Still, the more I use it, the more comfortable I feel with it.
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