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| What awaits at the main page for the Nexus One |
I completely blame Google for this failure (and I love me some Google). I was extremely excited for the Nexus One to come out (You can ask all my friends, it was pretty annoying) but I noticed right away that the way Google was handling it was all wrong. If I were Google, I would have waited until I was ready to supply a power house company like Verizon or AT&T before even beginning to think about releasing the phone. Let's be serious, Verizon's ad campaign for the Motorola Droid was one of the biggest factors in why the phone sold (and continues to sell) SO well. While Google may rule the internet ad realm when compared to Verizon or AT&T, the TV spots and special websites that Verizon sets up for its new phones (especially the Droids) target more audiences. I'm sure even T-Mobile would have been able to lend a hand and help the Nexus One sell more than 135,000 units (a little more than 1/10th the sales of the iPhone and Droid, each) in the first 75 days. As a result, both Verizon and Sprint cancelled the Nexus One and a couple months later here we are.
I'm not too sure what will happen with it but engadget reports that the best method of getting one at this point (if you still really want one) would be through Vodafone, in Europe, and KT, in South Korea (confirmed by a Google blog post). They also mention that it will be sold to registered developers through unspecified partners. Regardless, it lowers the number of phones running stock Android (Google's User Interface) to one, The Motorola Droid so I think we can start writing the eulogy for that as well, which isn't necessarily such a bad thing. While it is a good UI, what HTC and Motorola have added with their UIs (Sense and MotoBlur), is the aesthetics that the regular consumer likes. The stock Android UI looks and feels too techy to be honest but in the end whatever floats your boat is what you're gonna use.
In other Android related news, the new Motorola Droid X can now be rooted!
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| Photo Credit: engadget.com |
I am continually impressed with the speed that rooting is available on newly released devices (except for the Incredible which just got one button rooting 5 days ago) because it gives people a chance to get in touch with their developer side. I am probably going to end up rooting my Incredible within the next couple days but I'd also like to wait for the CyanogenMod6 Froyo for it to be available first.
Another piece of interesting news surrounding the Droid X is its users are using up to 5x the amount of data when compared to other smartphone owners on Verizon's network! Verizon seems pretty stoked about this, but it also might be a good reason as to why they will be implementing something like AT&T's tiered data package as opposed to their flat rate unlimited data plan.
I have to give credit to my buddy John for technically "breaking" this story before I could find it anywhere else. An AT&T representative had told him a few weeks ago that Verizon and other service providers would be changing their data plans to something along the lines of AT&T's new tiered plan. At first I was skeptical, mainly because I hadn't read anything regarding this anywhere, but now engadget has a lead regarding Verizon's potential change.
AT&T revised their data plan around the release of the iPhone 4 and that's a reasonable decision considering that since the iPhone's release data usage on AT&T has exploded, straining their bandwidth. Therefore, it makes sense if Verizon is doing the same before it begins to implement its new LTE network as well as the already huge increase in data usage by Droid X owners.
I can't say I'm happy about this but I hope that Verizon does what AT&T did and let those that already have the unlimited data plan to keep it and just implement the new tiered plan to new customers (Selfish, I know, but I love my data <3).
| The next iPhone carrier? |
Why T-Mobile (if this is even true)? Well for one T-Mobile, like AT&T, uses GSM which means the iPhone would have to undergo very little, if any, hardware changes. In fact, a good deal people already use unlocked iPhones on T-Mobile's network. Also, Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile's parent company) already offers the iPhone in Europe through T-Mobile and Orange.
But what of the exclusivity agreement? It was reported by USA Today that Apple and AT&T had a 5-year exclusivity agreement starting in 2007 which meant a 2012 end date. However, AT&T has recently made a move allowing anyone with a contract expiring this year to upgrade early to the iPhone 4. Maybe AT&T knows that its agreement is up and it wants to get as many people locked in before its too late. Who knows?
Verizon's name has been brought up so many times that I've basically grown immune to these rumors but it makes more sense than completely redesigning a phone to fit it onto another network. However, as mentioned 112 times (probably in this post alone) Verizon's new LTE network will be using SIM cards which could be promising for a Verizon/Apple relationship. All I know is that it would take nothing less than Catherine Zeta-Jones giving me the iPhone herself (among other things) before I would even contemplate switching to T-Mobile.
In more iPhone news (and I swear, I don't hate the iPhone, this is just what has been popping up these last couple weeks!) the iPhone 4 drops less than 1 call more per 100 calls as compared to the 3GS. Umm...what? Basically it still drops more calls than the 3GS but it's a fraction of an amount more. This is of course in response to the antenna issue that's been plaguing the iPhone 4 since its release, even though a simple case, now provided for FREE by Apple, fixes the issue...so stop complaining and let Steve get on with his life!
Also, there has apparently been something buggy about the proximity sensor with the iPhone which Apple has been concentrating on to fix. The proximity sensor has been having issues with facial recognition and as a result has been hanging up or muting calls when the phone touches the user's ear. Again, it's probably not everyone so don't bite my head off, but it is an issue Apple has acknowledged and they are working diligently to fix it.
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| (Credit: Screenshot by Kent German/CNET) Top Bar: updated iPhone 4 Bottom Bar: iPhone 4 without update Location: interior of shopping center Typical reception: Average |
Last but not least, iOS 4.0.1 was released recently to address the issue with incorrectly displaying signal bars and the folks at cnet.com kindly ran some tests to determine its effectiveness. The issue was that peopel were complaining about service in areas even though their phone showed full signal strength, or mostly full. Apple initially had contributed the issue with the "death grip" to this but later recognized this as a separate issue. Check out the link for the full results but overall the changes were seen in the middle ranges of service which is still an improvement so, thumbs up!
Woo! That was a long one =) Hopefully you enjoyed some, if not hopefully all, of it! See you soon and to tide you over until the next time how about a A-Rod getting a handful of Jeter's ass? (Go Sox).
Peace!
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