droidStory

Google Nexus One All Done

sm — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:35:50 +0000

As previously posted, Google is discontinuing the Nexus One. Well, it only took a couple of days before the remaining stock was depleted. Incidentally, I just sold my N1 on eBay, since I have now moved on to the Motorola DroidX. The Nexus One was/is a great phone and surely helped pave the way for the rapid growth of Android.

First OTA Update for DroidX

sm — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:17:01 +0000

DroidX users got their first OTA update pushed to them this morning. If you have not gotten the update notification yet, you can easily check manually via:

Home Screen -> Settings -> About Phone -> System Upgrades

The changes seem all minor and frankly not very exciting (“cleaner looking status bar for GPS symbol”… seriously!) . I’m also not a big fan of Verizon pre-loading apps, which can quickly turn into a crap-ware nightmare of useless apps that are difficult or impossible to uninstall. Let’s hope Android 2.2 (Froyo) makes it quickly onto the DroidX. I’m already missing the application bulk/auto update function I had with Froyo on my N1.

Improvements:

Improved battery charging status indicator.
Smoother transition for camera and camcorder functions.
Redesign of weather widget icons.
Faster Exchange ActiveSync® email loading.
Streamlined organization of newly downloaded applications.
Organized favorite contacts by call count.
Updated Bluetooth® connection for enhanced video sharing experience.
Coordinated date and time across phone displays.
Cleaner looking status bar for GPS symbol.
Improved sync capabilities for 3G Mobile Hotspot.
Faster Visual Voice Mail loading.

Enhancements:

Take advantage of the enhanced, preloaded My Verizon application.
Preloaded Amazon Kindle® application lets you read Kindle books on your Android™ phone, including thousands of free books.

Droid Does Not Ship Until August

sm — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:31:25 +0000

Wow! Both high-end Droid’s, the Motorola DroidX and the HTC Droid Incredible are sold out at Verizon. What’s up with that? It seems odd that powerhouse Motorola can’t keep up with the sales demand, manufacturing enough units for the launch.

Is this just the latest marketing fad in showing off the popularity of a product by artificially limiting initial supply, or are component shortages truly to blame? Either way it looks like both phones are sold-out online and in stores.

Google Stops Selling Nexus One

sm — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:27:09 +0000

Google quietly announced that it will discontinue the direct sale of its Nexus One phone.

This week we received our last shipment of Nexus One phones. Once we sell these devices, the Nexus One will no longer be available online from Google. Customer support will still be available for current Nexus One customers. And Nexus One will continue to be sold by partners including Vodafone in Europe, KT in Korea, and possibly others based on local market conditions.

To ensure our developers have access to a phone with the latest Android OS, Google will be offering the Nexus One through a partner for sale to registered developers. Visit the Android Market Publisher site and log into your developer account to purchase a Nexus One.

This officially marks the end of the N1 experiment. There are many opinions why this experiment failed. Google has certainly learned a lot about the complexity of the US wireless market and retail operations in general. The N1 offered a glimpse at carrier independence, with unrestricted software access and real-time Android updates. The 3G reception problems and the resulting finger-pointing between HTC, T-Mobile and Google highlighted the inherent problems with this direct sales model.

I believe, that the US wireless market with its carrier specific 3G data frequencies and incompatible wireless network technologies is a key reason for the failure of the N1, and Google’s direct sales model. Why buy an expensive phone without contract subsidy, if you can’t switch wireless providers because the phone wont work on another carriers network?

DroidX Sold Out Online

sm — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:48:28 +0000

Although both Motorola and Verizon claimed to have plenty of stock on hand, it does not come as a big surprise that the DroidX already sold-out online. Shipments are expected to resume by July 7/23, which is still ahead of the next shipments of the Droid Incredible . If you want to get your hands on the DroidX now, your best bet is to call your local Verizon store or Best Buy to pick one up.

FYI: The $100 mail-in rebate is waived and instantly credited for qualifying “new-every-two” customers and some other customer loyalty criteria. It’s always good to ask. I managed to skip the tedious mail-in rebate.

The DroidX Has Landed

sm — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 04:09:28 +0000

The DroidX went on sale today. The Verizon online store listing went live around 2AM EDT, and I woke up to an email from Verizon telling me that the DroidX was ready.
Unfortunately it seemed their website was not quite ready for the onslaught of interested buyers, showing some serious overload problems between 7-9AM. I kept hitting refresh but no luck in getting through to the actual site.
Oh well, off I went to the nearest Verizon store. It was now a little after 9AM and the store was already filled with over 30 people waiting in line. There was a sign-up kiosk, but only the names of the next 15 or so customers were displayed on the overhead screens. I had no idea how many others were in front of me or how many phones the store actually had on hand. The store manager refused to provide any insight into how many phones they had received and if waiting in line would get me a phone today. I suddenly felt more like being at the DMV than a retail store. Verizon can certainly learn a bit from Apple and how they handle their retail launch events. Still, there sales staff was friendly and worked very fast. An hour later my number was up and I got my DroidX- YES! The sales rep told me that only 18 phones were left. Not everyone left waiting was going to get one today. I wonder when they were told…

My first impression. This phone is awesome indeed. Its giant screen makes my Nexus One look puny next to it.

Setup was a breeze using AppBrain to get all my current apps loaded. But the most notable and very pleasant surprise so far is the battery life, which was a big concern given the fast CPU and large screen. I had charged both the N1 and the DroidX to 100%, and 8 hours later the Nexus One is down to 29%, while the DroidX still has 50% charge remaining. This is amazing, given that I mostly used the DroidX today.

More to follow…

Get Ready for DroidX

sm — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:53:08 +0000

The much anticipated DroidX will be hitting Verizon stores this Thursday, July 15th. Many East Coast stores open early at 8AM, and some reports seem to indicate limited supply. Are you planning on getting your DroidX this Thursday, or are you playing it safe and rather wait a few weeks to see what others think about this latest Droid?

Verizon Launches DroidX Viral Marketing Campaign

sm — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:42:51 +0000

Over the last couple of weeks there were a number of hints that Verizon is working on an extensive marketing campaign for the DroidX release similar to the launch of the original Droid.

Of course there was the cool first DroidX TV commercial, followed by a DroidX YouTube video and now a Twitter based DroidX Scavenger Hunt is beginning today.

During the Promotion Period, there will be a Scavenger Hunt, where 21 Certificates for a free Droid Phone will be hidden across the country. Clues as to where the 21 Droid Certificates (“Certificates”) will be hidden will be tweeted on a regular basis from @DroidLanding. To view the tweets, visit http://www.twitter.com/droidlanding. Dates and times of Certificate placement will vary, but the final clue of each GPS location for each Certificate will be tweeted at the time it is hidden.

Verizon’s New DroidX Video – This Phone is Awesome!

sm — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:53:17 +0000

In case the specs of the upcoming Motorola DroidX haven’t convinced you yet… Verizon just launched this YouTube video, telling you: “This phone is awesome.”

Android 2.2 is Official for the Nexus One

sm — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:56:45 +0000

As it turns out FRF83 still wasn’t the final release build of Android 2.2 (Froyo). Google has now announced the official availability of Android 2.2 on the NexusOne blog.

Starting today, Nexus One users will begin to receive the Android 2.2 (codenamed Froyo) over-the-air software update on their phones. This update provides some great new features including support for making your handset a portable hotspot and support for Adobe Flash within the browser.

If you can’t wait for the OTA update, you can get the latest FRF85B build directly from Google FRF91 build directly from Google and use the upgrade instructions found in some of the previous posts.