30th
Mobile madness
Whether your a fan of the iPhone, Blackberry or Andriod, one thing is certain - the competition in the mobile market is fantastic. The speed and quality of innovation is remarkable, and the consumer is the real winner with a plethora of solid options to chose from.
I strongly believe that the mobile device market is not a winner-take-all market. There are so many types of people with different mobile use-patterns. The more options we have, the better off we all are.
Personally, I’ve been seriously considering moving off the iPhone to the Droid. My good buddy @scratchiti recently purchased a Droid and he absolutely loves it. The open platform, native Google app integration (particularly threaded Gmail, a major absence from the iPhone), and the 5 mega-pixel camera/video camera make the Droid incredibly appealing.
However, there are still a few concerns holding me back - the awkward keyboard (although @scratchiti swears it took him ~one day to get completely comfortable on it), an app store that still doesn’t quite rival Apple’s, and outstanding software kinks (the camera just doesn’t seem to work right, challenges with handling multiple Gmail accounts, etc.).
I’m going to continue my holding pattern for the near-term and see how Droid sentiment evolves once the initial launch hype dies down and some critical software updates are released. Regardless of what I end up choosing, I am ecstatic to see great innovation and consumer choice in the mobile market.
bijan discusses his decision to return his Droid below:
I picked up the Droid the day it first came out and shared my initial thoughts.
I wanted to love it for a number of reasons. Open app model, Verizon network, promise of a great browser and integration with google apps (which I rely on more and more). In full disclosure, I’m personally friends with Andy Rubin & Rich MIner, the founders of Android that sold their company to Google — and I like using my friends products.
But last week, I decided to return the Droid.
With all due respect, I disagree with Stewart Alsop’s opinion that the Android software doesn’t work. In my experience the software is sweet as is and at the same time extremely promising. I was pleased with the apps and the integration with Google is great (one example, gmail on the Droid supports threading and archive. Gmail on the iPhone doesn’t have those things which are a big deal for me). The browser is solid.
But that Motorola hardware just didn’t do it for me. The battery cover kept falling off. I couldn’t get comfortable with the keyboard. The buttons don’t feel right and it was awkward to keep rotating the phone 90 degrees depending on the use case. The camera isn’t great (even well focused photos didn’t look nice). At the end of the day, I decided the Droid is too big and chunky for my taste.
I am bullish on Android and what’s coming next. I’m waiting for great hardware to match up with Android’s software.
I know that day is coming soon.
