By As if those crazy kids at BGR needed another leak under their faucet, they’ve just posted the first images of a Motorola Droid promotional mailer sent out to an undisclosed recipient. It continues the rhetoric begun by the initial ad/video along the Droid Does lines but drops the iDon’t attitude:
As the mailer says, “In a world of doesn’t Droid Does,” and in a land of today I want it to be November 6th.
There is also a commercial. I saw it tonight on ESPN while watching the Yanks/Angels game.
I gotta say, this is scary but I love it.
i actually really dont enjoy these ads. i think something a bit more luxurious looking would attract more people who are skeptical about the looks or even uneducated about the technology.
frankly i love the commercials. can’t wait for this phone to come out, so disappointed with the storm and i’m not a big fan of the iPhone (more like iDon’t). can’t wait to switch phones!
@yoaj: i can’t say i’m a big fan of these ads either but the way i see it (rose tinted glasses on) is that moto/vrz have been slowly leaking info on this phone for a long while, riling up the only people who know where/how to absorb said leaky goodness: geeks. we are a bunch of phone nerds and i think these ads are aimed us, or at least the generic stereotype of the phone nerd (robots! star wars trademarked name! badassery!) i’m sure as soon as the phone is out there doing its thing the ads will switch focus to anyone with disposable income. until then more cryptic robo-voices bashing the iphone ;P
While I agree that the phone itself isn’t going to win any beauty contests, the specs cannot be ignored. I’d gladly have this brick looking device in my pocket if it is as fast, and the screen is as beautiful as we’ve been hearing through these rumors.
I’ll give up beauty any day for superior function. This thing has “function” written all over it.
I don’t know if this thing will ever show up on my side of the pond, but I sure do hope so. I am a little worried about the pricing. The hardware is obviously superior to any number of high-end devices, so I’m a little worried about the potential to be priced out of reach (i.e. what I can rationalize as a good value).
Amazing the way they set it up, even if I didn’t have the internet to know my valuable android information and had verizon, I’d pick that up with the way they advertise it.
“In a world of doesn’t” Man, that line is too good, lol.
I’m pulling for Android but still worried about what bullcrap Verizon is going pull to screw this up – besides this awefull ad campaign. I mean really…who the heck is creative director on this campaign? Rob Zombie, Trent Reznor, Ozzy???
I wouldn’t put it past Verizon to pick and choose which apps can use their network and which apps can’t. Google recently rolled out the ability for developers to allow their apps on certain carriers and eliminate them from others…so did carriers get the same options? I’m betting they did. It’s known that T-Mobile doesn’t allow some Android apps on it’s network. Of course, you can side-load them from elsewhere. Verizon will have to SHOW the world they will embrace openness – not just say it. Their past actions have not shown any remnants of openness. I realize Boy Genius has reviewed this handset but it’s still not the final release.
If I were a betting man, I bet Verizon will roll out a more expensive plan required for an “open” smartphone. It will be exciting to see how they F up this entire thing!
I love Android but the approach that Verizon is taking with their ad campaign is troubling with sources reporting that most non-tech folks didn’t even know which phone Verizon was poking fun at. Widespread adoption = simple, quickly learned UI and phone functions. Android by itself is not simple enough for the non-technical masses to pick up and learn quickly. It’s a dream for the technical person who wants to customize until the cows come home – me for instance! But, that’s why Apple has succeeded so greatly. They’ve walked a very delicate line between technical overload and user friendliness. I’m hoping that Android can win the hearts of the masses (aka non-technical folks). But, I think it’s going to take a while – perhaps when they think about their dumbphone strategy. I see alot of Droids being returned because there are too many options for the normal user and it’s not as fun to use as – dare I say it – an iPhone.
Seriously, take the iPhone – which I hate – and sit it next to an Android handset with the normal Android UI. Which one is a person going to buy? That’s how basic product development should start. Motorola screwed up in 2 ways: 1) they’re not going to turn heads with a 1990s hardware design. It looks like they used leftover Razor parts! 2) They should’ve spent more time on Blur UI to go the route that HTC is going with Sense UI. Sense is beautiful, Blur is a cluttered social networking mess of a home screen.
Just for the record. I’m a huge Android fan/owner but as a tech marketing guy, I’m not seeing the right steps taken by Verizon to assure mass adoption. Verizon’s approach is targeting the “geek” folks. Those guys are already sold. They need to target the masses who don’t even know or care what an iPhone iDoes or iDoesn’t do.
@twrock
I agree, I too am getting a little worried about the pricing. Verizon, at least in the past, has had a tendancy to overprice phones, and still has THE most expensive data package on smartphones. If they can keep this thing at $199, I’ll be a happy camper.
I have a feeling they are going to charge $300 for this thing with a 2-year plan.. and that worries me.
I’m with you on the pricing worry. Verizon is plenty proud of their network and this might be an opportunity for them to actually raise their data plan to justify an “open” phone. They know people are going to be downloading and using data-heavy apps and I think they will hit them for a higher price.
They’ll have to prove that the phone is actually “open” also. That Boy Genius version was pre-release. Verizon could still lock down functionality before release. That would spell a true fail for them.
If you want pretty, I’m sure you can slap a fancy cover or sticker on it. I want a good phone.
@Eric
Considering my wife and I both want one, that’s worrying me a bit as well. I also need to drop about a grand on season passes to my mountain of choice for the season.
I may push my luck in hopes that my motorola stock will skyrocket, and the droid will pay for itself and then some. ;-)
Still, though, I may end up settling for the calgary because, despite my status as alpha tech in the house, my wife is deadset on her claim for the droid after seeing me with an iphone while her dumbphone contract has been running out for the last year.
Best line:
“It’s not your next phone.
It’s the one after that.”
Here’s a spreadsheet (I didn’t make it) of all the new Android phones coming out comparing them to the iPhone, Palm Pre, G1, and myTouch.
It’s very detailed, down to current data plans.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tIuLv6KThktwpCyNu5lbrWQ&gid=0
@Trent
The whole story of that Android is being only enjoyed by tech geeks is total not true. Lets look at Nokia phones, there UI is plain stupid and awkward yet people buy it.
Look at facebook UI, its crap and confusing even for a technical guy like me but girls/boys all over the world love it.
Yes apple did a great job in providing the best user experience with their iphone but it’s overrated especially when being compared to Android