By Quick! Panic! You’ve only had your brand new Droid X or Droid 2 for a matter of weeks! Verizon can’t seriously already be thinking about phasing them out, can they? Well, yes and no. The good news is that the date pegged for a potential ‘end of life’ for the two new Motorola handsets is March 31st, 2011. That is eight months away. The bad news is that is eight months away, a full 16 months before the contract on your new Android smartphone most likely expires.
Now ‘end of life’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘end of support,’ and we expect (or at least hope) updates and the like will continue to be pushed past the March 31st date, but at this rate we can’t say for sure. Still, we doubt this latest revelation is much to get worried about. If anything it gives us a good idea of when the next batch of Moto Droid successors should be emerging.
But this does bring up an interesting point of discussion. The lifespan of a smartphone seems to be decreasing rapidly, and most carriers admit this by allowing penalty-free early upgrades for their major handset launches. It was the case with both the Droid 2 and Droid X on Verizon, as well as with early iPhone upgraders on AT&T. I sense the industry, which is already in the middle of a restructuring of data plans and pricing based on smartphone usage, might shift towards one-year contracts becoming the norm at some point. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking.
[via DroidLife]
Oh, this crap again. Didn’t we go through this same debacle a couple months back with the Incredible?
Edit: ‘End of life’ absolutely does not mean ‘end of support.’
It sure looks like they are expecting something big to happen in Q1 2011, with many of their phones (android and non-anroid) are scheduled for end of life on 3/31/11.
One year plans would mean higher handset prices because the subsidy would be amortized over only one year instead of two. They might offer it as an option, but it won’t become standard. More likely is that carriers will give you the option of early upgrades, keeping you locked into an ever renewing contract.
Maybe they expect to have the CDMA iphone in March and plan to devote all of their marketing energy to that?
God I wish they would drop contracts to 1 year. 2 years is way too long to have a smartphone these days. I want to be able to upgrade my phone at least every year, maybe even sooner. You almost have to in order to keep up with the technology.
I think it’s reasonable to assume if you buy a high-end phone on launch day that it will receive updates throughout the duration of the contract. Carriers and manufacturers need to get this figured out. There’s way too much anxiety about who is getting what update. You should know how long you should expect support when you buy the phone.
We in Canada have to sign up for a 3 year contract in order to receive a half decent subsidy. Count yourselves lucky.
That means were that much closer to front facing camera, 4g, 2Ghz super phones…
The real problem is our (yes me included) addiction to technology and having the latest greatest phone. There are plenty of people in my office rockin’ the old clam shell dumb phones who are just fine with what they have. The issue is there’s a group of technology junkies that must have the hottest gadget phone because, I don’t know it does a few more things than the last one did. At some point we should just chill out and wait till our perfectly working phone bites the dust, then worry about getting the next best thing. Instead these phones have become disposable. Just do what I do though, when the next hot phone comes out, sell your phone for the price of the new phone being offered on Craigslist to someone that broke their phone doesn’t have insurance and can’t afford full price to their carrier for a replacement then threaten your wireless provider that you will switch to the hottest phone at wireless provider “B” if they don’t give you the “new customer, or upgrade” cost for the phone (i.e. $199). I can’t remember the last time I actually paid for a phone!
@ Alex:
No 2.1 for the Motorola Dext in Europe, so it (mine…) is out of date already.
@ derrickISONLINE:
True, but one should reasonably *expect* a smartphone to be supported for the life of the contract; there’s a lot of really interesting and useful Android apps that can’t run on <2.1 at all, leaving people stiffed for what, a year or more?
Something Big = 4G deployment — who would be buying a 3G smartphone at that point if 4G was widely available…?
I’m hoping that is just a default date that the system gives it. By chance is that the end of their fiscal year? Or a data that changes quarters?
Kinda interesting that so many have that same EOL date and none are past it.
My guess is that date has more to do with VzW’s LTE deployment than anything else. You’ll notice the CDMA at the end there. By then VzW will be selling dual radio phones, CDMA and LTE. Just a guess though.
I suspect it was more to do with the rollout of the LTE network. Verizon is not going to keep stocking up on phones/devices that don’t (read can’t) take advantage of the increased speed.
I’m willing to go along with the notion that carriers will have to shift to one-year contract cycles, or WE need to stop sucking at the subsidized tit and pay more up front for devices so we are not enslaved to a carrier with an outdated, or non-supported device.
I’ll be buying one phone on contract and then a year later one off contrat. And then the cycle continues. There’s no possible way I could walk around with 2 year old tech.
allen:
Don’t get me wrong, I totally agree! That issue is why I urge people who are buying Android phones to go with a company that’s had a good track record of updating their Android OS.
I read this with interest particularly the lines
the lifespan of a smartphone seems to be decreasing rapidly, and most carriers admit this by allowing penalty-free early upgrades for their major handset launches.
might shift towards one-year contracts becoming the norm at some point.
Here in the UK we get neither a penalty free upgrade period, if we upgrade early (usually now 3 months prior to the end of contract) the 3 months are bolted onto the end of the existing contract. We started on 12 month contracts in the beginning of our country having mobile phones, now even though they are fastly coming “obsolete” quicker and quicker we now have 18 months and 24 contracts yet the phones we are having are being phased out off their stores and online at 6 to 9 months unless of course its an iPhone
“There’s no possible way I could walk around with 2 year old tech.”
Then you need to buy better tech.
You guys know you can buy the phones at full price and not be a slave to the contracts. Right?
One year contracts won’t happen. They want to keep us locked in. One year contracts would hurt business.
If they do stop updating the OS before the two years are up, then that’s also going to be bad for business. And will drive me to never buy another Android device.
The lifespan of these phones is being dictated by the latest phone releases. It seems like just about every 3 or so months since the Droid came out there has been some new hotness making it seem more and more obsolete: Nexus 1, Incredible, EVO 4G, X, D2… I think the Droid lasted as long as it did because there was no alternative with a physical keyboard.
A new batch of fancy pants phones will launch around Christmas which will make it impossible for Verizon to sell Xs and D2s anyway. By November the X will be offered as a 2 for 1 deal and by January it’ll be $50 on Wirefly. When it finally hits EOL in March everyone will be like “wait, they were still selling the Droid X?”
Also, @MVTom, you’re right about something big in Q1: the iPhone.
I don’t really think they are close to end of life on 03/31/11. If you look at the whole table none of does phones goes pass the Q1. And I don’t believe none of those phones will be carried in Q2. Dates will change when they get closer to end of the year, you will see.
Go with Sprint, you get 150 off an upgrade every 12 months when you are a premier customer (69.99 or higher plan).
It states droid x on android 2.1 os.
Does that mean they might sell more with the 2.2 os as the default in the future?
It says end of life for the original droid was 8/6. This means the original droid had a run of roughly 10 months. March gives the DX and D2 an 8 month run. That seems reasonable. Plus we already know that Verizon is launching LTE handsets around that time. So it stands to reason they will be launching new flagship phones around that time that, wait for it, support LTE. Why in the world would the keep selling the droid 2 and droid x when they don’t support the new wireless technology and they have new flag ship phones that do? This really shouldn’t be a shock to anyone.
What I want to know is how the heck the devour isn’t seeing EOL untli 3/1/11.
I have a 1 yr contract with Verizon. It’s possible I promise.
To me, all “end of life” means is that you get a better phone when making an insurance claim. (That said, I opted out of insurance for my DX, but I’m on a one-year contract.)
I wouldnt say they will have LTE out by then in devices but who knows and not everyone can fork over $500+ for a phone everytime a new one comes out
Where’s Chuck Schumer when you need him?
Verizon is getting iPhone in Q1 of 2011.. so why continue to produce / sell Droid X and Droid 2?
In the UK, 1 year contracts used to be the norm, now it’s 18 month or 24 month contracts to bag yourself a free phone! (I snaffled an unlocked Milestone on £25 a month for 24 months on Vodafone). However with the pace of development, phones are obsolete very quickly. It seems as if the smartphone sector is trying to recreate the AMD vs Intel “race to 1ghz”, but this time with ever more impressive high-end devices. At the current rate of development some smartphones could be worrying laptop manufacturers very soon!
@Mtvtom…yeah some people believe its coming…but then again its been coming for years….isure hope they wouldn’t push the Droid aside for a iphone….might make some Droid owners mad.
Who cares verizon is known to drop a new device almost every two months, so seeing the so called, “End-Life Dates” don’t mean anything. Its just giving us an exact date to what we already knew was going to happen.
I have always been a firm believer in 1 YEAR contracts anyways. It cost 20 to 60 dollars more sometimes for a 1 year Vs. a 2 year. But the rewards are better,, for instance with a 1 year contract you are able to upgrade every 10 months. Seriously who wants a 2 year old phone. Especially with so much Tech going into these CellPhones today.!!!!
Man I still have a bb curve with a craked screen. I was going to buy the droid x but I think I’m gona wait till the Q1 of 2011 to see if vz will get the iphone. Is the droid x 4g? And is there a way to have video chat on the x?? Thanks
I’m surprised more people don’t know this but with Verizon, on a two year contract, you can upgrade every year. You just have to register with “my verizon” and upgrade thru verizon’s website. You don’t get an upgrade discount but you pay the new two year contract price. I just came up on my 1 year anniversary (on a two year contract) and I just ordered the droid x for 199.99 (after instant online discount) less 10% using promo code webch10.
I agree with @geekabilly. I say “Droid X 4G and Droid 2 4G will be out.
Newsflash everyone… every current Verizon phone is likely near end of life. VZ is going LTE soon, which in layman’s terms means switching from CDMA to GSM. If they handle this right and give deep discounts to get a new phone that handles the new network, then this will be all good for us. Also another good reason to just hold on to what you have until the LTE switch is flipped.
@DigitalSifu
You sir would be correct (I assume). Albeit one point of contention; LTE is WAAAAAAAAAY better and different than GSM (which oddly enough stands for Garbage Signal on Mobiles).
Bottom line is that LTE is the next evolution of GSM/3GCDMA; you are correct in that LTE is backwards compat. with GSM, however LTE is much different from GSM in that it utilizes MIMO and OFDMA to say the least, not to mention vastly faster throughput speeds.
See http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/lte.htm for more info.
no there coming out with there LTE service do some research guys an if you dont know what lte is its verizons 4g an there 4g phone will all use sim cards
Microsoft also announced that the new phone 7 OS will launch Q1 2011 for Verizon
The reason none of the Verizon phones will last past 3/31/11
The reason none of the phones last past 3/31/11 is because 4g comes out 4/1/11. It isn’t because of the iphone because Verizon will want to have both Android & iOS because they are the 2 top smartphone operating systems with both they will be the best carrier.
The BIC disposable nation, throw away workers, phones, houses, banks, and nation, bye-bye.