All posts tagged verizon

Push update for Droid issues due early December

By | 11.16.2009 | Android Phones | Comments Off

From a leaked Verizon support document, it appears an update for several problems with the Verizon Droid phone will be pushed December 11th. The fixes appear to address a small number of issues that users are facing with Active Sync / Exchange, Text messaging, and the camera.

Having used the Droid for a little over a week, my personal experience is that stability of some platform components (if not the base OS) is somewhat questionable. I’ve experienced issues with multiple native applications (apps that shipped with the phone) that stop responding, some applications never opening to the same window twice, and even the unthinkable — having the entire phone / screen become completely unresponsive after hanging up a call forcing me to have to reboot (!) the phone. Of course, in the complex world of software development, you can’t fix what you can’t duplicate consistently and certain issues you can’t even identify, so what everyone is calling “quirks” that I and others experience will probably never be fixed. (To be honest, I’m quite amazed that functionality impaired by stability issues has gotten so little coverage in the blogosphere.)

Click the link below to see the leaked documents out of Verizon (apparently scooped by Phandroid as noted by the shameless watermark).

Droid sales analysis all over the map

By | 11.12.2009 | Android Phones | Comments Off

Here’s an article at Yahoo Tech that underscores the dizzying range of analysts’ opinions of Motorola Droid sales from the launch weekend. I mentioned here that you could find any opinion to support your personal view of success for sales depending on where you look. Apparently I’m not alone in that thinking.

Read the Yahoo article

That said, a Citibank analyst told Bloomberg that while the Droid’s estimated numbers pale compared to the iPhone’s, “anybody that was expecting [iPhone-like sales figures] had their expectations too high,” and I’m inclined to agree.

After all, while the Droid isn’t the first Android phone on the market, it’s still essentially a first-generation device in the eyes of many consumers (a sizable portion of whom still aren’t sure what an “Android” phone is).

Also, don’t forget that the iPhone 3GS’s first-weekend total includes sales from eight different countries, while the Droid was only available here in the States.

Verizon moves 100,000 Droid phones

By | 11.10.2009 | Android Phones | Comments Off

You’ll hear both elation and disappointment from a variety of sources over how many Droid phones were sold over the weekend. Those in the “half full” camp say that say that selling an estimated 100,000 phones in the span of a weekend is good news and that Motorola/Verizon/Google should have nothing to worry about going forward. Those with a more pessimistic outlook suggest that Motorola was hoping for stronger sales of their new flagship mobile device and sluggish sales may paint a more gloomy future for Motorola — hoping to bolster business with the new phone.

Seems the opinions vary wildly between bloggers and those with real money to invest. While it’s hard to judge success by the fickle tendencies of stock market investors, Motorola shares have taken a slight hit today dropping as much as 1.5% at midday trading.

Read more…

5 Things to consider before dishing Droid battery life

By | 11.09.2009 | Android Phones | Comments Off

An article at PCWorld provides some tips on how to maximize battery life and perhaps alter your charging habits for the new Verizon Droid released last week. The article goes over a common sense approach to why battery life “is what it is” on the Droid, but I’d like to punctuate a few of the points. It’s important that you temper what you read on the internet from people complaining about the need to recharge every 5 minutes (not the PCWorld article, but others) with a few considerations that seem to be conspicuously absent in a number of opinions.

Things to consider:
Read more…

Verizon shows no signs of letting up on AT&T

By | 11.09.2009 | Android Phones | Comments Off

Despite being hauled into court by AT&T for their effective advertising campaign, Verizon once again shows us how hard-nosed they can be in focusing customers on the difference between AT&T’s 3G network and their own. iPhone in the land of misfit toys? Ouch!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JgrBtn8XdU[/youtube]

Read more…

Verizon Droid tethering available Q1 2010?

By | 11.04.2009 | Android Phones | Comments Off

Gearlog.com is reporting that tethering for their upcoming Motorola Droid will be available sometime early next year. I’ve found a dozen posts around the innerwebs quoting the Gearlog scoop, but nothing substantiated from Verizon. Tethering has been the bane of 3G mobile carriers for as long as they’ve been providing the increased speed thanks to the enormous load it puts on their data networks. AT&T provided tethering to users of iPhones at one point, but quickly disabled the functionality as load went through the roof. Blackberry customers have enjoyed tethering for a number of years, but on a slower 2G network.

If you happen to know of an official position from Verizon on this, feel free to share it.

Yep, There’s A Lawsuit For That

By | 11.03.2009 | Android Phones, General Technology | Comments Off

AT&T filed suit in Federal District Court in Atlanta, Georgia — home to AT&T — late today in an effort to put the kibosh on some of the most effective Verizon TV ads they’ve run in a while. Apparently the “There’s a map for that” ads by Verizon used in concert with the November 6th launch of the Motorola Droid phone are not only hurting AT&T’s public image, but are causing irreparable harm.

To be honest, they have a point about the ads being a bit misleading. Whether or not it’s as serious as they claim is another story.

The “College” television advertisement starts the same way as the
“Bench” advertisement, promoting why customers can do various things on
Verizon’s network at “3G” speed and referencing Verizon’s “3G” coverage map.
47. The announcer’s voice then changes, and he says “and if you want to
know why some people have spotty “3G” coverage, there’s a map for that.”
48. The “3G” coverage map ofAT&T then appears on the screen showing
large swaths of white or blank spaces. The character in the commercial tries to use
his wireless device but shakes his head expressing disappointment.
49. As with the misleading “Bench” advertisement, by depicting AT&T’s
non-”3G” coverage as white or blank space in the map used in Verizon’s “College”
advertisement, and depicting an AT&T customer as being frustrated with his
wireless device, this advertisement misleads consumers into believing that
AT&T’s customers have no coverage whatsoever and thus cannot use their
wireless devices when they are outside ofAT&T’s depicted coverage area.

The full measure of damages that AT&T will continue to suffer from the publication of Verizon’s misleading claims is difficult if not impossible to calculate [snip] No amount of corrective advertising would undo the damage.

Download the Legal Complaint in PDF

One of the Verizon ads behind the controversy

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