Losing Steam

[sttngagt]

Hahahaha, I wish I had a storm 2. I'm still on the curve 8330 (so yeah, rev.0 3G, ugh). Desperately wanting a new phone. I played with the Charge and it seemed to really lag as compared to the Bolt, which has terrible battery life. It's gonna be a painful summer waiting for this phone to drop, being since I'm not a huge fan of any of the current LTE devices and I live in an LTE area. Verizon really needs to get its ducks in a row. The Revolution I guess will be binged, so no thanks on that device either. Looks like it's either the Bionic or a 3G droid for me being since only the 4 LTE devices are the ones coming out any time soon. Really wish Verizon still had the 1-yr contracts. Pretty ridiculous I may end up on a 3G phone for another 2 years when LTE is going to rule the network in the future.

 

[gorgalis]

It has been over a month since I purchased a new battery for my BB Storm 1 and the silence is deafening. I had been eagerly anticipating the HTC TBolt to replace my 2year+ old BB Storm (with the dead battery) only to be complete turned off by its battery issues and to a lesser extent it's widget bloat. So I turned my attention to the Droid Bionic only to be left alone at the alter at the Big Red store with the bride nowhere in sight.

I have been checking this forum almost daily, put myself on Google Alert for the Droid Bionic, and various other activities including traveling across the street from my office to the Big Red store on the Upper East Side of Manhattan searching for my next communication device. I have witnessed from my novice amount of technical knowledge releases of already outdated "new" Android devices. I am assuming this is the price you pay for a free and unfettered and completely open marketplace as opposed to the Apple universe where you have no diversity but slow and steady progress gauged to keep the marketplace satisfied and always wanting more.

All that being said, I am getting the impression that Motorola and the Droid universe in general, in spite of their obviously increasing share of the marketplace, are not seizing greater opportunities. Motorola specifically seems to be fumbling the ball and mind you I am old enough to call the Star Tac my most favorite cellular device ever.

Excuse me for venting my spleen, but I have found it somewhat helpful this morning. I will now go about my daily routine, checking occasionally to see what is new in the Android world. My approach is now somewhat different in that I will wait at least one month after the introduction of any device that might interest my fancy and with a spanking new battery in my trusty BB Storm 1 time is back on my side. In fact, i might wait for a Quad core device figuring that by then they will have all the kinks worked out of the system including not network outages and a battery that can last the day, that the Android Marketplace will be a better place to explore and that the competition between the device makers, the sputtering economy, a tad bit of inflation and currency devaluation might leave me in a better position to acquire said device,,, eventually down the road.

Thank you all for humoring me this morning, wishes for a great weekend and perhaps in the near future that for the moment perfect cellular device.

David

Buy a TB off of ebay. I too have a storm2 and have been waiting on the bionic. If you do your research and find the right auction, you can get a TB for $350. I plan on keeping it until the Bionic comes out, or maybe onces it drops in price, then I will resell the TB. I assume if I take care of it I should be able to sell it for 275 or 300, not much of a loss and I keep my upgrade.

 

[grn4frk]

I just realized today that the bionic was publicly announced almost HALF a year ago. I've been checking forums/sites everyday since January for info about this phone & it's release...I knew it had been a while but didn't realize that it has been that long. I'm now even more pissed off that we're getting specs on phones that are just starting to be designed and are six + months out, yet Moto/VZW won't even give us any information on a phone that we've all been waiting almost a half year for & hopefully will be released soon. C'mon...that's ridiculous.

 

[dbermanmd]

Great points, David, and well-written, too. Where's your blog?

I'm still using a FLIP PHONE and have been waiting impatiently to buy a smart phone. I'd still like to get into the 2000's before the 2010's are over, y'know? The Bionic seemed to be the right phone for taking the plunge, though the Droid Charge also has a lot going for it.

I *want* to buy a Motorola because I want the company that is profiting from my purchase to pay U.S. TAXES on their profit. I realize all of these companies are increasingly multi-national, but Motorola is still basically a US company and Samsung is still basically a Japanese company. And with the global economy in the toilet, I think a little nationalism has an element of self-preservation to it, too. Buy American when you can, I figure.

But Motorola has done an amazing job of screwing up the Bionic. A whole raft of Motorola executives -- from engineering to marketing -- should get canned for this.

So here's what I'm going to do: Next week -- assuming we don't see a flood of complaints about the Droid Charge -- I'm going to go ahead and give Samsung my $250 (at Costco) for one so I can lock in a two-year Verizon contract with unlimited data for an extra $30. I hope it's worth it, because my life has been just fine so far without any data use at all. I'm optimistic that the Charge will enable me to ditch my camera, mp3 player, GPS, flip phone, and possibly my ISP and router for my laptop and desktop computers at home.

And hopefully in two years Motorola will have figured out how to deliver a competitive product at a competitive price and in a timely manner.

If anyone can provide an argument for me to wait for the Bionic, please make it, 'cause it's getting more and more difficult to justify waiting for this mythical phone when the unlimited data plan is expected to end in a month or so (depending on who you talk to) and the Charge is already available.

Thanks much!

Thank you for the nice comment,,, I dont blog although my kid does at BermanPost.com.

It sounds as though you have a real plan worked out, i would like to know how its going now that the Charge is "plugged in" to the system.

I tend to agree with you on the buy American thing until the government started picking winners and losers. GM gets the first $42 Billion tax free? GE makes Billions in profits and pays NO tax! And they castigate Big Oil for what they make and they pays tens of Billions in taxes not to mention the the US government charges on average $0.47 in taxes PER gallon.... What the heck has happened to my country. So screw GM and Chrysler - hope they die and get buried deep. I like to buy Motorola and real American companies. Sorry, just touched a nerve. And heck, I feel real bad for the Japanese and will continue to support their efforts to rebuild.

No argument to be offered to defend corporate malfeasance. Buy the Charge, see how long that device keeps your interest ticking and take it from there. By then,, Motorola may have a new device ready for the Big Red network and maybe even a battery will be available that lasts the day. Then again, pigs may learn to fly and unemployment might be back to 5%

 

[dbermanmd]

Buy a TB off of ebay. I too have a storm2 and have been waiting on the bionic. If you do your research and find the right auction, you can get a TB for $350. I plan on keeping it until the Bionic comes out, or maybe onces it drops in price, then I will resell the TB. I assume if I take care of it I should be able to sell it for 275 or 300, not much of a loss and I keep my upgrade.

I cant ever imagine owning a device i need to keep tethered to an outlet, and they call it a mobile device Mobile means to me being mobile when i am mobile and the TBolt cannot keep up with my daily schedule.

Still holding onto my Storm 1 with its new battery that can actually last two days on one charge. Love it.

 

[grn4frk]

Thank you for the nice comment,,, I dont blog although my kid does at BermanPost.com.

It sounds as though you have a real plan worked out, i would like to know how its going now that the Charge is "plugged in" to the system.

I tend to agree with you on the buy American thing until the government started picking winners and losers. GM gets the first $42 Billion tax free? GE makes Billions in profits and pays NO tax! And they castigate Big Oil for what they make and they pays tens of Billions in taxes not to mention the the US government charges on average $0.47 in taxes PER gallon.... What the heck has happened to my country. So screw GM and Chrysler - hope they die and get buried deep. I like to buy Motorola and real American companies. Sorry, just touched a nerve. And heck, I feel real bad for the Japanese and will continue to support their efforts to rebuild.

No argument to be offered to defend corporate malfeasance. Buy the Charge, see how long that device keeps your interest ticking and take it from there. By then,, Motorola may have a new device ready for the Big Red network and maybe even a battery will be available that lasts the day. Then again, pigs may learn to fly and unemployment might be back to 5%

While I mostly agree with you, I would like to point out that GM got 42 billion free (stock) while Chrysler got less than 10 billion and is paying over 20% interest on it. So in that regard, I like Chrysler more than GM since we're actually making a profit off of them and they're paying us back with their own money versus the government selling stock in GM whenever the hell it's stock price actually goes up to $50+.

back to the phone tho...leak something out already :-\

 

[dbermanmd]

While I mostly agree with you, I would like to point out that GM got 42 billion free (stock) while Chrysler got less than 10 billion and is paying over 20% interest on it. So in that regard, I like Chrysler more than GM since we're actually making a profit off of them and they're paying us back with their own money versus the government selling stock in GM whenever the hell it's stock price actually goes up to $50+.

back to the phone tho...leak something out already :-\

either way,, complete waste of taxpayer money. both companies were going the way of the dodo bird before the meltdown. and they are still going to go there either in part or in the whole in spite of closing down numerous divisions and thousands of dealerships.

i would love to go back to the phone except there is NOTHING new Ain't that crazy. My daughter just got the Samsung Charge yesterday.

best wishes,,,, i am hanging out bro,,, driving my gas electric hybrid (Gen 3 Prius Model 5) and averaging 50.8 mpg over the first 35,000+ miles and ZERO unscheduled dealership stops..... Moving Forward

david

 

[dbermanmd]

So my eldest child, the one with the child of her own went out and got the Samsung Charge and after a few days returned it for another one for various reasons and issues. About one week later, this being about one week ago she exchanged it for the TBolt. One week into the flight of the TBolt she says to me,,, "Dad you are much better off waiting until they get this Droid thing right".

The biggest issue is the battery life - thank God there are no Droid pacemakers. There are other bothersome quirks too and all together they make her a very unsatisfied Big Red Droid customer. I think she in the end will return to her LG Envy.

Best wishes for a great Memorial Day weekend.

David

 

[mystiphi]

The EXACT reason I went with the Charge

Great points, David, and well-written, too. Where's your blog?

I'm still using a FLIP PHONE and have been waiting impatiently to buy a smart phone. I'd still like to get into the 2000's before the 2010's are over, y'know? The Bionic seemed to be the right phone for taking the plunge, though the Droid Charge also has a lot going for it.

I *want* to buy a Motorola because I want the company that is profiting from my purchase to pay U.S. TAXES on their profit. I realize all of these companies are increasingly multi-national, but Motorola is still basically a US company and Samsung is still basically a Japanese company. And with the global economy in the toilet, I think a little nationalism has an element of self-preservation to it, too. Buy American when you can, I figure.

But Motorola has done an amazing job of screwing up the Bionic. A whole raft of Motorola executives -- from engineering to marketing -- should get canned for this.

So here's what I'm going to do: Next week -- assuming we don't see a flood of complaints about the Droid Charge -- I'm going to go ahead and give Samsung my $250 (at Costco) for one so I can lock in a two-year Verizon contract with unlimited data for an extra $30. I hope it's worth it, because my life has been just fine so far without any data use at all. I'm optimistic that the Charge will enable me to ditch my camera, mp3 player, GPS, flip phone, and possibly my ISP and router for my laptop and desktop computers at home.

And hopefully in two years Motorola will have figured out how to deliver a competitive product at a competitive price and in a timely manner.

If anyone can provide an argument for me to wait for the Bionic, please make it, 'cause it's getting more and more difficult to justify waiting for this mythical phone when the unlimited data plan is expected to end in a month or so (depending on who you talk to) and the Charge is already available.

Thanks much!

I had a Blackberry Curve (8900) for just over two years on T-Mo. I had never experienced 3G speeds and had to rely on Wi-Fi for a reliable connection at home. I had been waiting for RIM to get their game together and bring a QNX-based OS (the Playbook runs it) version for phones to the table. Of course, RIM is quietly planning to euthanize itself in the smartphone market so I decided to take a look elsewhere.

My factors weren't that complex. The network had to be reliable. As in, no dropped calls once I'm 5 miles away from town or the freeway. The network also needed to be LTE-based. I never fell for the whole HSPA "4G" banana-in-the-tailpipe nor Wi-Max. That left me between AT&T and VZW. AT&T hasn't started rolling out their LTE plans yet. So that left me with Big Red.

I had been looking for a phone with a dual-core processor but that was only because I was thinking in terms of what would (potentially) save RIM. This wasn't a deal breaker, though. My initial plan was to wait until September (My T-Mo contract was up in April so I was a free agent...no CBA.) I saw the Thunderbolt out, the Charge coming soon, and the hyped Bionic coming in the 3rd quarter. Of course, everyone has heard all the horror stories about battery life on the T-Bolt. But honestly, even with my Curve, I kept a charger with me everywhere anyway. Any phone I get would be dead after 12 hours with no charging.

But here was the big thing for me. VZW will be coming out with tiered data plans at some unknown point this summer. IMO, if I were them, I would release them the day the Bionic drops. It only makes business sense. If everyone will come over to buy "the next big thing" anyway, why not hit them up with higher data rates. I've blown through 1.127 GB of data in the last 9 days so I would have to get the highest plan they have. The last thing I want to do is monitor my data usage. I remember when everyone used to plan out their phone convos to end at 0:59 because minutes were that precious. I can't imagine going back to that mentality and cutting off my data to stop my apps from receiving data or updates is just asinine. I'd rather take the hit now with a potentially outdated in 12 months phone than give any carrier X more $$$ than I have too. Lock me in at $30 and maintain the status quo with a much better (and faster) network.

Of course, this is an issue for people who already will be grandfathered into their current plan but it was enough for me to pull the trigger before the perfect device comes out 10 minutes too late.

Btw... I love this phone. And imagine that I was craving the BB Torch just 9 months ago. Boy, would I have been sick. Let's hope the same doesn't happen 9 more months from now.

 

[lament]

Motorola is still basically a US company and Samsung is still basically a Japanese company.

Samsung is Korean, not Japanese.

I hope it's worth it, because my life has been just fine so far without any data use at all.

Yeah my wife said the same thing (she went from a flip phone to a Droid Incredible 2. She's now on that thing 24/7.

I'm optimistic that the Charge will enable me to ditch my camera

for point and shoot, definitely

mp3 player

definitely.. I recommend Winamp.

GPS

yup.

flip phone, and possibly my ISP and router for my laptop and desktop computers at home.

If you're thinking of using your phone as a hotspot in place of your ISP, keep in mind you only get 2GB a month data transfer.

And hopefully in two years Motorola will have figured out how to deliver a competitive product at a competitive price and in a timely manner.

They did it 2 years ago with the phone I have now: the Motorola Droid, and the Droid X wasn't half bad.

If anyone can provide an argument for me to wait for the Bionic, please make it, 'cause it's getting more and more difficult to justify waiting for this mythical phone when the unlimited data plan is expected to end in a month or so (depending on who you talk to) and the Charge is already available.

Here's why I'm not getting the Charge and getting the Bionic (that is, unless VZW gets the Sensation, but I doubt it)

Motoblur > TouchWiz in my opinion
960x540 > 480 x 800 (assuming qHD on the Bionic as it previously was)
dual core > single core (the differences won't be apparent until optimizations to Android take advantage of dual core.. but to me it's silly to get last year's tech when dual core is here)

the Charge is ugly as hell to me as well.

The only thing the Charge has on the Bionic is the Super AMOLED Plus display.

 

[FluxTZ]

man are we the same person, I am running a Storm 1, and no longer make a complete day with a battery charge, and my favorite phone ever, Star Tac...

+1 for another one of us in the same boat. Just started to have some real alarming reset/battery issues with my Storm 1 and am worried it won't make it to the Bionic release now. If this Samsung Charge deal on Amazon goes down tomorrow I might have to pull the trigger...

Oh, and 100% agree that the StarTac has been by far my most favorite phone to date. Such an amazing piece of technology.

 

[pezboy]

I know my Storm 2 is not as bad as yalls storm 1's but I am getting really tired of the daily resets and freezing. I have been cooling my heels for a few months now waiting for a new phone and after doing all my research I settled on the CES bionic. Now with that being scrapped and playing off the rumor mill of the Targa taking its place I feel compelled to wait instead of jumping on anything thats out there right now. I am pretty much hanging in there with the rest of the storm owners LOL.

I am in the exact same (slow-moving) boat as you, trailblazen!