Who's betting that the Droid Ultra(and it's big and small brothers) will NOT sell well?

[taylorz_412]

I have a RAZR M VZW employee model right now and will be preordering my Ultra VZW employee model on the 25th. Stoked.

Sent from my XT907 using AC Forums mobile app

Lucky! If your feeling generous il send you my address put me down for one maxx

 

[Mark_Venture]

I'm betting the sell a little less than well... here is why...

First let me say, those who know me and go way back with me remember I'm a BIG moto fan, but will likely also realize my hands on experience since the VCC stopped sending devices has been limited to what I get for work, which while it isn't as diverse, its still a good sampling (at least from Apple, Samsung, Blackberry, and Nokia), and I haven't had time to be as in tune with every other possible hand set out there like back in the day. So a few of these things are just honest questions in my mind when comparing the on paper information from Moto....

How did the Droid Razr M, Droid Razr HD, and Droid Razr Maxx HD do sales wise against the Galaxy S3? I don't have sales figures, but my impression is the S3 sold more than the Motos because Moto is still in troubles and Samsung has had the biggest share of handsets sold in the Android space. I realize you can't compare over all S3 or S4 handset sales against these Verizon Only Motos, but it does give Samsung more mind share before the customer walks into a store. It is what makes me worried about Moto sales vs G S4, especially considering the S4's head start in the market, Samsung's buzz coming off the very very popular S3, and Samsung's advertising and marketing departments. Not to mention the price point of the Ultra $199.99 vs 16gig S4 $199.99 per Verizon's web site.

These specs from Moto come across "me too" but without MicroSD and without removable battery, and lower rez screens. The one area Moto has always excelled at, reception, is impossible to list on the spec sheet.

I'll admit if the device can make it through more than a day on a single charge, and the battery's useful life is at least 2 years (before it stops holding as much of a charge because of deterioration due to age), the removable battery becomes less important.

But with tiered data plans, having extra local storage for MP3's and such is a big advantage, or in this case, not having one is a big negative. 16gig storage for apps/games/music/pix/videos could be a problem. Just look at the "uproar" in the S4 forums about the lack of free storage space on the 16gig S4, at least Pix, Videos and MP3's could be stored on uSD in those phones, and now Samsung can include "Apps2SD" as a feature (even it it does't really help). So it makes me question how will the Droid Mini and Droid Ultra do with only 16gig and no uSD? example: 3min 40sec HD video of my son taken on my S4 is 400Meg. Install something like Asphalt 7 (takes over 1.2gig for app/data), drop a few MP3's on there, and the internal 16gig storage gets taken up fast.

The Droid Maxx will do better with its 32gig built in storage, and much bigger battery, especially since the 32gig S4 is not as easy to get (it appears to be online only), however it is at a higher price point, at right now.

Something else to consider... the name... the out going Moto's are the Droid Razr HD, Droid Maxx HD, and Droid M. the new, Droid Ultra, Droid Ultra Maxx, and Droid Mini. For the Ultra vs Razr, will the average consumer question the loss of "HD"? Will this impact their perception before they even walk through the store's door? Will this hurt sales? Or will they be educated/informed enough to understand its gone from the name only and not from the specs?

I think you know my thoughts on Moto's camera quality, and how they have exemplified "number of MP don't always mean quality"... Since I haven't seen reviews of their image sensors or cameras for these phones yet, I can only hope they equal what Samsung and HTC have, and to an extent Nokia and Blackberry despite they being different platforms.

Has moto announced screen type or sub pixel arrangement (stripe, pentile, etc)? I know their Ultra page says "AMOLED (RGB) HD 720p (720x1280) with Active Display" but their Maxx and Mini pages only say "HD 720p (720x1280 pixels)" How will these displays look on the shelf next to the S4 and its "Full HD 1920 x 1080 Super AMOLED"? Will customers be drawn to a better looking display on the S4?

I really wanted to see Moto come out with something that surpasses what is on the market, especially due to their track record for reception, and the S4 is not so good in that department, but these seem like they just "keep up" and in some cases are still a step or two behind.

I guess I don't have as much confidence in these devices selling as others might.

Then again, maybe Moto will get lucky with the Timing of bringing these devices to market. The "hype" around the S4 should be dying down, the HTC One is still MIA, the iPhone wont be announced for a little bit yet, so these Moto's will have the spot light for a while.

While I thought about one of these new Moto's being my next PERSONAL device, I will keep waiting. maybe my Bionic isn't so bad after all (ok, I still hate its screen and camera)