Posts Tagged ‘smartphone’
LG says its Android Optimus tablet will be better than the iPad
LG played the internet like a fiddle today when its VP of marketing, Chang Ma, told the Wall Street Journal that its upcoming Android Optimus tablet “will be better than the iPad.”
Clearly, this man is a marketing genius. What better way is there to get the word out about its device — which we initially caught word of in early July — than saying it’ll be better than a highly successful Apple product.
Surely none of the other hardware manufacturers preparing Android tablets — which at this point includes Asus, Acer, and Dell — actually think their devices stand a chance against the iPad. LG, through its complex oratory jiujitsu, has declared itself the next king of tablets — despite the fact that we know practically nothing about the Optimus tablet.
All we have to go on now are vague promises. “It’s going to be surprisingly productive,” Ma said. Users will be able to write documents, edit video, and it will have some “high-end features and new benefits” with a productivity bent.
He reiterated the sentiment of many iPad critics who deride the device as something primarily meant for content consumption, rather than productivity. But while I would agree that the iPad isn’t an ideal productivity device, nothing about LG’s Optimus tablet seems to be any more productive. iPad users can already create documents, and there are existing apps like ReelDirector for video editing (Apple will certainly release an iMovie app for the iPad as well).
There aren’t any hardware details for LG’s Optimus tablet yet, but you can expect a screen around 10 inches, and enough power under the hood to run Android 3.0 (to be released later this year). LG expects to launch the tablet worldwide by the fourth quarter.
In other news, the company is revamping its smartphone line in September with the release of the Android-powered Optimus One. The phone won’t be a hardware powerhouse, but LG expects it to be a “gateway smartphone” for new users. Eventually, the company will release more powerful Android devices. LG has plans to use Nvidia’s dual-core CPU in the fourth quarter, and it’s also gearing up for 4G phones running LTE technology in 2011.
Top image via Engadget, front page image via Rego Korosi
People: Chang Ma
BlackBerry Torch price cut in half at Amazon after Goldman Sachs deems launch “underwhelming”
Only a few days after the BlackBerry Torch’s August 12 launch, Amazon has slashed the phone’s price in half from $199.99 with a two-year contract, down to $99.99. The news comes after a report from Goldman Sachs today that called the Torch’s launch “underwhelming”, according to the Street Insider.
Goldman’s report noted that most of the stores it called didn’t sell out of the Torch and that most purchases were made by current BlackBerry customers. Meanwhile, it found that sales of popular new Android phones like the Droid X and Evo 4G remained strong.
AT&T is still listing the BlackBerry Torch for $199.99, but it’s available at Amazon and other sites for $99.99, reports PC World. It’s unclear if the price drop comes from the retailers or RIM itself, but I’ve dropped a line into RIM for clarification. The Torch is a big deal for the company because it features a slide-out keyboard — so BlackBerry fans can still type on physical keys — with a revamped touchscreen operating system in BlackBerry OS 6.
While we don’t know for certain why the price was dropped, it’s fair to assume that it was in response to the Goldman report. It’s not surprising that RIM might drop the Torch’s price — after all, it’s much less powerful than competing Android phones and the iPhone 4, all of which retail for the same $199.99 price tag — but it’s certainly a shock that we’re seeing a lower price so soon. If it was a RIM move, it screams of desperation, and it also highlights how unwise it was to position the Torch as a high-end smartphone when it definitely wasn’t.
In addition to its slow processor (it runs at 624-megahertz compared to current Android phones with 1-gigahertz speeds), the Torch also boasts a diminutive 3.2-inch display with a low 360 by 480 resolution. Its display is smaller than the iPhone 4’s 3.5-inch screen, and much lower than the 854 by 480 resolution that the Droid X and Droid 2 feature. The Torch was released the same day as the much more capable Droid 2 — which also sports a slide-out keyboard — so there was little reason for anyone, besides the BlackBerry-faithful, to anticipate it.
That the Torch was launched on AT&T certainly didn’t help its situation. Heavy mobile users on other carriers would need more than a slightly revamped BlackBerry to move over to AT&T — perhaps the most hated mobile carrier in the U.S. thanks to its iPhone reception woes. And users already on AT&T have the choice between the much more appealing iPhone 4, or the newly released Samsung Captivate — part of its Galaxy S line of Android phones.
It remains to be seen if dropping the Torch’s price will increase its sales significantly. The lower price will likely help somewhat, but it certainly won’t fix RIM’s bigger innovation problem. If this is the best the company could come up with to compete with the iPhone and Android (which ousted BlackBerry in the last quarter as the top-selling mobile platform, according to one firm’s estimates), then RIM is clearly in trouble.
Samsung’s Galaxy S Android phone for Sprint, the Epic 4G, lands August 31 for $250
Samsung’s plan to invade U.S. cellphone carriers with its Galaxy S line of Android phones continues with the release of the Epic 4G on Sprint. The carrier announced today that the phone will launch on Aug. 31 for $249.99 (after $150 instant and $100 mail-in rebates). It will begin taking reservations this Friday.
All of the Galaxy S phones share the same basic specifications — including a 1 gigahertz Hummingbird Samsung processor, a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, 5 megapixel camera, and Android 2.1 with Samsung’s TouchWiz skin — but each have their own hardware and software customizations for their specific carrier. In the Epic 4G’s case, it’s the only one with a slide-out physical keyboard, as well as a front-facing camera for video conferencing.
Befitting its name, it’s also the only Galaxy S device with support for 4G. Now Sprint users will have another Android phone to consider, in addition to the HTC Evo 4G, if they want a 4G device. To help avoid confusion, Sprint has put together a video comparing the two phones (see below).
In my testing of the “Fascinate” Galaxy S device, the Super AMOLED screen certainly lives up to Samsung’s hype. It was incredibly bright, and the company says it will perform better in sunlight than other OLED displays. It was also one of the fastest Android phones I’ve used — touchscreen interaction like swiping and pinching was fast and smooth, applications loaded quickly, and there was none of the sluggishness I’ve seen when testing the Evo 4G.
Companies: Google, Samsung, sprint
Motorola’s Droid 2 headed your way this Thursday
If you’ve been holding out for the full-fledged successor to Motorola’s immensely popular Droid Android smartphone, today is your lucky day. Motorola and Verizon officially announced today that the Droid 2 will be available in stores on Thursday, August 12, for $199 with a two-year contract. If you’re eager, you can pre-order the phone starting tomorrow.
There are no big surprises with the Droid 2. For months now, gadget sites have been reporting on its specifications — which include a 1-gigahertz processor (over the original Droid’s 600Mhz CPU), 512MB of RAM, a 5-megapixel camera (without high-definition video recording), and a 3.7-inch display. At first glance, you’d be hard pressed to find any major differences between the Droid 2 and its predecessor — save for its rounded edges, and redesigned keyboard.
Even though it’s not a major redesign of the Droid, the Droid 2 is powered up in all the right ways beneath the hood and should be competitive with newer Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S. It also remains one of the few Android smartphones with a physical keyboard.
The Droid 2 will come with Android 2.2 (an upgrade that hasn’t hit the original Droid yet), full Flash 10.1 support, mobile hotspot capabilities (for $20-a-month), Swype’s alternative keyboard, and support for media streaming through the DLNA protocol.
In keeping with the Droid’s Star Wars origins, Verizon also plans to make available online a special R2-D2 edition of the phone in September. It will include exclusive Star Wars content, and will feature the beloved R2-D2 prominently.
Google’s Eric Schmidt: 200,000 Android units now activated every day (video)
Google’s Android platform has gone from activating 100,000 units a day in May, to 200,000 daily units as of today, according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Schmidt was speaking to journalists (pictured above) at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA, and the technology blog TechCrunch managed to get some video of the chat (see below).
The activation growth shows impressive progress for Google’s mobile OS in the span of just a few months. Schmidt pointed to recent quarterly shipment numbers that showed Android phones outselling the iPhone in the last quarter as proof and said that he confirmed the number with Google’s own internal figures.
Schmidt listed the success of the Droid X as one of the driving forces behind Android’s continued popularity and mentioned that he was excited about Samsung’s Galaxy S phones, since they’ll be available on all carriers.
The news coincides with a recent report by research firm iSuppli, which predicts Android phones will beat out the iPhone in total market share by 2012. By that point, the firm believes, Android will be used in 75 million smartphones, while iPhones will only account for 62 million. “While Apple’s family of iPhone products continues to be the standard by which all other smart phones are measured, the proprietary nature of the iOS and Apple’s closed system business model will limit the number of smart phones with the operating system,” iSuppli’s Tina Teng writes.
Given the other recent report that Android has overtaken BlackBerry as the top-selling smartphone platform for the last quarter, iSuppli’s prediction doesn’t seem that far-fetched.
Check out Schmidt speaking to the press about Android’s success below:
People: Eric Schmidt
Android overtakes BlackBerry as top U.S. smartphone platform: NPD
For the first time since the end of 2007, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has lost its lead in U.S. smartphone sales. The culprit? Google’s Android mobile operating system, according to the latest report by the NPD Group research firm.
NPD’s data reveals that Android accounted for 33 percent of smartphone sales in the second quarter of 2010. RIM dropped to second place with 28 percent. Apple remained in third place with 22 percent.
We recently reported on data from the Nielsen Company which put Android in second place for the second quarter — but even there, Google’s platform was mere 5 percentage points behind RIM. The next Nielsen report will likely show Android overtaking Google in the third quarter. Also worth noting: The Canalys data from that previous report — which revealed that Android sales were up 886 percent worldwide — also showed Android overtaking RIM in the U.S. for the last quarter.
According to NPD, the most popular Android phones this quarter were the Motorola Droid, HTC Droid Incredible, and the HTC Evo 4G. That the Droid still maintains its lead despite being outmatched technically by newer devices shows the impact of Verizon’s $100 million marketing campaign. And of course, the fact that it can be had for much less than newer Android devices certainly helps.
And then there’s the name: Many ordinary consumers refer generically to Android smartphones as “Droids,” not making a distinction between the hardware maker and the software platform.
RIM’s loss was inevitable. It was originally king of the smartphones when they were favored by business users, but as smartphones approached mainstream popularity — first with the iPhone, and then with Android — RIM found itself unable to innovate.
Yesterday, the company announced its latest flagship device and software — the BlackBerry Torch with OS 6 — but even that was deemed too little, too late.
Android outsells iPhone (again), sales up 886% globally
In May, we reported that Google’s Android platform outsold Apple’s iPhone in the first quarter of 2010, based on a report by the research firm NPD Group. Now the Nielsen Company is reporting that Android has once again outsold the iPhone — this time, for the second quarter of the year.
And if that wasn’t enough good news for Google, it appears that worldwide Android sales have increased 886 percent since this time last year, according to the research group Canalys.
Nielsen’s data positions Android as the second best-selling mobile platform in the U.S. with 27 percent of new subscribers, compared to the iPhone’s 23 percent. Research in Motion’s BlackBerry platform remains at the top with 33 percent.
Android’s adoption among new subscribers has skyrocketed since the fourth quarter of 2009 (see the “6 month recent acquirers” chart below), when Verizon introduced the Motorola Droid with a massive $100 million marketing campaign. Android had a mere 6 percent of new subscribers then, but that number jumped to 17 percent in the first quarter of 2010 and now sits at 27 percent. Meanwhile, the iPhone’s new subscriber numbers have been in steady decline since fourth quarter ‘09 — going from 34 percent then, to 24 percent now.
The iPhone still leads in user loyalty though. 89 percent of iPhone owners say that they want to stick with the platform, while only 71 percent of Android owners want another phone with Google’s OS. Not surprisingly, BlackBerry users are the most disloyal — with 29 percent desiring an iPhone next, and 21 percent hankering for an Android device. RIM needs to step up its game soon with BlackBerry OS 6 and its new BlackBerry 9800 (both potentially being announced tomorrow) if it wants to retain its market lead.
Canalys’s numbers show that Android’s success isn’t just exclusive to the U.S. Nokia retained its top position with 38 percent of the global smartphone market, but its 41 percent growth over last year looks positively puny compared to Android’s 886 percent gain. Android, of course, had to start from having no market penetration over the past few years, so it’s much easier for it to show massive gains compared to more entrenched competitors like Nokia.
In our previous report based on NPD’s numbers, Android had claimed 28 percent of new subscribers in the first quarter of 2010, while Apple had 21 percent. Now that we have two reports of Android outselling the iPhone from different research groups, it’s safe to say that Google’s platform has successfully defeated Apple when it comes to new subscribers, and that it has a definite shot at toppling Apple’s total subscribers (and possibly even RIM’s) within a year or two.
Companies: Apple, Google, nokia, RIM