Will smartphones be the new PC Xmas gifts?

[Cleo]

I remember when we had a surge of sales after the holidays due to people wanting to play with their new computers but now just about everyone has a computer.

I'm thinking that smartphones will be a popular gift this year replacing computers as a gift and we may see a surge in mobile porn sales.

Some interesting figures on the The smartphone wars over here.

[smutguy]

i want a droid for xmas

[Cleo]

Originally Posted by smutguy

i want a droid for xmas

Did you want one with a little person inside?

[smutguy]

Originally Posted by Cleo

Did you want one with a little person inside?

lol
this droid
http://phones.verizonwireless.com/motorola/droid/#/home
i hear its comparable to the iphone

[cd34]

confessions of a droid switcher

[Cleo]

I guess I'm lucky. 3G service where I live is fantastic. I've been with T-Mobile, Verizon, Nextell, Bellsouth, and Sprint and this is the first time my service has worked in my house and all the other places around town that I go.

Everyone has different needs from a smartphone. For me I want something that syncs with my laptop without any setup or hassle and without reading a manual.

The bad... The iPhone camera sucks although the one in the 3Gs is a bit better but still not great. Can't view pages that uses Flash. Doesn't run 3rd party apps in the background but really not that hasn't turned out to be that big of a deal.

Things that I thought would be an issue but didn't turn out to be an issue. Non removable battery. I bought a battery pack which is actually works out better. I've also surprisingly grown to prefer a virtual keyboard.

The integration with iTunes is what really does it for me. I've got 106 applications on my iPhone. It controls the lights in my house. SSHes into my servers. Controls my music system. Is the remote for my AppleTV. GPS with Google maps. Lets me view my security cams on my house when I'm away. Gives me live weather radar. Finds my car, entertains me and even makes phone calls.

It getting automatically backed up whenever it is charging has saved my ass a few times now and being able to find it using Google maps or remotely wiping it if it really is lost has also come in very handy.

But everyone should use whatever phone is best for them. The iPhone isn't for everyone. I'm just hoping that we see a surge in mobile porn after the holidays.

[MeatPounder]

I am so anxious to see the final droid phone from Dell in a few months with the 5" screen

[Cleo]

Originally Posted by MeatPounder

I am so anxious to see the final droid phone from Dell in a few months with the 5" screen

People are going to need much bigger pockets.

[ArtWilliams]

Perhaps in the U.S. but not in Canada. We only have 3 big cell phone companies so hardware and plans are expensive. It is almost impossible to find a unlimited data plan like you can get in the Land of the Free.

[smutguy]

Originally Posted by cd34

confessions of a droid switcher

thanks cd34 what an interesting read.. i think i want a droid even more now..LOL

personally i have been with Verizon for almost 10 years i never have had any problems with them its just nice to find a phone comparable to the iphone for us Verizon guys..

[Cleo]

Two things about the Droid that would be a deal killer for me.

Only 256k of memory for running applications. If you want to run more then that you first have to remove an application and then copy it from the memory card to the phone's 256k of memory or download it to the phone's 256k of memory. I have over a gig of apps on my iPhone and that isn't counting my apps data files.

You can't surf and talk at the same time. This was the limitation of the original iPhone and it really sucked.

[cd34]

As for the 256k, you mean 256mb. And that is the total storage for the six currently running apps. If I recall, their most intensive application takes 33mb of ram, though, that will be pushed eventually. Bejeweled is 11mb of running memory. There is a 'Heroes' adventure game that is supposed to be released that is going to take 96mb, but, there is talk that they will split it into a core and read the built in storage for maps/scenes.

Their GPS app was stated as only 1.1mb of application memory since it used so many API hooks and was mostly a webapp with a local windowing app.

As for not being able to talk and surf at the same time, that is a CDMA limitation on Verizon's network. UTMS 3G, used on TMobile and AT&T, do support dual voice/data. Verizon's new LTE deployment will support voice/data channels, but, will require new phones.

[Cleo]

Yeah I meant 256mb but stlll that is still really low. The path tracker GPS app that I bought yesterday uses over 250 megs of storage for it and its data.

[cd34]

The application itself uses xMB, the data can be pulled from storage as needed. I would suspect the actual running application is a fraction of the 256mb downloaded. But again, with the droid, it comes with the google turn by turn which can download a route and has spoken instructions. Google also has provided an API to allow other applications to customize that app and add features, so, even though the application has the capability to store routes on phone, the actual application is only using 1.1mb when running.

[Cleo]

The path tracker GPS isn't a turn by turn GPS app but something you use to keep track of bike rides or runs and then post the results to Facebook or something.
http://news.motionx.com/category/motionx-gps/

The Google driving app does look very nice but I'm guessing it needs a data connection for its maps. The TomTom app for the iPhone stores its maps on the phone so it works even when you are out of range of cell service or wifi. The downside is it takes up over 1 gig of storage but with iPhone's min of 8 gigs of memory it isn't that big of a deal.

Still I guess the Driod's 256 megs of memory is doable if the apps can store their data on its memory card since it isn't the actually programs that need a lot of space but it's the program plus its data. I checked and I run around 20 apps regularly in addition to a bunch more that I keep on my phone that I use sometimes.

Here is what I have on my iPhone. It's only around 2.5 megs of apps but they take up over a gig of memory with their needed data files.

[Cleo]

I started this thread top talk about what if any impact smartphones and Christams gifts would have but since it has turned into this smartphone is better than that smartphone...

Droid Doesn’t: It’s Not Ready For Prime Time

The Motorola Droid is truly terrible, in part because it has such promise (and has been amazingly well reviewed — I worry I’m missing something). Ironically, most of the blame for the cruddiness of the phone really should be laid at Google’s feet, not Motorola’s.

The hardware (which is Motorola’s) mostly works. The keyboard is horrible and I’ve never used it, which means that it is a real design flaw given how much weight and mechanical operation it adds to the device. (The software keyboard works well enough that I’ve found it adequate but the other problems with the software make it barely useable.) The camera button on my Droid doesn’t work and never has, so I call up the camera from the home screen. The on-off button is poorly placed for one-handed operation and requires real force to actuate. But this is just version 1.0 issues that Motorola will likely fix next time out.

The software (Google’s Android plus apps both from Google and from other developers) doesn’t work and is unacceptable on a mobile device. First, the operating system doesn’t work well enough to be considered a mobile OS. A mobile phone needs to have an OS that is really tied down and ready to perform at all times, like for receiving phone calls. This one isn’t. The process management in the OS stinks. Press on an app icon; maybe it will come up and maybe the phone will just not respond. Who’s to know why? Try pressing on the phone icon at 70 mph and have it not respond. Then try pressing again. And then get a message something like: “Activity Home (in process android.process.acore) is not responding.” Force Quit or Wait. Oops! I just drove into the guy in front of me when he slowed down and now I’m dead!

I’m not actually joking. The software is so bad that, for instance, when you open the phone app and click on search, there are multiple opportunities for the software to not respond or to respond incorrectly, which means that the phone is not useable unless you are starting intently at it and very, very patient about waiting for something to happen. If you want to search your contacts, you type the first letter and the phone will stop responding for 20-30 seconds. Don’t know why. If you keep typing ahead, you get no feedback about what you’re typing until the phone responds, and then you will likely have typed the wrong things so you have to start over again. It’s very, very unpleasant experience, particularly when you think that the search function must have been made by Google engineers, who have made billions of dollars with very fast, efficient, satisfying search on the web.

I have missed calls, lost calls, misdialed calls, pocket dialed people, and had many other experiences in the last month that have lead me to conclude that the Droid is not suited to its intended purpose as a smart phone.

I have been using my iPhone in parallel (but with a different phone number, of course) and I replaced my Blackberry Tour with the Droid. I can say definitively that the iPhone and Blackberry devices have never gotten in the way of making or receiving phone calls, but the Droid actually makes it harder to make phone calls than the other devices. The phone app crashes or suspends. The bluetooth fails to connect in my car. The camera often overtaxes the device and cannot process the images fast enough to actually capture what you have snapped in about a third of the photos. If you get the picture you want and then went to send it by email, the process of creating the email, finding the address of the person you want to send to, and actually sending the photo can take as much as 5 minutes, including the wait times the phone forces on you. In fact, the first photo I sent of my new grandson from the delivery room was only partially rendered. You can imagine how I feel about my Droid when it caused my very human desire to brag about my new grandson to fail.

I can go on and on, but after a month of using the phone (or trying really hard to use it) as my primary device, I have concluded that it’s a bad product and I have to get rid of it. It is plenty clear that Motorola was so desperate to get it on the market that it didn’t take time to test it properly and pushed or pulled Google into releasing crappy software on it.

I am open to suggestions for what device should replace my Motorola Droid, which has turned out to be a real piece of crud. I want a device on Verizon and already have an iPhone on AT&T. I’m not willing to wait for Motorola to fix the Droid or for Verizon to do a deal with Apple for a new iPhone. I have been thinking that maybe I should port my main phone number to my iPhone and just stop carrying two devices. What do you think I should do?

[cd34]

Will the Adult Industry Drive Android Adoption?

The Adult Entertainment industry drove the adoption of DVD and the streaming media technologies that everyone now enjoys and takes for granted on the Internet. Will pioneering in mobile porn also accelerate adoption of Google’s Android mobile OS?

[tickler]

Another little thumbs up on the future of the android along the same story CD posted

Android will be allowing porn apps.
http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/16615/1/

[Cleo]

Is there really a need for a smartphone to do more then surf porn sites or play porn movies? Does anyone run porn applications on their computers?

[ed_banger]

Originally Posted by Cleo

Is there really a need for a smartphone to do more then surf porn sites or play porn movies? Does anyone run porn applications on their computers?

A porn app would simply be a specialized interface to connect to a porn site.

It's still connecting over the internet, and rendering HTML within the app (depending on the app).

I could see a porn network being able to sell subscriptions, and include a free phone app with which its members may browse and stream their entire membership catalog.


Personally, I'd love to see a netflix app where I can stream from my netflix on demand account (just like I do to my xbox 360). A similar on-demand subscription porn app would sell well in my opinion.

[Cleo]

Isn't that what a web browser does already?

As far as Netfix goes any web browser that supports Sliverlight (not the iphone at this time) can watch their movies online.

[tickler]

Originally Posted by Cleo

Is there really a need for a smartphone to do more then surf porn sites or play porn movies? Does anyone run porn applications on their computers?

Rule 34

[cd34]

I think an application could be used to give a better experience similar to the way Google Gears or HTML5 works. Since the application could eliminate a lot of the back and forth for the interface, only the actual data or movie would need to be sent. I would suppose that most of the applications will just be authentication/sophisticated browsers with the interface's local content on the phone side to eliminate as much of the data transfer to the site as possible.

It is possible that selling the application might enable x fullsize image downloads. i.e. sell the application for $4.99 that allows them to surf 10000 pictures and get 100 full size images and 10 movies and the app then stops working.

It would be an interesting way to provide access to content.

[urb]

The moment I saw Mr Spock on Star Trek using a device to communicate with the Enterprise... I knew that one day people would have little hand held devices to communicate, evaluate the environment and to entertain themselves with.

I saw my first iPhone this week... (I've been avoiding technology in recent months) and I was blown away by it. But it's not on my Christmas list.

I went into a shop this week and saw a Sony electronic book, that flicks the pages when you press a button. But that's not on my Christmas list either.

I've decided that reality is not worth bothering with.... so this Christmas I'm getting a few classic paperback novels, and I'm gonna sit by the fire and read them all.

The 21st Century sucks, and since I can't go back to the 20th Century.......... wait... is there such a thing as a Time Travelling App?

[Cleo]

It seems people love the iPhone but hate AT&T.

AT&T ranks last in Consumer Reports mobile service survey. I know I wasn't too thrilled at having to go back to AT&T after having been AT&T free.