haha. AT&T is really grasping at straws. They can be glad they have the mePhone, otherwise they'd be out of business.


http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/03/atandt-sues-verizon-over-theres-a-map-for-that-ads/

Quote :

"AT&T sues Verizon over 'there's a map for that' ads by Nilay Patel posted Nov 3rd 2009 at 4:00PM Whoa -- we just got word that AT&T is suing Verizon for false advertising over Big Red's "There's a map for that" ads. We're reading the complaint and motion to stop the ads right now, but here's what AT&T says is the big problem: In essence, we believe the ads mislead consumers into believing that AT&T doesn't offer ANY wireless service in the vast majority of the country. In fact, AT&T's wireless network blankets the US, reaching approximately 296M people. Additionally, our 3G service is available in over 9,600 cities and towns. Verizon's misleading advertising tactics appear to be a response to AT&T's strong leadership in smartphones. We have twice the number of smartphone customers... and we've beaten them two quarters in a row on net post-paid subscribers. We also had lower churn -- a sign that customers are quite happy with the service they receive. AT&T also says its network reaches about the same number of people as Verizon's, so we're thinking it's a little miffed that it's being portrayed as an also-ran here. We'll update as we learn more, keep it locked! Update: So this seems like a very narrow lawsuit, actually. As we've been told, AT&T thinks Verizon is trying to fool viewers into thinking that they can't use any AT&T phone services outside of 3G coverage areas by showing two essentially different maps. Since Verizon's entire network is 3G, the gaps in the red map are actual service gaps -- but Verizon doesn't show that the gaps on the AT&T map might be covered by AT&T's huge 2G network. We can see how that could be misleading, but at some point you've got to compare apples to apples, and AT&T even says it has "no quarrel with Verizon advertising its larger 3G network" in its complaint, so we'll see how the court reacts. Update 2: Interestingly, Verizon's already changed the ads once at AT&T's behest, editing them to remove the phrase "out of touch" and adding a "Voice and data services available outside of 3G areas" small print disclaimer at the end. Apparently that wasn't enough for AT&T, which says the ads still confuse non-technical viewers into thinking AT&T provides no service at all outside of its 3G coverage. Update 3: Okay, we've read everything -- there's really not much more to this suit than the arguments over the maps. We're thinking Verizon could have easily dealt with this by just using dark blue and light blue on the AT&T map to differentiate between 3G and 2G coverage, but at this point we don't think Ma Bell is all that interested in anything except getting these ads off the air. All that said, it's hard to deny that Verizon's ads made a perfectly valid point: using an iPhone on AT&T's network in New York or San Francisco is an exercise in frustration, regardless of whether you have 2G or 3G, and we've had zero problems on Verizon. Let's just hope AT&T is working as hard to fight these ads with its actual service as it is with its lawyers."

11/3/2009 6:42:56 PM

Quote :

"Since Verizon's entire network is 3G"

11/3/2009 10:32:29 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9fXYQjwR0w

ha.

11/3/2009 10:41:46 PM

what in tarnation!

11/3/2009 11:37:10 PM

haha. nice.

11/4/2009 7:12:34 AM

^^^ There was a comment on that video that said "should have said 'these are the droids you were looking for' "...would be hilarious if they wouldn't get sued

I'm very interested in seeing how this works...i'm on V and would love a smartphone

11/4/2009 8:25:30 AM

^ they wouldn't... they're using the Droid name under license from Lucasfilm. yes, really.

11/4/2009 8:44:55 AM

hahahaha

then yes, they absolutely should have a commercial with obi-wan and a stormtrooper

11/4/2009 10:04:35 AM

11/4/2009 4:59:59 PM

^ i'm thinking of picking it up for $99 w/agreement

http://gizmodo.com/5392138/htc-droid-eris-might-be-the-cheapest-android-phone-at-99

is it still supposed to come out on the 6th?

11/4/2009 5:05:00 PM

except it will be running andriod 1.6 vs. the droid (2.0)

my guess:
HTC Eris - $199-$100MIR = $99 w/ 2-year
Moto Droid - $299-$100MIR = $199 w/ 2-year

[Edited on November 4, 2009 at 5:15 PM. Reason : .]

11/4/2009 5:14:48 PM

^ that's not a guess since the prices have already been posted. And the Eris may get the Eclair update like the Sprint Hero when HTC gets SenseUI ported (could be 2010 before that happens).

as for whether or not exchange will cost extra, I guess it depends:

http://www.gearlog.com/2009/11/personal_droid_data_will_cost.php

Quote :

"Tuesday November 3, 2009 Personal Droid Data Will Cost $30, Even With Exchange Categories: Cell Phones & Smartphones Tags: Android, Motorola, Verizon Wireless Okay. There's a lot of confusion going on around the Internet about the Motorola Droid's service plans. Some people are saying that if you want to connect to a Microsoft Exchange account, data will cost $45 a month instead of $30. This is wrong. I checked with Verizon Wireless HQ and got the official response from spokeswoman Brenda Raney. First of all, the Droid uses the exact same data plans as every Windows Mobile phone on Verizon. There is no special Droid data plan. Second, whether you pay $30 or $45 doesn't depend on what you're doing with the phone. You can hit Exchange email on the $30 plan just fine. It depends on what kind of Verizon Wireless account you have. If you have a personal account or family plan, your data will cost $30/month. It doesn't matter if you're using Microsoft Exchange, Facebook, Gmail, or whatever - it's $30. This is the same for all Verizon Windows Mobile and Android phones. Data on business accounts - "corporate liable," multiple lines, purchased through business sales, usually mediated by an IT department - costs $45/month. Once again, this is the same for every Windows Mobile and Android phone. The same goes for AT&T's iPhones, by the way. Thousands if not millions of people access Microsoft Exchange email on personal, $30/month iPhone data plans, blissfully unaware that if they were a corporate-liable business account their data plan would cost $45. Once again, it's not down to the kind of e-mail you're accessing, it's down to whether you are classed as an "individual" or a "business" in the carrier's system. So where's the confusion been coming from? Carrier definitions of "business" and normal human definitions of "business" are different. For carriers, it doesn't matter if you're doing business. They only care if you are a business. Are you a rogue operator, a lone wolf, using a personal credit card to activate your single line of service? Then plow right ahead with your Exchange email on the $30 plan - with your Droid or your iPhone."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7eecaQ-wO8
lol @ "Verizon is known for it's testing". And the person running the camera doesn't know what the hell they're doing but the phone looks good. Looks like no lag other than transitioning between home screens

[Edited on November 4, 2009 at 6:02 PM. Reason : ]

11/4/2009 5:40:54 PM

Imagine what some of the android phones will look like in 2010 with 1GHz snapdragons and beyond. These phones are lighting fast.

Cyanogen needs to get his hand on the code for 2.0 so all of our rooted G1's can share in the glory... overclocked and still inferior to the droid still of course.

11/4/2009 7:39:41 PM

any of you fagboats started developing for this? I don't have time to read the whole thread right now.

11/4/2009 7:46:11 PM

one day

11/5/2009 10:01:20 AM

Quote :

"any of you fagboats started developing for this? I don't have time to read the whole thread right now."

i've been to a dev. conference and done some dabbling - i'm working closely with our dev. team that's developing a device agent to run on android right now as well

11/5/2009 10:14:56 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo6d82ptscA

11/5/2009 1:07:16 PM

Local Verizon Wireless store is opening at 6am, apparently. I don't know if I should laugh or be impressed at their seriousness of purpose.

11/5/2009 2:42:43 PM

droid is serious business son

11/5/2009 3:10:09 PM

best buy here has over 80 pre-orders already in for tomorrow on the droid

11/5/2009 7:16:30 PM

ha apparently some walmarts are already selling them.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/05/saygus-vphone-v1-hits-the-fcc-headed-for-verizon-next/

Quote :

"Remember the talk in early October about a third Verizon Android smartphone from a small company and certified through the carrier’s Open Development program? The HTC DROID Eris and Motorola DROID pushed that mystery device to the back of our minds, but an FCC filing has seemingly revealed the device as the Saygus VPhone V1, another sliding form-factor with a 3.5-inch 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, 624MHz Marvell PXA310 processor and a 5-megapixel autofocus camera. Other specs include 512MB of ROM and 256MB of RAM, a microSD slot, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS; there’s also an accelerometer and digital compass. An FM radio is a welcome addition, but we wish Saygus had found room for a proper 3.5mm headphone jack; still, the mini USB port can act as USB Host for peripherals, and there’s a front-facing camera for video calls."

[Edited on November 5, 2009 at 8:52 PM. Reason : ]

11/5/2009 8:33:36 PM

and best buy mobile stores

11/5/2009 8:47:54 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVcChLTv_y8

If the email is that slow, I'm sticking with the storm.

More Eris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cDLCEyoC3U

[Edited on November 5, 2009 at 9:08 PM. Reason : ]

11/5/2009 9:06:50 PM

right, because instant push e-mail is the only kind out there.

11/5/2009 9:13:48 PM

I despise waiting on emails and it's fucking gmail on a google phone. You'd think it'd be a little faster than that. Wonder if he goofed up a setting. And the Eris is looking better and better especially if they end up updating it from 1.5 to 2.0 like the Hero.

11/5/2009 9:27:45 PM

you should definitely stick with your blackberry

11/6/2009 12:02:42 AM

They are both great phones played with both of them today it would be hard to pick betwixt the two but I would probably say the moto after playing with both for over 3 hours.

11/6/2009 12:35:37 AM

most smartphones have settings where you can tell it how often to check for new emails. can we assume that guy isn't an idiot and doesn't just have his droid set to check every 10 minutes or something?

11/6/2009 3:31:09 AM

I believe it handles mail two different ways. If you set up your gmail account under the gmail app, it's pushed but if you set it up under the regular mail app with imap or pop, you set it to poll at minimum of 5min intervals. Exchange is also supposed to be push. The weird thing is that when he hit refresh on the Droid, the message popped up but showed 3:31 as the time it was received.

[Edited on November 6, 2009 at 7:23 AM. Reason : ]

11/6/2009 7:22:45 AM

Got one this morning. So far I'm enjoying learning how to use it.

11/6/2009 8:42:44 AM

http://phones.verizonwireless.com/motorola/droid/#/home

11/6/2009 9:30:36 AM

So i called Verizon this morning to try and see about getting a Droid, and they told me it would be $560 per phone, because I'm only 14 months into my 2-year contract, and not eligible for the upgrade pricing.

I even wanted to renew my contract for 2 more years.

You know what option they gave me? If i cancelled my plan, paid the Early Termination Fee, and then signed up as a new customer again, I could get the discount pricing, which would in the end be cheaper than the $560 a phone.

Fuck you verizon, guess im switching to AT&T, even with my fear over thier network issues. I want to get my wife and I either the droid or iPhone for christmas, and this just made it an easy decision.

11/6/2009 10:10:13 AM

^ on November 15th the early termination fee is going up to $350 to keep people from doing what you just described.

The wireless carriers have gotten themselves in a pickle selling these high end phones so cheap. They subsidize these phones way below cost in return for a two year service agreement. You want a new phone faster than two years, the cancellation fee is usually $200 or less, a new smart phone is usually fiver or six hundred at full retail.

So its cheaper to port your number out and get a new phone. I feel like the government is going to get involved if they raise the early termination fees over $200, but it looks like that is where we are headed.

11/6/2009 10:13:24 AM

How much do you pay for your plan per month. I believe if the base is over 59.99, you're eligible for a yearly upgrade at the 2yr contract price. Or you could try to call back in again and probably get someone else.

11/6/2009 10:18:52 AM

There should be an annual upgrade on the primary if you are more than 12 months in to your contract. That takes care of one phone, add another family share line to get the other and toss that phone in a drawer.

11/6/2009 10:23:09 AM

Wolfmarsh, I'm in the same boat. However, I went and talked to them, and they said if I waited a week, the managers would let me upgrade like that without paying the 90$. Stupid, but I guess it's what i'll have to do.

11/6/2009 10:48:46 AM

You play in their playground. That said, the Droid seems worth the hassle, now having used it off and on this morning.

11/6/2009 10:53:57 AM

welp, I'm impressed. The Droids are definitely the best phones on Verizon. I would've gotten both of them if they would've given me an instant rebate. Fuck mail-ins, I'll just order it online, get free overnight shipping and have it monday or tuesday.

11/6/2009 12:52:34 PM

I got to play with both of them this morning and I came away more impressed with the Eris than the Droid. That Sense UI is pretty nice. It's like a cross between Android and Web OS.

11/6/2009 1:01:07 PM

yeah, SenseUI is smooth and fast. The droid was lagging between the different homescreens. If they would upgrade the Eris to 2.0 like they're doing the Sprint Hero, it'd beat the droid to shit. The physical keyboard on that thing is useless and my thumbs cover 2-3 keys. Couldn't type worth a damn. If I bought it, I'd just use the on-screen keyboards.

11/6/2009 1:14:24 PM

^ i actually had a very different experience with the physical keyboard, and i find myself preferring it to the software one. i guess that comes from having used an iphone, where the horizontal dimension is slightly wider, leading to larger keys to press. i am mistyping a lot on the on-screen keyboard right now, and the physical one feels far roomier. about the home-screen lagginess, did they have a bunch of stuff running in the background? i've so far not experienced much laggy behavior at all.

11/6/2009 1:48:19 PM

Each one I tried had the slight lag between home screens on the droid. The notification drag down and app section went fast though and the shutter lag on the camera wasn't quite as bad as on the reviews.

11/6/2009 2:55:51 PM

^^^Well, HTC has said that they are going to update the Hero to 2.0 and according to tons of other rumors, the HTC Passion will be coming to VZW sometime within the next month running sense ui on top of android 2.0. So that means they either have it working or are pretty dang close, I bet they will patch the Eris soon.

11/7/2009 12:03:40 AM

Quote :

"So i called Verizon this morning to try and see about getting a Droid, and they told me it would be $560 per phone, because I'm only 14 months into my 2-year contract, and not eligible for the upgrade pricing. I even wanted to renew my contract for 2 more years. You know what option they gave me? If i cancelled my plan, paid the Early Termination Fee, and then signed up as a new customer again, I could get the discount pricing, which would in the end be cheaper than the $560 a phone. Fuck you verizon, guess im switching to AT&T, even with my fear over thier network issues. I want to get my wife and I either the droid or iPhone for christmas, and this just made it an easy decision."

Really? I mean you are 14 months into your contract durrr

11/7/2009 12:13:52 AM

seriously, you should know better if you're 1/2 way through your contract. this is why they sign you into 2-year agreements. i can't upgrade until March, but i SURE as hell ain't switching over to AT&T, that's retarded.

fuck verizon? you do realize that EVERY other network is going to tell you the same thing in the middle of a 2-year contract.

[Edited on November 7, 2009 at 12:58 AM. Reason : ,]

11/7/2009 12:57:22 AM

^ yes he is on a contract. and I can see that if he got a discounted phone previously, they would want him to wait the full two years for them to recoup the cost of the phone. But In my case, I brought my phone over to their network, signed the contract, and now want to upgrade and sign another two year contract. there is zero reason they shouldn't let me do that.

11/7/2009 11:39:03 AM

Quote :

"yeah, SenseUI is smooth and fast. The droid was lagging between the different homescreens. If they would upgrade the Eris to 2.0 like they're doing the Sprint Hero, it'd beat the droid to shit. The physical keyboard on that thing is useless and my thumbs cover 2-3 keys. Couldn't type worth a damn. If I bought it, I'd just use the on-screen keyboards."

im curious why people complain about the keyboard, but then compare it to the eris - which has no keyboard. why not just pretend the droid doesnt have a physical keyboard? problem solved.

that being said, i really do like the eris - i think the senseUI is actually pretty cool looking and functional - but i had to go with the Droid. Loving it so far

11/7/2009 1:44:12 PM

Picked up the droid so far its okay, dont see any killer thing over the pre or the iphone.. Might go for the pre its cheaper.

11/7/2009 3:03:40 PM

Posting this from my eris. It's taking a bit to get used to after having an iphone but I think I'm gonna like it. Sooo glad it has pinch zoom in the browser though. Does anybody know how to set up multiple gmail/gcal accounts on this thing though? I need both my personal gmail and my Google apps accounts for work.

11/7/2009 3:57:14 PM

^ does pinch / zoom work for google maps on the eris?

11/7/2009 4:28:29 PM