i have a hypothesis: droid owners NOT necesarrily getting the short end of the stick

[Slothead]

Short end of the stick for Droid users? Who has been saying that?

I agree.... ????

 

[BSmith]

The Droid isn't exactly light years ahead of the original Iphone. I'm not saying in 2 years the phones won't be a lot better but I'm not expecting a whole helluva lot. There is only so much you can really do on a phone sized device.

 

[JhankG]

I had to stop reading after the word 'boughten'...mainly because its not a word.

 

[Sarreq Teryx]

I think your predictions on specs a a little off on the low side, but anyway.<br />
<br />
what's more likely to keep any of this from happening, is the carriers. the carriers are too stubborn and greedy to upgrade their networks sufficiently to support the level of superphone we should CURRENTLY be at now. only now are any carriers folding out 4G/WiMax when it could have easily been out 2-3years ago.<br />
<br />
and then there's the issue of what they are charging us. if the carriers weren't so greedy, we could have easily had unlimited voice plans available 15 YEARS AGO.<br />
<br />
unlimited texting should have been a non-issue about the same time, instead we have (in the case of verizon) $5 for 250, $10 for 500, $15 for 1500 and $20 for 5000, with unlimited to only in-network phones. add to that we're limited to 160 character, text-only, non-concatenated messages (anything longer gets truncated) to out-of-network phones for some stupid reason (still talking about verizon), and you see how they feel about their customers.

 

[ilikefishes]

I think your predictions on specs a a little off on the low side, but anyway.<br />
<br />
what's more likely to keep any of this from happening, is the carriers. the carriers are too stubborn and greedy to upgrade their networks sufficiently to support the level of superphone we should CURRENTLY be at now. only now are any carriers folding out 4G/WiMax when it could have easily been out 2-3years ago.<br />
<br />
and then there's the issue of what they are charging us. if the carriers weren't so greedy, we could have easily had unlimited voice plans available 15 YEARS AGO.<br />
<br />
unlimited texting should have been a non-issue about the same time, instead we have (in the case of verizon) $5 for 250, $10 for 500, $15 for 1500 and $20 for 5000, with unlimited to only in-network phones. add to that we're limited to 160 character, text-only, non-concatenated messages (anything longer gets truncated) to out-of-network phones for some stupid reason (still talking about verizon), and you see how they feel about their customers.

Very true, let's all praise capitalism. Remember when you were first able to port your numbers. That was such a coup. Well Europe was doing that for years, and their phones work accross networks. So if you have an iphone, you can use it on any and all networks. All you are paying for is the service. This levels the playing field and encourages re-investment into their infrastructure. Here in the states they are putting that money into advertising. At some point we will all wake up or quit complaining about it.
When you look at the advantages that the Droid has over let's say the iphone, it is significant for a guy like me. I like being on the bleeding edge of technology. The reason is if I spend let's say $150.00 for the Droid and drop my iphone, which I did. I can now open, edit and forward an excel document and be done with the work while I am in the field. Then when I get home, I have time for family and my wife. This is worth at least the $150.00 in the first week alone. Add to that the ability to keep the phone on the cutting edge as opposed to the iphone, which the users are at the mercy of Apple. I have to agree with what someone said earlier, I love the fact that my Droid is the only one like it in the WORLD.

 

[ib2qwik2c]

i agree completely.

although better phones will start coming out left and right, i feel that the droid is good enough to keep me very happy until the contract runs out. im not really jealous of other phones since they all seem to be just prettier and neater forms of the droid.
its going to take alot of advancement for me to get jealous i think. i mean, the droid as is does so many things... most of which ill never use or try. the stuff i do use it does perfectly.

The only things i truly wish were better are:
-a much more powerful battery (5000mah or something)
-much faster network speed (4G+)
that's it!

 

[Hooblaim]

Just search "Augmented Reality Sixth Sense TED"

 

[natediddy1120]

We'll all be dead in 2012 so it doesn't really matter...

 

[astevens54]

I agree, I read earlier in the week about how smart phones are starting to impact utilization of the internet where traditionally a laptop would be used.

 

[souljerr]

Last time I bought something on the release day was the original XBox. I didn't regret it then, don't regret the Droid now. The technology gets better, but if you stand around waiting for "the next best thing" you'll miss out on it all together. The Droid is an awesome phone, and yes it will be replaced with something even better in the near future. But trying to stay on the bleeding edge will cost you an arm and a leg. For fanboys, I guess that's ok. For the rest of us that have families and other financial responsibilities, the occasional splurge to be on the edge should be savored.

Agreed. Got a launch XBox and Droid. It's impossible (for me) to keep up with the newest tech cuz my wife would kill me...

 

[Sarreq Teryx]

adding on to my previous rant, for the data plans, they say "unlimited", but then limit what you can do with it

 

[PolyOlefin]

OP:

I strongly disagree with the notion that smartphones will replace laptops.

Surely, future phones will have hardware specs that theoretically could do what a laptop can do. But not everyone wants to watch movies, browse the web, or for instance, edit images in Photoshop, on a 4" screen.

My mother is a great example. She scoffed at the opportunity to get a smartphone, her main reason being she can't imagine browsing the web on a phone with her poor eyesight.

Additionally, technology will progress for personal computers as well. Imagine PC gaming; future smartphones will never match the graphics capabilities of future laptops. And even if it did, would the gaming experience be the same?

A possible scenario I can imagine is where smartphones have amazing hardware specs, and one only needs to connect a wireless mouse, keyboard, headphones, and monitor goggles to simulate a better experience. Not only would this be extremely annoying to see people use in public, but it would be self-defeating to buy mobile hardware that can fit in your pocket if you have to lug a bag of accessories.

Far more practical to have a full-featured computer you can fit in a backpack.

 

[takeshi]

There are a lot of thing though that people are starting to do on their phones that they would have only done in PC's in the past. While a full featured computer that fits in your backback is "practical" it's yet another thing you'd have to carry around. Many people already carry a phone. Carrying one device (certainly for me at least) is always more practical than carrying several devices.

Google is counting on mobile data access being the next big thing. That's precisely why Android is getting pushed. This sort of transition has already happened elsewhere in the world. It's just now catching on in the US.