Thanks to Google's and Motorola's Droid, Verizon opens up

Verizon Wireless opened up to us.

Verizon Communications Inc. and Motorola Inc. proudly and excitedly showed off their new Droid smart phone in a meeting Wednesday afternoon.

First impression: The device is fast, powerful, fully featured and well-designed -- a combination of adjectives we've never used for a Verizon cellphone.

When was the last time a Verizon phone got this much hype? The BlackBerry Storm? Ouch.

Yet, one is coming on Nov. 6, and it has a good chance of living up to the hype. A phone with Google's fast-improving Android operating system, a 5-megapixel camera with a flash and digital zoom, a well-implemented touch screen and a slide-out keyboard.

Despite the Verizon check-mark logo branded on the device, the $200 Droid is all Google inside -- and a little Motorola. The handset manufacturer added some features on top of the Android 2.0 open-source system.

"That's really what open source is all about," said Paul Nicholson, Motorola's global marketing director. "You can layer on top of it."

For years, Verizon had this habit of stripping out good features and software from phones it carried in exchange for a clunky proprietary system. Motorola knows what we're talking about.

We won't miss the hideous red menus, the crippled Bluetooth functionality, or the Get It Now download service or Verizon App Store or whatever they're calling it now. This was a company that just months ago head-butted its way onto Verizon's BlackBerry devices with a separate app store to compete with the one that the phones already had.

Verizon spokesman Ken Muche said the company has no plans to make its own app store for Android -- another platform that already has one, called Market. Good idea.

The Droid's App Store does have a Verizon tab, which contains a Visual Voicemail app.

But all of those little Verizon injections added up to potential revenue in the past.

A lack of Bluetooth transfers on some phones meant you might have to pay a fee to move contacts between devices. Controlling apps meant Verizon could potentially profit from selling software as an intermediary. Keeping GPS software off phones meant a monthly fee could be charged for navigation service.

So much for that.

"If you want total customization, you can go this route," Muche said. Of course, if you'd rather have big red buttons, there's a phone for that.

Granted, Verizon had been loosening up recently with its lineup of dull (but no red menus) smart phones. With this phone, Verizon seems to be sincerely facing facts and stepping back from the software game. And there's another Verizon Droid phone on the way? Has Verizon been taken over by robots?

Wait a minute. Is Google taking over the world?

Muche and Nicholson laughed uncomfortably at the question. After a brief awkward silence, Nicholson chimed in, "You either join or you don't."

We'll have a full review in the coming weeks and a verdict on whether we're joining the rise of the machines.

-- Mark Milian

Photo credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Jack]

Droid only has 256mb for apps!!

Verizon may want to stop telling folks that this phone has 16GB of "onboard storage". Wrong! It has a 16GB SD card included with the phone.

It only has 512mb of onboard memory, of which only ~256mb can be used for apps!! Google Android does not allow apps to be loaded onto a SD card. This is Google’s (flawed) way of preventing pirating.

Verizon is falsely advertising this as “on board memory”. This presents two problems:
1) It kills any chances of the Droid running 3D games because they tend to be larger then 500mb. Tiger Woods golf on iPhone is 1.3GB! It also limits what developers can develop…because they have to make their apps so small.
2) This tidbit is not made knows to the general public so Droids will probably be returned in droves by customers saying “I thought I had 16GB on this thing. Why is it saying full when I download an app”.

In short, by doing this, Motorola and Google assured that Droid and Android Market could never compete with iPhone.

[Michael]

I am surprised that Verizon did this. The lock on their mobile market didn't require such exposure. I expect to see this rogue castrated at some point, starting with higher and higher 3G data fees.

[Rick]

I read that only a very small portion of the software installs in the onboard memory. The rest of the program goes on the SD card. Therefore, Droid can actually handle the large programs you claim it can't. How stupid do they think Google is?

[Adam]

@Jack: What you're suggesting might be true for 1.5 or earlier versions but has changed since 1.6. How do I know? I'm using it!

@ Michael: Google is giving out free GPS app with no service charges. So much for that.

[Gregory]

Jack is spreading misinformation.

While it is true that the apps have to be stored on the on board memory of the device, this is just for the interface of the proagram. I have the HTC G1 Android phone and their are several apps that store data needed to run the prgam on the SD card of the phone. If someone wants to make a large 3D game then the program itself is on phone, but the textures, sounds and other data can be stored on the SD card. Their are already several programs like this.

[Al]

I dont even care what the specs are on this phone - its so butt ugly. It's like having a car that has 400hp and can get 100mpg but looks like a Pontiac Aztec. Please tell me the picture is of a prototype ...

[Caden Canyon]

I'd love to know the carriers here in Canada (Rogers, Bell, Telus).

[Caden Canyon]

Jack's CLEARLY a sickening hypocritical Apple "fanboy". Did you know Apple Stores use a (((Microsoft))) platform for ringing sales through and keeping track of stock? Yep. Nuff said.

[Josue]

Remember you have to pay $15.00 a month for V-Cast to have full music experience, not the case with Iphone you just pay for your songs, or burn them to itunes.

[Jerry M Gartner]

TROLL WARNING!!! - Great information, but your ability to write needs a bit of polish. The immanent demise of print press does not spell the same for well written pieces.

[Bill]

Jack is spouting a load of fanboy nonsense. First, which is it "onboard storage" or "onboard memory?" They ain't synonymous. Second, my T-Mobile G1 has about 76 MB of onboard storage (i.e., ROM) dedicated to apps. I regularly have 90 or so apps installed at any given time. How many apps can you squeeze onto your precious iPhone, Jack? Third, Android has been out for just over a year and has advanced much further relative to where it started than the iPhone's OS has in its nearly 3 years of existence. The Droid and other devices in the current crop of Android hardware might not be iPhone killers yet. But give it time. Apple's closed, proprietary, and secretive way of doing things is a dinosaur. In time, if they don't change their ways, Stevo and company will be sitting around scratching their heads and wondering WTF happened like a bunch of buggywhip-making monkeys with their nut-clutching hands stuck in the jar in the wake of Henry Ford.

[Jordan Danks]

Verizon just needs to understand that they are a bunch of retards for shutting down their potential iphone gig back when it first came out..they will never recover. they charge too much for stupid apps and lets be honest, the best phone on the market right now is the iphone mainly because its WAY ahead of its time and no one can keep up. sorry verizon, even though i have time on my contract, it was the last agreement i will sign with you guys. who cares if you have the best network if your phones are awful. what CANT the iphone do? its just a pure stroke of genius and verizon was too cocky to host it. bummer.

[Darren]

@Caden Canyon, what's your point? Apple don't make enterprise software with that functionality so of course they'll use whatever software that is available that best suits their needs. It's not like they Apple are using Windows Movie Maker to produce their videos in preference to Final Cut.

[Chad]

OK I keep hearing this talk that you cant load apps on the mem card. I have been using smart phones and PDAs since they started and I have always been able to load apps onto the mem card. I have read all the reviews out there and not one have mentioned the mem problem. I dont think they are all being paid off. The mem card will act like a hard drive. You dont load programs onto the memory on you mother board do you? No you load them to a hard drive that is attached to the mother board. Why would you even possible think all three companies (Moto, Google, and Verizon) would make such a huge mistake? Untill some one who has there hands on it says your statements are true stop spreading your rumors. If you are an iphone fanboy just say so.

[jclark]

@Josue: It is not necessary to pay the $15/month fee for V-Cast for this phone to access music. You are spreading misinformation. I do not believe this phone uses V-Cast at all.

[Nitram]

@Josue - I'm afraid you are mistaken old boy. For $15 a month with verizon, you get UNLIMITED access to over 4 million songs on Rhapsody, downloadable to multiple separate devices and PCs. Between my two kids, my wife and I, each downloading AT LEAST two full LPs a month, we save about $90 a month compared to what we used to pay on itunes. Virtually all the songs we download through Rhapsody are latest releases, and we all know that 90% of music on LPs ends up never being listened to more than a couple of times. So while you are wasting a $1 on each itune (which you are forced to buy from the Apple monopoly store, cause you are an iPhone fashion victim), we can download THOUSANDS of songs and ignore those that are crap. You my friend are a sad, sad Apple fanboy with a huge hole in your pocket.

[Phil M]

Hi Jack!

Meet Android II apps on a 16 Gb sd card...

Careful now, this might just blow your mind ;)

Preparation:
1. Installed JF RC30 V1.2 (only if you are using JF RC30 1.2 , this is not compatible with RC8)
2. Make a NANDROID backup (you may get everything back to normal if the phone screw up)
3. A MICRO-SD card with 2 partitions divided : (1) a fat-32 partition, (2) a ext2, you need a linux/mac to format the sdcard with ext2 partition
* the fat 32 will be mounted as sdcard and the ext2 will be mounted as /sd for application data, make your own decision for the size*
4. insert the sdcard with 2 partition on the phone
5. set the phone to aeroplane mode for safe

Procedure:
1. adb pull /system/etc/mountd.conf /*somewhere you may want to back it up*
2. rm -f /system/etc/mountd.conf
3. using the modified mountd.conf, adb push /*the path of modified mount.conf */mount.conf /system/etc/mountd.conf
4. adb pull /system/init.rc /*somewhere you may want to back it up*
5. rm -f /system/init.rc
6. using the modified init.rc, adb push /*the path of modified init.rc*/init.rc /system/init.rc
7. reboot
8. busybox cp -a /data/app /sd/
9. rm -r /data/app
10. ln -s /sd/app /data/app
11. reboot

Now, the phone will install and run everyone on /sd, still mounting /sdcard as usual.

[Dave]

Whoever these people pushing the Android are completely hid the fact that Verizon has had some powerful and useful WINDOWS MOBILE phones for awhile now. Especially the Samsung Omnia which I've been using for a year that has a 5MP camera with flash, 8GB of INTERNAL storage for your apps in addition to the 256MB onboard memory. Plus I have a 16GB microSD card full of MP3s. Oh yeah, Bluetooth is fully open, GPS works great. I pay NOTHING extra to VZ but $30/mo for unlimited data and my minutes and I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. And I can write my own apps for my phone and completely customize it.
Windows Mobile phones never really got the credit they deserve, or the push from Microsoft that could've made them beat iPhones.
Yes, we all have our opinions of what is the coolest or best - I'm just saying in my experience the Samsung Omnia blows away most other phones but nobody really gave it the marketing push or chance it deserved.

[Thiagaa]

So called open source android - will it allow to run VOIP applications over 3G?

[Dave]

The true measure of this phone is the number of apple fanboys in a tizzy. It's a beautiful thing...

[Troy]

I was told that Verizon is testing a new billing method for data use. Higher rates for RIM Blackberry users starting in February!

[Dan]

Wow...really, all this technology in a device that used to be the size of a Commodore 64. Yeah, half you commentors don't even know what that is. Who cares about the look of the device Al. Does it get the job done? As you can tell by previous comments absolutely. In all reality, how does the phone really look any different then the I Phone? Ahh.....oh yeah the slide keyboard, which by the way is much easier to use then mashing a touchscreen with your nails. You techy folks may just want to sit and take this in perspective....the device is a phone. No matter what it does, every device like this still has the word "phone" in the title. Let's just look at it this way instead of getting all hyped up about the 8,000,000 applications you will never use.

[William Harper]

I have tried a variety of smart phones and umpc's in the past and have been unhappy with the experience. I'm an older man to start, with vision deficits that make these gadgets hard to read, but my major complaint is coverage. It seems Verizon and ATT work well from my home, but who needs it at home? Lake Tahoe, San Diego, seem to have poor or no extended data service. I'm not sure if any wireless gadget can overcome this. If the price were reasonable it might be worthwhile, but cellular providers charge hefty monthly fees, taxes, etc. for poor service.

[Sean]

@Josue None of the traditional Verizon "services" are available on the phone. There is no V-Cast there is no VZ Navigator. Droid is free of all that. As the article says, the only thing besides the voice and data plans that Verizon is charging for is the visual voicemail app (2.99/mo extra take it or leave it).

[GoGyrosWin]

Cannot wait until Motorola releases the Droid 2.0! That one will have style! Unlike this Texas Instrument Scientific Calculator design. Yuck!