We love seeing hot new smartphones getting their price tags slashed mere weeks after its initial launch. The latest price reduction on the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid comes from Dell.com, making it possible to put a Droid in your pocket for just $119 and a 2-year contract with Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless. The deal also applies to contract extensions, so you don’t have to wait until you’re eligible for an upgrade to take advantage of the low price.
If you like high-tech smartphones and want an Android-powered handset, the Droid fits the bill perfectly. If you’re not sure that the Droid is for you, check out our hands-on impressions and video. Keep in mind that the Droid is so far the only Android smartphone to rock the new Google Maps Navigation app.
To recap: Dell is selling the Droid for $119 with new 2-year contract (or a contract extension for existing customers), and will even ship the handset to you for free via Fedex. That’s one “hot deal,” to be sure.
Ow, did anyone else feel like their wallet just got kicked in the crotch? At a Swedish press event, Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) revealed that their Android-powered X10 to be released in February will be costing 6,000 Swedish kroner (which works out to $US 860 at the current exchange rate). Even among high-end smartphones that’s pretty steep, and considering SE’s history with selling the xperia brand unlocked, odds are we won’t see X10 carrier-subsidized for awhile. We’ve seen the super-slick user interface built on top of Android, 8 megapixel camera, slim profile, 1 Ghz processor, and 4-inch display, but it is a very small niche that will shell out that kind of money for this device. Anyone out there unfazed by the pricetag?
Cash-strapped webOS hopefuls and deal seekers alike, take note: Amazon is offering Sprint (NYSE: S)’s Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pixi for just $25. The entry-level webOS smartphone hasn’t been on market for more than a week and we’re already seeing the handset hovering dangerously close to “free with contract” territory. As it stands, Amazon will sell you the Palm Pixi for $24.99 when you purchase it with a new 2-year wireless contract through Sprint.
Remember, though, the Palm Pixi’s entry-level price comes with compromises. The 2.6-inch capacitive touchscreen is smaller than the Palm Pre’s display. The 2-megapixel camera falls short of the Palm Pre’s 3-megapixel shooter. And, WiFi isn’t an option. Still, you get GPS, 3G data, 3.5mm headphone jack, and 8GB of onboard storage.
If that’s enough to get you to make the jump, here’s a link to Amazon’s $25 Palm Pixi.
Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) UK’s X10 launch page has spelled out their launch window in black and white: February is the month to hold out for. The most we got out of the announcement of SE’s impressive Android handset was an expected release in the first half of 2010, so it’s good to have that narrowed down a bit. The X10 promises to be the biggest, baddest Android handset out there – an 8 megapixel camera, 1 Ghz processor, and 4-inch WVGA display put it head and shoulders above the HTC Hero, and will give the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) droid a run for its money. Their custom Timescape user interface is exceptionally slick, all practicality aside. If you’re interested in a prerelease tour, check out this video.
The Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pixi is due to hit market on Sunday, November 15th. Following on the slider-style Palm Pre, the Palm Pixi will launch as Sprint (NYSE: S)’s second webOS-powered smartphone. It’ll feature the same touchscreen and gesture-support we first saw on the Palm Pre, but trades screen size for a slate-style QWERTY keyboard and does away with WiFi. Big Yellow will be asking $100 for the Pixi when purchased with new 2-year contract, but savvy webOS fans like you won’t have to pay full retail. LetsTalk.com is offering the Palm Pixi (with new contract) for just $30 on pre-order. If you’re willing to put up the money on pre-order and wait for the Pixi to ship to your door, this is one hot deal.
There’s a lot competition in the smartphone space right now. Android phones abound, and the iPhone is still going strong. webOS has yet to really hit it big in the US, but at just $30, the Palm Pixi makes a strong case for picking the webOS as your next smartphone platform of choice.
The Palm Pixi features a 2.6-inch capacitive touchscreen, 2-megapixel camera, GPS, 3G data, 3.5mm headphone jack, and 8GB of onboard storage. You don’t get WiFi, but as long as you’re within reach of Sprint’s network, you’ll get 3G data speeds. It’s a tradeoff that might be worth the discounted $30 entry fee.
There’s no denying the almost magical draw of the iPhone and the world of good it’s done for Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s bottom line. A new report from Gartner today backs up that notion with data that has the Apple iPhone accounting for 17.1% of global smartphone sales in Q3 2009. That figure puts Apple in the No. 3 spot, behind Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Research In Motion (BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM)), as far as global smartphone market share.
Apple shipped some 7 million iPhones in the third quarter of 2009. The continued success of smartphones like the iPhone is fueled by a disproportionate growth in the mobile phone market that has the smartphone segment growing 12.8% year-on-year while the overall mobile phone segment languished with just 0.1% year-over-year growth.
It’s clear that smartphones are here to stay and will soon become the “norm” in the mobile space. Can Apple sustain its third-place position in the face of hot new smartphones running the Android operating system? It’s going to be a tough battle, and we can’t wait to watch it all unfold.
The Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N900 inches closer to a retail launch today with Espoo’s announcement that they’ve started shipping their N900 to distributors and retailers. Nokia recently missed its initial October 2009 window for shipping the N900, so today’s announcement is great news for fans of the N900’s 3.5-inch touchscreen, powerful ARM Cortex-A8 processor, 5-megapixel Car Zeiss camera and Maemo 5 OS. Nokia says that the N900 will soon be available in retail stores with an estimated price-tag of €500 EUR. We had a chance to go hands-on with the N900, read up on our impressions here.
“The Nokia N900 has generated a lot of interest since its public launch in August, which has been reflected in the device preorders,” says Jose-Luis Martinez, Vice President, Nseries, Nokia. “What’s exciting is the Maemo software, which takes its cues from the desktop computer and offers a full browsing experience like no other handset. We believe the Nokia N900 will be a very compelling device for people who are passionate about technology.”
Nokia has officially announced that they’ll be launching a completely revamped Maemo 6 OS next year, which is expected to blow Maemo 5 out of the water, but won’t work with the N900. For some, that’s not going to stop them from picking up an N900 this year. Will you be picking up the N900 with Maemo 5?
The Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid isn’t just the first Android phone to run the latest Android 2.0 OS, it’s also the first Android phone to record video in DVD-quality 720×480 resolution. Putting clarity and video-quality arguments aside for a second, the Motorola Droid’s video camera is as high-res as you can expect in a smartphone today. Qik, the real-time video streaming service, has taken notice and will soon be releasing a new beta that will support high-resolution streaming from the Droid’s video camera.
Qik’s upcoming beta will make Qik the first video streaming service to support live streaming for the 720×480 resolution. According to MobileCrunch, the new Qik update will bring with it a UI refresh and enhanced “Speed Sharing Ribbon,” Qik’s speed-dial, of sorts.
Droid owners can get in on the Qik beta by shooting an email to droidbeta@qik.com
Here’s a sample Qik video taken with a Droid:
Here’s another Droid video sample, for comparison. Background: I recently forgot my SD card for my HD video camera and had to resort to recording video using the Droid.
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is reportedly doing well with their Motorola Droid. Despite reports from some bitter bloggers about not finding any lines outside their local Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless store on Droid launch-day, the latest word on the street has Motorola pushing some 100,000 Android-powered Motorola Droid phones into anxious customer hands over the weekend. The estimate comes from an analyst citing Verizon’s nationwide stock of 200,000 Motorola Droid, of which roughly half have already found new homes.
We haven’t heard a peep from Motorola as to just how well the Droid is selling, but Broadpoint AmTech analyst Mark McKechnie believes that Verizon Wireless had about 200,000 Droid phones on hand for the November 6 launch. “I see the first few days as encouraging,” McKechnie said. “There seems to be pretty good demand — they’ve taken the right steps and picked a good partner with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) on the Android side.”
The encouraging launch-weekend sales estimates could signal Motorola’s return to relevance in the mobile space. Motorola is expected to sell 1 million Android-powered smartphones this quarter, with 10 million units sold in 2010. Still, the numbers pale in comparison to conservative predictions that have Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) selling 8 million iPhones this quarter and about 28.5 million iPhones in 2010.
The Droid is obviously a good start for Motorola’s comeback, but the mobile phone maker has a lot of work to do in the long-term. It should be interesting to see how the Droid sells throughout the holiday shopping season, which has traditionally been a boon for iPhone-maker Apple.
We’ve already had a chance to play with the HTC Droid Eris from Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless, but there’s nothing like a retail package unboxing ceremony to really get up close and personal with a new handset. As the “ying” to the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid’s “yang,” the HTC Droid Eris offers Verizon customers a fully capable Android smartphone at half the price of Moto’s headlining Droid, and it deserves some of our undivided attention.
The HTC Droid Eris is a lot like the HTC Hero from Sprint. Just like the Hero, the Droid Eris packs a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, 5-megapixel auto-focusing camera, 3G data, WiFi, GPS and a microSD card slot. It also runs the Sense UI, HTC’s custom Android homescreen skin, which gives the Droid Eris a bunch of extra HTC widgets to play with – and it doesn’t hurt that Sense UI looks way prettier than the vanilla Android homescreen.
Surprisingly, the HTC Droid Eris isn’t much thinner than the Motorola Droid, which sports a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. That’s not to say that the Droid Eris is a brick, it actually sits really comfortably in the hand. Still, the Eris could stand to lose a couple millimeters around its waist.
The Droid Eris’s 5-megapixel camera is faster and less laggy than the Motorola Droid. It also supports touch-focusing, which gives it a another small but significant leg-up on the Droid. The 3.2-inch display is smaller than would be ideal, but it’s plenty big for day-to-day use. Above all, there’s no sliding mechanism on the Droid Eris, so build quality is top-notch – no jiggling or creaking here.
Unfortunately, the Eris runs Android 1.5 OS. The Motorola Droid features Android 2.0 OS, which has the Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps Navigation app pre-installed. Android 1.5 isn’t bad, especially with HTC’s Sense UI riding on top, but it’s no Android 2.0.
Anyway, acquaint yourself with the Droid Eris below!
Ow, did anyone else feel like their wallet just got kicked in the crotch? At a Swedish press event, Sony Ericsson (
Cash-strapped webOS hopefuls and deal seekers alike, take note: Amazon is offering Sprint (
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