Is Android unstoppable?

Unwired ^ | 03 Aug 10 | Vlad Bobleanta

[SmokingJoe]

What the numbers say

Android’s market share grew by an amazing 886% in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the second quarter of 2009. And as exciting as that sounds, it was pretty much to be expected. Back in Q2 2009 Android had 2.8% of the smartphone market. You can only go up from such a measly number, basically.

This time last year, Android was on just over a million of the handsets sold. And almost all of those sales were made up by the HTC Dream/G1. Android 1.5 was released during that second quarter of 2009, but by the end of June only two devices were running the new OS version, the Samsung i7500 Galaxy and the HTC Magic. Arguably, neither Android 1.0 nor Android 1.5 were anything close to final, stable versions of the OS despite their numbering. It was only with 1.6 that came out in September last year, when the OS started to look good enough for mass adoption, and that’s when many new devices started to show up, and Android’s growth rate started surging.

Today, Android is only 0.9% away from RIM’s BlackBerry OS, and if the current trends continue, will overtake it in Q3. Which is not a small achievement by any standard. RIM’s OS was holding that second position since Windows Mobile started to go down a long, long time ago (in mobile device years, anyway).

We’ve clearly not seen the peak of the Android platform yet. How much it can still grow from this point on is anybody’s guess, but it has absolutely grown up this year. My guess is that it won’t peak in 2010.

[fremont_steve]

I’ve got a straight Droid - and it lasts two days of typical usage. If I turn on GPS - it’ll run for about 2-2.5 hours. That is the biggest draw apparently on my device.

So - yeah I would like to get 12 hours of GPS usage out of it, but then a charge cable for my car was only $10. Solves the problem.

[GOP_Raider]

If you struggled with the virtual keyboard, did you slide the phone open to reveal the physical/tactile keyboard? ;-p

LOL, strangely enough, that particular Droid didn't have a physical keyboard.

[fremont_steve]

Huh?? If it’s a REAL Droid from Motorola - it has a keyboard?

There is the Droid Eris which doesn’t...

To be honest, I got the Droid because of the keyboard and now don’t use it.

[ivoteright]

I am switching from a BlackBerry to a Droid this month, so I checked them out. The newest, most expensive version does not have a real keyboard, but the less expensive version does have a keyboard, which is important to people that text with their fingernails. :)

[RachelFaith]

I will give you MHO on the matter and I am sure other zealots will follow with their versions and then you can make a goodly informed decision.

There are really only two smart phone choices of the many. Apple’s iPhone or everyone else’s Android by Google.

Apple, the first modern such phone, had to find a partner to believe in the risk, and take the loss. These phones are worth $700 but sold for a fraction, because the phone carrier want’s the contract. ATT has Apple under exclusive contract until the end of the year.

Google, which just invented their Droid OS is much nearer and a copy cat, who all the other phone companies jumped on to emulate Apple’s success.

Thus you can get Droid on about any kind of phone with many different screen sizes and lots of different options.

That is both good and bad. Good in that it has far more choices and is totally open for anyone to make any kind of app.

Bad, in that it is totally insecure and multiple thousands of bad apps, spy-ware and viruses are out there just like for PC.

Apple is closed. You only get approved apps, and they limit things like no Porn and no Voice over IP, and tethering. You can “break” or “Hack” the iphone and make it do those things, but risk your warranty.

But, being a closed system, like Mac, there is no viruses, no spy-ware, no bad apps to worry about.

Droid also, having just the OS and any one can make a phone for it, means not all apps work the same. Some may be only for phones with a certain screen or features or buttons.

Apple’s iPhone and the iOS is made by Apple for Apple and thus all the millions of apps all work the same for everyone all the time.

Apple also has tens of thousands more apps than Droid.

Droid phones are typically made by the lowest cost vendor and are plastic. Screens have been known to break off, or the touch screens just stop working.

iPhone is made of metal and high tempered glass. There are videos of iphones being run over by 18 wheel semi trucks and still working when picked up.

All cell phones have issues when you hold them certain ways which can increase the risk of dropped calls. Apple seems to be worse at dropping calls. It may or may not be due to design issues or the ATT network. The debate continues.

The iPhone screen is nearly DOUBLE the pixels of the best Droid phones and as much as 4 times better than the cheap droid phones.

Droid does not yet sync with Outlook or your exchange server. You have to have a gmail and google calendar account to sync.

iPhone fully supports exchange, direct push mail and other features syncing with your network.

I am an iPhone user and a Mac enthusiast.

I hope this was helpful!

[mmichaels1970]

The second Android can sync with outlook canlendar and contacts, microsoft is gone.

It can. We have one that syncs with our exchange server. However, it appears to struggle if you have too much email.

Our droid was working fine when we had it set to sync and keep 2 weeks worth of email. When we set it to one month, the email headers started mismatching with the email body. In other words, an email would say it was from one person, but when you opened it, it would be from another. This has happened on two different units (exchanged the first one via warranty). The person we issued it to has thousands of emails. The moment we switched the phone over to retain one month of emails, the problem reoccurred.

[Gideon7]

1981: “Is IBM unstoppable?”
1988: “Is Lotus unstoppable?”
1996: “Is Microsoft unstoppable?”
2007: “Is Apple unstoppable?”

Nothing is. Things change.

[TommyDale]

That’s all fine and dandy, until you are somewhere without electricity.

[TommyDale]

That’s all fine and dandy, until you are somewhere without electricity.

[PUGACHEV]

"Android has some great features and applications. Unfortunately if you use those features and apps, your battery won’t last a single day."

You just carry an extra battery with you. They are about the size of a silver dollar, and cost $8 at amazon. You can get a Droid battery charger for about $10, and charge as many batteries as you'd like. I carry two of them around with me in the car. Changeable batteries is one of the features that makes Droid attractive, and is something that the iPhone lacks.

[TommyDale]

The point is, none of the current batteries last with GPS or Wi-Fi on

[TommyDale]

Carrying multiple batteries is not the ultimate solution. I just want a battery to last 24 hours.

[RachelFaith]

Yeah. I used to carry several batteries for my Jornada.

HATED THAT!

My iPhone will go all day with heavy use. THAT is convenient!

[hope]

Right. And I was just wondering what an extended life battery would look like on DroidX. I’m getting about 3.5 hours with internet usage...yes it sux, but right now I’m obsessed.

[SIDENET]

LOL.

[shotgun]

I was considered at work to be the Lotus 1-2-3 master. As I moved about working and trying to complete my education I would help others convert their Lotus data to Excel...

Hard to beat a black screen with neon green cell display and you always knew where you were in the spread sheet...

[fremont_steve]

I wouldn’t plan on using my Droid in a place where I don’t have electricity. I’d use a compass and the appropriate topo map for the area! Yes I’m actually trained to use the more primitive stuff to navigate around.

But if I’m driving - the droid is nice - and I have NavDroyd so don’t even need to be tethered to the network!

So your comment is sorta useless since we’re talking about useful battery life.

[SamAdams76]

If somebody from 1973 could be reading this thread, they would think they are reading a science fiction novel. All this talk of Androids, RIMs and Symbians. This crazy talk would scare the heck out of somebody from 1973, especially if they just got done listening to a mellow Jim Croce or Lobo album.

[antiRepublicrat]

This is impressive. One company with one carrier is doing this well against several companies across all carriers. compare:

The iPhone 4 sold:
    600,000 in first 24 hours of preorder (preorders then halted)
    1.7 million in first three days of sale

The highly-anticipated Motorola Droid X "iPhone killer":
    350,000 to date

The highly-anticipated HTC EVO 4G "iPhone killer":
    150,000 first weekend

Apple doesn't need to worry much.

[SmokingJoe]

This is impressive.

Yup.
Android's 886 Percent Year On Year sales increase is stunning and highly impressive. At this rate, Androids would have left the iPhones far, far behind by this time next year. Heck, even by Christmas this year, Android's will be far ahead of the iPhones in market share.

“One company with one carrier is doing this well against several companies across all carriers. compare”

That “one company” has plenty of carriers all over the world, including Korea and a gargantuan cell phone company China. These are worldwide figures. No “one carrier” here mate. Lots of carriers.