Is my DROID going to be obsolete by mid 2010?

[ofrhythm]

I'm wondering what's going to happen to the DROID after the new year? With all the hype of the Dragon/Nexus One, and the fact that Verizon is planning on updating the DROID to 'tether'--will Google still pay attention to the phone.

And as far as the tethering I am nervous that Verizon is going to create an update on the DROID specifically, that they can monitor if you're tethering with your device outside of there predetermined route?

Any ideas?

 

[Stormin]

Funny how everything has gone quiet concerning the Motorola Sholes Tablet.

 

[The_Chief]

All phones become obsolete pretty quickly, but as long as support is there, I see myself very happy until my NE2

 

[chr1sny]

Unfortunately, all gadgets eventually become outdated.

I won't start pining for a new phone until I see a snapdragon phone with a hard keyboard. Even then it may not bother me too much since my Droid's performance has been pretty snappy so far.

 

[sooper_droid12]

Technology usually renders things obsolete in 6 months time. Since Smartphones/AppPhones are a burgeoning market, expect that window to be smaller. So, to answer your question: yes and no.

Yes, the Google phone is an interesting proposition and its a huge risk that Google is willing to take to revolutionize the cellular industry. No voice plan?! What?! But yeah, a 100% data phone with voice over data! In that way, yeah, your phone is antiquated. I mean, who wants to pay for a voice plan AND a data plan? The future is all data.

No, voice plans will not go away. Until data coverage is near or approaches voice coverage, it is unlikely that it will viable outside of major coverage areas. Could you imagine trying to make a phone call where there's no data coverage? Sorry!

If you're talking about hardware: The specifications are basically identical. 3.7" screen, tightly packed pixels. The 1GHz Snapdragon and the DROID's 550MHz OMAP are virtually similar in performance, although OMAP has tested to be better at some things and Snap better at others. Different yet the same. So, again, not obsolete... yet.

The Snap going into the gPhone and HTC's flagship Android phone is the 1GHz processor using 65nm technology (old). However, they have a Snap 86xx that's clocking at 1.5GHz using 45nm technology (new) and that's not in any smartphones yet. That being said, OMAP has a whole line of faster clocking processors that haven't been implemented in AppPhones yet either. So, in due time...

Snap will advertise 1GHz phones in a month or two. Give it another 4-5 months before the next OMAP 1GHz phone comes out. And so on and so on... What you need to do is stop thinking you need the biggest, baddest tech on the market because you'll always be wanting more and more, spending more and more money on things that go obsolete, inevitably.

I find that people who do that are compensating for some sort of deficiency *cough* *cough* and need to prove to their friends they got something others don't (see iPhone fanboys).

 

[ofrhythm]

I do understand that technology is going to be obsolete soon after it's release. But I am trying to understand if Google is still going to be paying attention to the DROID since I was lead to believe that it is there flagged Android 2.0 device. Now since there's talk of the 2.1 by Q1 of next year, I'm wondering if the DROID will be able to update to it or not--without having to be rooted.

 

[sooper_droid12]

Verizon and Motorola are intent on updating the DROID to 2.1 when Google makes it official.

 

[emdmao]

As long as both the Droid and whatever phone google is going to announce have the same Android OS (2.1+) then I will stick with the Droid for Verizon and its physical keyboard. The performance is not going to be dramatically better (if at all really) and probably won't be on Verizon for a while. I can't deal with ATT or TMO.

Now if their new phone is going to jump the DROIDs Android version then I might have to take a look.

Somebody just please assure me DROID will continue to be upgraded

 

[sooper_droid12]

Verizon DROID and HTC DROID Eris Android 2.1 update January 22nd? - SlashGear

 

[droiiiiid]

If Droid sales continue to approach 1M and it stands as Motorola's (and Verizon's) flagship, I would expect the phone to be well-supported.

 

[tsaunders]

Verizon DROID and HTC DROID Eris Android 2.1 update January 22nd? - SlashGear

This is what I have been saying in other threads. I think the OTA for January will be OS 2.1

 

[sooper_droid12]

Maybe... I think that what I've read is still speculative. It's always "will update to 2.1 WHEN Google makes it official." So that last bit might be the rate limiting step. No doubt, there'll be an update in January. The December update was just part 1. Some more minor updates will be made in January. Will it be 2.1? The suggestion is likely because you can't update the Eris to 2.1 and not update the flagship. VZW has every intention to do both at the same time.

 

[Fabolous]

It'll be a while before the Droid is "obsolete". Just look at the G1, with its antiquated hardware still alive and kicking (and just about every other Android phone still using that old Qualcomm chipset).

People looking at the Gphone and seeing the shiny 1Ghz processor doesn't mean it'll make the Droid obsolete. In fact, in a clock to clock comparison, the OMAP in the Droid is much better than the Snapdragon. You're not going to see THAT much of an improvement over the Droid in terms of CPU performance in the Snapdragon, and it's already been discussed that the GPU in the Droid is superior to the one paired with the Snapdragon.

IMO, the biggest advantage the Nexus One/Passion/Bravo has over the Droid is the AMOLED screen, which will provide much better power consumption (not that the Droid's battery life is unacceptable to begin with).

 

[vincentp]

Of course it is, just like every other piece of technology you buy. What's the big deal? If you haven't learned to deal with the disappointment of obsolescence yet, you may not want to be buying neat new gadgets at all.

Also, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. There is no evidence that the Passion is an upgrade from the Droid. People think that the processor speed number means a better phone? I'm not going to go into detail here, but Sense UI is not something I look forward to at all, so I don't consider it an upgrade. The processor will be underclocked, and if it's not the battery life will suffer tremendously. Finally, that processor - in the real world - doesn't outperform the Droid's by much at all, and doesn't have a dedicated graphic unit. There's no physical keyboard, and a lot of people (myself included) don't like HTC hardware.

I don't know enough about the Nexus One yet to comment on that, but I can assure you that the Passion is (at this point) NOT a must have upgrade, or necessarily an upgrade at all.

 

[marcfogel]

This is what I have been saying in other threads. I think the OTA for January will be OS 2.1

A tech in the Verizon store said the next upgrade will happen January 11. Not sure of version

 

[sooper_droid12]

Finally, that processor - in the real world - doesn't outperform the Droid's by much at all, and doesn't have a dedicated graphic unit.

You had me agreeing with much of what you were saying up until this point. The comments that the Snap doesn't have a dedicated GPU is false. Both the Snap and the OMAP3x are SOC processors, which include dedicated GPUs. In the OMAP iteration, SGX is the GPU on-board, running at 110Mhz. For the Snapdragon, it's running an ATI Imageon GPU clocking in at 133MHz. Snaps got a DSP chip running at 600Mhz compared to OMAPs C64x+ running at 440MHz. Again, these are just clock speeds and the SGX GPU has been lauded as one of the best GPU for mobile platforms.

To put it in perspective, conceivably, Tegra's NVidia GPU is the most powerful mobile GPU out there (if only it were paired with a decent CPU). That GPU is about 80% faster than Snap's Imageon GPU and about 40% faster than the SGX chip. So, as we've seen in Nvidia's application, a great GPU is hamstrung by a mediocre CPU. What we'll see with the Snap is a GREAT CPU being hamstrung by a mediocre GPU. Somewhere in the middle of that spectrum is the application of a very good OMAP CPU with a very good SGX GPU. Now, if you had something like a Snap CPU mated to a Tegra GPU... whoa! Stand back!

But like I said, it's about integration: Right now, OMAP married to SGX is the best integrated SOC IMO for smart/app phones which is why you see it implemented so widely.

 

[FrayAdjacent]

'Obsolete' to me means that it would no longer be usable at all - like old analog cellular phones are obsolete now, because there is no network for them (at least in most places).

Your Droid will probably be usable for at least a couple if not three to five years until it no longer supports functions and features.

Now, will the Droid production be ceased in favor of a new model within a year or so? Could be. A 1 year production run isn't too bad for a piece of technology.

 

[MisterEff]

I think the tethering is just another app that will be in th VZW part of the marketplace

 

[milrtime83]

Another thing to consider is that the Droid has plain Android on it which Motorola (in theory anyway) could update soon after Google releases a new version. HTC on the other hand has to update Sense to work with new versions and as you can see with HTC phones currently out, can take a while.

 

[sooper_droid12]

Absolutely... each iteration of iPhone was released after 1 year and duly the fourth iteration will be here soon. It just seems like the same model because it's always called the iPhone, but also, Apple got a lot of mileage out of the same chassis which enabled them to build up the kind of following (both software and accessories). However, it's also long in the tooth. Android doesn't need to operate off that kind of model so each subsequent Android phone chassis is inconsequential to the overall success of the platform. What I hope is that Motorola doesn't try to stretch out the success of the DROID with further iterations that don't improve it, like the RAZR. Remember that debacle?

 

[oceanlight]

hardware-wise, droid will be obsolete pretty quick, just like any tech.

software-wise, the fact that the nexus one is coming out is good news for droid. it means google is committed to android (already very obvious, duh). and since both droid and nexus one run vanilla 2.0 android, if google pays attention to nexus one they automatically pay attention to droid. i suppose at some point the upgrades might outstrip the droid hardware and we'll be left behind. but i think by then we'll be close to buying another phone anyway.

no worries.

as far as tethering, you're already breaking tos anyway (i think).




"You Nexus, huh? I design your eyes."
.

 

[sooper_droid12]

Another thing to consider is that the Droid has plain Android on it which Motorola (in theory anyway) could update soon after Google releases a new version. HTC on the other hand has to update Sense to work with new versions and as you can see with HTC phones currently out, can take a while.

This is absolutely true. In fact, the delay has been due to marrying Sense with Android. I think ultimately Sense will have to be done away with on future Android phones. We get it: HTC didn't like WinMo so they tried to hide the native processes with their widget skin. I think ultimately though, their Sense UI just takes up too much memory for what its worth. After the novelty wears off, it doesn't add that much to the UX. I'd rather have a slick native UI, which 2.1 seems to have.

 

[budwizer]

I find it interesting that folks are talking about the Droid becoming obsolete or outdated so quickly. How many other phones are currently on the market with Android 2.0?

As others have noted if you worry about the latest and greatest you will never be happy. The real question is whether or not the phone will provide you the functionality you need and use on a daily basis in six months to one year from now. The answer to that, at least for me, is YES.

What is so compelling in the 2.1 update that, in the very unlikely situation that the Droid does not get it, make 2.0.1 Android obsolete?

Having said that, should another great phone come to Verizon prior to my renewal I would most likely be up in front of the line and be willing to pay full price