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The pricing fiasco and my take on it

shadowdude777

Android Expert
Nov 8, 2009
1,842
122
Queens, New York
Okay, so I see that 75% of the posts here are just complaints about the $300 price tag. I just want to point something out.

Hello Humans: Droid By Motorola Arrives Next Week

The original Droid was also $300 the day you bought it. There was a $100 mail-in rebate that came with it, though. Who's to say that this phone doesn't also come with a $100 MIR? That would bring the price down to a much more reasonable and likely $200.

The only reason we say it's $300 is because that was leaked from Verizon's database. I know what I'm saying has absolutely no proof behind it, so you can bash it all you want, but I'm just saying, this is not the first time that Verizon has taken $300 from your wallet on launch day and then put $100 back in it shortly after.

Besides, what an unremarkable phone to use to introduce the $300 price point. At least the $250 price point was introduced by the Epic 4G, an awesome phone.
 
Did they publicly state that? Haven't bought a new phone since November 09 when the Droid came out, so I wouldn't know.

Verizon Ends Mail-in Rebates for High-End Smartphones

Then Sprint copied them:

Sprint Follows Verizon’s Lead, Ditches Mail-In Rebates for Instant Discounts

It was kind of a "meet in the middle" deal though. The Thunderbolt likely would've been priced at $300 before said $100 rebate, but my thoughts are that they just took a $50 instant discount. That way they charge a little more for the phone, but nobody has to worry about sending in rebates to get it cheaper than the $300 a high end phone would normally be. I think $250 was perfectly reasonable for the Thunderbolt. And did you notice that both the Thunderbolt and the iPhone 4 were released without any form of mail in rebate on Berizon's site?

Anyways, I don't expect mail in rebates on the Charge either, and I'm guessing it'll hit with a $250 price tag as well. They are still spec-pushers like any carrier. It won't make any sense spec-wise for them to sell ANOTHER 4"-ish screen size phone with LESS internal memory than the Thunderbolt, a SMALLER memory card, and the same megapixel camera and likely a SLOWER processor for MORE money. Excuse my shouting, but it they do end up charging more than the Thunderbolt for this, I will fall off my chair laughing at Berizon's ridiculousness.

Edit: According to this, I am going to be laughing my head off at Berizon ...

The DROID Charge by Samsung will be available for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.

From one of the announcement pages.
 
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Thanks for the link. That really sucks. I'm still willing to buy this if:

1) It's $250 or cheaper
or
2) It has dual-core

Maybe I'd even settle for a 1.2GHz Hummingbird, but I probably wouldn't, even though that's likely what we're looking at.

Well it isnt, its
1) $300
2) single core (like who really cares anyway)
 
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Well it isnt, its
1) $300
2) single core (like who really cares anyway)

I do, if this phone had a dual core exynos in it I'd seriously consider it, the internal memory and the RAM don't worry me, at 512MB you have more than enough for a phone, 768mb or 1gb in a phone is kind of pointless, not that I don't like the idea. The screen is what makes me really want this phone, though I'll hold out for a galaxy s2 verizon phone or something else at this point.
 
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I do, if this phone had a dual core exynos in it I'd seriously consider it, the internal memory and the RAM don't worry me, at 512MB you have more than enough for a phone, 768mb or 1gb in a phone is kind of pointless, not that I don't like the idea. The screen is what makes me really want this phone, though I'll hold out for a galaxy s2 verizon phone or something else at this point.

Confirmed to have a single core processor from last year. This would be such a solid contender even with a mere 1.2GHz upgraded single core hummingbird, the likes of which AT&T is getting in Samsung's new large 4.5" phone. All that improved multimedia capability and no CPU upgrade to match it. What a shame.
 
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To put a new spin on it: Might be that Berizon is charging extra for these LTE phones as they are the only carrier offering the unlimited 29.95 4G data plan. Just my .02 I am thinking if they go to a tiered pricing plan then you will see these phones drop back to the 199 price range.

I personally am holding out for either the EVO 3D of the SG2. It wouldn't make any sense for me to upgrade at this point when my fascinate has pretty much the same hardware as the charge, -LTE which probably won't be in my area till the end of the year. Besides the new community rom 1.2 makes this like a new phone in alot of ways.
 
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To put a new spin on it: Might be that Berizon is charging extra for these LTE phones as they are the only carrier offering the unlimited 29.95 4G data plan. Just my .02 I am thinking if they go to a tiered pricing plan then you will see these phones drop back to the 199 price range.

I personally am holding out for either the EVO 3D of the SG2. It wouldn't make any sense for me to upgrade at this point when my fascinate has pretty much the same hardware as the charge, -LTE which probably won't be in my area till the end of the year. Besides the new community rom 1.2 makes this like a new phone in alot of ways.

Totally agreed. However, the Charge still should not cost more than the Thunderbolt. Oh well. All the more reason to wait. The EVO 3D is an impressive device, and it's going to Sprint! Yay!!
 
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I have some things to say about this. First it is bigger than the droid x. I personally don't want bigger. Second it has hard keys. You would thing that they would have staid with the soft keys like the fascinate. Third you can get it for 250 at wirefly or amazon. I am up for an upgrade in may and neither this nor the tb look promising. I WANT 4G, it in my area(miami) but it sucks that no good phones are out to take advantage of it. I could deal with the tb issues and see how it goes for the first 15 days and decided for myself if it a phone I want to have for the next 2 years. Eitherway the only way to keep up with these phones is to buy one everytime one comes out.r. Its a cycle that never ends in just about everything we purchase.
 
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If the Droid 3 has LTE, that's the bandwagon I'm jumping on. No questions there, I love physical keyboards, and it's supposed to have a 4" screen, which could be bigger, but it's worth the tradeoff for the keyboard.

Why won't anyone release my dream phone? LTE, 4.3" or larger screen, AND physical keyboard? Do manufacturers realize just how great of a keyboard they could make with all of that room?
 
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To put a new spin on it: Might be that Berizon is charging extra for these LTE phones as they are the only carrier offering the unlimited 29.95 4G data plan. Just my .02 I am thinking if they go to a tiered pricing plan then you will see these phones drop back to the 199 price range.

The problem with that theory is that you can pick up the Thunderbolt for $199.99. I want an LTE phone for the hot spot capability and I don't want to wait until summer, so I'll probably go for the Charge. But I'll wait a week or so to see if the price drops.
 
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I have some things to say about this. First it is bigger than the droid x. I personally don't want bigger. Second it has hard keys. You would thing that they would have staid with the soft keys like the fascinate.

You assume everyone has your tastes. Personally I like hard buttons for commonly used functions; it's a selling point for me for the Charge. Most of my coworkers also prefer the hard buttons. I'm not saying one is better than the other, just that personal preferences differ, and if you want to sell more phones then put in some features to differentiate them. I assume they will come out with a model (Galaxy S2?) with all soft buttons to appeal to people like yourself who prefer soft buttons. But don't say it's "wrong" for them to put hard buttons on the phone. I'm sure some market research indicated there was a demand out there for hard buttons.
 
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You assume everyone has your tastes. Personally I like hard buttons for commonly used functions; it's a selling point for me for the Charge. Most of my coworkers also prefer the hard buttons. I'm not saying one is better than the other, just that personal preferences differ, and if you want to sell more phones then put in some features to differentiate them. I assume they will come out with a model (Galaxy S2?) with all soft buttons to appeal to people like yourself who prefer soft buttons. But don't say it's "wrong" for them to put hard buttons on the phone. I'm sure some market research indicated there was a demand out there for hard buttons.

The button style is the least of my worries when this screen is shipping with last year's processor and a file system the world certainly could've done without. These buttons don't seem quite as uncomfortable as those hard buttons on the Droid X, but I've owned the Droid X and haven't personally compared to the Charge yet. From looks only, they don't seem too bad. I am used to the touch buttons on my fascinate, too, but hard buttons wouldn't be enough to deter me from an otherwise exceptional phone, which this is not. It could've been. But it's not. And the price is preposterous.
 
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You assume everyone has your tastes. Personally I like hard buttons for commonly used functions; it's a selling point for me for the Charge. Most of my coworkers also prefer the hard buttons. I'm not saying one is better than the other, just that personal preferences differ, and if you want to sell more phones then put in some features to differentiate them. I assume they will come out with a model (Galaxy S2?) with all soft buttons to appeal to people like yourself who prefer soft buttons. But don't say it's "wrong" for them to put hard buttons on the phone. I'm sure some market research indicated there was a demand out there for hard buttons.

Your right, it is personal preference. But they are not doing market research, if they where we would have a awsome phone, that's for sure.
 
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Your right, it is personal preference. But they are not doing market research, if they where we would have a awesome phone, that's for sure.

Maybe, but you assume it's Samsung holding up releasing a better phone. It could be Verizon is throttling the models coming out. Maybe they want LTE to ramp up slowly. Maybe yesterday's outage shows that their LTE network is not quite ready for prime time yet.
 
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Totally agreed. However, the Charge still should not cost more than the Thunderbolt. Oh well. All the more reason to wait. The EVO 3D is an impressive device, and it's going to Sprint! Yay!!

Well, if you don't mind living with a phone lasting only 5~6 hours per charge and lackluster 4.3" qHD pentile LCD screen, then Evo 3D will do. For me, HTC is dead last in phone consideration list mainly due to battery and screen. They are even behind Motorola in my list and won't change my view until they prove to have addressed those.
Switching to Sprint is not consideration for me either. Their 3G network is decent, but their 4G WiMax (not that I think it's real 4G but according to them :)) is horrible and doesn't have future unlike LTE.
 
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The Samsung Galaxy Indulge was the first LTE Android to be released. Many people bought it for $399 until two months later a $100 rebate was announced. That still puts it at 399 plus the tax on the original price for a total of ~$340.

Your phone most likely shares most of its code with mine. I see many mentions of Verizon hidden in menus you normally cannot access :)
 
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The Samsung Galaxy Indulge was the first LTE Android to be released. Many people bought it for $399 until two months later a $100 rebate was announced. That still puts it at 399 plus the tax on the original price for a total of ~$340.

Your phone most likely shares most of its code with mine. I see many mentions of Verizon hidden in menus you normally cannot access :)

Yes, but you're on MetroPCS which means you bought it for $400 off-contract. We're expected to buy this for $300 and lock ourselves into a two-year timeframe where we can't buy any other phones on-contract. Which isn't HORRIBLE, but I'll say right now that they would probably have double the buyers if they priced it at $250 instead so it competed with the ThunderBolt. The Charge is WAY better than the TB but the $300 price turns off so many people.
 
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Yes, but you're on MetroPCS which means you bought it for $400 off-contract. We're expected to buy this for $300 and lock ourselves into a two-year timeframe where we can't buy any other phones on-contract. Which isn't HORRIBLE, but I'll say right now that they would probably have double the buyers if they priced it at $250 instead so it competed with the ThunderBolt. The Charge is WAY better than the TB but the $300 price turns off so many people.
Ooo...Let me get in here ^ ^ +1^ ^
 
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