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700,000 Android devices activated each day

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Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#71
post #15

It's remarkable the legal lengths to which Apple and Microsoft are going to try to stop Android, but it looks like they are having little or no effect. Lawyers get paid, some silly patents get worked around, but that's about it it seems.

Not to mention that it seems most of Microsoft's patents are worthless when they are tested in Court. 6 out of 7 of, which I assume are some of their best patents if they used them in the lawsuit, have been declared invalid. http://mediacenter.motorola.com/content/detail.aspx?ReleaseI... If the manufacturers currently paying Microsoft patent fees man up and take Microsoft to Court, they could break free, too, or at t…

Motorola's press release is trying to spin the news into a positive for them. Better coverage here http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/itc-judge-issues-initial-...

> ...have been declared invalid.

Someone specific declared not infringing on a patent is not the same as the patent being declared invalid.

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#72
post #63

Android is the new Nokia: the lowest common demonimator phone; the default. Or, to cross realms, it's the new Windows. While Apple costs carriers a pretty penny, carriers get a share of the advertising revenue from Android based web searches, and they can preinstall whatever carrier apps they want on their Android devices, unlike on the iPhone.

Don't get me wrong, but this argument sounds like sour grapes. Another way to look at it is that Android is an open platform that people install on anything they want. And if it's open for users, then it's also open for carriers, which goes without saying.

Also, if low common denominator phones are anything like my Galaxy S, then Apple is screwed ;)

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#73
post #15

It's remarkable the legal lengths to which Apple and Microsoft are going to try to stop Android, but it looks like they are having little or no effect. Lawyers get paid, some silly patents get worked around, but that's about it it seems.

I think you've wrongly inferred motives in both cases.

MS, as always, is about the money. There have been many articles recently suggesting that MS might be making more money off of Android than Google itself. As proof, see willingness to license.

Apple, as always, is about the art. Right or wrong, they are offended that anyone would use their creation. They will litigate out of principle. As proof, see (general) unwillingness to license.

To be clear, I'm not at all addressing the issue of whether or not the patents are valid, or whether patents in general are good; I'm just ascribing motivations.

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#74
post #41
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously? They didn't have the phone he wanted so he let them sell him something else entirely?

From what I got told he asked which store had one and he was told none of them do, he asked to order one and they said they wouldn't from the store but he could order online. The guy is a grumpy troll of a man so I would of imagined him loosing his temper and just demanding something else. I know his old phone had stopped working so he did have a little pressure to get a phone ASAP, but yep I raised my eye brows as w…

That story is quite hard to believe if I'm honest.

I'm guessing a Windows phone developer would own a windows pc and not a Mac as you say he is known to "rant about apple". Since you need a Mac to develop/publish for iOS would he really buy an iPhone, learn obj-c and buy a Mac just because the store he visited didn't stock Windows phones?

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#75
post #53
post #32

Does anyone else look at these numbers and instantly think of the shear volume of waste? With iphones thats a well over million per day. With most people already owning a phone thats a lot of superseded devices to deal with. Thats a lot of chemical waste...

This is exactly the reason why I keep my mobile as long as possible (years). It is a shame to see all the waste we ship to counties like Ghana and Nigeria and call it recycling. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste

I used to upgrade my phone once every ~5 years too. Until iOS/Android phones came out things didn't really change much. Sure they got thinner, bigger/colour screens, higher MP cameras, etc. but the functionality was pretty much SMS/MMS, voice calls/mail, photos/videos and that was it. If you were happy with the camera you had and the size of the screen there was very little reason to upgrade beyond fashion.

Now, however, the smart phone I bought last year is struggling to run the latest applications due to it's low CPU speed, if I didn't know how to install my own ROMs (and most people don't) I would be stuck on Android 2.1 and that means I couldn't run a lot of the newer apps. Newer phones have actual useful features being added like HDMI-out, NFC, better battery technology, etc.

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#76
post #36
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the vast majority of these users are probably on their first smartphone. For example, Android is huge in African countries where families who've never owned a computer are starting to sign up for cheap 3G plans with cheap Android phones. I bet there's a lot of waste, but I also bet that it's nothing compared to the waste from old American cars driving around and polluting. Think of what these new cheap smartp…

I wasn't really referring to the 'carbon footprint' if thats why you brought cars into it. I was more referring to things like PCBs and batteries, and the chemical processes used in refining these things. Toxic and harmful chemicals appearing in ecosystems they shouldn't... when things like cell phones don't get reprocessed properly.

And there are not only environmental effects but social too. IEEE Spectrum has an article this month regarding this. Is a good read.

Cracking Down on Conflict Minerals

http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/materials/cracking-d...

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#77
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going to have to say that I've had a much better experience with iOS than any other platform. In the past three years I have moved in the following sequence: - Windows Mobile (Motorola Q) - Various BlackBerry Devices (Curve, Storm, Torch, etc) - Android (Nexus One) - Windows Phone 7 (Samsung Focus) - Android (Nexus One, again) + iPad 2 - iOS (iPhone 4S) Having dabbled in J2ME, BlackBerry, Android and iPhone developme…

Trying both ios,blackberries etc, I deployed 12 androids in the family. I like its flexibility, and being a programmer, I sometimes download roms. Android gives a lot of freedom. I didnt like ios, mainly no widgets, no context menu standardized and too many buttons and button clicks, no true multitasking. it is for single threaded people, because it puts you in a mode where you have to go one by one. Android is truly…

Genuinely curious, how many other members in your family download and install their own roms? Or do any significant customization at all?

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#78
post #50
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once you go Android, you tend to stay there. I think that's conventional wisdom- and I think it's wrong. I went from Android to WP7, because I am a weird UI obsessive. But my girlfriend has an Android and is due an upgrade- and she's sick of it. She's likely going to get an iPhone.

Being "a weird UI obsessive" is a very small subset of users, given that if you asked a typical smartphone user what "UI" means a majority of them probably couldn't tell you.

Sure, that's why I was describing myself as an exception to the usual case. And why I put forward the case of my girlfriend, who definitely isn't a UI obsessive, but is leaving Android.

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#79
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going to have to say that I've had a much better experience with iOS than any other platform. In the past three years I have moved in the following sequence: - Windows Mobile (Motorola Q) - Various BlackBerry Devices (Curve, Storm, Torch, etc) - Android (Nexus One) - Windows Phone 7 (Samsung Focus) - Android (Nexus One, again) + iPad 2 - iOS (iPhone 4S) Having dabbled in J2ME, BlackBerry, Android and iPhone developme…

I develop for iOS and WP7, and I have high hopes for Windows Phone, but honestly, it's not quite there yet. And compared to iOS development, it is extremely frustrating.

Can you please elaborate more on that. I am curious. I developed for iOS and android. I am a .net developer and I'm about to port my code to wp7. I was hoping that it will be a lot easier compare to the other 2 since I use visual studio and .net on daily basis. Am I mistaken here?

Re: 700,000 Android devices activated each day

#80
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's all about the carriers. A guy walks into an AT&T store and wants an iPhone. He'll get an iPhone. A guy walks into an AT&T store and wants a Windows Phone. He'll probably be talked into an Android. A guy walks into an AT&T store without a clue. He'll walk out with an Android. It's the most profitable for the carrier, because it's perhaps the only smartphone left that grants the carrier full control over how it's…

Indded, one of my friends went to buy a windows phone recently, c# dev looking for a phone he could work on. The clerk literally told him they only have display models and don't hold stock and that he'd been told not to push them. The clerk couldn't even organise for a windows phone to arrive at the store so my friend decided he'd try learning obj-c and walked out with an iphone 3G (as said dev is a jaded ex-java ent…

Your friend should consider doing a full-length blog post about this, naming the carrier he visited. That's a pretty shocking story.
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