My Next Smartphone Will Be........

[bowiac]

Whenever dealing with moving to/from Apple we need to think of brand loyalty. I don't think there is an electronics brand that has such loyalty/cult following. Apple been able to move from being the small counter culture guy to one of the big boys while their customers still think they are unique and different than all the "sheep" (This isn't meant as insulting to Apple fans, we are all sheep).

I don't think this is a realistic portrayal of current Apple-users mentality. It may have been when Macs were relative fringe products, but that's a long time ago. The majority of Apple users buy the products for the same reason anyone else buys a product - they like it better than the alternatives. It's not a "unique" thing, and hasn't been since the iPod.
 
The market is also heavily stratified by income/price. Apple has resisted making a low-margin, low price phone, sacrificing marketshare for higher profits overall. The churn rates aren't really helpful because of the installed base disparity, but the installed base disparity is equally misleading. 

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

 
IIRC, initial hands-on experiences show that Samsung did a good job of making it not intrusive / distracting / hypersensitive. In other words, it's helpful when you want it as supplemental / useful, and doesn't get in the way when you don't.
 
One such hands on: http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-edge-hands

 
Yeah, I remember the acidic reviews the original Note got before it became the flagship model for a lot of future phones.
 
The Edge's screen is a truly new idea (which can't be said too often anymore) and it'll have growing pains & early fails. However, from everything I read the UX has been decently considered and it CAN get out of the way if you want. 
 
I love the fact that it's using previously a wasteland (side of a phone) and opening it up for some creative & hopefully useful ideas. 
 
I'm going to upgrade to Note 4 of some kind anyway, so paying a little more for the Edge makes sense to me.

 

[SumnerH]

IIRC, initial hands-on experiences show that Samsung did a good job of making it not intrusive / distracting / hypersensitive. In other words, it's helpful when you want it as supplemental / useful, and doesn't get in the way when you don't.
 
One such hands on: http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-edge-hands

It's not exactly glowing when it comes down to actually using the thing:

"Knowing which panels will do which things, how to move between them and most of all how to avoid accidentally hitting the Edge Screen when you're trying to do something else is a tough thing to learn, and it will take some time before we know how natural it can end up feeling."

 

[bosockboy]

What if I am on Android and considering a move to a non iOS phone? You don't even have the option to migrate to an "irrelevant" OS. I am on a Note 3 now, and will probably just jump up to a Note 4 when it comes out...but the Blackberry Classic is on my radar. I still desperately miss the physical keyboard. No, you do NOT "eventually get used to" a virtual keyboard. Even with SWYPE.
 
If BlackBerry would just come out with a device in the "classic BlackBerry" form factor, with an Android OS, it would sell well...

This is fine if you are ok with not having apps.
The app market secretly rules the smartphone world.

 

[Fred not Lynn]

Reportedly the BB Classic (and other new BB devices), runs all the Androids apps. This is what they say, not sure it it's true.

In all the talk about how there is little these days to differentiate between touch-screen devices, you would think ONE manufacturer would do a physical keyboard. That would be a unique device now in a crowded marketplace.

 

[SumnerH]

In all the talk about how there is little these days to differentiate between touch-screen devices, you would think ONE manufacturer would do a physical keyboard. That would be a unique device now in a crowded marketplace.

LG and Motorola both do.

LG has the Optimus F3Q and a couple of somewhat older ones. The Droid 4's getting old but still usable, and there are rumors about the Droid 5 coming out soon.

 

[SumnerH]

Just get a Bluetooth case if you want a keyboard that bad. Reducing screen size by that much will ruin most apps.

The existing Androids with physical keyboards have them slide out, so there's no reduction to screen size (but the phones are thicker).

 

[Fred not Lynn]

With moving parts to break. Really, the BB form factor was pretty popular. Sometimes it's good business to stay with what you're good at instead of copying the leader...that was Blackberry's mistake. Instead of working at just getting better and better at being BlackBerry, they tried to become Apple instead.

 

[Monbo Jumbo]

I have an HTC EVO 4G now (sprint).  Previous was the original HTC EVO.  Contract is up, but this phone still works. I intend to hang on longer. But if it gets crushed tomw, I'd get an LG G3.  Otherwise, I'm probably waiting for one of the 805 chip based phones.
 
Mounting my phone on the car dash and using it for Waze, Pandora and Amazon music is important.  The bigger screen the better, so it will be one of the 5.5" or larger phones next time. 
 
I resent the built in batteriess, and also the relatively crappy camera on the new HTCs, which is why I'm willing to jump ship to LG.
 
I have yet to give a single cent to Apple, ever in my lifetime.  That policy isn't changing. 

 

[JimBoSox9]

With moving parts to break. Really, the BB form factor was pretty popular. Sometimes it's good business to stay with what you're good at instead of copying the leader...that was Blackberry's mistake. Instead of working at just getting better and better at being BlackBerry, they tried to become Apple instead.

 
This is completely untrue.  They rode the BB form factor down into the flames long after it was apparent there wasn't a viable market for it.  The Storm or whatever was too little, too late.  "Being BlackBerry" doesn't include knowing how to make an app ecosystem worth shit, and that's the ballgame.  

 

[SumnerH]

With moving parts to break. Really, the BB form factor was pretty popular. Sometimes it's good business to stay with what you're good at instead of copying the leader...that was Blackberry's mistake. Instead of working at just getting better and better at being BlackBerry, they tried to become Apple instead.

 
 
The real problems were 2-fold (well, one particular problem that was indicative of a broader strategic error).
 
1) Blackberry depended on their dominance in the corporate market, especially their email integration with BES, to differentiate them.  When smartphones reached a certain critical mass, IT departments came up with solutions for email access that didn't require BES, crippling Blackberry's primary differentiator.
2) The extension of that is a classic mistake in the tech world: relying on businesses to drive your market share and ignoring the consumer market.  On paper it seems like a fine plan; businesses have more money, buy in bulk, have fewer support problems, etc.  But people want what they're used to, and almost always stretch consumer products to fill enterprise niches rather than vice-versa.  Unix and VMS largely ignored the consumer desktop, and saw Microsoft leverage consumer markets to take over the business server market they once owned.  SQL Server and mysql destroyed Nonstop and gutted Oracle.
 
 
The keyboard thing's not really an issue in the Blackberry story.  There are a handful of people like you or Google chairman Eric Schmidt who love physical keyboards, but most people have rejected them; phones incorporating them just don't sell well.  Ideally there'll always be a few niche ones like the F3Q so that everyone has options, or alternatives like PP mentioned:

 

[Fred not Lynn]

I disagree that the form factor killed them, and that they rode it too long. What killed them was riding their own OS. I ASSURE YOU, the classic BB form factor with an Android OS would have been a success back when BB was a moderate player, and it would be today if they (or someone else) made it. Maybe it wouldn't be #1 in the market, but it would be viable.

 

[Monbo Jumbo]

Physical keyboards are the manual transmissions of phones. There will always be people who want them, but the lack of inventory turnover makes no one want too sell them.

 

[jayhoz]

I disagree that the form factor killed them, and that they rode it too long. What killed them was riding their own OS. I ASSURE YOU, the classic BB form factor with an Android OS would have been a success back when BB was a moderate player, and it would be today if they (or someone else) made it. Maybe it wouldn't be #1 in the market, but it would be viable.

 
This is delusional.  Smartphones are delivery systems for apps with a camera.  Apps would look like shit on a traditional BB screen even if the resolution was good.  Not to mention the fact that few devs would have taken the time to rework their apps to fit that funky aspect ratio and to integrate the keyboard for a platform dominated by business people and dying a not so slow death.

 

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

I disagree that the form factor killed them, and that they rode it too long. What killed them was riding their own OS. I ASSURE YOU, the classic BB form factor with an Android OS would have been a success back when BB was a moderate player, and it would be today if they (or someone else) made it. Maybe it wouldn't be #1 in the market, but it would be viable.

Well, we're about to find out as the Passport is going to be launched in two weeks. It's a 4.5" x 4.5" phone that apparently will come preloaded with Amazon's app store. No word how well it will run Andoird apps but they will run.
 

 

[Fred not Lynn]

I like Monbo' s description the the physical keyboard is like the manual transmission. It's not the leading option, and it never will be, but at least with stick shifts they still MAKE them.

And no, when the passport fails (and it will), people will once again say "no one wants keyboards". The thing is, keyboard people want the look and feel of the phones they had before...not some weird new shape and size.

 

[Silverdude2167]

That is not an attractive phone.

 

[JerBear]

 
Yeah, I was  kind of assuming he was more in love with the same setup, which is why I mentioned screen size being reduced (and that appears probable since he keeps talking about form factor). 
 
I had something like this more in mind 
 
which would basically be like turning an iPhone into a blackberry. I'm not sure why you'd want to do that, but if you want the physical keyboard that badly I guess it would be a decent compromise. I haven't had a BlackBerry since the Pearl and I hated it (the system, not necessarily the keyboard), but that's just me. 

They tried with the Droid Pro, it didn't sell.
 

 
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Motorola-DROID-PRO_id4828

 

[Fred not Lynn]

Blackberry was still out there as a legit OS player When the DROID Pro was available, and Android wasn't at the level it is now. If Samsung Made a DROID Pro type device today, it would sell. Moderately, but it would.

 

[mt8thsw9th]

I like Monbo' s description the the physical keyboard is like the manual transmission. It's not the leading option, and it never will be, but at least with stick shifts they still MAKE them.

 
However, unlike phones with physical keyboards, people actually BUY them.
 
There is no market for physical keyboards at all. The only company to not realize this was RIM, and by the time they addressed it, it was a year too late, and the effort was horrendous (a clickable screen? WTF). When Android first started to be developed it was a BlackBerry clone, equipment-wise, but as soon as the iPhone was released, they shifted gears because the iPhone fixed the biggest issue with smartphones: the superfluous keyboard that took up way too much screen real estate. 
 

 
With the G1 they scrapped the keyboard design and made it a slider, but pretty much scrapped slider phones by the second generation because people don't care to have to keep sliding out a keyboard when they are sending a text, and the slider was pretty much training wheels for people getting their first smartphone. Most consumers weaned themselves off a physical keyboard once they realized it's more efficient to learn how to use the on-screen keyboard, especially when things like Swype became available. 
 
Most companies phased out their phones that shipped with keyboards because they take up space that can be used for actually useful components like batteries, but it was largely due to the fact that people weren't buying the ones they were building. 

 

[Fred not Lynn]

 
it's more efficient to learn how to use the on-screen keyboard, especially when things like Swype became available.  

That just isn't true. With Swype, I find myself making 2 or three tries before I get the right word, and font get me started when it comes to place and people's names...

And people buy manual transmission because they're available. All I am asking for is ONE good quality android based physical keyboard device, in the sea of nearly identical full screen devices inventing useless gimmickry to try to set themselves apart, I just think that there's room for ONE device in that form factor...

 

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

I like Monbo' s description the the physical keyboard is like the manual transmission. It's not the leading option, and it never will be, but at least with stick shifts they still MAKE them.

And no, when the passport fails (and it will), people will once again say "no one wants keyboards". The thing is, keyboard people want the look and feel of the phones they had before...not some weird new shape and size.

Then you mean this:

The problem with this phone is simply that there's not enough screen space so one of the things people really like to do with their phones - get information from the internet - doesn't really work. Also, I've read that one of the other problems is that you can't really run android apps on a screen that small; the apps should be customized for that size screen and no one's going to do it.

I agree that RIMM's biggest problem is that people want more and more screen space on their phones and the physical keyboard takes away a good chunk of that valuable "real estate."

 

[Murderer's Crow]

Most of the people who have trouble typing on smartphones are the people who still resort to using landscape when typing.

 

[Marceline]

That just isn't true. With Swype, I find myself making 2 or three tries before I get the right word, and font get me started when it comes to place and people's names...

And people buy manual transmission because they're available. All I am asking for is ONE good quality android based physical keyboard device, in the sea of nearly identical full screen devices inventing useless gimmickry to try to set themselves apart, I just think that there's room for ONE device in that form factor...

 
I used to be able to type about 50wpm on my blackberry, and with Swiftkey I can type almost as fast now on a virtual keyboard (probably around 40-45wpm).

 

[johnmd20]

 
I used to be able to type about 50wpm on my blackberry, and with Swiftkey I can type almost as fast now on a virtual keyboard (probably around 40-45wpm).

 
They ripped the physical keyboard from my cold, dead hands. Until I got Swiftkey. Now my hands are warm and alive. Swiftkey is awesome and I can often type texts without having to type any keys b/c the auto word prediction is so good.
 
It knows my habits and it knows how I write and it predicts like it has a time machine. Sometimes you have to adapt and occasionally it's a huge positive.

 

[Fred not Lynn]

I've tried for years to adapt. Hasn't worked. I'll go try swiftkey, if you all insist....

 

[johnmd20]

I've tried for years to adapt. Hasn't worked. I'll go try swiftkey, if you all insist....

 
What I suggest is using Swiftkey on your current phone. And try to slowly go from the physical keyboard to Swiftkey. In a pinch, use the keyboard if you have to rush something out but, over time, use the virtual keyboard and you'll pick it up. You just have to commit to learning the new system. 
 
That is what I did when I had the Droid 4. Then, when it was time to get rid of the physical keyboard, I didn't have to learn anything. I was ready.

 

[Fred not Lynn]

I have a Note 3, I have been using a virtual keyboard for two years. I am used to it, and competent with it, I just don't like it as much.

 

[JohnnyK]

My Galaxy S3 is dieing on me (sometimes only charging at 100 mA, a damaged power button means I cannot get into recovery mode to reset or root/flash etc.) after 2 years, so I just ordered a Xiaomi Mi3 directly from China as I have read so many good things about it - and it is about half the price of an unlocked S5 here.

 

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

My Galaxy S3 is dieing on me (sometimes only charging at 100 mA, a damaged power button means I cannot get into recovery mode to reset or root/flash etc.) after 2 years, so I just ordered a Xiaomi Mi3 directly from China as I have read so many good things about it - and it is about half the price of an unlocked S5 here.

 
Interesting.  What carrier do you have?  T-Mobile or ATT?

 

[jercra]

My Galaxy S3 is dieing on me (sometimes only charging at 100 mA, a damaged power button means I cannot get into recovery mode to reset or root/flash etc.) after 2 years, so I just ordered a Xiaomi Mi3 directly from China as I have read so many good things about it - and it is about half the price of an unlocked S5 here.

Am I missing something?  That's a 3G only phone as far as I can see on their website:
 

 
 

• Cellular and wirelesssupports 3G(WCDMA) and 2G(GSM) networks

 

[mt8thsw9th]

Am I missing something? 

 
No. 

 

[JohnnyK]

 
Interesting.  What carrier do you have?  T-Mobile or ATT?

I'm in Austria, I guess I should have mentioned that.
 

Am I missing something?  That's a 3G only phone as far as I can see on their website:
 

Not an issue for me as my carrier has no LTE coverage where I live and 3G is HSPA+ (42MBit max)
 
The Mi4 has LTE, and there is apparently a Mi3s with LTE support out there as well.

 

[derekson]

HSPA+ really is plenty fast if its implemented well. On my iPhone 4S I'd get as much as 6-10 Mbps in areas with good signal and a good backend connection on the network. 
 
That's one of the reasons I stick with AT&T, as HSPA+ where LTE coverage falls off is like 5-10 times faster than the 3G you fall back onto with Verizon.

 

[Traut]

Just ordered the new Moto X. I've never had a phone made of bamboo before. As much as I liked my GS4, I'm done with Touch Wiz. I live in Google's native apps. 

 

[jayhoz]

Watch out for Pandas.

 

[SumnerH]

HSPA+ really is plenty fast if its implemented well. On my iPhone 4S I'd get as much as 6-10 Mbps in areas with good signal and a good backend connection on the network. 
 

 
Even when bandwidth is similar, HSPA+ has substantially higher latency than LTE.

 

[JohnnyK]

 
Even when bandwidth is similar, HSPA+ has substantially higher latency than LTE.

I can't think of many use cases where this is an issue though.
 
Another factor for me is that I have WiFi 95% of the time anyway.

 

[SumnerH]

I can't think of many use cases where this is an issue though.
 
Another factor for me is that I have WiFi 95% of the time anyway.

Yeah, 3.[7]5G vs 4G isn't a huge deal for me, either.  But it's worth noting the latency issue just to keep in mind in the future if it becomes relevant for you.