November 3, 2009
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Standing on the Bleeding Edge
Motorola and Verizon have teamed up to bring us the Droid (video below). I know it’s the first gen, and I don’t want to end up like early iPhone adopters, but I’m this close to giving a testicle to buy the damn thing. Actually, I would just use money.
Looking at the phone, I am stoked about it being on the Verizon network, mostly because they have the largest 3G network. Not an issue if you never leave NYC, but I get some travel under my belt. I also love the idea of having a physical keyboard. I’ve played with the iPhone’s virtual keyboard. Either I need a lot more practice, or it’s just not for me. However, there are some things that would warrant waiting.I hear the keyboard is a bit too flat, and the keys aren’t offset, which means you don’t get as much physical feedback on where your finger actually is on the button. Also, it apparently does not have world-roaming capabilities. However, the first adopters will develop enough interest and funds for that to be able to change. Well, definitely the keyboard thing.
There’s a term known as being at the “bleeding-edge of technology.” It refers to people that are the early adopters of a technology that isn’t firmly entrenched in society. Sometimes it’s good to be there, sometimes it isn’t. The bleeding edge people are the people who provide the initial drive and funding for the technology to become mainstream. Most of the time, it’s what floats the company/technology along for the time it takes it to become popular, and for the price to come down so the masses will buy it. Other times, it represents the start of a small war. Remember Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD (or VHS vs Beta-Max). Bleeding-edgers who bought the PS3 helped win that one for Blu-Ray. The porn industry is what won it for VHS.
[This is a bit of nerd talk] I remember buying an 802.11a/b/g card in 2003. 802.11g is now the standard, however there was a lot of speculation over which would win, and all three were in use. If you didn’t have the right one when you needed it, you were screwed. Rather than stepping out onto the edge completely, so the card basically future-proofed me. Kind of like if you purchased a player that played Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.
*Late Edit*
So, about 10 minutes after I post this entry, I find out that the European version of the phone is called the Milestone. That means that it will use a SIM chip (which may work here with SIM chips like the one in Verizon Blackberrys), and that it supports pinching to zoom. The pinching to zoom can probably be added easily, but the SIM capability can’t. Only downside is that it would require that I pay full price for the phone.
