I think it's a good idea they release them separately.
First off, it Motorola releases 4+ Android devices at once - Morrison, Sholes, Calgary and Flash - it may get to the point where they start competing with themselves. They don't want to flood the market.
Second, building the Flash later will allow them to build on the Sholes and address its shortcomings. No matter how well Motorola engineers the Sholes, people will find things to complain about. Doing the Flash later will allow Motorola to address these issues, plus beef up the specs a bit more - I remember hearing something about the Flash getting an 8MP camera vs. the Sholes' 5MP camera.
Full touchscreen phones are less appealing to the general public anyway thanks to the heavy emphasis on texting these days. Motorola is smarter for putting out sliders first to appeal to the greatest population to remake their name.
I think it's a good idea they release them separately.
First off, it Motorola releases 4+ Android devices at once - Morrison, Sholes, Calgary and Flash - it may get to the point where they start competing with themselves. They don't want to flood the market.
Second, building the Flash later will allow them to build on the Sholes and address its shortcomings. No matter how well Motorola engineers the Sholes, people will find things to complain about. Doing the Flash later will allow Motorola to address these issues, plus beef up the specs a bit more - I remember hearing something about the Flash getting an 8MP camera vs. the Sholes' 5MP camera.
Full touchscreen phones are less appealing to the general public anyway thanks to the heavy emphasis on texting these days. Motorola is smarter for putting out sliders first to appeal to the greatest population to remake their name.
I'm sure the specs will be more or less the same in both models other than the camera difference. A few months apart is too short for any big hardware revisions and most companies wouldn't even dare release a phone a few months later with much improved specs. It's a good way to alienate your customers. Hence why typically a all new improved phone takes about a year before its released. Motorola probably wants to treat their phones like HTC.
IMO it would be a BAD plan releasing both at the same time. I completely agree with what is stated above about having them split. Specially do to the fact that Moto wants this to be a flagship device for them. The need to make sure there first go with Android is right so they can build/work off what they know is working correctly. Less mistakes in the future when doing it that way, plus it will be confidence with users again that Moto is back in the game with a great device. They need bad press like they need a hole in the head, so to put something out that would have issues would not be good that is for sure.
I'm sure the specs will be more or less the same in both models other than the camera difference. A few months apart is too short for any big hardware revisions and most companies wouldn't even dare release a phone a few months later with much improved specs. It's a good way to alienate your customers. Hence why typically a all new improved phone takes about a year before its released. Motorola probably wants to treat their phones like HTC.
It's rarely hardware that the users complain about, especially with Motorola. It's usually all software complaints. That's why IMO it's a good idea to release them separately - so they can fix any software bugs in the Sholes for the Flash the first time, and maybe add a little more. A few months is plenty of time to do that.
It's rarely hardware that the users complain about, especially with Motorola. It's usually all software complaints. That's why IMO it's a good idea to release them separately - so they can fix any software bugs in the Sholes for the Flash the first time, and maybe add a little more. A few months is plenty of time to do that.
I completely agree. Besides, it's in their best interest to spread out any big releases. If they released these things at the same time, it would only serve to cannibalize their own sales.
Heck, if they spread them out, they'll probably get me to buy both. If they release them at the same time, I'm likely to only purchase one of them.
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Originally Posted by ChocoTaco369
...so they can fix any software bugs in the Sholes for the Flash the first time, and maybe add a little more. A few months is plenty of time to do that.
Somehow, I doubt adding more bugs is in their plans... but you're right, a few months is plenty of time to do that!
Seriously, they will want to spread them out if only just for marketing reasons... two new phone splashes is better pub than only one.
Tom
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My point is what if they release the Sholes and 2 months later the Flash and people get upset because they would have opted for the keyboardless version and now their pretty much stuck with the Sholes. That's the only problem I was thinking of.
My point is what if they release the Sholes and 2 months later the Flash and people get upset because they would have opted for the keyboardless version and now their pretty much stuck with the Sholes. That's the only problem I was thinking of.
Who cares? People are going to be upset no matter what they do. If I was them, I'd take the path that makes them more money over the one that gives them the warm and fuzzies.
It's rarely hardware that the users complain about, especially with Motorola. It's usually all software complaints. That's why IMO it's a good idea to release them separately - so they can fix any software bugs in the Sholes for the Flash the first time, and maybe add a little more. A few months is plenty of time to do that.
True. Software is what lost Motorola a lot of customers thanks to the Razr. It was great for them considering how much money it made them, but it was awful at the same time since there are now people who are sketchy of Motorola after having too many issues with that phone.
I could see them releasing the Flash later to work out software bugs since a touch only phone typically sells better in the market.
True. Software is what lost Motorola a lot of customers thanks to the Razr. It was great for them considering how much money it made them, but it was awful at the same time since there are now people who are sketchy of Motorola after having too many issues with that phone.
Wow, you read my mind. I owned only 2 Motorolas when I was using GSM. The V300 and the V3, I didn't like the V300 since it had its send and end keys reversed (I guess that's a hardware issue? ). The V3 was slow, clunky and while I'd use it over the stock Verizon UI, I couldn't stand it. Since those were the only 2 Motorolas I've owned at the time, I really decided to stay away from them.
And while there is a market for full touch smart phones, I think the overall demand for them is still ones with built in physical keyboards. Otherwise, why would HTC bother with a Touch Diamond and a Touch Pro, or a G1 and the Magic?
Motorola Droid A855 (aka Tao/Sholes/Shules/Flash) Pre-Release Thread
Originally Posted by ChocoTaco369
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