Today's toy isn't a single system component, it is a complete system from iBUYPOWER! The iBUYPOWER Paladin XLC Phantom is a newly released system that is based on the X58 platform and has some of the latest bells and whistles! The question of the day is, how will it perform in our battery of tests? Read on to find out!
The idea seemed impossible just a couple of weeks ago. But recent events have moved it squarely into the maybe column. I’m not saying HTC is on the verge of discontinuing the Incredible, but there’s now enough circumstantial evidence to make it a possibility.
Here’s why:
During the weekend of July 10, I was contacted by two unrelated people reporting they had been told, with different explanations, the Incredible was being discontinued. The first said a Verizon sales rep told him the Droid X would soon take the Incredible’s place in the carrier’s Android lineup; the other said a Verizon salesperson told him not to bother ordering an Incredible (which was – and is – backordered) because it was about to be discontinued.
I largely dismissed the idea that one of the most widely-praised Android smartphones would be discontinued barely two months after its release. But I did assume there was some truth in the information provided to these two men. The AMOLED display used in the Droid Incredible had been trickling out of Samsung’s production facilities much more slowly than HTC wished, which was responsible for the smartphone’s chronic backorder status. Perhaps a new version of the Incredible with a different SKU was in the pipeline, which may have caused the Verizon reps to think the Incredible wasn’t long for this world.
So I contacted Verizon Wireless PR for clarification. I assumed the response would be something along the lines of a flat-out denial or vague information on a display technology transition. It wasn’t.
When I got a response, the message read:
“Verizon Wireless or HTC have not made an announcement about the Incredible. It’s a popular device and we continue to sell it.”
Continue to sell it? Not “will continue to sell it”? Hmm… Qualified and evasive wording is nothing new in PR, but if the Incredible’s shelf-life was assumed to be the normal year or so, why the couched response?
Then, today, HTC announced it would begin using Super LCD (SLCD) displays in its current 3.7-inch AMOLED smartphone offerings later this summer. This move is an effort to get more smartphones onto the market in light of the ongoing AMOLED shortage. Mentioned in the press release were two 3.7-inch-screened HTC smartphones: the Desire (which isn’t yet sold by a U.S. carrier) and Nexus One (which seems to be on its way out). There was not word one about the Droid Incredible, which is certainly more popular in the U.S. than either of these devices. I wasn’t the only person who found this omission odd.
So, there you have it. Three unrelated events which together point to the Incredible’s possible demise.
Any thoughts?
Matthew Nichols, Products Editor
I’ve been using the new Palm Treo 800w for a few days, and I wanted to share my impressions of the device before I post my full review sometime next week.
The Treo 800w is fast – its TI CPU (to my surprise), makes quick work of applications and files, the EVDO connection is more than adequate for most web tasks (particularly on Opera Mobile 9.5), and file transfers are zippy over USB 2.0 or Wi-Fi. Next, the screen. The Treo 800w has a square display with an unusual but beautiful 320×320 resolution. This display offers some compatibility issues with third-party Windows Mobile software, but it looks great. Lastly, there’s Treo thumb QWERTY keyboard, which is one of the best out there.
After my last ho-hum experience with the WinMo Treo, the Treo 750, I’m very impressed by the 800w. The 800w isn’t for everyone, but if you’re a Treo fan and a Sprint customer, I recommend you swing by your local store and have a look. More next week.
WindowsForDevices has posted an interesting article comparing the number of iPhones and Windows Mobile devices sold in Q1 2008, and the numbers prove Windows Mobile the winner by a mile. Windows Mobile, with approximately 4.5 million units sold in Q1, clearly beat the iPhone, which sold 1.7 million. In fact, WinMo sales grew by a larger number in Q1 2008 over 2007’s first quarter (selling about 1.8 million more units) than the total number of iPhones sold between January and March ‘08.
This is certainly interesting, given the relentless iPhone hype we’ve seen since the handheld was announced in early 2007. Of course, one must consider that all major wireless service providers have at least one Windows Mobile offering, while the iPhone has been limited to a dedicated carrier wherever it’s sold. And there are other considerations which have benefited WinMo including third-party software support, Exchange syncing, hardware keyboards, lower prices, etc.
But most of these advantages have been rendered obsolete with this morning’s release of the iPhone 3G, and Apple is moving quickly to address each disadvantage of its hatchling phone when compared to Windows Mobile, RIM and Palm. Windows Mobile still has advantages over the iPhone, but they aren’t significant enough to save Windows Mobile on a large scale. Microsoft must deliver wide, sweeping changes to the way the OS looks, works and interoperates with the Cloud in order to survive the iPhone.
Microsoft can breathe a sigh of relief for now, but it had better not last long. Windows Mobile 7, it’s game time.
EDITORIAL: With Apple, Google and RIM making swift and sweeping moves in the world of handheld operating systems, Windows Mobile 6 - you know, Windows Mobile 5 / 2003 / 2002 with a slight makeover - is becoming a dated platform in many respects; we’re still a country mile from Palm OS territory, but it’s time for a major overhaul.
I’ve decided to focus my first in a multi-part editorial on the syncing possibilities of Windows Mobile and what improvements need to be added for Windows Mobile 7, which is due out next year.
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