iCan't stand by and watch Droid ad smear iPhone
Verizon’s ubiquitous “iDon’t” commercial has been peppering TV for weeks now. It makes two conventional mistakes in advertising. It’s not clear that it’s an ad for the Verizon Droid phone, a remarkable new handset made by Motorola and the first phone to ship with Version 2.0 of the Google Android mobile OS. It’s clearly designed to compete against iPhone.
The second mistake? Its claims about the limitations of the iPhone are baloney.
(Mostly.)
“iDon’t have a real keyboard.”
Verizon is referring to the fact that the Droid has a slide-out mechanical keyboard in addition to its onscreen virtual keyboard. Their boast is correct if we limit the definition of “real” to “uses mechanical keyswitches.” But it fails if “real” means “useful.”
I can type twice as fast on the iPhone as I can on the Droid’s mechanical keyboard. Even when you compare virtual to mechanical on the Droid itself, the thumbboard can’t possibly match it for speed and comfort.
But I was gamely determined to see if I could possibly get used to it. Thirty minutes, two sore thumbs, and endless typos later, I returned to the One True Faith. Virtual keyboards are always the right answer.
For many consumers, a mechanical keyboard is non-negotiable. So I handed the Droid to several people on the other side of the fence (including longtime Google G1 Phone users) to see what they thought. Fans of real keyswitches want to feel a positive little dnk when they press a key down, and they prefer to make their way around the keyboard by touch. Nobody thought the Droid’s keyboard was very good. They faulted its flat, undifferentiated surface.
“iDon’t run simultaneous apps.”
Not completely true. You can’t run more than one third party app simultaneously on an iPhone. When I’m navigating with my third-party GPS app, the iPod app is playing music and the Mail app is fetching mail in the background.
The iPhone hides this limitation well. When you want to switch apps on the Droid, you hold down the Home button and tap another icon. You do the same on the iPhone, except the phone quietly closes one third-party app and launches the other, if necessary. Apart from a brief pause, the user experience is identical.
But simultaneous apps is a good feature nonetheless. When I’m sitting in an airline terminal and reading an eBook on an Android phone, I can switch over to my Flight Status app and switch back again in a moment. On the iPhone, it takes a couple of extra seconds as these third-party apps close and open. Having these kinds of persistent apps running in the background often burns up the battery, but that’s my choice.
“iDon’t run widgets.”
Widgets are little software doo-dads that you can place on your Android home screen. They offer one-shot functions, like a Google search box, a set of music player controls, or a miniature dashboard that lets you turn off Bluetooth and WiFi without having to drill down into the phone’s Settings app.
It’s a nice Android feature. But you wouldn’t miss if it were gone. It’s hardly something that you’d include in a chest-thumping ad about your phone’s superiority.
“iDon’t allow open development.”
Here, Verizon is boasting about ...
Um ... wait, just what are they boasting about?
“Open Development” can mean many different things. Few of them have any real impact on the user.
They could mean that the Android operating system is open-source. Which (among many other things) means that developers have access to all of its source code and are free to modify and enhance the OS without restrictions. If a software developer thinks Android’s built-in virtual keyboard stinks, he’s free to write a replacement, call it “Better Keyboard,” and put it in the Android Marketplace. And lo, someone did.
Or maybe they mean it’s “open” in the sense that there’s no such thing as a “forbidden” app. An iPhone user can only install apps via the iTunes App Store. Developers must submit their software to Apple for approval and if the company doesn’t like the app for any reason, nobody will ever see it.
Google maintains the Android Marketplace. The Marketplace app makes finding, buying, and installing apps easy and yes, the company doesn’t allow just any old app inside.
But Android users can download and install apps straight from the developer’s websites. Android will pop up a curt warning about trusting apps that haven’t been vetted by the Marketplace, but in the end, it’ll allow you to install an app that scans the barcode of a DVD in a store, locate a pirated copy on BitTorrent, and have the illegal download waiting for you on your PC by the time you get home.
So Verizon has a very good point. But the Droid shouldn’t try to fight the iPhone toe-to-toe on apps. It’s absolutely no contest: the iPhone has the largest, broadest, and highest-quality library of mobile apps anywhere. Verizon is aiming a peashooter against the USS Nimitz.
“iDon’t take 5-megapixel pictures” and “iDon’t take pictures in the dark.”
The iPhone has a 3 megapixel camera and doesn’t have any kind of onboard scene illuminator. But does the Droid actually take better pictures than the iPhone?
Overall, no. Over the past few days I’ve shot lots of scenes with both phones and the iPhone consistently produced prettier images. Where software inside the Droid is easily bamboozled by uncooperative lighting, the iPhone’s camera app almost always finds a workable and attractive solution.
Plus, the iPhone camera’s “touch” controls grant you fine control over exposure and focus. Do you want the potted plant in the window to be properly exposed, or are you more interested in the view of the street? Tap your choice and the iPhone takes it from there.
The Droid’s lens is surrounded by a super-duper-bright LED that works as advertised. In dim lighting or even in darkness, the Droid produces a usable photo instead of a black-brown smudge. But again, the hardware is often failed by the software. If your subject is standing in the illuminator’s sweet spot, you’ll get acceptable skintones. Otherwise, she’ll be either a washed-out ghost or a vampire that dissolves into the shadows.
“iDon’t customize.”
A term so vague as to be meaningless. You can customize the iPhone, sure. And if you’re swayed by the Droid’s superior ability to replace a desktop wallpaper, I don’t know if I’m the right guy to give you advice.
“iDon’t have interchangeable batteries.”
The iPhone is sealed up tight. The Droid has a removable back panel, through which you can swap out a dead battery for a charged one.
A fair cop. But do you want “an interchangeable battery” or “the ability to use the phone for 10 hours without recharging”? If the latter, the iPhone has you covered. Many companies make slim slide-on iPhone cases that incorporate an additional battery pack for all-day use. When my iPhone 3G S is nestled inside my Mophie Juice Pack, it’s barely larger than the Droid. It runs all day long, requires no battery swap at 2 PM, and I don’t have to worry about the terminals of a spare battery shorting out in my pocket or my notebook bag.
I’ve been using the Verizon Droid phone nonstop for nearly a week now and I can confidently say that it’s a great phone. Tune in to Suntimes.com for my full review.
But Verizon’s “iDon’t” is a terrible commercial. It provokes experienced iPhone users like me to get all Tyra Banks on the phone and the Android 2.0 OS. That can’t possibly be good for business.