• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

The (maybe) "Epic" Motorola X Pre-Release Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
Nexus X sounds good...I want the Motorola logo somewhere on the phone...it better have a 3000+mah battery...I guess phones will be outdated every 6months ?
 
I see it being a Motorola branding. Google wants Motorola brand image to improve, and naming it a Nexus takes away from that. Nexus is reserved for phones made by companies Google doesn't own I think.
 
AntimonyER said:
I see it being a Motorola branding. Google wants Motorola brand image to improve, and naming it a Nexus takes away from that. Nexus is reserved for phones made by companies Google doesn't own I think.
Click to expand...

I think they want Nexus to continue to represent a pure Google experience. I've personally interpreted the X-phone to be Motorola's movement away from Verizon and towards broad carrier and customer coverage. I think they're targeting the Galaxy S3, which is a fine phone, but it's success is more due to the brand recognition that Samsung generated, and that you can get the same model from just about any carrier in the world. I think Motorola (under Google) understands this. Unfortunately, HTC apparently still doesn't.
 
If this is going to be yet another flagship that only releases on some carriers instead of all the big name carriers, I'll stick with Nexus androids tyvm
 
Adauth said:
15$ a month isn't going to happen VZW isn't that stupid.
Click to expand...

I think they are stupid enough to mull it over and maybe actually give it a try. There won't be a huge customer base for this type of phone/service really, so they will gauge those who want it bad enough. I honestly don't think they would care one way or the other if a handful of people left over this, it's not going to put a dent in their overall bottom line. The cell phone masses aren't at play, just a few die-hards.
They will carry it and offer it, looking like good guys. They won't actually have anyone use/buy it and, therefore, be justified in their belief that they don't have to carry something similar again because there is no customer interest. That will be based on lack of sales/service which will be driven by the cost which will be overlooked by Verizon. See, we offered it and no one wanted it that's why we aren't offering it again/any more. Win - win for them.
 
Exactly what they did to the Galaxy Nexus.

"Hi! You here for a new iPhone?"
"No, I want THAT one." (pointing to Nexus)
"Okay... but have you considered the Droid RAZR? It's Android and very popular!"
"I want THAT one."

The exchange just validated my suspicion that VZW pushes iPhones and locked Android phones with lots of un-removable bloatware. The Nexus was, and still is, a phenomenal device... but it was not marketed or demonstrated in the store. Not a single sign anywhere for it. Oh, they had one on the shelf: but it was tucked between the iPhones and the RAZRs and reps just led customers to either side of it. At least that's what happened in my store.

Sometimes the most heavily marketed phone in the store isn't the BEST phone in the store ;)

But, as it turns out, it still sold very well. Well enough for Verizon to carry the X - IF it's locked, unlockable and has lots of bloatware on it. If it's not, Big Red will hem and haw about it, and we'll have another launch fiasco just like the Nexus.

I'm Banking on it.

Back on topic:

http://www.phonearena.com/news/More-claims-about-Googles-Motorola-X-phone-huge-battery-Sony-camera-sensor-and-Kevlar_id39368

:)
 
Clementine_3 said:
I think they are stupid enough to mull it over and maybe actually give it a try. There won't be a huge customer base for this type of phone/service really, so they will gauge those who want it bad enough. I honestly don't think they would care one way or the other if a handful of people left over this, it's not going to put a dent in their overall bottom line. The cell phone masses aren't at play, just a few die-hards.
They will carry it and offer it, looking like good guys. They won't actually have anyone use/buy it and, therefore, be justified in their belief that they don't have to carry something similar again because there is no customer interest. That will be based on lack of sales/service which will be driven by the cost which will be overlooked by Verizon. See, we offered it and no one wanted it that's why we aren't offering it again/any more. Win - win for them.
Click to expand...

Still don't see it happening. The people who care will just buy it unlocked directly from Google play. Others that don't really care/know the difference won't pay $15. Not to mention the negative press vzw would receive from tech news for even trying to charge $15 a month for something you can get for free. VZW wants to actually sell this phone too. If the leaks hold true this could be one of the best all around devices available.
 
I hope you're right. Yes, you could buy it unlocked from Google... IF Google is going to sell the Verizon LTE version online. Which I strongly doubt, because Verizon's not going to have the competition. It'll be in Verizon stores or not at all. I'll betcha this:

Google Play will sell the GSM version. U.S. carriers will sell their versions as usual. Verizon will send a bootloader unlock to your phone upon request for an extra $15/month. Or - you could get clever and use as toolkit to unlock your own phone.

BUT: as soon as your newly unlocked phone signs in Verizon's service, they're gonna see that you're unlocked and they'll slap your bill with a $15/month hit anyway.

Our only hope is to throw enough public fits that Verizon has no choice but to cave on it. As said: this involves a micro-fraction of their users, so we're not talking big money here for Big Red. It's a matter of principle.
 
If you do unlock the device through your own means, I don't know how Verizon would know. I don't actually know, but I would imagine Verizon doesn't know which GS3 or GN2 users have cracked their bootloader. I imagine that their bootloader unlock would be similar to the HTCDev tool, or an Asus unlock apk where it registers your device and that's how they'll get you. One thing that could cause an a lot of problems is if someone who isn't tech smart buys a used unlocked device (without knowing about this condition), activates it, and then gets charged the fee and complains about it.
 
An excellent point, jhawk, and another reason this charge cannot be allowed to stand. Too many second-hand users would get burned. Well, I think we have the numbers to throw fits about it in the tech world of Big Red goes forward with it.
 
They have ways of telling even whether you are rooted or not, but a one time $15 fee seems more likely than $15 per month on top of Verizon's already ridiculously high prices.
 
Gmash said:
They have ways of telling even whether you are rooted or not, but a one time $15 fee seems more likely than $15 per month on top of Verizon's already ridiculously high prices.
Click to expand...

I know they have ways to check if they have the device in their hands (stock recovery boolean, Odin flash counter, etc) , but I'm not aware of any method that allows them to see it over the air. If there is a way, I'd be quite interested to know how.

As for the 15 one time, I would think it would be that low. I'd imagine they'd require you to buy it full retail or top bit out the line's contact. Essentially turning it into another dev device like the others they currently allow.
 
Is PayPass in Verizon stores? If they do I should go there today and buy something using my phone.
 
Gmash said:
They have ways of telling even whether you are rooted or not, but a one time $15 fee seems more likely than $15 per month on top of Verizon's already ridiculously high prices.
Click to expand...

Could be some merit to what you said. A $15 per month fee would really put off a lot of people and I doubt that many would pay the fee. Verizon is smarter than that.

Let's not forget that Verizon is trying to make money. Who would pay for an unlocked bootloader if it cost $15 per month? Seriously...who? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

No. Hell, I just probably would not buy that phone and move on to something else. Anyone that would be willing to pay for that probably doesn't understand why they would pay for it. So that would mean:

$15 per month x 0 customers = $0 revenue.

Now imagine that they charge you a $15 fee to unlock an ENCRYPTED bootloader. That is something that may or may not ever be possible from the Dev community. Would you pay a one time fee for the key to unlock the bootloader? I would. $15 is no problem for me and I think if you could spend $200-$300 on a phone like this...most of you would be willing to spend an additional $15 for the unlocked bootloader.

How many people would pay for this? Let's base the estimate of 5% of all Android users that root their phones. For example: If Verizon sold 2,000,000 phones, and 5% of those were sold to people like me who would pay $15 (one time fee) to unlock the bootloader:

2,000,000 x 5% = 100,000

100,000 x $15 = $1,500,000 in extra revenue.

It's simple math and Verizon will do whatever it can to capture additional dollars wherever it can.

That's my 2 cents anyway...
 
Hmm sounds like the hauwei phone theyre coming out with, but a better battery.. maybe we can stop hearing rumors and get facts =p
 
I actually think it's very plausible that VZW will tack on the fee. Because it's not about money. What if google told all carriers, the phone will be unlockable on your network, or you won't get it. So VZW lawyers look at the agreement and decide, they do have to offer a way to unlock it, but it doesn't have to be free. So they assign a number that when compared to what you get is exorbitant, in order to prevent as many people as possible from taking advantage of it. End result, for the most part, business as usual, with an extra $200 per year from the die hard few.
 
jhawkkw said:
I know they have ways to check if they have the device in their hands (stock recovery boolean, Odin flash counter, etc) , but I'm not aware of any method that allows them to see it over the air. If there is a way, I'd be quite interested to know how.

As for the 15 one time, I would think it would be that low. I'd imagine they'd require you to buy it full retail or top bit out the line's contact. Essentially turning it into another dev device like the others they currently allow.
Click to expand...

It was quite some time ago, but I read an article where Verizon was keeping track of who was rooted by sending out a small ota that wouldn't go through on rooted phones and therefore they could tell which ones went through and which didn't. It seemed legit to me at the time, if I remember correctly Verizon had all but confirmed it, but said they weren't going to do anything with the information, that it was just for research. I have no idea of the scope of the project, or it could have been a bs article, but it sounded real to me.
 
Gmash said:
It was quite some time ago, but I read an article where Verizon was keeping track of who was rooted by sending out a small ota that wouldn't go through on rooted phones and therefore they could tell which ones went through and which didn't. It seemed legit to me at the time, if I remember correctly Verizon had all but confirmed it, but said they weren't going to do anything with the information, that it was just for research. I have no idea of the scope of the project, or it could have been a bs article, but it sounded real to me.
Click to expand...

Not sure if I buy that. Any ota update has to be approved by the device owner. Also I am fairly certain they can't remotely tell if the user is rooted. If they actually have the phone and look into the phones history then they can tell.
 
Gmash said:
It was quite some time ago, but I read an article where Verizon was keeping track of who was rooted by sending out a small ota that wouldn't go through on rooted phones and therefore they could tell which ones went through and which didn't. It seemed legit to me at the time, if I remember correctly Verizon had all but confirmed it, but said they weren't going to do anything with the information, that it was just for research. I have no idea of the scope of the project, or it could have been a bs article, but it sounded real to me.
Click to expand...

In general, Ota's have no problem installing installing on phones or tablets that are rooted, but generally fail when there are other modifications like custom recovery, changed radio firmware, or deleted essential bloat. Often the ota will patch up the root and close known exploits though. Plus if these otas did get pushed, they would be logcatted, grabbed and dissected by devs and they would probably discover this fact. Seeing as I have yet to find a mass exodus of outrage over something to this, I would be inclined to file this under fiction.
I do remember when people discovered a "counter" in the stock recovery of the bionic that read 0 if never rooted, 1 if currently rooted, and -1 if it was rooted, but is no longer. That was a spectacle.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom