[Opinion] Is There A Good Time To Buy Android Phones?

[Jungle King 76]

Motorola alone has released 6 or so phones in the last 7 months on just Verizon (d3, dx2, bionic, razor, razor Max, d4). Add in the other manufacturers, and androids on rival carriers and it probably averages out to about 1 every week. The iPhone is once a year. If it ever had the power of an android phone, it'd be hard to justify getting an android phone that'd be outdated next week.

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Not to be nitpicky but it's "only" been five in the last 6 or 7 months. The dx2 was just over 7 months ago and the d4 has not been released yet.

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[Jungle King 76]

I don't see how it's a good thing. They could have still have had the thinnest phone at the time and had a battery that demolished all other phone batteries.

Either way Motorola hurt it's customer loyalty and will have to manufacture and advertise two phones which are essentially the same within 3 months.

But honestly, if they had released both at the same time, how many people would actually buy the one with less battery? The maxx would have been the clear favorite if they came out together. Not to mention, they would have had to have a price difference at the time so they would have lost money there too by selling the RAZR for less. Basically, this gave them a few months to sell the RAZR at a higher price. For consumers it may not be so good but from a money making stand point it was smart.

They aren't going to lose any sleep over loyalty because there are still a higher number of loyal moto fans than there are those that jump ship. Add in all of the new customers they gain and don't forget there are users with the razr who will also buy the maxx.

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[BenLand150]

But honestly, if they had released both at the same time, how many people would actually buy the one with less battery? The maxx would have been the clear favorite if they came out together. Not to mention, they would have had to have a price difference at the time so they would have lost money there too by selling the RAZR for less. Basically, this gave them a few months to sell the RAZR at a higher price. For consumers it may not be so good but from a money making stand point it was smart.

They aren't going to lose any sleep over loyalty because there are still a higher number of loyal moto fans than there are those that jump ship. Add in all of the new customers they gain and don't forget there are users with the razr who will also buy the maxx.

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I believe he meant just one phone. Thinnest phone, and biggest batter right from the start. Not making two. Like they have now.

 

[nadav64]

I agree with you I waited something like 6 months before I bought my galaxy nexus because every time new phones coming out and I was wanted to buy the best and if it doesn't make sense I'm sorry I'm using the voice speak on the galaxy nexus

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[t35rk]

I don't see what the big deal is. More choices and cheaper prices for the consumer (if you are patient). The moral of the story is to be happy with what you already have for the longest amount of time possible.


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[Oldcoyote]

So, given what is going on, what makes the most sense? Wait three months before buying the newest model?

 

[BayouFlyFisher]

NO!! Do your research before purchase and make your decision. The free market system will determine how fast the release new phones. They are releasing phones at a faster pace than ever and they are selling more smartphones than ever. Hmmmm Seems to be a pattern there!!

 

[MrCapcom]

If they lowered the time that we could upgrade to like a year or lowered the price of of phones so we can easily buy them off contract I wouldn't care about the fast releases. But I do think they need to slow down at least give us time to make it through our 2 year contracts and try and update.
I went from the Tbolt and warranty exchange for Bionic and I want to buy a Galaxy Nexus because I figure I would get the updates and force myself not to want a new phone. But it is crazy hopefully they make good and slow down or at least change the way they do things as far as upgrades or buying off contract. For now ill probally end up just going to galaxy nexus and if that experience is good ill just stay with nexus phones at least they come out every year or so

 

[Droidrookie84]

I agree with all you guys, it seems as if verizon releases phone every week. Verizon needs to slow it down a little as well as the manufactures. Motorola always release phones about every other month. I do feel bad for droid razor users because it seems as if they were cheated out of that extended battery power in the droid maxx. I have the galaxy nexus, and believe me, I was going back and forth about getting the droid razor, galaxy nexus for the htc rezound.

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[prowler85]

Funny, just read an article that the Maxx was a mistake.
Massive Motorola Droid Razr Maxx battery a 'Eureka' moment

And this last quote goes directly to this thread:

"The Razr Maxx situation isn't likely to see a rerun any time soon. Jha has said he plans onscaling back the number of smartphones

that Motorola releases next year, focusing the company's resources behind a fewer number of higher quality phones. "

Thought that was funny in relation to this thread. So those of us that think it's too much apparently will get our wish. :biggrin:​

 

[saltrock]

I think one of the great things about android is the fact that we have so much to choose from. You guys seem to think that choice is a bad thing. One phone a year is good for techys, what in the world are you thinking? Enjoy the great variety

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[BenLand150]

I think one of the great things about android is the fact that we have so much to choose from. You guys seem to think that choice is a bad thing. One phone a year is good for techys, what in the world are you thinking? Enjoy the great variety

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Variety is awesome. But we don't need 100 phones to pick from. Make a high end phone for each carrier, and then keep making those secondary phones like they do now for lower prices to meet certain peoples needs.

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[reggie14]

I don't mind frequent hardware refreshes to Android phones. By itself, I think frequent refreshes are a great thing- there's kind of a natural, gradual progression of technologies in Android phones, versus the yearly jumps that Apple does. So, you can always go out and get today's best technology in an Android phone. But, I don't like that 1 year after a top-of-the-line Android comes out, the manufacturer has largely abandoned it support-wise, except for critical security updates. Manufacturers almost have to do that, though, given the number of different phone models they put out in a year. If it meant better long-term support, I would be happy to see a slower release schedule.

I don't think it will happen too significantly, though. I think there's more market pressure on phone manufacturers to put out new devices frequently than there is for them to provide long-term support (its sort of sad that "long-term" means more than 1 year).

 

[geoff5093]

I'm all for improvements in phones, and having the latest and greatest hardware. There are two major problems I see currently with Android, as many others have said in this thread.

One, devices are coming out too fast. Even though a new device doesn't make our device slower, it's the idea that you don't have the latest device which makes us regret our purchase. This is one area where Apple has a good thing going, users know they have a year or so before any new iPhone comes out, so they can enjoy their purchase for a lot longer then us Android users.

The second is fragmentation, with so many devices coming out it's hard to get a huge dev community going for each phone. Sure the Gnex has a great dev community, but look at the other phones. By the time it comes out and people figure out how to unlock them, another phone is already out, so the phone they were working on gets left behind.

 

[MrCapcom]

Variety is good but when u get bionic>razr>razr Max within 2-3 months thats a issue. I wouldnt mind a 8-12 month turn around on phones for each manufacturer so have 3 phones from each low/mid/high