Originally Posted by maven1975

Well, Verizon raising their ETF's to $350 should show your how greedy they are.

Droid is completely out of the question for now here in the US.

Hey Verizon.. Go to hell! There IS a map for that too.

Originally Posted by cb474

Here's an nice more in-depth review of the multi-touch situation with the Droid and Apple's tenuous and not entirely existent patents:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/04/s...nd-multitouch/

Engadget points out, as they did with the Pre, that Apple does not actually appear to have a patent on the pinch-to-zoom multi-touch capability. So it's pretty unlikely it has anything to do with why this feature is available in the European Droid and not the U.S. one. They also point out that Windows 7 and the HD Zune have pinch-to-zoom enabled. And Apple has not said a word, further suggesting that there's nothing Apple can do about it (because if they could why would they let arch enemy Microsoft "steal" the feature?). They also point out that if Apple had a patent claim, Google would already be in violation since multi-touch support is built into Android 2.0 (even if it's not implemented). So they just don't buy that Google is worried at all about Apple and multi-touch.

Engadget says there are some claims that the pinch-to-zoom feature on the European Droid was implemented by Motorola. And Google implied it was Verizon's decision to leave it out on the U.S. Droid. And Engadget thinks what's most likely is that Google just hasn't finished developing multi-touch yet, but that it will be on future devices. Still they conclude, as I do, that the whole situation is just weird and doesn't really have a good explanation, given what's known.

Originally Posted by Laughing Man

I don't think Apple has a patent on multi-touch specifically. If so the USPTO REALLY REALLY screwed up. But rather they obtained a patent based on certain gestures (e.g. pinching). Which is still a screw-up. So even if Google had multi-touch support built in, Apple couldn't do anything as long as Google doesn't do pinch zooming.

But it's more likely that Apple realizes their patent is worthless if any court case were to look into it so they're hoping nobody else realizes that. :P

I really do wonder what's going on.

Originally Posted by johnkzin

$15 is better than the alternatives ($30 for AT&T, infinite dollars for Sprint or T-Mobile-USA, since both simply don't allow tethering on smartphones). I agree it shouldn't cost more (bits are bits), but in comparison, the "$15 tethering fee", and their tethering policy in general, is probably one of the few things that I _like_ about Verizon (that, and having a mifi, are really the only things I like about them). I wish T-Mobile was as open about tethering these days (as they used to be before they launched 3G).

Originally Posted by Enyibinakata

Motorola RAZR sold over 100 million (much more than the N95) and since the DROID is a throwback to that, it may just click with most people. Its overly optimistic to claim that N900 will outsell the Cliq and Droid put together, Android may not be as powerful as our beloved Maemo but it ticks all the right boxes in this day of apps. Added to this, Nokia has failed to make much traction in the US market and the delay of the N900 has killed off any chances it ever had considering the DROID and Xperia plus numerous Android phones which are ready to go.

Motorola DROID will be on sale in Germany a week today as MILESTONE - thats fast delivery, much faster than N900 which was announced back in August and still bears a tentative release date.

The N900 is still in labour.

Be wary of speaking too soon.