droidStory

The sales event was kicked off last night by numerous launch parties at Verizon stores across the country. The latest addition to Verizon’s Android line-up is basically a Motorola Droid2 in R2-D2 disguise. I am sure the many Star Wars fans will love the look and the extras (wallpapers and ring tones) packaged with the phone.

Any bets on how quickly it will sell out, or how much it will cost on eBay?

I’m not really surprised about this, other than that it took that long.

Nathan Nabors, a Florida resident, has filed a class action lawsuit alleging that Google was in breach of contract by not resolving the Nexus One 3G connectivity problems that some users were experiencing, in addition to the inadequate support Google was providing during the time the company was selling the phone.

I’ve experienced first-hand the 3G problems and posted numerous blog posts and YouTube videos that illustrate the issue. I’ve also felt strongly that the problem was caused by the phone’s hardware, specifically a flaw in the antenna design, combined with T-Mobile’s sub-optimal 3G coverage and signal strength.

Still, Google sold the phone directly to consumers and was not prepared to deal with the support burden. Perhaps that is the reason why Google is the only defendant named in the lawsuit.

I’m now happily using a DroidX on Verizon and the Nexus One / T-Mobile 3G frustration is only distant memory.

The guys at MyDroidWorld got their hands on a leaked (read unauthorized) Android 2.2 Froyo version for the DroidX. They kindly provided the update instructions and download mirrors to the update.zip file here. Rooted and un-rooted phones can be upgraded. It is not clear if this version is a release candidate of the anticipated official release slated for sometime in August or September, but it is likely that it is not.

Many people are reporting successful installation and use of this version, but caution is strongly advised. Unlike the original Droid or the Nexus One, Motorola and Verizon have gone all out (eFuse) to protect the latest Droid from unauthorized updates. While eFuse is not going to brick your phone as some initially reported it is still preventing custom ROM’s from being installed. This update obviously coming from Motorola installs fine, but it is unclear if the official OTA Update of Froyo will, once you’ve installed this leaked version.

For that reason I’m going to sit this one out…

Update: Well, this did not take long. Numerous blogs report that Motorola has sent a cease & desist order to the sites hosting the leaked update. Why am I not surprised.

Our company phone system allows me to forward voice mails as file attachments. Unfortunately, playing the WAV files on my Android phone doesn’t work. There are some apps in the market that allow you to play the different wav-file formats, but I decided it wasn’t worth buying/installing yet another app for the few times I needed this feature. Instead, I enabled a simple conversion-mail-back service on the DroidStory server.

If you ever need a quick conversion of a voice mail wav file to mp3, simply forward your email containing the attachment to wav2mp3_at_droidstory_dot_com and you’ll get a MP3 file mailed back.

That’s it, no registration or setup required. Enjoy!

PS: No worries – your privacy is ensured. Our server space is much too valuable to keep your files. All data gets removed right after conversion. Guaranteed!

As previously posted, Google is discontinuing the Nexus One. Well, it only took a couple of days before the remaining stock was depleted. Incidentally, I just sold my N1 on eBay, since I have now moved on to the Motorola DroidX. The Nexus One was/is a great phone and surely helped pave the way for the rapid growth of Android.

Google quietly announced that it will discontinue the direct sale of its Nexus One phone.

This week we received our last shipment of Nexus One phones. Once we sell these devices, the Nexus One will no longer be available online from Google. Customer support will still be available for current Nexus One customers. And Nexus One will continue to be sold by partners including Vodafone in Europe, KT in Korea, and possibly others based on local market conditions.

To ensure our developers have access to a phone with the latest Android OS, Google will be offering the Nexus One through a partner for sale to registered developers. Visit the Android Market Publisher site and log into your developer account to purchase a Nexus One.

This officially marks the end of the N1 experiment.  There are many opinions why this experiment failed. Google has certainly learned a lot about the complexity of the US wireless market and retail operations in general. The N1 offered a glimpse at carrier independence, with unrestricted software access and real-time Android updates. The 3G reception problems and the resulting finger-pointing between HTC, T-Mobile and Google highlighted the inherent problems with this direct sales model.

I believe, that the US wireless market with its carrier specific 3G data frequencies and incompatible wireless network technologies is a key reason for the failure of the N1, and Google’s direct sales model. Why buy an expensive phone without contract subsidy, if you can’t switch wireless providers because the phone wont work on another carriers network?