Through the weekend I’ve been watching the Google Phone chatter — nine Google Phone Techmeme Toppers in just 48 hours. Sadly, In the end I come down on the side of Slate’s Farhad Manjoo:
I’m guessing there’s something we’re missing about this story. As Engadget’s Joshua Topolsky points out, this is not the first time Google has given its employees preview versions of upcoming phones—devices that later turned out to be regular Android phones offered through carriers. The Nexus One may be the same story all over again—a great new device that represents the next iteration of the Android platform, a phone whose next-generation functions will eventually trickle down to other Android phones. Not the Google Phone, but a Google phone—just one of many.
And PC Magazine’s Sascha Segan:
Will Google sell an updated developer device that may be called the “Nexus One?” Sure, I can see that, but it wouldn’t be a massive consumer play, and it wouldn’t “disrupt” the wireless industry… It’s clear that American consumers want some sort of messiah to save them from the structure of our wireless industry. But it’s not going to be Apple, and it’s probably not going to be Google, either. If you feel that strongly that you need to be freed from the carrier-controlled system, write to your Congressional representative – that’s the only way things will change any time soon.
While Google’s no messiah, it’s a sure thing that Congress is in the pockets of the telecom giants.
Meanwhile, two other weekend Techmeme toppers are of interest to smartphone watchers. The NYTimes’ Randall Stross reported that AT&T’s network beats Verizon’s; consumer complaints about slow speeds and dropped calls are the iPhone’s fault:
Roger Entner, senior vice president for telecommunications research at Nielsen, said the iPhone’s “air interface,” the electronics in the phone that connect it to the cell towers, had shortcomings that “affect both voice and data.” He said that in the eyes of the consumer, “the iPhone has the nimbus of infallibility, ergo, it’s AT&T’s fault.” AT&T does not publicly defend itself because it will not criticize Apple under any circumstances, he said. AT&T and Apple both declined to comment on Mr. Entner’s assessments.
Stross was quickly challenged by John Gruber’s articulate skeptism:
So on the one hand we have the simple theory that AT&T’s network stinks, especially in large metro areas, and extra-especially in New York City and San Francisco. On the other hand, we have the theory that AT&T’s network is just fine because two network consulting companies say so, even though a Consumer Reports customer survey says otherwise, and it is the iPhone that is flawed, but the flaws are for some reason worse on AT&T than other carriers around the world, and just happen to be worse still in some cities than others, and Apple has been unwilling and/or unable to address these flaws in three model years.
Gruber’s good points aside, I find the take-down of Verizon appealing. Let’s remember David Pogue Techmeme topper from some weeks back. He reported then on Verizon’s slimy charging practices:
I got a note from a reader who says he actually works at Verizon, and he’s annoyed enough about the practice to blow the whistle:
“The phone is designed in such a way that you can almost never avoid getting $1.99 charge on the bill. Around the OK button on a typical flip phone are the up, down, left, right arrows. If you open the flip and accidentally press the up arrow key, you see that the phone starts to connect to the web. So you hit END right away. Well, too late. You will be charged $1.99 for that 0.02 kilobytes of data. NOT COOL. I’ve had phones for years, and I sometimes do that mistake to this day, as I’m sure you have. Legal, yes; ethical, NO.
“Every month, the 87 million customers will accidentally hit that key a few times a month! That’s over $300 million per month in data revenue off a simple mistake!
Our phones have had many different user interfaces, buttons, keypad/boards and designs over the years. We’re constantly working to update and improve the phones with a goal of making them easier for customers to use. We also try to help customers understand the various options — Internet, apps, etc. — available to them on these phones. We know it’s important we get this issue right, regardless of how many customers it impacts (which appears to be very few), and we’ll always work with customers to credit any incorrect charges they may find on their bills.
It’s a cellphone jungle out there…