Confused about Android Phones?

The Bionic was supposed to be positioned as Verizon Wireless' flagship 4G LTE smartphone--the first with a dual-core processor--when it launched in early September. But its reign barely lasted a month, and following several recent announcements, it may not even rank as the third-best Android phone in Verizon's lineup by November.

The speed in which new Android devices are hitting the market speaks to the strength of Google's mobile platform. But it also leads to a lot of headaches for consumers who can be overwhelmed by the sheer number of options emerging every day. It's like the Best Buy commercial parodying the next great device coming out moments after you buy it, only it's playing out in real life.

The Motorola Droid Razr was in the spotlight for a few hours.

Handset manufacturers can't like the pace either.

They spend millions of dollar of research and development on the hot new device, only to lose the spotlight after a few days (or, in the case of the Droid Razr, a few hours).

"This sort of churn bothers both consumers and OEMs, for whom such a cycle is costly and, arguably, wasteful," said Roger Kay, an analyst for Endpoint Technologies.

For simplicity's sake, let's just look at Verizon's lineup for the holidays. In the past, the carrier has focused its marketing efforts on one big phone, known in the industry as a halo device, since the buzz around it often draws in consumers and drives the sales of other phones.

It was a short reign for the Droid Bionic.

(Credit: Motorola)

Past results have been mixed. The first Droid by Motorola was a smash hit, and helped propel Android into the mainstream. Prior to that was the BlackBerry Storm, which sold well but was plagued with glitches and a clunky user interface. Back then, customers knew exactly what was the phone to get.

That strategy has now been thrown out the window, as Verizon has at least four to five high-profile smartphones to offer for the holidays, one seemingly looking to top the preceding one.

Yesterday, Verizon and Motorola jointly unveiled the Droid Razr, a dual-core 4G LTE smartphone that boasts a thinner profile than the iPhone 4S. It represents a massive upgrade over the Droid Bionic, which just hit the market a month ago.

Granted, the Bionic suffered a well-documented series of delays, and should have technically hit the market in the second quarter. But the extra time to redesign the phone and bring it to market seems wasted with the introduction of the Razr. Why would anyone buy the Bionic now?

Several hours after the Razr unveiling, Google and Samsung showed off the Galaxy Nexus, the first smartphone running on Ice Cream Sandwich, which is the latest version of Android. The upgraded operating system is the first to integrate both smartphone and tablet user interfaces, and comes with a raft of new features. The Galaxy Nexus will run on LTE and is expected to also come to Verizon.

Google and Samsung's Ice Cream Sandwich Galaxy Nexus

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Samsung Electronics and Google took the wraps off the Galaxy Nexus, the latest Android handset to carry the flagship smartphone moniker.

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The smartphone, unveiled at a Samsung event in Hong Kong today, marks the debut of the latest version of Android, known as Ice Cream Sandwich (each iteration of Android is named after a dessert).

For Samsung, the introduction of another flagship Google phone underscores its growing influence as an Android vendor. While the company was slow to shift away from basic phones and move into the smartphone game, it has more than made up for lost time with the success of its Galaxy line of Android mobile devices, particularly with its recent line of Galaxy S II phones in the U.S. It also made the previous Nexus phone, the Nexus S.

"Samsung and Google have closely collaborated to push the mobile experience forward," J.K. Shin, head of Samsung's mobile business, said in a statement.

Unlike previous versions, Ice Cream Sandwich will run on any mobile device.

"Ice Cream Sandwich demonstrates the Android platform's continued innovation with one release that works on phones and tablets and everything in between," Andy Rubin, head of Google's mobile business, said in a statement.

As with all Nexus phones, the Galaxy Nexus boasts some impressive specifications. The smartphone features a 1.2 gigahertz dual-core processor, a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD screen with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a pronounced curved shape that is intended to cradle the face. There's a a 5-megapixel camera, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chats, and support for 1080p HD video capture and playback. Samsung says that its camera experiences zero shutter lag.

The body of the HSPA+ version is a svelte 8.9 millimeters thick (Neither Google nor Samsung specificed the thickness of the LTE version in their presentation.) The Nexus S also featured a subtle curve in its design, in keeping with the original curve of the Samsung Nexus S.

The Galaxy Nexus will launch in November in the U.S., Europe, and Asia (including China and Japan). Although no pricing has been announced, Samsung did mention that NTT DoCoMo will be the Japanese carrier.

The Galaxy Nexus debuts amid a number of other super smartphones. Earlier today, Verizon Wireless and Motorola unveiled the super-thin 4G LTE-enabled Droid Razr, a 7.1-millimeter thin phone that comes on the heels of the Droid Bionic. Apple, meanwhile, boasted of selling 4 million iPhones over the weekend after the 4S launched on Friday.

1 million iPhone 4S preorders!

Apple's iPhone 4S is already wildly popular.

(Credit: Apple)

Apple's iPhone 4S has beaten a single-day preorder record set by its predecessor, the iPhone 4.
According to Apple, first-day preorders of the iPhone 4S hit 1 million, easily besting the previous single-day preorder record of 600,000 set last year by the iPhone 4.

"We are blown away with the incredible customer response to iPhone 4S," Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, said in a statement today announcing the feat. "The first day pre-orders for iPhone 4S have been the most for any new product that Apple has ever launched and we are thrilled that customers love iPhone 4S as much as we do."

It is worth noting, however, that the comparison Apple has drawn between the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 might not be quite so even-steven. The iPhone 4S on Friday was made available for preorder to AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint customers. On its preorder day, the iPhone 4 was made available only to AT&T customers. More carriers, more potential customers.

Apple unveiled its iPhone 4S at a press event at its Cupertino, Calif. headquarters last week. The device comes with the same design as the iPhone 4, but boasts a host of improvements, including a dual-core processor and 8-megapixel camera. In addition, Apple has touted the device's new "wireless system," which on AT&T's network can theoretically offer up to 14.4Mbps download speeds. And for those who need additional storage, Apple has delivered a 64GB model to add to its 16GB and 32GB flavors.

Prior to the iPhone event, rumors were swirling, suggesting Apple would unveil two new iPhones, including an iPhone 5 that would deliver a host of improvements, such as an edge-to-edge display and near-field communication. After that didn't happen, some said that the event proved to be a letdown. But if the preorder figures are considered, it appears many consumers didn't agree.

Although Apple didn't provide a breakdown of preorders, AT&T said on Friday that in the first 12 hours of availability, it logged over 200,000 iPhone 4S preorders. The company didn't provide preorder figures for the second half of the day.

Apple's iPhone 4S goes on sale Friday. The 16GB option retails for $199, while the 32GB version goes for $299. The 64GB iPhone 4S is available for $399.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20118013-17/iphone-4s-preorders-top-1-million-in-single-day/?tag=mncol;topStories