Verizon announces early store openings for DROID launch
By Darren Murph 
posted November 3rd 2009 1:05PM
posted November 3rd 2009 1:05PM
posted November 3rd 2009 1:05PM
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Pre-ordered (more like "reserved") via Best Buy. Awaiting a call on Thursday to set up an appt on Friday to come in for the activation. The Moto Droid will have itself 30 days to prove itself more useful than my 3G iPhone and, if so, ATT contract will go buh-byesssss!! :D
Not stepping foot in a VZW store, there's just no need w/ the insta-rebate via BB and proper scheduling practices (as opposed to waiting on line at obnoxious hours).
Pip pip!
This sounds like a great idea. Think I'm going to BB after work. You've got 30 days VZW/DROID!!!!
again..... snore. Wake me up when the Xperia X10 is up.
Xperia looks sweet as hell *now*; by the time it is launched, surely there'll be much sweeter things to have.
I can only use my New Every 2 discount online or in a verizon store, right? Not at bestbuy?
you should be able to use it at Best buy as well.
I called and asked BB if I could do that, they said yes. But no 1 year agreement, he said Verizon doesn't do that on new 'largely hyped' phones. Which is false.
I can't wait!!!!
To see if they do it.
Break zero to million smartphones sales in 72 hours record.
Record held by the vowel phone.
Huh... was your previous account banned, Truth?
Allow me to alleviate the suspense: they won't. Also, I found this interesting: They're charging $15/month for Exchange. And people thought Verizon was going to be better with this phone. Nope! Let the crippling begin!
Every Best Buy I've spoken to has refused to honor my NE2, and as much as the MIR is a pain, I think it's easily worth the $50 I save by going through the hassle of dealing with the Verizon store and waiting on the rebate.
I had the same sort of issue. The guy at Best Buy basically said I'd have to pay the full phone price unless I waited until my new ever 2 was up, where are the Verizon store said I could get the $100 rebate and $50 off from my preferred customer status. The guy didn't seem to understand what I was trying to tell him, but he didn't seem to get that maybe I didn't want to pay $50 to reserve a phone that'd I'd either have to pay $700 for or wait until December to get for the correct price. I just walked out on him. Those guys are idiots.
I went to Best Buy to pre-order the droid, but I found out that they won't give me the $100 I get from Verizon towards a new phone. For me cost at Best Buy would have been $200, and buying it at Verizon will be $200, with the mail in rebate making the final cost only $100. :-)
Pre-sales and early openings - should I be worried about the phone selling out and not being able to buy one? I've been waiting to get this phone since the rumors I heard this summer.
It's $200 AFTER rebate at Verizon.
New Every Two® credit is $100 for me, so
300
-100 for rebate
-100 for new every two
= $100 final cost of Droid.
I preordered at best buy. One store nearby said no, they would not honor it, but the other store said as long as i either print out my account screen showing the final cost being $99 ($299 - $100 instant rebate - $100 NE2 discount) or log into my account there in front of them and show it to them, they will match it...
as soon as it's up on verizon's site, I am printing that out and walking in friday for my $99 phone ($35 of which will be paid for with reward zone certificates)
PC World now reporting that there will be an additional $15 monthly charge for Exchange synchronization. Pretty lame, and apparently confirmed by Verizon. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/181269/exchange_surcharge_could_hinder_droid_with_businesses.html My rep also quoted me two price plans for personal and corporate data packages for the DROID. Now rethinking my decision to purchase it.
No this is just lame parrot reporting by PC World. The $15 is if you want to use Exchange email hosted by Verizon. If your company uses Exchange and you want to sync using your personal account there is no extra fee.
Good to know. I spoke with my Exchange admin and my business rep and they both basically said that if I had it working on a WinMo phone (which I did) without a corporate data plan with the extra 15 bucks tacked on, then I should be fine. We use an OWA server rather than an OMA apparently and somehow VZW can police one and not the other. OWA ftw imo!?!
I will be laughing if this thing is a bust like the Iphone in in China.
Well it has two main things going for it: One, it's a pretty decent phone. It does some things better than the iPhone, and it does some things worse. Two, it's on Verizon. Not because Verizon is better than AT&T, but simply because people on Verizon haven't had access to a decent smartphone up till now. That alone will sell some Droids.
However, the iPhone is status quo now. People don't buy a phone because the coverage of the carrier is great, they buy it because the phone is great. The iPhone has pretty much proved that. But I'm as happy as anybody that there is finally a decent smartphone on Verizon. I just hope nobody is expecting it to do as well as the iPhone, because it won't.
NOTHING will ever be able to take iPhone fanboys away from Apple -- not even a below average network by comparison to Verizon.
As Jack already said, you will get the Android fans to come to VZW, you will get the current VZW subscribers to switch over b/c they finally have a good smartphone, and geeks everywhere will appreciate this phone for just how much it can do.
Apple has a flashier interface and a huge market share. It's unrealistic for anyone to think that someone can unseat the iPhone at this point despite the large amount of differences between some other operating systems (webOS and Android) -- good or bad.
bestbuy in pa said that i have to pay a $50 deposit and the $100 rebate isn't an instant rebate??????????????
I would definitely go to BB to get it done, but when I asked them yesterday if they will setup my corporate discount they waffled and then said no. When I pressed for a reason, they basically said we don't want to have to jump through the hoops (faxing ID to VZW, faxing paystubs, etc.) and they wouldn't get a commission if they couldn't just use their computer ordering system.
lol, forget that
Ugh. Manufactured hype.
Dear Verizon
Just let me preorder the phone on the Verizon website and pick it up at the store on Friday. That way I can use my additional new-every-two discount.
Don't worry, I promise I'll tell everyone how great it is and that they should run right out and buy one. But there's no way I'm standing in line for the chance to buy a phone
kthxbi.
I was all in hype for getting this phone till I saw that it was a CDMA phone and not GSM. Now, not so much...next please. CDMA is only good in this country, not the rest of the world that is on GSM.
T, you're cute.
The store near me opens at 6AM, and that is a Mall location. I believe most stores are opening at 6am, atleast in my area.
what is the retail price for droid?
Data plan clarification. With actual reporting taking place, not just parroting mashable and others.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355249,00.asp
I decided to try BB for preorder the Droid. They were freaking clueless! Out of the 3 mobile employees, one finally found a preorder sheet. You have to buy a $50 BB gift card to be allowed to preorder the droid. When you fill out the sheet, you can put the time that you want to pick up your droid on 11/6. Since they were so totally clueless, I decided to pass. I can only imagine the chaos Friday at BB if today was any harbinger.
Also, I am due for my new every two, but best buy will not give you an extra $50 off the price unless you can show them on your verizon account that you would get that price when you order with them (they have a netbook handy for you to log on right then and there to prove it). Which would be fine, if the droid was online for verizon, but since it is not, you can't show them squat.
It seems like BB trains their employees to hard sell insurance plans ($10.99 a month!), cases, and micro cards without knowing jack about the actual phones! At least that was the case today when I got my wife the envy 3.
My local verizon store is actually making appointments on friday (mine is 8am) to get the droid. I called, and he said, "which one, HTC or MOTO?" I said, "MOTO." He said, "I will have it waiting on you."
Yes, I have to mail in for the rebate debit card, but that is okay by me.
FWIW
We can't wait to get the Motorola Droid.
Motorola Droid fansite
Why didn't they nerd out to the max and put the D Pad on the left like a proper console controller.
I can't wait to see pictures of empty lines hehe... after the Pre disaster I will never believe the hype.
Likewise, I can't wait to see iPhone fanboys eat their words.
But I do agree...the Pre was a pretty funny PR disaster.
I can't wait to see pictures of empty lines... after the Pre disaster I don't believe the hype.
i know this will probably refer to no one in this blog but...
the verizon store in tyler tx (an hour from dallas) is having a midnight release party...
droids are not low stock but verizon is not flooding the stores with phones...
who knows..this might help someone!
reply for questions or directions!
Due to the battery issue I didn't get a chance to try it outdoors, but I was using it in a well lit office on about medium brightness and it was very readable. It's not a glass or gloss screen so it is much better than many netbooks. From the time I had with it, it's a great little device and I'm very anxious to get my replacement.
As for the Hot-swap on the battery, I'm not sure if that is viable. My battery appeared to be completely dead, but the machine would still try and fire up so whether there is some residual juice in the machine I don't know.... although come to think of it the clock kept resetting itself and it also states in the literature that the machine should not be operated without the battery connected and also not to leave it out for prolonged periods. This would lend me to think that the hot-swap is unlikely.
http://discounttagheuerwatches.us/
Reply
Too bad they won't have any HTC TOUCH PRO 2s in-stock in stores.....
How stupid can a company be in not stocking one of their most demanded phones in the stores themselves...much less an actual model you can play with???
Does anyone know if the Eris is coming out on Friday or not? I know last week that was the rumor and all, but we haven't heard anything about November 6th for the Eris since last week. So far it's still all vaporware, there has been no announcement from VZW or HTC that it even exists. I really really want it. I couldn't care less about the motodroid. Give me the sense UI and a possible upgrade to Android 2.0 later for $99.
So to sumarrise the droid
keyboard is rubbish, camera is rubbish, video is rubbish, buttons are rubbish, looks for the most part are industrial not slick, sliding form factor is useless because the keyboard is rubbish, and hence prevents a slick one piece phone, battery is average, switching between Apps is laggy, music connectivity is rubbish, and whats the pint of the annoying section sticking out at the bottom.
SO... could someone please tell me why I would swap whatever phone I have for this (and I'm already on Verizon with an old palm 650)
So to sumarrise the droid
keyboard is rubbish, camera is rubbish, video is rubbish, buttons are rubbish, looks for the most part are industrial not slick, sliding form factor is useless because the keyboard is rubbish, and hence prevents a slick one piece phone, battery is average, switching between Apps is laggy, music connectivity is rubbish, and whats the pint of the annoying section sticking out at the bottom.
SO... could someone please tell me why I would swap whatever phone I have for this (and I'm already on Verizon with an old palm 650)