Phones from Mars and Venus
This week sees starkly different advertising styles pitching products for girls and boys. Samsung announce its new ‘Diva’ design range of phones, specifically targeted at a female audience and the Motorola Droid gets a very boy-centric new advert for Verizon.
Haute couture
Premiering on the catwalk this season from Samsung are the S7070 touchscreen and the S5150 clamshell. Both phones feature a quilted texture cover and high gloss finish to catch the eye. The S7070 is for the sophisticated woman, unshy of her femininity in the workplace and the S5150 makes a statement of fashion awareness when out about town.
Samsung plan to refresh the Diva range with new models each year.
Gritty reality
Boys get a high-injection in-your-face new advert from Verizon Wireless for the Droid. I feel all manly again now after writing the Samsung paragraph. An almost-Droid is out in the UK next week, the Milestone.
Android 2.0 in the UK
The Motorola Droid is a Verizon Wireless exclusive built for North American CDMA networks. The European GSM version is called the Milestone and has started to become available across Europe. Stock goes on sale in the UK on 7 December.
Not yet announced as available through any UK carrier, the Milestone is appearing on independent web sites. Priced at around £450 it’s listed for sale from next week. The Android 2.0 phone retains the features of the droid, but sadly not the red demon eye and robotic voice. Europeans do gain the advantage of multitouch support, so iPhone-like pinch control for zooming and navigation is a great addition. The phone comes with a trial version of MotoNav, but I expect users to switch when full functionality for free Google Maps Navigation is released for Europe. Let it be soon!
I like Android, I love full QWERTY-sliders. So why am I so disappointed at the name change? Answers on a postcard, or at least a comment.
HAL 9000’s eye and the voice of a killer?
Boot up announcement of the Motorola Droid. Has a certain nerdy appeal, I must admit. Sorry for the naff video quality but you can see the effect. Did I mention it says DROOOOOID!
Premiering on the catwalk this season from Samsung are the S7070 touchscreen and the S5150 clamshell. Both phones feature a quilted texture cover and high gloss finish to catch the eye. The S7070 is for the sophisticated woman, unshy of her femininity in the workplace and the S5150 makes a statement of fashion awareness when out about town.