Android Honeycomb Tablet OS is official. This does not suck! (1 Viewer)

[Hanson]

Not only do they force you to pay for one month, they charge you an activation fee to boot

 

[DaveF]

That's how you lose out to the iPad.


Apparently it will have 4G / LTE capability 'real soon now', and that will sell some units. But now priced effectively $120 over the 32GB iPad (presumably), it's set for mass-market failure.

 

[Hanson]

I don't think the tablet mass market is really a 3G/4G market. Anyone know the ratio of wifi only iPads sold versus 3G iPads? I assume that ratio is very high. So whether or not the $800 3G Xoom is price to fail or not, the fact is, even a $700 3G Xoom would be hard pressed to compete with a wifi only model at $600.

 

[DaveF]

Interesting question. Quick google doesn't find a breakdown of wifi vs 3G. I assumed it wouldn't be highly skewed since I plan to buy one or two 3G iPads. Looking forward to seeing all the tablets this year.

 

[Hanson]

Both TMo and AT&T allow for the same month to month plans available on the iPad. Verizon, however, charges you a reactivation fee every time you want to re-enable 3G.

 

[DaveF]

Waiting to see how the Verizon iPad 2 will be charged. I bet there's no activation fees.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Originally Posted by Hanson Yoo

Both TMo and AT&T allow for the same month to month plans available on the iPad. Verizon, however, charges you a reactivation fee every time you want to re-enable 3G.

Do we know for sure V actually charges this in practice or is that just based on some fine print or something?


In fine print, V pretty much always say they'll charge (re)activation fee (or at least reserve the right to do so) for pretty much everything, including basic cell phone service, but in actual practice, they tend to be very lenient about that (at least for cell phone service near as I can tell). No idea if that applies to tablets (or other mobile broadband offerings) though.


At the end of the day, I gotta think they'd rather have you (re)activate and pay for service now-and-then than get nothing from you at all, if it's clear enough that the (re)activation fee can be a dealbreaker.


_Man_

 

[DaveF]

Reviewers found V charged (re) activation fees for the Tab for toggling the 3G service. There was a cheage for the first use of 3G and a react fee if it was turned off and then back on.

 

[Hanson]

Man, the Verizon reactivation fee, which has been pointed out in almost every SGT review, is in sharp contrast to AT&T and TMo's month by month plans where you can pay for data access at a month at a time without any reactivation fees. So you can buy a month's worth of data access if, say, you know you're going to be on vacation for a couple of weeks and then go wifi only for the rest of the year.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

But are those review commentaries based on actual firsthand experience or just reading some fine prints, talking to V's PR and whatever else similar though?


Honestly, V hasn't been doing the tab business long enough for anyone to know how they'd actually handle it in practice in the long run (other than basing it on past history w/ their cell phone business, etc.).


I'm sure V *wants* to keep you paying a constant stream of $$$ (or force you to pay for reactivations), but from my experience, etc., I don't think V would stick w/ that if that actually means losing customers and losing in their ultimate bottomline. They will do whatever they think works, including being lenient about reactivations me thinks -- unless someone proves otherwise...


Now, I'm not actually recommending anyone betting that V won't charge the reactivation fee, but I'm just saying there's probably no need to jump to quick conclusions about what V will actually do in the long run or even a few months from now. They seem to change their marketing strategy and/or pricing plans/policies, etc. pretty often as they find the need, especially when faced w/ actual competition from other carriers. They are most likely not about to cut off their nose to spite potential customers who will otherwise just spurn their data service altogether...


_Man_

 

[DaveF]

Actual experience. We're drawing conclusions based on what Verizon has been doing with the tab. I think it will be different with their iPad. Maybe it will be different with Their first real Android tablet too.

 

[Sam Posten]

Full of Fail????


http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2011/02/21/motorola-xoom-to-launch-without-flash-support/?awesm=tnw.to_17Tov&utm_content=twitter-publisher-main&utm_medium=tnw.to-twitter&utm_source=direct-tnw.to

 

[DaveF]

But how will Xoom owners browse the Xoom website to learn about their device?!?


If you go to the Xoom website on an iPad, don't you get a message about, 'if you owned a device that didn't suck, you could learn about the Xoom.' What will it say when viewed on a Xoom?

 

[Sam Posten]

Yes, so double FullOfFail

 

[Hanson]

Very surprising they couldn't get Flash working on Honeycomb before shipping their flagship device. Looks like Motorola and Verizon had ants in their pants trying to be the first one out.

 

[DaveF]

There's a cynical view, in some commentators, that this is a purposeful ploy to ship review units without Flash so it won't harm battery life.


I don't share that. I think Hanson's perspective is far more likely. (or, from the other side, Adobe is behind schedule)

 

[Hanson]

3G Xoom $600 with 2 year contract:


http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/22/verizon-announces-xoom-pricing-600-on-contract-20-per-month/


Yes, the data is limited to 1GB, but $1080 over 2 years to have always on data access in a pinch is actually a pretty good deal compared to other data plans.


I wonder if Verizon didn't offer any contract plans for the SGT knowing that the Xoom was coming and considered the SGT a stopgap.

 

[DaveF]

Any further word on activation fees and such?


It's nearly the same cost as the 32GB iPad with the $15/mo plan for 24 months. You get more data with the Xoom. You're not locked in for 24 months with the iPad.


I'll prefer a contract-free device with 3G. I expect to want 3G on occasion, but not enough for a contract to be worthwhile.

 

[Sam Posten]

You say that now, without really being amazed at how much you'll use it when it's always on =)

 

[Hanson]

The cost for always on access is more of a convenience than a necessity, but if you're in the middle of bufu nowhere and want to use Google Maps on your tablet, it's pretty nice to have.