Elias Samuel embarrasses himself with obvious link bait in International Business Times with an article titled, 10 Reasons Why iPhone 5 Doesn’t Stand A Chance Against Motorola Droid Bionic. Thus, the Droid Bionic is yet another in a long line of iPhone killers. Is it?
The Problem With Facts & Features
There are two issues with any prediction that a new smart phone, however loaded with new age features it may be, that pundits predict will topple the iPhone.
First, the facts. For now, there is no iPhone 5 to compare, so it doesn’t matter much what’s inside the Droid Bionic. What’s inside, though, is the latest and greatest. Sascha Segan has a detailed review in PC Magazine. He calls it very good.
Droid Bionic is big and heavy, with a huge screen (and not very good quality). It’s CDMA-EVDO with LTE, so it’s not exactly a world phone. But it does come with a few handy extras: hot spot, LTE download speed, a dock, HDMI, and so on. But no simultaneous voice and data usage. Battery life is low, thanks to LTE (we’re not talking real 4G). The 8-megapixel camera disappointed Segan, but the dual core 1GHz CPU did capture 1080p video.
Why is Droid Bionic better than the iPhone 5? Bigger display. Faster CPU. The WebTop App (think Motorola dock). HDMI. Card Slot. LTE. Speed. Open Source. Flash video. Giant battery. 8-megapixel camera. Micro USB et al.
The second problem is features, and mostly hardware features. That’s what’s being compared, except only Apple knows exactly what will be in the iPhone 5.
One thing not mentioned in the Droid reviews or the list of 10 reasons is iOS or apps. I don’t know about you, but my iPhone is chock full of apps that are better than comparable Android apps.
But that doesn’t matter. What matters is the conclusion Samuel raises. iPhone 5 Doesn’t Stand A Chance.
For Droid Bionic to topple the iPhone 5 it will need to differentiate itself, deliver a compelling reason to switch or to buy vs. an iPhone 5. That’s how the marketplace works. Compelling reasons.
A slightly bigger screen? Is that a compelling reason? Fewer apps? Is that a compelling reason? Lower battery life? Is that a compelling reason? All those little extras (HDMI, USB, Flash video, card slot, et al)? Are they compelling reasons?
What does the Droid Bionic have that other Android iPhone Killers haven’t had already? Not much. 4G LTE? Been there, done that. iPhone still rules. Faster this or that? Adobe Flash? Been there, done that. iPhone still rules.
The reality is this. Products that hope to topple a market leader have to provide something of significance that the market leader does not. Same features and lower price? Same experience and lower price. More features, and better experience but at the same price.
All these iPhone killers move the bar up an inch on this feature or that, while the iPhone moved the bar up a mile back in 2007. To those who consider yet another Droid Whatever to be yet another iPhone killer, I offer this advice.
Move the bar more than an inch or two or three. A few inches just doesn’t turn me on.
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