Six smartphone flops

by
in mobile on (#3WF)
Yes, it's another ZDNet "Six Clicks" (meaning six adverts) article, but I think it's worth it: The six biggest smartphone flops over the past four years. Considering how far the technology - and Android in particular - has come, these are interesting phones that promised something new and alternative and then disappeared from the market months later. In five cases it was because the market just didn't want it; in one case it's because new leadership arrived and started slaying vampires.

Says author Matthew Miller:
Recent data shows that businesses are readily adopting iOS over other mobile operating systems. As we look at these smartphone failures, we see that Apple's iOS is a safe bet with well-supported devices and a rather consistent, progressive mobile strategy where experimental devices and strategies are not launched and then killed just a few months later. ... I have a feeling the Amazon Fire phone will soon be joining this list.
What's next? In a world of basically iOS and Android, what do you have to do to improve the user experience or differentiate your product?

[Ed. note: I agree about the Fire phone.]
Reply 12 comments

Phones (Score: 1)

by axsdenied@pipedot.org on 2014-08-15 23:32 (#3WG)

And to list them here:
1. Microsoft Kin (May to July 2010)
2. HP Veer 4G (May to August 2011)
3. HTC ChaCha/Status (June - August 2011)
4. Nokia N9 (September 2011 - July 2012 last update)
5. HTC First (April to May 2013)
6. Nokia X (Feb 2014, discontinued announcement in July 2014)

Samsung Galaxy 4 Active (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-08-16 04:02 (#3WJ)

Slated for death by imperial firing squad while still for sale.

What makes it different is that the menu home and back buttons are physical.

When this one dies in a few years time I will be looking for another waterproof android phone with real buttons.

Improvements (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-08-16 04:43 (#3WK)

Give me full control over app permissions and su to root just like linux.Is that too much to ask?

Re: Improvements (Score: 1)

by axsdenied@pipedot.org on 2014-08-16 08:46 (#3WM)

Google nexus + cm11 + xprivacy

Re: Improvements (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-08-16 12:30 (#3WN)

Great!
Now, can we try that again without the need to install a new OS?

It's like buying a PC then putting Linux on it because Windows doesn't allow admin access.

Re: Improvements (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-08-16 13:09 (#3WR)

Um, you mean just like a Chrome book? An iPad? An Android device? Apple and MS "app stores"? It's the way things are going; systems locked down by default. Be grateful there are still relatively easy workarounds for most. The tools exist to make it much worse. Our corporate overlords may not be so lenient in the near future. ;)

Re: Improvements (Score: 1)

by axsdenied@pipedot.org on 2014-08-17 00:00 (#3X0)

OK, how about nexus + xprivacy.
Rooting nexus is a game, connect USB cable, run software, reboot, done.

Re: Improvements (Score: 1)

by axsdenied@pipedot.org on 2014-08-17 00:09 (#3X1)

Factory non-rooted phones are beneficial for 99% of users. They are too dumb to know what it means and it would just be a security hole.

If you want your phone rooted, do it yourself and stop whingeing. It is not that difficult.

Re: Improvements (Score: 1)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-08-17 08:36 (#3XR)

Just chiming in here
I rooted a phone turning it into a brick permanently.
Am I allowed to whine about that?

Re: Improvements (Score: 2, Informative)

by axsdenied@pipedot.org on 2014-08-17 14:04 (#3XS)

If it was a permanent brick, my apologies.

Keep in mind that it is quite "difficult" to brick a phone nowadays, especially if you are just rooting it. And I am talking about real unrecoverable bricking here. No boot loops, boot failures etc which are incorrectly called bricking. Most of recent phones have bootloaders and/or other recovery systems. I have fixed at least 10 phones so far that people claimed were permanently "bricked".

Physical Keys! (Score: 1, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-08-16 13:16 (#3WS)

Hey I know it's a lost cause, but has anyone noticed how godawful it is to type on screen keyboards of any size? Autocorrect hurts as often as it helps, and typing in transit of any form is horrific. I'm typing this on the toilet and still correcting 1-2 typos per sentence, on a big phone.

I really hate some of the magical Jobs dictates that others blindly follow, and no keyboards is one. May have to look for a smaller slider.

(To say nothing of the muscle memory ability lost by the dumb dumb dumb removal of physical menu and nav buttons.)

Re: Physical Keys! (Score: 2, Informative)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-08-16 19:05 (#3WW)

Yeah, I hear you. I know it's hip to talk badly about Blackberry, but I've got a Bold 9900 and the keyboard is pretty darned awesome. Swipe and predictive text and all that stuff are ok, but I actually do better writing/typing on the BB. Wish I could have that keyboard with my Samsung Note 3, which has better apps.