"With Android 2.1 just being released yesterday, the news of 2.1 surprises us. If it were 2.0 or 2.01, we’d feel better."

The Nexus One runs Android 2.1. The Nexus One is made by HTC. Therefore, HTC has had access to 2.1 long enough to already bring one phone to market, so there's no reason to doubt this rumor (at least based on when 2.1 was released).

Remember, 2.1 was "released" to the public this week, but it has existed for a long time. Google gives select partners access to new versions before they give it to others.

Well let me know next time you're in town and you can see one in real life :)

We got a Droid at work this week for testing mobile sites and WOW is the screen just AMAZING. I have never seen such pixel density on anything before. Even the tiniest font type is incredibly crisp, and the detail in Google Maps sat view is crazy. Blows both of our phones away!

And the Google Navigation stuff... again, WOW. It's a game-changer (for GPSes, not necessarily for phones, though it certainly raises the bar). You have to check it out. I'll never buy a standalone GPS again.

Anyway, hope to see you at some point over the holidays so we can talk about phones and stuff :)

Mike, I had posted a reply to this a while back but it either got marked as spam or my Android phone didn't post it correctly :) (It said it was being held for moderation...)

Anyway, I think you're really projecting here. Verizon isn't going after the people who are already really happy with their iPhone. You're right, there's probably not much they can do to win them over. They're going after the people like me -- and there are a lot more of them than you think -- who tried out the iPhone and weren't impressed, or who maybe even bought an iPhone when it first came out, generally liked it, but are looking for something else.

I really admire, congratulate, and am grateful for Apple for redefining the smartphone market and kicking BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm etc. from their comfortable, complacent perch. But I really just wasn't as impressed by the iPhone as most everyone else. I realize I'm not a typical consumer, but I challenge you to back up your "vast majority of people" claim.

Go out and read this post from TechCrunch (and watch the video) about the Google Maps Navigation that will be on Verizon's Droid and then repeat your claim that users don't want features:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/28/google-redef...

Those features alone already makes the phone worth more than the standalone GPS unit I bought for significantly more money. My Sprint HTC Hero Android phone is exactly what I was looking for in a smartphone, and HTC's Sense UI is amazing. Blows anything the iPhone can do out of the water.

My wife tried and didn't care for the iPhone, but really loves her Palm Pre. She has an iPod with iTunes and liked it at first, until the 3rd of 4th time the supposedly uber-intuitive software deleted her entire music library. Then she became jealous of watching me drag and drop music files to my MP3 player without iTunes, so I'll admit she is a bit suspicious of Apple products from that experience.

So yes, I agree with you that just slapping a bunch of features on a phone with poor execution (something a lot of companies have been doing since the iPhone came out) will not convert anyone over. But flat out claiming that users don't care for features is crazy.

Every time I show people how my Android phone automatically and seamlessly integrates my Facebook friend data with my Google Contacts data (so calling or texting someone shows their profile pic, or pulling up their contact card shows their birthday, status updates, albums etc.) the luster of the iPhone goes down a bit.

iPhone's motto is "there's an app for that", but with my phone, it's all built directly in. I don't have to switch from a Facebook app to the dialer app to the Contacts app. And everyone I've shown it to has loved it. So again, I very much disagree that people don't care about features. They do want features, they just want them to be done in the right way.