Verizon unveils iPhone rival

[j__1]

More competition coming out of Apple jumping into the market.... even though this is Verizon, I'm sure TMO USA has more than a few up its sleeve.


**********
By Sinead Carew
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Wireless unveiled three new cell phones on Wednesday for the holiday season, including a high-end handset named Voyager that will compete with Apple Inc's iPhone.

The Voyager, made by LG Electronics, trumps the iPhone by offering faster wireless Web access. But in a nod to the Apple device, which is only available to AT&T Inc subscribers, it has a large touch screen and full Web browser.
Verizon Wireless hopes the new phone will attract customers put off by the iPhone's lack of a traditional keypad -- the Voyager hinges open to reveal a small computer keypad and a second screen.

"We think it'll be the best phone ... this year. It will kill the iPhone," Verizon Wireless Chief Marketing Officer Mike Lanman said in an interview.

Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart said the Voyager may attract existing Verizon subscribers who do not want to switch service providers, but he doubted it would hurt iPhone sales.

"People who want a high-end media phone and want to stay with Verizon will certainly give that one a hard look. I don't know that it would pull anybody away from an iPhone," he said.

The battle for cell phone buyers' hearts this holiday shopping season is shaping up to be even fiercer than usual, as rivals to Apple and AT&T launch new challengers.
Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, has not been first with the hippest phones, but said this line-up is its best yet.

"Typically a carrier brings one, maybe two exciting products to the market in a year. We're bringing four," Lanman said, referring to the three new models and its existing LG Chocolate phone.

Verizon also introduced Juke, an ultra-narrow phone that comes in three colors and is shaped like a chocolate bar. The phone, made by Samsung Electronics, is less than 1 inch wide.

It also unveiled another LG phone, the Venus, which comes in black and pink, and has a phone keypad that slides out from under a touch screen. As with Voyager, it vibrates when a user taps a menu option on the screen.

Verizon Wireless would not give exact pricing beyond saying each phone would target a different segment and range from under $100 to about $400. The iPhone costs $399.
Greengart at Current Analysis said the new Verizon range is a step forward for a company that has been trumped before by AT&T, which sold Motorola Inc's Razr long before Verizon did.

"This is something Verizon had to do," Greengart said. "It's been a long time coming for them to get hotter devices."

Venus and Voyager both have 2-megapixel cameras, and high-speed wireless connections for fast music and video downloads, and a slot for 8 gigabytes of extra memory. The iPhone has 8 gigabytes of built-in storage.

Venus and Voyager will launch before the end of November

The cheapest phone in the range is the Juke, which is narrower than any U.S. phone so far and will go on sale on October 19, Lanman said.

The Juke slides open to reveal a tiny keypad and comes in dark blue, red and teal. It has dedicated keys for playing music but does not have a high-speed wireless link.
Verizon Wireless said it expects to attract more fashion-conscious young users to Juke than those who want to constantly e-mail or Web-surf on cell phones.

[jgebis]

The best thing about the iPhone: the products that will be created to compete with it.

[Railroader]

I think those will keep people with Verizon that are already there, but they won't tempt people to come from other carriers. They all have the same, locked, boring Verizon OS, I don't see them being in the same league with the iPhone, at least not interface wise, they are 3G enabled though.

[homobile]

Also,alot of people want the iPhone just because Apple makes it.I don't know very many people who get excited by LG handsets.It does seem like a nice phone though.But def not an iPhone killer.

[homobile]

Here are some photos comparing the two

Engadget Mobile (http://www.engadgetmobile.com/photos/hands-on-with-verizons-new-lg-voyager/)

I do like that this phone has a keyboard too.

[Davesworld]

Wasn't the iPhone somewhat of a copy of an LG phone that was out before the iPhone? All I know about the iPhone is that Apple has their name on it, not who builds it.

[cwilliams706]

There was speculation that the iPhone was a "copy" of the LG KE850, better known as the LG Prada. Even though the Prada was developed before the iPhone (and launched before it as well), it was only launched in Europe. This made the Prada almost unknown to the general public in the US for quite some time. As for the LG VX10000 (LG Voyager), I currently have this cellphone. As for being an "iPhone killer," I wouldn't go that far but it is a direct competitor with it. Some key points the Voyager has over the iPhone are:

1) Removable battery
2 )Expandable memory
3) 3G connectivity
4) Tactile QWERTY keyboard
5) GPS Capable

Both cellphones have their own strengths and weaknesses, so it's all a matter of what you're looking for in a cellphone.

[Mystictrust]

Can you elaborate on how the Voyager is not an iPhone killer? It certainly seems like one. I've seen the commercials and that phone seems to have everything... I like how it has an awesome touch screen form factor yet flips open to reveal the QWERTY keyboard :D

[cwilliams706]

Can you elaborate on how the Voyager is not an iPhone killer? It certainly seems like one. I've seen the commercials and that phone seems to have everything... I like how it has an awesome touch screen form factor yet flips open to reveal the QWERTY keyboard :D

Well first of all I'll start out saying that the Voyager is more of a direct competitor toward the iPhone, not an actual "killer". True, the Voyager does has the tactile QWERTY keyboard along with its sideways flip form factor. However, the majority of multimedia messaging users prefer the slide out design for QWERTY handsets, thus limiting this handset to a specific crowd (or genre of users to be exact). The Voyager does include a "Full HTML web browser," but the iPhones safari browser trumps the Voyagers in the aspect that is has flash built into it (thus allowing it to render YouTube videos while the Voyager can only render m.youtube.com videos *3GP format*). iTunes (1st party) can sync everything (music, contacts, etc.) you want from it's software sync, whereas with the Voyager you can opp to download 3rd party software (Bitpim) to do the same or you can set the phone in "USB Mass Storage" mode (if you have a microSD card inserted in the handset) to transfer pictures, ringtones, music, and videos. The iPhone is technically a "smartphone," while the Voyager is merely a standard multimedia cellphone on steroids. It's two totally different user fields, with similar devices at hand.

[Sqube]

I don't know that you can really call the iPhone a smartphone though; I think of it more as a high-feature phone. The lack of tactile keyboard really slows down the road warriors; business people aren't leaving their Blackberries for iPhones.

Also, I believe the iPhone isn't well-suited to business e-mail and things of that nature, but I haven't kept up with it enough to be able to go into any relevant amount of detail.

That said, the Voyager isn't an iPhone killer. It needed a full-featured browser to be a competitor, and it simply doesn't have one (unfortunately). VZW made a nice UI for it, but I'm still curious as to what LG's UI looked like for that phone.

It's the little thing that add up, IMO. The Voyager hit the big points, but missed the little touches (including Flash, 3.5 mm jack, Verizon's usual Bluetooth "support").

Also, from a personal standpoint, I prefer the slide form factor over the flip-open. That has nothing to do with the Voyager being/not being an iPhone killer in the general sense, but it definitely was an issue for me personally.

[cwilliams706]

I don't know that you can really call the iPhone a smartphone though; I think of it more as a high-feature phone. The lack of tactile keyboard really slows down the road warriors; business people aren't leaving their Blackberries for iPhones.

Also, I believe the iPhone isn't well-suited to business e-mail and things of that nature, but I haven't kept up with it enough to be able to go into any relevant amount of detail.

That said, the Voyager isn't an iPhone killer. It needed a full-featured browser to be a competitor, and it simply doesn't have one (unfortunately). VZW made a nice UI for it, but I'm still curious as to what LG's UI looked like for that phone.

It's the little thing that add up, IMO. The Voyager hit the big points, but missed the little touches (including Flash, 3.5 mm jack, Verizon's usual Bluetooth "support").

Also, from a personal standpoint, I prefer the slide form factor over the flip-open. That has nothing to do with the Voyager being/not being an iPhone killer in the general sense, but it definitely was an issue for me personally.

I had the same mentality as the text I bolded in your post quoted above, until after reading a particular smartphone/PDA handset magazine. Not only did it elaborate on how the iPhone is indeed a "smartphone," but showed a graph depicting the amount of business users who are "gravitating" toward the iPhone for use in the work as well as personal lives. I'll try and locate the magazine again and state the name of it.

[macflauaus]

I don't know that you can really call the iPhone a smartphone though; I think of it more as a high-feature phone. The lack of tactile keyboard really slows down the road warriors; business people aren't leaving their Blackberries for iPhones.

Also, I believe the iPhone isn't well-suited to business e-mail and things of that nature, but I haven't kept up with it enough to be able to go into any relevant amount of detail.

That said, the Voyager isn't an iPhone killer. It needed a full-featured browser to be a competitor, and it simply doesn't have one (unfortunately). VZW made a nice UI for it, but I'm still curious as to what LG's UI looked like for that phone.

It's the little thing that add up, IMO. The Voyager hit the big points, but missed the little touches (including Flash, 3.5 mm jack, Verizon's usual Bluetooth "support").

Also, from a personal standpoint, I prefer the slide form factor over the flip-open. That has nothing to do with the Voyager being/not being an iPhone killer in the general sense, but it definitely was an issue for me personally.
Well, personally, I think that we can't call either phone a smartphone, but we'll be able to call the iPhone a smartphone sooner than we can call the Voyager one.

Remember that in February, the SDK will be released for the OS. How long it will take before apps start showing up for it, we don't really have any idea. My criteria for a smartphone is something that you can view documents on, have some sort of business email integration (Exchange, BES, etc.), and the basic PIM. The iPhone has 2/3 while the Voyager only has 1/3. Apple did say that Exchange support was coming sometime. When, pssh. I have no idea.

Now then, enough of iPhone vs. Voyager in terms of defining, I'll voice my opinion why I think that the Voyager is not an iPhone killer.

No multitasking. You can't play music in the background while texting. Seriously? Shouldn't that be a standard feature nowadays? Also, the browser just isn't as "fun" as the Safari browser is. Plus rich email adds an element of style to it as well.

I would be looking more toward the Voyager come January 24th when my NE2 comes up, but seeing as it doesn't have a 3.5mm jack, good email, slow browser, and can't play music while multitasking, I just can't see it as a viable option. I'm 16 and very tech savvy. I am hooked to email and staying in contact with friends, family, and co-workers so I know what's going on most of the time.

[cwilliams706]

Which option does the iPhone appear under on AT&Ts website?:)

[macflauaus]

Ahh, darn. Took me a while (AT&T's website is not dial-up friendly).

Well, I said we couldn't necessarily consider it a smartphone yet. Basically one more thing plus applications and it'll be one. It's growing so fast. ~Tear~
;)

[cwilliams706]

Ahh, darn. Took me a while (AT&T's website is not dial-up friendly).

Well, I said we couldn't necessarily consider it a smartphone yet. Basically one more thing plus applications and it'll be one. It's growing so fast. ~Tear~
;)

I just had to point that out, because many people don't even know the iPhone is indeed considered a smartphone.

[Alex]

The problem with the iPhone is that it doesn't have video recording, no 3G (as of yet), horizontal keyboard isn't in available in texting, no cut, copy, and paste feature, and you can only send images via e-mail. For me, I'll wait until they add these features and more. I guess I want a phone that isn't truly available...

[macflauaus]

The problem with the iPhone is that it doesn't have video recording, no 3G (as of yet), horizontal keyboard isn't in available in texting, no cut, copy, and paste feature, and you can only send images via e-mail. For me, I'll wait until they add these features and more. I guess I want a phone that isn't truly available...
I agree with you on all of those points. My biggest problem is the lack of MMS. My friend has an iPhone and I'm on Verizon, and most know that the VZWPIX.com gateway to your phone is slow, takes several hours, and sometimes doesn't even go through. So I told him to send all pics as emails to my Google-hosted account. Well, if I want to view the pics on my e815, I can't. I have to sign in to my Google account on my desktop or laptop. So while Apple has simplified many things, they do take away from those who don't have iPhones. That and having to send pic messages to his email address is a pain, but thankfully Motos have a separate email entry.

[Sqube]

I'm still surprised at the lack of MMS; was there ever a satisfactory explanation given for its omission?

[topher]

The problem with the iPhone is that it doesn't have video recording, no 3G (as of yet), horizontal keyboard isn't in available in texting, no cut, copy, and paste feature, and you can only send images via e-mail. For me, I'll wait until they add these features and more. I guess I want a phone that isn't truly available...

Those are all the reasons I got rid of my Sidekick 3s. No MMS is just ridiculous for this day, if there is a camera it should also be able to do video, and no 3g is too slow.

There is no way that I think the Voyager even relates to the iPhone. Sure it has a touch screen, but woopdeedoo that doesn't make them the same phone. I don't know if I'd consider the iPhone a smartphone either, but it definitely beats the Voyager in that category though. If I really had to choose between them (carriers aside) I think I would still go for the iPhone though. Why? It's not bogged down with the same-old vzw ui. That's a big deal to me.

[Sqube]

So topher, if you could get the Voyager with LG's native UI, would you have gone with that? Or would you still prefer the iPhone?

I know we don't know anything about what LG would have put in there, but we can assume (at the very least) that it would have had more functionality than it does currently.

[cwilliams706]

So topher, if you could get the Voyager with LG's native UI, would you have gone with that? Or would you still prefer the iPhone?

I know we don't know anything about what LG would have put in there, but we can assume (at the very least) that it would have had more functionality than it does currently.

I've been wondering what the native UI for the Voyager looked like. Guess we'll never know though:(

[topher]

So topher, if you could get the Voyager with LG's native UI, would you have gone with that? Or would you still prefer the iPhone?

I know we don't know anything about what LG would have put in there, but we can assume (at the very least) that it would have had more functionality than it does currently.

I love apple products, but I would have to say the Voyager.
For all the reasons we mentioned before (Data Speeds,MMS, and whatever else there was) and because it has a tactile keyboard. I love to text and the virtual keyboard just can't beat a real one.