Hasta La Gadget!

There’s something peculiar about Verizon‘s latest addition to its promotional Droid onslaught. Sure, we get the expected Mad Libs-esque hyperboles like “it rips through the web like a circular saw through a ripe banana,” but other nods seem to indicate an acknowledgement that, well, it’s not the prettiest of flagship phone princesses. “Should [a phone be] be a tiara-wearing digitally clueless beauty pageant queen?” (Wonder who that’s a reference to.) Listen Verizon, trading “hairdo for can do” is great and all, but why can’t we simply have both brains and beauty? Still, it’s nice to know the fighting words haven’t all but left the industry. See the ad for yourself after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Verizon ad confirms Droid is a not-quite pretty ‘racehorse duct taped to a Scud missile’

Verizon ad confirms Droid is a not-quite pretty ‘racehorse duct taped to a Scud missile’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like Verizon’s addicted to the sweet taste of success: following its victory over AT&T regarding the Map For That ads, Big Red’s complaining to the The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus about Sprint’s “America’s most dependable 3G network” tagline. Verizon says that a recent Nielsen survey shows its network drops fewer calls than Sprint’s, and for now the bureaucrats agree — the board’s asked Sprint to stop airing the ads. For its part, Sprint says one study doesn’t tell the whole tale, and it’s going to keep showing the ads while it appeals to the National Advertising Review Board. In other news, Verizon’s lawyers were seen heading to the local BMW dealership late last night, following a run-in with Sprint’s attorneys at the Mercedes-Benz showroom.

Continue reading Verizon goes after Sprint’s ‘most dependable 3G network’ ad claim

Verizon goes after Sprint’s ‘most dependable 3G network’ ad claim originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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My iPhone 3GS, in downtown Chicago, as I wrote this post.

Verizon certainly seems to be getting under AT&T’s skin with its ads focused on comparing 3G coverage — not only is Ma Bell suing over ’em, it’s now issuing PR to clarify what it sees as the inaccuracies of the entire campaign. If you’ll recall, AT&T thinks Verizon’s 1:1 comparison of 3G coverage maps makes it look like AT&T doesn’t have any coverage at all across most of the country — which means that our nation’s largest wireless carrier is now in the sad position of pimping its gigantic EDGE network in response. Let’s all gloss over the absolutely huge difference in 3G versus EDGE together, shall we?

With both 3G and EDGE coverage, customers can access the Internet, send e-mail, surf the Web, stream music, download videos, send photos, text, talk and more. The only difference – with some data applications, 3G is faster than EDGE.

Right, right — the only difference. That must be why Apple named it the iPhone EDGE Slightly Faster.

Now, AT&T has a valid point when it says that its 3G map covers 75 percent of the nation’s population, and that Verizon’s conflation of total 3G coverage with actual network quality is slightly misleading. But you know what? We watch our iPhones drop from 3G to EDGE and even to GPRS all day long in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, and that has nothing to do with the damn map, and everything to do with AT&T’s actual network quality. Let’s put it this way: Verizon’s ad campaign would be totally ineffective if it didn’t ring so true, and the best way for AT&T to counter these ads is to build a rock-solid network, not filing lawsuits and issuing press releases bragging about freaking EDGE. We all clear on this? Good.

Filed under: Cellphones

AT&T responds to Verizon’s 3G ad campaign — by bragging about EDGE originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The DROID might have started us down the road of dark sci-fi phone ads, but this new Nokia N900 spot takes things to the disturbing next level. We have no idea of what any of this means — and we’re not too sure Nokia really wants to suggest that its new flagship device is the cellphone manifestation of Twitchy McSanity here. You’ll see what we mean — video after the break.

P.S.- Are we the only ones who see this as a nightmarish dystopian remake of Pump Up The Volume? Is that just us? Okay.

Continue reading Nokia N900 ad suggests a history of mental illness

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Nokia N900 ad suggests a history of mental illness originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like those iDon’t ads aren‘t all Verizon has in store to promote the DROID: this new spot, called “Stealth,” just leaked to BGR. Again, we can’t help but notice that Big Red’s taking a nerdier sci-fi approach to things with these ads, but that seems to suit the DROID, if you ask us. Video after the break.

Continue reading Second Verizon DROID commercial stealth attacks America

Filed under: Cellphones

Second Verizon DROID commercial stealth attacks America originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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