Hasta La Gadget!

It would appear that the Samsung brand push of the name “Galaxy” associated with their Android-toting smartphones and tablets is working so extremely well that this week the hardware name has become more popular than the software. Having a peek at the findings analyst Benedict Evans has found with a few search term trends in Google’s own search engine, it’s made clear that as the Android search term has risen, so has the term Galaxy. In November of 2012 it’s shown that Galaxy was searched more than Android for the first time either term was relevant in search terms across Google’s history.

It’s important to note that the term “galaxy” does benefit in some way from the fact that it’s a non-brand word as well as a brand, but so too is the word “android.” It’s also clear that the term “galaxy” has risen along essentially the same path as “Samsung Galaxy” and right along with “android”, making non-brand searches essentially irrelevant. The eclipse (however small it may be) shows that Samsung is making a massive impact on the way people see the smartphone universe.

Below we’ve gone ahead and added the term “Droid” to the mix here instead of Evans’ chart’s term search with “iPhone”. What you’re going to see is that Verizon and Motorola’s push to turn the Android universe into a DROID brand association has been far, far less successful in the long run. Back Before 2011 rolled around, the term “DROID” was just as popular and at several points more popular than Galaxy. After July of 2010, DROID was never again as popular a search term as Galaxy.

View this information set in Google Trends now!

This sort of analysis is far from perfect, of course, and really only measures how often the average citizen looks up a term they’re interested in. That does translate quite well to the power of the brand when it comes down to it, of course, this shown in recent earnings reports from Samsung, Motorola, and Google. The big G recently purchased Motorola outright and is being tipped at the moment as working to create a new “X Phone” device to pump up the Android brand as well as the perceived power of the Motorola manufacturing process.

Now we’ve only to see how well Google is at branding Motorola and bringing Android along for the ride – soon and very soon!

Watch out Google: Samsung’s Galaxy brand has eclipsed Android is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

During Motorola’s keynote on Wednesday, the company announced a nice little bonus for loyal fans — should your 2011-or-later handset not receive a Jelly Bean update, you’ll get $100 if you upgrade to one of its new models. Well, a website for the deal has gone live and the initial Ts&Cs don’t make it sound like an immediate discount, but that the Benjamin will instead be reimbursed as a gift card, carrier credit or a cash equivalent of Motorola’s choice. We’re still in the dark about which specific phones will be denied a taste of Android 4.1, although the list is expected “very soon.” In the meantime, you can sign up at the source link below to receive details of how to update, or how to claim the rebate once the fate of your old handset has been decided.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

Motorola’s rebate site goes live: $100 credit if you need to upgrade to get Jelly Bean originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Sep 2012 09:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Droid 4’s update to Android 4.0 has been in the making for long enough that we’d started to wonder if someone in the QA department had a grudge against keyboards. Verizon just proved that there’s still plenty of QWERTY love to go around by posting a document, and starting a soak test, that gives the OS upgrade a rubber stamp. Motorola’s messaging phone is getting more than just a new software layer with this upgrade: the Android 4.0.4 release will switch on global roaming for those willing to pay Verizon for access abroad. Camera quality should get a quiet lift in the process, while the rest of the phone is getting a proper polish as well. Verizon hasn’t mentioned just when we’ll see that update notification flit past our screens, but the carrier’s tendency to push updates days after notices like these could see Droid 4 owners treated to Android 4.0 well before August wraps up.

Update: Apparently, “soon” means “today” for Verizon: over-the-air updates should already be rolling out to Droid 4 owners as part of a phased process.

Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola Droid 4’s Android 4.0 upgrade clears Verizon hurdles, brings global roaming soon (update: starts today) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Droid-Life  |  Verizon (PDF), @Motorola (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments