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Commercial Smackdown: Pre vs. Droid vs. MyTouch3G
I currently own a Samsung Ace mobile phone which runs Windows Mobile and is on the Sprint network. I love the phone – it does everything I need a mobile to do. Sure it doesn’t have a huge screen and it hasn’t helped me pick up any women like the iPhone apparently does, but it works great. I use the awesome Skyfire mobile browser for the web and unlike many, I don’t use Twitter or Facebook on my phone.
My contract with Sprint is coming to an end soon and I am considering what my next mobile device might be. I haven’t had much time to read any reviews of the latest devices. I do see a ton of advertising on television for three specific devices: Palm Pre (Sprint), Droid (Verizon), and the MyTouch3G (T-Mobile). I’d like to share my thoughts about what I’ve learned about the three devices solely based on the television advertising. I have never used any of these devices.
Palm Pre
The commercials feature a woman who I guess is some sort of angel up in the clouds. She barely smiles while using the device and apparently she is considered “creepy” based on the number of creepy remixes on YouTube. One of the commercials shows the woman receiving an update from a friend – looked like a status update. Another video shows the woman clicking a button which will alert her meeting attendees that she is running late. I wonder how many networks support this functionality. More importantly…are these the best two features of the device? The Palm Pre supports apps like the iPhone – why not show some of these off? Here’s the commercial with the woman showing off the late calendar notification:
Droid
This is my favorite ad of the three mobile devices. It scares me. When the commercial transitions to the Robotron voice, I get it. The Droid is everything the iPhone isn’t. Simple and makes the point clear. I’d like to see some images of the Droid device in the ad itself but even without it, I get it. I will need to read some reviews of this device — looks like the reviews hit the gadget blogs today. Here’s the commercial:
MyTouch3G
This is the worst ad of the three – and that’s saying a lot considering that the Palm Pre commercial is pretty crappy. I have an idea – let’s bring together some F-level celebs and show off how they can “customize” a phone. At least I think that is what they are doing. Trust me, I have no desire to own the phone that Whoopi Goldberg does – I remember her from her Web 1.0 pimping days. We know it plays videos, shows photos and makes pretty background images. And it has Google.
Conclusion
Droid, Pre, MyTouch3G in that order. I’d love to chat with the agency who created the MyTouch commercial. Commercials should get me excited to run out and spend money I don’t have for a new device. Only the Droid even remotely did that and I don’t even know what the device does besides support Android.
One of the reasons I am sharing these commercials is because it’s something I hope you think about with your startups. Last week I spoke to a startup here in NYC. Thirty-minutes into the call and I was more confused as to what service they provide than before the call began. Keep it simple and make sure that the customer “gets it”. And that they get so excited about it that they want it before it’s even ready.
I will leave the “these devices will never take down the iPhone” conversation for another day. As much as we can crap on Apple, their iPhone commercials are very solid and so simple. They show the device and what you can do with it. The apps, the maps, etc. Sometimes the simplest concepts are the ones that win.
I disagree, Allen. I much prefer the MyTouch commercial to the incredibly annoying and slightly creepy Pre commercials. That woman makes me want to get as far away from a Pre as possible. At least the “celebs” in the MyTouch commercials (don’t forget about the newer one with all of the SNL stars) aren’t as annoying as the woman in the Pre commercials.
agreed
Actually the feature in the Pre ad isn’t even working yet…
HA! that is hilarious – they don’t even mention that in the ad.
Um, it works on my pre click the button on the calendar reminder and then click the send email button.
Actually, the phone in the Droid ad isn’t even for sale yet!
I haven’t seen any television ads for it, but I just bought the new Motorola CLIQ, which is very similar to the DROID (Motorola) except it doesn’t have a camera flash (bummer) it’s on T-Mobile versus Verizon (bad for reception, good for universal use), and it has Motoblur functionality which combines social networks into one stream and connections into one contact list.
I like the CLIQ’s external appearance much more than the boxy DROID. It’s not THE perfect phone, but I gave up my iPhone to get it. For what it’s worth.
It doesn’t run Android 2.0 either. That is a big difference. It might be updated, but the processor is slower i believe.
Nope, that women scares the hell out of me.
Sorry, every time she pops on my screen I want to run away in horror thinking that if I watch the whole thing I will end up like the people in The Ring.
MyTouch blows, but I will deal with whoopi over that ANY day lol
But isn’t the very fact that everyone is “creeped out” by the Palm commercials mean that they are working? Its an ad people keep in their head… a unique ad. I don’t think I can mention any company that has produced an ad THAT unique. I hate the ads, don’t get me wrong… but they make me wanna go look at the phone.
I then bought the Pre. An excellent device. My contract has been over since January of 2009. However, that was the month that Palm announced the Pre. I was going to get an iPhone, but I decided to wait. After all, I was gonna sign my life away for 2 years. I knew that Apple would be releasing a new iPhone in June, which was the same month I expected the Pre to be released (they always said first half of 2009, which really means the last month in the first half). I compared the iPhone vs. the Pre vs. The storm. I hated the storm, almost as much as I hate Verizon, so I abandoned that route. I spent 2 weeks comparing the iPhone and Pre and they were VERY similar in UI. Finally, because of its features and easy of use, i purchased a Pre. The iPhone is a great product, but the Pre was simply more innovative and it seemed to flow much easier than the iPhone, where I always had to touch that extra button, make that extra step. I love my Pre. Have not looked back since. With the release of the Droid… I am not impressed. It’s simply not as easy to use as the Pre. Even though it runs Android 2.0.