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Alienware Planning Android iPhone Killer?

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:20 AM
from the competition-means-better dept.
Cellphones
meteorit found a story about rumors of an Alienware phone based on Google's Android phone OS. As Dell has a history of bombing with handhelds, it would be interesting to try the Alienware brand instead. And I'm not exactly sure where they get off claiming that their drawings are the first pictures of the thing. Cheesy renderings designed explicitly for your website are not quite pictures of a product... they are artists impressions.

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  • Anyone else think... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 16, @10:23AM (#22445096)
    ...this thing looks more like a creepy, Gigeresque sex toy than a phone? Sil [wikipedia.org] would be pleased.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by MikeUW (999162)
      Based on these fictional images, it looks like this thing will just be uncomfortable in general. The grill things will probably break at some point too, and AC mentions, waste space. I don't see how this thing has anything to do with the iPhone. The fac

      • Re:Anyone else think... (Score:5, Informative)

        by Vexorian (959249) on Saturday February 16, @11:09AM (#22445394)
        If I understand it these are just rumors and the images are all invented and not from alienware itself, in fact it looks like it is more of a CNP of the alien ware case to look like a cell phone...
        [ Parent ]

      • Re:Anyone else think... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by frdmfghtr (603968) on Saturday February 16, @11:46AM (#22445614)

        I don't see how this thing has anything to do with the iPhone.
        That's because it doesn't have anything to do with the iPhone. The iPhone isn't even mentioned in the linked article.

        However, "iPhone" in the headline attracts more attention.
        [ Parent ]

    • Re:Anyone else think... (Score:4, Funny)

      by ATL_gadget_grrl (1122351) on Saturday February 16, @11:26AM (#22445492)
      I defy you to find me one woman who would carry that thing...
      [ Parent ]

  • iPhone killer? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by timeOday (582209) on Saturday February 16, @10:26AM (#22445106)
    I don't think the iPhone has attained the status that any new smartphone must be considered a competitor first and foremost to it. Especially when, as in this case, it's a completely different styling concept. I do see iPhones here and there, but by far most people still use other cellphones, so I do not think the iPhone merits a reference in the title of every story about cellphones.

    • Re:iPhone killer? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by jacksonj04 (800021) <nick@tn-uk.net> on Saturday February 16, @10:52AM (#22445288) Homepage
      I was just wondering that myself. Other points, from the article:

      It would have the striking design to make an impression in a mobile market dominated by fashion phones...
      Eh? It looks like something you get free in a cereal packet. Wasting half the form factor on a pointless grille != good design.

      ...it would instantly be the coolest phone on the market thanks to the popularity of the Alienware brand...
      No, it would be bought by a few die-hard Alienware fanatics who don't mind trading features for silly design. It looks like it's got relief details on that fascia, they snag in your pocket. This is not a cool design, no matter how many blinky lights it has.

      ...it would have the marketing muscle of Dell behind it to push it beyond its established niche and into the mainstream...
      It would have to play on the Alienware brand which at the moment, at least in tech circles, has connotations of overpricing. For Joe Public, I doubt they would see the point in this phone because it would have the 'Gaming' association of Alienware.

      ...and it would be the mobile gamer's dream, just as video gaming on mobile phones is starting to enter the picture.
      I don't know how they work this out. Video gaming on mobile phones isn't starting to enter the picture at all, because most people only want their phones to play idle games of Snake on at most. Hardcore mobile gamers would want something easy to play on, the design of this doesn't look to offer much hope of that. More intense gamers wouldn't care for the tiny screen and poor quality graphics, and to make it even stand a chance at reasonable gaming it would sacrifice loads of battery. Perhaps that's why it has the grille, it's to fit a huge battery pack behind.
      [ Parent ]

    • Re:iPhone killer? (Score:5, Funny)

      by aplusjimages (939458) on Saturday February 16, @11:09AM (#22445388) Homepage Journal
      I think they mean it's literally an iPhone killer. You see this isn't just an ordinary phone. It's what a ninja would be if it were a phone. These ninja-phones, if you will, act as your everyday phone, but when in close proximity to an iPhone the ninja-phone transforms into a ninja star or katana and literally kills the iPhone and it's owner. So you see it is the iPhone killer.
      [ Parent ]

    • Re:iPhone killer? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by johnpaul191 (240105) on Saturday February 16, @02:28PM (#22446586) Homepage
      The iPhone is important because it made the smartphone concept mainstream. Tech nerds aside, before the iPhone it was common to see business people with Blackberries. There was some sort of stigma from that masses that they could never escape the office because they were always in touch. The iPhone somehow succeeded where Palm failed to..... make a smart phone seem really freakin useful and fun. Let's face it, Palm took the basic handheld they have been selling for 10+ years and added a phone to it. Windows Mobil phones are just Microsoft's version of that, and again often an extension of the office. The iPhone may have the best mobile browser out there, and that matters. I can't tell you how many times we will be out to dinner and randomly want to look something up online. It's always the iPhone that has the best browsing results.

      I know a lot of people that freelance, and want/need email and some sort of web access in their pocket. The Treo still seems to dominate that world, but maybe it will change? These are people picking out their own phones and paying for their own plans, not issued by work.
      *Most* iPhone owners i know are new to a smartphone. The second biggest group are people that upgraded from a Treo.

      I write this as a Treo owner, and a Mac user.... but if the iPhone was CDMA, i would probably own one. The iPhone's Safari is the app i want more than anything. Having a Verizon/BREW Treo it does not seem like i have 3rd party options for browsers that are anywhere near Safari (operamini doesn't run on my phone).
      [ Parent ]

  • Eat up Martha (Score:4, Insightful)

    by 0xdeadbeef (28836) on Saturday February 16, @10:43AM (#22445228) Homepage Journal
    As Dell has a history of bombing with handhelds

    So does Apple, fool.

  • iPhones not "the" phone to beat (Score:3, Insightful)

    by webmaster404 (1148909) on Saturday February 16, @10:46AM (#22445246)
    I really don't think that now the iPhone is the phone to beat. Most people I know have a RAZR or similar, while they would like an iPhone as most people would, the $600 price tag plus dealing with AT&T makes them not buy one.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Tony Hoyle (11698)
      It could become so though.

      The ipod wasn't the mp3 player to beat for years... at the beginning it was OSX only, then it got windows compatibility but was still a hideously expensive geek toy. That's about where the iphone is now. Look what happened - It

  • Yet another Killer (Score:5, Informative)

    by tigheig (546423) on Saturday February 16, @10:46AM (#22445248)
    If you read TFA you find that it's not even a rumor, it's entirely speculation based on the purchase of Alienware by Dell. It states that the argument for the Alienware phone is "overwhelming" based on the fact that the author thinks that Alienware is cool and is well known outside of us build-it-yourself PC geeks. TFA is accompanied by something labeled "First Pictures of Alienware Android Cell Phone" that is actually a GIF mockup drawn by a staff artist based on what they'd like it to look like. So now the Slashdot "killer" label is being applied to products that not only don't exist yet, but for which there's no objective evidence that anyone is even thinking about. Can we retire the "killer" now? It's become parody.

  • Butt Ugly (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Telvin_3d (855514) on Saturday February 16, @10:47AM (#22445258)
    That may be the ugliest piece of hardware I have ever laid my eyes on.

    As for an iPhone killer? Why is everything these days an iPhone killer? This abomination does not compete with the iPhone in any way. Completely different design (if you can call it that) aesthetic. It's not based on a touch screen. Any mention of an iPhone killer exists only to drive people to the site so they can have a look. If the title was 'Dell subsidy designs cellphone, beats it with ugly stick' they would not get as much traffic.
      • ...in the market of "13 year old boy's imaginations".

        I was thinking maybe they should add something that looks like a jet intake, a sub-woofer, some neon underglow, flame stickers on the side, and maybe some spinnaz.

        I am pre-emptively naming it the Dell Al

  • bombing? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by llZENll (545605) on Saturday February 16, @10:48AM (#22445260)
    "Dell has a history of bombing with handhelds"

    The Dell Axim series was one of the most popular Pocket PCs in history, I would bet they sold several times more Axims than Apple has sold iPhones.

    The highest powered Axims released in the later years of the series was more powerful and feature rich than the iPhone. The x50 had VGA, touchscreen, wifi, BT, SD/CF, IR, 620mhz CPU, over 6000 software apps, and came out in 2004.

    If Dell was serious about releasing an iPhone 'killer' all they would have to do is resurrect their x50 and add phone support and it would be better than the iPhone except for the interface. After releasing 6 PDA models they have the knowledge and experience to easily do this. Its probably only a matter of business contracts with the mobile carriers that is holding them back.

    • Re:bombing? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by natrius (642724) <niran@niran.COMMAorg minus punct> on Saturday February 16, @11:01AM (#22445338) Homepage

      If Dell was serious about releasing an iPhone 'killer' all they would have to do is resurrect their x50 and add phone support and it would be better than the iPhone except for the interface.

      The interface is the device.

      [ Parent ]

      • Re:bombing? (Score:5, Informative)

        by p0tat03 (985078) on Saturday February 16, @11:59AM (#22445704) Homepage
        Mod parent up. This is something that people in the tech field gloss over FAR too often. When it comes down to cell phones, laptops, and all of these consumer electronics, the feature sets of each device is all about the same (bluetooth, WiFi, yadi yada, it's all there)... The only thing that the user interacts with that is DIFFERENT is the UI. The UI *is* the device. It is why Apple has succeeded, and why Motorola is desperate to rid itself of its mobile division.
        [ Parent ]

  • I thought Android is a platform (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bogaboga (793279) on Saturday February 16, @10:53AM (#22445296)
    Indeed, Android is a platform. Just googled it up and came up with this link: http://code.google.com/android/ [google.com]. It says in part...

    "The Open Handset Alliance, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies, is developing Android: the first complete, open, and free mobile platform."

    But the title suggests that there is an Android phone which will be killed! Android is a platform just like Linux, and Alienware's device will be based on the Android platform. so to me, this development will perpetuate Android instead of killing it.

    It's like saying..."Bogaboga Systems is gonna come up with a Linux killer which will be based on Linux!" This does not make much sense to me.

  • iPhone killer (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ptomblin (1378) <ptomblin@xcski.com> on Saturday February 16, @10:58AM (#22445324) Homepage Journal
    I'm hoping for an "iPhone done right", and this aint it. By "iPhone done right", what I'm looking for is something that will replace my Treo and my iPod. I definitely like the real keyboard on the Treo - the touch keyboard on my wife's iPod Touch sucks. I also like the fact that the Treo has cut and paste, so I can trim down the quoted part of email. And it's compatible with my Palm apps. But the iPhone is multi-tasking, has a much better web browser, and would mean I don't have to carry around a separate iPod. If something could combine the virtues of both, I'd be right there in line.

  • Touch sensitive keypad! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Aaron Isotton (958761) on Saturday February 16, @11:04AM (#22445358) Homepage
    Oh my god! It even has a touch sensitive keypad! Now that's unheard of!

  • fugly (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ZipprHead (106133) on Saturday February 16, @11:05AM (#22445360) Homepage
    How is something this ugly going to be an Iphone killer?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by p0tat03 (985078)

      Not to mention Alie nware can't make a cell phone if it meant their life. They can barely make laptops (the build quality isn't very good), and their case designs are generics from Asian suppliers, modified slightly to give it that distinct Alienware style

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