Gadgets and Tech
Motorola Droid: More early thoughts
Early thoughts on Motorola Droid on Verizon continued. Solid phone. Not quite iPhone killer (again nothing will until someone can match iTunes):
- I’ve been using it since Friday when I picked it up from Verizon store.
- The transfer from AT&T to Verizon was seamless; Verizon staff were excellent.
- I entered my Gmail ID, and less than a minute later, everything was in sync (all our contacts, business and personal, plus calendars, email); this is one of my favorite features.
- The turn-by-turn GPS navigator is truly amazing for a phone. Not sure it can replace full-blown GPS unit quite yet but I’m going to continue to test against our Magellan.
- Google Places app is great for finding gas stations, restaurants, stores -> then click directions to get Google Maps or Navigator turn-by-turn.
- Screen: gorgeous.
- Hardware design: solid, a little heavy. Also I find very minor wobble between slider since the Droid has a two piece build.
- Interface: Android 2.0 is fast on Droid, if not boring. But once apps are loaded, you can really customize it.
- Battery: so far a pleasant surprise. I think I could easily get through long day with email, browsing, etc.
- Gripe: I like the way BlackBerry has all notifications (email, Twitter, Facebook) on home page… so far I can’t figure out how to accomplish this on Droid.
- Physical keyboard: it’s better than I expected given all the negative reviews, but I can’t type as fast as the chicklet BlackBerry keys on my old 8700. At least not yet. The virtual keyboards are excellent.
- HTC Eris: Also available sans keyboard for $99; slightly smaller, running Android 1.5 for now, no navigation, has highly rated Sense UI… still considering switching down if I find Droid too bulky; I have 30 days.
Motorola Droid and BlackBerry 8700
I’ll have full review up soon.
Clint writes about new media, arts, wine, indie film, and tech (including his trusty Droid). An aging ice hockey player, he tries in vain to direct Loni in SSC videos. He's held executive marketing roles at tech companies including Cisco, EMC and Salesforce.com. Originally from Ottawa, Canada, he now lives in Silicon Valley. More »
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The Droid is great, but I am having an odd problem. Email from my Yahoo.com account works fine, if I am on 3G network, but does not work if I am on a wireless connection. Virtual keyboard is better than Blackberry, physical keyboard might be a bit harder to use than the Blackberry, but so far, so good.
That is odd. I can confirm that Gmail does work on both Verizon or wifi connection. The virtual keyboard are good. I really like the on the fly auto-correction. Agree on physical keyboard, I'm still getting used to it. If I can't part of me thinks that I'd be better off with Eris… not sure though.
I just got the Droid on Friday too, and I like it alot. My only concern is texting. I switched from the LG Voyager and it was primarily a texting phone to the Droid, so the difference was noticeable to say the least. The onscreen keyboards are OK, I wouldn't go so far to say excellent. The Iphone's are significantly better in my opinion. Everything else though I like. It is very sleek and fun to use. I never had any problems yet. It is a little bulky, and I also had been thinking about switching, but I think I will stay. The Droid just has a lot more features and I think with time, and a few updates (one rumored to be out before 2010), everything will work out just fine.
I hear the HTC Sense UI virtual keyboards are better than stock Android found on Droid. Not sure. I wish the phone weighed about an oz. lighter. But it does have a solid feel.
Nino,
I agree I have had my since Saturday and had the original Envy (LG 9900). I think it's just a huge adjustment, especially the texting abilities on the QWERTY keyboard it's very narrow.
I like the features, again very bulky!
Hi there. I noticed that you were trying to make a comaprison of the Verizon VZ navigator to Magellan. I would say that the comparison is like night and day.
I recently took a trip to Florida and my brother was trying to impress me with his Magellan and he kept coming up to fences and dead ends. I told him to forget about that thing off and we will use my VZ navigator. His Magellan needs a regular update and Verizon updates their service on a regular basis. My VZ Navigator got us right to where we were going when his Magellan wanted us to turn down dead end roads.
With VZ navigator, there is no need to update your system online.
Thanks,
Thomas