Motorola Droid

heydockyle · Post by **heydockyle** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 6:56 pm

Thinking about buying the droid. Anyone have one, or have any comments about it? Please have the comments backed up with experience. Not just fanboy shit.

Verizon is "supposed" to be getting the iphone sometime, but who knows when that will happen. If the droid is just as good I will just get it now.

Thanks

Mr Josh Zombie · Post by **Mr Josh Zombie** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 7:38 pm

Droid > all else

Hell I'm on it right now. I'll give a better review later

esteinmaier · Post by **esteinmaier** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 7:51 pm

Droid is good. Think of it like the difference between windows 3.1 for workgroups (iphone) and windows xp. Android developers saw all the faults of the iphone and fixed em plus some.

gtxtreme19 · Post by **gtxtreme19** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 8:14 pm

Im on my Droid all day everyday and love it but instead of ranting about all the good ill tell you the only 2 bad things I've ever found.

1: the battery cover on mine is the original, thin hooks make it fall off at least twice a day. The new ones dont have this problem (I bought mine the day they were released, and I could call Verizon/Motorola and they would hook me up with a better one totally free)

2: you cannot directly upload photos from your Droid to a website without an app I. E. Can't upload photos from your phone to craigslist or eBay. There is however plenty of apps for Flickr and photo bucket that you can then link to.

Buy a Droid buy a screen saver buy a car charger
Fall in love

heydockyle · Post by **heydockyle** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 8:22 pm

gtxtreme19 wrote:
Buy a Droid buy a screen saver buy a car charger
Fall in love

More then likely what I'm gonna do.

Mopar_Korean · Post by **Mopar_Korean** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 8:23 pm

I had the droid since the day it came out and its amazing. Its more reliable then my buddys iPhone-S.

Heres a quick review.

Battery life is average. If you always have the screen on then it will not last to long. But you can still go the entire day before it needs to be charged.

Google maps and Nav is AMAZING. I stopped using my Garmin since I got the phone. I suggest getting the car mount for it if your going to use it as a GPS.

Calls are nice and clear. Ive never had a dropped call that was my fault.

You can still browse then internet or use apps mid call.

Its a sturdy phone. The slide out screen is nice and sturdy. The battery cover doesnt fall off and mine has been dropped a few times with no damage.

The app market place isnt as big as apples but its growing fast. Some apps are really good and some are complete shit. You have to read the reviews.

All your info (contacts, etc) is backed up to your g-mail account. This is a HUGE plus IMO.

If you sync it to your facebook account all your contacts sync with it. So you automatically have their numbers (if they have it on their profile) and their e-mail addresses. Their profile pics also come up when you call them or get a txt from them.

The qwerty key board gets some taking used to. My old phone was the envy and every letter had its own key. The droids keyboard is all one piece, so if you have big fingers then you might misspell a lot.

The camera is also pretty good for what it is. 5MP and video is supposed to be "DVD" quality. Its not but the videos are still decent.

Negatives? No flash support yet. It is a bit bigger then most phones but it doenst feel heavy in your pocket. The battery life could be better. And it can be bogged down if you open a ton of apps (appkiller is a must).

If you get one upgrade to Android 2.1 asap. Its much better then 2.0.1

Oh, pass on the $20 VZW car charger. The home cable is micro USB on the phone end and a normal USB on the other end. Just buy a $5 USB charger for the car and carry the cable with you.

one of these:

ZeroChad · Post by **ZeroChad** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 8:42 pm

Honestly, I would wait for the Nexus 1 or the HPC Desire to come out on Verizon...sometime relatively soon. They are rated as some of the best Android phones.

Mr Josh Zombie · Post by **Mr Josh Zombie** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 8:58 pm

Sweet, what everyone said pretty much sums up what I was going to say. However, I have to disagree with the "waiting for the next biggest thing to hit."

You'll be waiting forever then.

The Droid is one of the highest selling smartphones out there right now, and for a damn good reason.

Fun little graft comparing how the phone OS's are holding up in the sales market:

Also note, I'm a COMPLETE apple fagboy, and would advise to not get an iPhone. The way apple cripples the appstore is bullshit. Open market is the way to go.

heydockyle · Post by **heydockyle** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:17 pm

Is the touch screen as good as the iPhone?

gtxtreme19 · Post by **gtxtreme19** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:55 pm

Better, it will rock your socks off!

Also works as a scan tool with a Bluetooth obdII dongle.... SAWEET!

Note: using a screen saver/protector will decrease your sensitivity but its hardly noticeable

ZeroChad · Post by **ZeroChad** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 11:45 pm

They use the same technology touch sensor: Projected Capacative.

OB · Post by OB » Mon Apr 05, 2010 12:11 am

I personally love my iphone! 3GS FTW.

Plus, Motorola sucks balls. I've had like four in my lifetime and each one has been a junker. They all had one thing in common to, which was that none had good reception. I could swap simcards into another brand and gain a bar or two instantly.

Other than that rant, the droid does sound decent.

gtxtreme19 · Post by **gtxtreme19** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 12:19 am

Weher I live in Ohio and when im staying in Michigan I had very very very poor service on an iPhone with att. I switched to vzw after a friend whose phone I was always using cause he had service talked me into it.
The Droid being a smarter smart phone I usually have better service than said friend with his slider thingy ( technical term)

Plus I can insure my Droid and never could my iPhone which sucked hard because im very rough on cell phones

OB · Post by OB » Mon Apr 05, 2010 12:27 am

Heh I have an Otter Box case for mine so it's about 99% indestructible. Not water proof, but it has been tested to survive being run over by a car.

I drop it and smile now, whereas before if I did I saw $600 flash before my eyes haha

ZeroChad · Post by **ZeroChad** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 12:28 am

LINK FYI. It might be worth checking into them if you haven't...

LowNSlow · Post by **LowNSlow** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 12:29 am

Those otter cases are sick... hah

Mr Josh Zombie · Post by **Mr Josh Zombie** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 9:12 am

OB wrote:I personally love my iphone! 3GS FTW.

Plus, Motorola sucks balls. I've had like four in my lifetime and each one has been a junker. They all had one thing in common to, which was that none had good reception. I could swap simcards into another brand and gain a bar or two instantly.

Other than that rant, the droid does sound decent.

In the past I would of completely agreed with you on Motorola building cheap ass phones. However, they're re-imaging the company with the release of the Droid. It has more (and better) features than the iPhone, the screen is larger, crisper, and higher res, expandable storage, a 5MP camera, etc etc.

Razr phones were terrible, but the Droid is one of the best phones out there right now.

heydockyle · Post by **heydockyle** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 9:23 am

That's the main reason for this thread. I had 3 or 4 motorola phones, and they all sucked. Switched to LG and was nothing but great. The phone was indestructible (vx8300).
But now the past 3 phones I've had with them(Env2,Env3, EnvTouch) seem to be junk. They shutoff like 3 times a day.

So thats why I'm looking at the droid. And thats sick it uses the same touch screen setup as the iPhone. I thought apple had that copyrighted.
And to the service thing. At&t service isn't very good here, where verizon is.

Oh, how much onboard memory does the droid have? With the iphones onboard 8gb or 16gb I would say that it's more reliable and quicker. I've had problems with using my memory card alot.

gtxtreme19 · Post by **gtxtreme19** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 10:49 am

16gb when you buy it and still expandable beyond that

heydockyle · Post by **heydockyle** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 12:14 pm

gtxtreme19 wrote:16gb when you buy it and still expandable beyond that

that's not onboard though is it? That's with a memory card.

Mopar_Korean · Post by **Mopar_Korean** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 3:55 pm

Its 16Gig on a microSD card. Its removable but you have to take the battery out. Its not like the envy where there was a sd slot on the side of the phone for removable storage.

The phone has a small amount of non removable storage 100-200mb I think? But everything is installed and stored on the SD card anyway so it really doesnt matter. The on board storage is simply there for the operating system. Nothing else.

And as stated before you can always swap it out for a 32gig unit down the road. File transfer couldn't be easier. Its all drag and drop.

BTW the amount of storage has nothing to do with speed or reliability.

heydockyle · Post by **heydockyle** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 4:41 pm

Mopar_Korean wrote:
BTW the amount of storage has nothing to do with speed or reliability.

Didn't say it was. But an onboard hard drive is going to be faster then transferring to and from a memory card.

slaw · Post by **slaw** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 5:07 pm

i have the samsung moment thru sprint, love it if u have sprint i reccomend

BlackRoseRacing · Post by **BlackRoseRacing** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:21 pm

http://www.htc.com/us/products/hero-sprint
Here is what I'm using now...
The apps available are endless....
I went to the local Apple store to check out the iPhone and I honestly like this Hero better. It's also based on the Android OS and is a hell of a lot better than working with my HTC touch pro using the Windows OS....
I'm using this phone with my Sprint shared 1500min family plan that includes:
Unlimited mobile to mobile (not carrier speceific)
Unlimited Text, Pics, Data, Nights, Weekends.....
I can even plug my phone into my laptop and have High speed internet anywhere....

Mr Josh Zombie · Post by **Mr Josh Zombie** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:26 pm

For the record, the Android market has changed my life as well. Thanks to a few of these apps, I'm getting off my ass and doing things in life.

-CardioTrainer
Helping me to keep track of my biking. Fucking amazing.

-Last.fm app + Gigbox
Find all the local concerts around me, and introduces me to new bands

-Torrent-fu + SABcontrol
I can mange my torrents and usenet from my phone (lets see apple let you do THAT)

-aCar
Keeps track of my gas mileage/repairs on my car. AMAZING app for any car lover

There's a shit ton others, but those REALLY help me manage and change my life. Must haves in my eyes.

heydockyle · Post by **heydockyle** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:30 pm

Anyone know if you can tether the droid to your computer to use it as a modem?

Mr Josh Zombie · Post by **Mr Josh Zombie** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:47 pm

you can but you're breaking the ToS with verizon. Just use PDAnet app. It's got a demo mode that just works fine and dandy, but IIRC doesn't let you access HTTPS sites. Full version is $30

heydockyle · Post by **heydockyle** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 8:44 pm

That sucks.. That's half my reason for buying it.
Although https aren't very popular are they..

I take it you use it? Or don't you want to say over the internet?

But anyhow, I'm going to get it. Now to figure you how. Thing is, I'm taking my dads upgrade, not mine. Verizon wants $200 for the phone, but I can get it for $70 from amazon. But they are going to charge dad's line with the $30 a month. I guess I could do it like that, then go in Verizon when I get it and cancel that, put the phone on my account with the $30 plan. I will do that, aslong as the warranty and everything is still good being I'm not using it for his line.

bone-yard-racing · Post by **bone-yard-racing** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 10:22 am

I'm on mine right now love it. Fair warning its $299 in store with a $100 mail in rebate.

heydockyle · Post by **heydockyle** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 10:29 am

bone-yard-racing wrote:I'm on mine right now love it. Fair warning its $299 in store with a $100 mail in rebate.

Yea, online the rebate is instant.