I was moving from a BB Pearl 8130. My Pearl has been great and did everything I asked it to, including streaming music, stereo Bluetooth, email, and keeping a charge from Fri evening to Mon morning (with light usage).
But the Droid is a real step up. Web browsing is fantastic, the screen is gorgeous, GMail has HTML support, there are lots of great applications available, and I've even started to like the hardware keyboard.
Its been great having wi-fi. Recently I've been abroad without data and I can still go online with wi-fi. The EVDO Rev A is lightning fast, I'm getting 1600Kbs. A good place to test the speed is at: iPhone speedtest - let us know what speed you get on your Storm 2, Droid, or Eris!
So I'm really enjoying the speed, screen, web browsing, and applications on the Droid. The battery isn't even so bad. What's not to like? There are two main things.
Firstly, the Droid does not play nicely with the MS Sync bluetooth in my Ford Fusion Hybrid. It usually doesn't automatically reconnect to both the phone and the stereo for media playback and I have to connect manually. Then, it acts very laggy so that commands that I initiate on the phone take 20 seconds or so to take effect. For example, pausing the media stream or adjusting the volume. Sometimes, it acts strangely when answering incoming calls and also disconnects intermittently.
Secondly, the lack of hardware buttons makes it frustrating to use. There are no dedicated phone buttons - the phone is just an app like everything else! Sometimes it can take up to 6 actions to get to the "Call log" screen which is where I often dial from. For those who are counting:
Turn Droid on
Swipe
Exit to home screen (if in an application)
Swipe or press "home" to get to center home screen (if not there already)
Press phone application icon
Press Call Log tab
This isn't a huge problem for me, as I don't use the phone a whole lot. However I do miss the dedicated Mute key on the BB.
Also, I listen to pod casts, the media player, Slacker, and Pandora a lot in the car and while working out and its a real problem for me not to have a dedicated pause button. Instead I must:
Turn Droid on
Swipe
Press pause button in application
This is a PIA and gets the screen all messy when I'm working out!
BlackBerries turn on/off when you remove/place it in the holster, there's none of this "swipe to unlock" every time you turn the phone on.
So I'm considering switching to the Storm 2. I'd consider getting an Eris but the battery life stories have scared me away. Problem is, I've played with Storm2 in the Verizon store and its slow and clunky compared to Droid. But, it does what I want (except decent web browsing) and has the dedicated buttons so I may just switch over to it. I like the click keyboard too - its much more accurate than Droid's various keyboards.
Other thoughts:
The lack of key rollover on the Droid software keyboards is a real limit to typing speed. Key rollover is when you press a key while lifting off another key. On the Droid I seem to miss a lot of characters because it doesn't support this. My understanding is that the Storm 2 has key rollover.
Battery life is pretty decent but I tend to use the Droid more than my Pearl because of the superior web browsing and bigger screen so it probably wouldn't last me the entire weekend like the Pearl does.
YouTube videos can be viewed in high def if you select this in the menu options. Its absolutely incredible.
The Droid has separate volume settings for notifications, media, etc but does not distinguish between Bluetooth volume, ear-piece, speaker, and headset volume the way BB does. On the BB I always leave the Bluetooth volume on max but on the Droid there is no concept of BT volume. The volume keys on the Droid are flimsy and hard to distinguish from each other.
I copied some music over to the Droid by mounting it on Windows. WMA albums do not play in track order (MP3 albums do); instead they play alphabetically by track. Go figure. (The files did have track info embedded)
I'm thinking I will not like the Storm 2 as much as the Droid (S2 is slower, clunkier) but that it will do everything I use every day better. I hope that webkit browser and 3d graphics support will arrive in early 2010 and make it much more enjoyable as a web device.
The Droid is like a small computer, I love using it at home or when I'm waiting at the Dr's office or something. For daily use in the car, phone calls, music, etc the BB is better. Its the little things that are driving me crazy on the Droid. I love the apps but I hate the usability on stuff I do all the time.
I decided to return my Droid and reverted to my Pearl 8130. Its a relief actually. The Pearl does better at Bluetooth, being a phone, and controlling music; plus its smaller. I may get a Storm 2, or wait and see what comes out over the next month or two. But even the Google phone has no mute/pause button, and does not unlock when you remove it from the holster.
Oh; I am male, in my 50's, and use the phone for business and personal use.
So the [Only registered users can view links. ] has officially kicked off, and Round 1 has me putting Android through it's paces.
Going back to last year's Round Robin, I was pretty happy about aspects of the T-Mobile G1 and especially the Android platform. I liked the Google homescreen user experience and overall found the device to be pretty stable, which was impressive for an operating system in early stages.
For devices, I'm using the Droid and the Hero. So I want to know from you all:
1. how do you find the hardware (comfort of use, ease of use)?
2. how do you find the battery life (everyday light/normal use, heavy use)?
3. if you we're a BB user and switched up to give Android a test, what do you like and not like about it?
4. what are the must have apps? how does the device do with running them all?
5. how do you go about loading up the device with media (music, movies, etc.)
6. with all that, i want to know your background - are you in business (using it for professional use), a consumer, a student, young, old, male, female, etc.
and let me know anything else you think I need to know!
Mucho thanks!!
To answer your questions:
1) I like the hardware. I know some don't like the industrial design or the heft, but I like both. You already know how ridiculously good the screen is. You also know that sometimes the battery door can pop off if you pull the droid out of your pocket probably. At first I didn't like the keyboard. However, I've definitely gotten used to it and I do enjoy typing on it. Haven't quite gotten up to the level of being able to type on it without looking (as I could on my tour), but I'm sure I'll get there.
2)Battery life is good. I find it comparable to my tour. I can easily make it through an entire day on pretty heavy usage (web browsing, phone calls, emails, messages, etc). The only difference I see is that my droid does a lot more than the tour did in terms of active services. I have a lot of actively updating widgets and simultaneous running apps on my droid. I had the same battery on my tour, but on my tour I had to always be sure to menu->close programs, whereas on my droid, I don't need to worry about that.
3) I'm obviously a droid convert (though I didn't sell my tour...just in case). Droid wins in the following ways: Best screen, multiple home screens which are highly customizable, widgets, tons more apps, much better app store (as in lots more apps/quicker/easier to navigate/easier to install apps/uninstall apps), rooting and the fun that might bring, much better browser, more fun, transitions are more pleasing to the eye, faster program loads, don't have to menu->close apps, in general better memory management, no need to do battery pulls, much better integration with gmail (labels, starts, read/unread, everything syncs with the desktop version)
Blackberry wins in the following ways: Still the BEST for email. On the droid can't have gmail in a unified inbox AND push. You can only have push gmail in the gmail app or polling gmail in a unified inbox in the "email" app. Also currently no way to quickly select a large group of emails and mark as read/delete/etc. Even when I've selected a lot of emails via clicking each one, marking as read is slow and almost seems like one by one the emails go through and mark as read. Super annoying is that if I select a lot of emails, then click mark as read, I have to hit menu then "deselect all selected", then I can select the button to go to a different gmail account. Often, I try and go to the gmail account selector, but forget to "deselect all" and I end up marking all those selected emails as "spam" and then have to undo that action. Also no way to choose an account to send from in the "gmail" app. Once you start an email in the gmail app you can't select a different one if you have multiple gmail accounts. Email is just faster/simpler on blackberry. With that said, emails look much much better on the droid and they do load quickly enough (unlike my experience with the Pre). I do miss blackberry messenger. I have tried to replace it with gtalk and for the most part that works well, but I still don't feel it is as reliable. In general, I don't get that rock solid reliability that I had with my tour/curve. However, all the extras/fun that droid has was enough to keep me at least for now.
4) I have a lot of apps on my phone now: AK notepad, Pageonce, Backgrounds, beautiful widgets, bedside, bubbles, buka, bump, docs to go, DxTop, FeedR, finance, GDE, Goggles, Google Voice, Gube, Jetflicks, Keeper, key ring, labyrinth, layar, maps, mototorch, mybackup pro, nyc bus/subway map, oregon trail, pandora, slacker, pure calendar widget, pure messenger, robo defense, scan2pdf, shazam, slimeball speedway, snesoid, speed forge, sportstap, steamy, sticky memo, trap, tv.com, twidgit, wikimobile, wordwrench, youmail, etc... They all run super well with no lag, almost no freezing or force closes. I have run a bunch of apps at the same time and can say that this multitasks pretty well. Holding down the home button to switch between apps is just as useful on the droid as it was on the tour.
5) I load a lot of stuff onto the memory card either via a memory card reader or by mounting the droid as a harddrive. Works very well. I have a bunch of videos, music, files on the card and haven't had a problem with them. The sound quality is really good I find (though not currently with slacker's bass issue). Have a bunch of pics on it which look great in the "picture frame" widget and all.
6) I use it for business primarily. I have found the fun stuff worth the downsides, but I can't say that I haven't at least thought about going back to BB. Enterprise is not super yet, but it is useable. I don't love the corporate calendar support yet. The inbuilt calendar widget is not good and corporate calendars are not supported by all of the other calendar widget apps in the market. I also have great faith that updates/support will come rapidly for any outstanding issues with the droid. In general the fun stuff brings this phone above the tour in my opinion and its downsides (while annoying) are totally livable for the time being (until apps/fixes are rolled out). Even without any fixes (hopefully not the case) I haven't found anything just outright missing, just maybe not as simple/reliable as it was on the tour.
Hope that helps. I'm sure you'll do the droid justice in your review.
Kevin, glad to see you post here. I will miss Crackberry for now.
I was a long time BB user. First at work with Nextel/Sprint branded BB's. I loved the idea of having a message centric phone, so I got a VZ branded 8130 Pearl. I followed it up by buying a slightly used Curve 8330.
It's a shame Crackberry forum accounts don't share forum credentials and visa versa, so this is my first Android Central Forum post.
1.The hardware on the Moto Droid is fantastic. I have little to complain about. The keyboard isn't symmetrical with the big D-pad, so my right thumb is having a rough time so far. But to tell you the truth, I have been using the on-screen keyboard and love it. The fit and finish are great. Think on par with the Tour and Bold. It feels expensive. The screen is sharp. Again, it reminded me the first time I saw the Bold. Amazing pixel density.
2. I haven't been out of the house much, (out of work), but the battery seems on par with the rest of the smartphones. Light to moderate usage. Managed to watch two movies in a row during a trip, and I still had 50% battery left.
3. I love the slick interface, actually easier to manage everything with the status bar, home screen, widgets and app page. Contacts/dial pad/and phone log work flawlessly. Web browsing is a joy now, and wasn't great at all, even with Opera mini installed on when I was on my Curve.
The BB is a workhorse when it comes to messaging. Not that the Droid falls short here, but I like the message centric philosophy on BB. I miss BB pin to pin IM's.
4.Google apps are outstanding. Anything branded by them is golden. Goggles, Sky, Maps, Listen, Voice. Third party stuff, I got dictionaries, copies of the American Constitution, The Bible, many games, and soundboards. Of course a good Twitter app/widget is a must, and there are several available.
5. I pair it up with the computer via USB. Windows has no issues with drag and drop. The "Gallery" will read your folders you created on the computer. Easy. Windows Media Player treats this like a regular media player. So syncing playlists is a breeze for music listening. I found the BB Desktop Manager frustrating with syncing music. It was a chore even after doing lengthy OS and Desktop updates. BB isn't great about updating the Desktop software. It seems like I have to download the whole program to update it. Instead downloading update files only. (Like an anti-virus engine). With the Droid, there is no installed app to worry about. And, OS upgrades are pushed out. I had Android 2.01 pushed over the network like a lot of folks here. It just chimed in, and all I had to do was click the button. OS on the BB means connecting it, downloading it, backing it up, and whole bunch hoops. I was ready to except that as a geek. I love seeing that stuff work. But I have to admit, the singular experience I had with upgrading with the Droid was awesome.
6. Typically I am working professional sidetracked with un-employment. I was a BES Admin for a couple of places I worked at since I am usually in IT support. Or at least a business BB user at some places. The good thing about my Curve was it was a workhorse that knew how to play.
I'll miss your Blog and forums posts Kevin, but I'll stop by CB once in a while.
Keep up with the great work, reviews, etc.
Hello all! Currently running an HT-03A (A Docomo Japan Sapphire) and learning tricks of the trade as I go.
1. Hardware is pretty excellent. The presence of external buttons makes certain basic functions (like calling) lightning fast and extra activites enjoyable. Wish the processor was faster, however, as it seems to lag before any form of overclocking takes place. Overall, love it.
2. Battery life? Not a problem. I charge it every couple of days and that is with INTENSE daily use.
3. Not applicable.
4. TasKiller, Quick Settings, Google Voice, GUAVA and iMusic Tao. I never have any problems with them all piled on, though I need to occasionally force GUAVA to quit so I can make a proper phone call.
5. Drag and drop, baby. Anything I have formatted for iTunes works on the phone, so I just choose what I want and go. Organization? Never needed it.
6. I'm currently an ESL teacher entrenched in Japan, and this isn't my first smartphone rodeo. I've been pretty hands on with the iPhone in the past, and I'm in my upper 20s, male, and enjoying every moment of everything.
1. how do you find the hardware (comfort of use, ease of use)?
Fits in my hand better than my Storm 1,2. Little heavier, but feels much more solid
2. how do you find the battery life (everyday light/normal use, heavy use)?
I use mine fairly heavy. Several hundred texts per day, constant updating calendar, and weather app. I use max brightness always, instead of auto dim... I usually take it off the charger at 11am and have to charge it around 2 am or so... If I go out, I need to charge it on the way out in the car etc...
3. if you we're a BB user and switched up to give Android a test, what do you like and not like about it?
I miss the excellent push email... Thats it... I'll never buy another Blackberry again. Android is sooooo much faster and reliable
4. what are the must have apps? how does the device do with running them all?
Advanced App Killer, Beautiful Widgets, Picsay, Pandora of course
5. how do you go about loading up the device with media (music, movies, etc.)
On my mac, i just plug it in, create a music file, and drop items in... it was simple..
6. with all that, i want to know your background - are you in business (using it for professional use), a consumer, a student, young, old, male, female, etc.
I'm a med student, but really dont use it for anything, other than sometimes looking up meds, or something online...
1. how do you find the hardware (comfort of use, ease of use)?
I've been surprised by how easy the droid is to learn and use even though there is much more to learn.
2. how do you find the battery life (everyday light/normal use, heavy use)?
Batter life is about a day with average use.
3. if you we're a BB user and switched up to give Android a test, what do you like and not like about it?
Blackberry was great for messaging. Web browsing is no comparison with the big screen, etc. I'm getting more comfortable with the keyboard, so it's not that big of a deal to switch for me.
4. what are the must have apps? how does the device do with running them all?
I'm loving the voice search and google navigation.
5. how do you go about loading up the device with media (music, movies, etc.)
6. with all that, i want to know your background - are you in business (using it for professional use), a consumer, a student, young, old, male, female, etc.
1. I think the hardware feels great. It doesnt feel cheap, but it is on the heavy side though. I would recommend something else if someone is looking for a light weight phone.
2. I wanted a better battery life since I talk to my GF a lot. I also use bluetooth as well, which adds more abuse to the battery life. Without bluetooth the phone can probably last for 20+ hours with lots of text messaging/ marketing/ some emailing. For me, since I use it heavily, I can hit 15% within 15-18 hours.
3. Being someone who had been around BB for some time. I can really say that the UI is really something else on the droid. I do miss the push email for BB. I receive tons of important emails a day. Sadly, I have to forward all the emails to my Gmail account.
4. I use skyscape a lot to look up drug information. They really need to hurry up with epocrates. Other apps that I use alot is yelp, google map, and pandora. The droid does feel somewhat laggy with pandora, but it doesnt bother me that much because it has never froze when I am on it.
5. I am a graduate health student.
Kevin
I too was a storm 1 owner.
All I can say is play around with it and find that it has much more to offer than the storm ever did.
I watched the round Robin video and seemed a little misleading to the abilities of what this thing can do.
The software keyboard in landscape is the best. You will have to close the hardware keyboard to use it. I think you will find this very useful
1. The hardware works fine on the Motorola Droid. The screen is amazing. The phone is fast and responsive but the slide out is unnecessary. The slide mechanism is stiff, keyboard uncomfortable and the direction pad unnecessary as well. Motorola could have made an even thinner profile had they not made the droid a slider.
2. I have only demo'ed the droid but I have heard it lasts more than a day with moderate use.
3. I have tried Blackberry, Symbian, and Windows. Compared to blackberry, the Droid pails in usability and convenience. I really want to like Android but it does feel cumbersome. Blackberry simply works.
4. Google Navigation is great, and adds a $100 value over all other smartphones.
5. Isn't drag and drop really the only way? There's no desktop manager.
6. I am a student and also a sales agent at a cell phone retailer.
