Any last minute advice from Android users- I have decided on the Droid today

[jasonvancouver]

hello everyone :

I am with Verizon and hope to go to the store to get my next phone today.

After reading the forums, I have pretty much decided on the Droid. My main needs are :

I am a 40's, salesperson/road warrior type. I initially have been afraid to change phones, because it so easy to text and email on the blackberry curve, but i want more from a phone now.

I know that the Droid probably can't compete with BB for texting, etc. But after reading the forums, it seems that it does a good enough job and that most people are actually using the virtual keyboard instead of the physical keyboard.

Are people satisfied enough with the ability to text on the Droid ?

Is the Droid easy to interact with and understand ?

When sending an email from the Droid, does it say "sent from my Droid", or something like that ?

Any last minute suggestions before I pick it up today ?

thanks everyone.

 

[matrix2004]

If you drive alot, i recommend a car charger since the battery seems to drain faster than other phones.

 

[SMJUCmoose]

hello everyone :

I am with Verizon and hope to go to the store to get my next phone today.

After reading the forums, I have pretty much decided on the Droid. My main needs are :

I am a 40's, salesperson/road warrior type. I initially have been afraid to change phones, because it so easy to text and email on the blackberry curve, but i want more from a phone now.

I know that the Droid probably can't compete with BB for texting, etc. But after reading the forums, it seems that it does a good enough job and that most people are actually using the virtual keyboard instead of the physical keyboard.

Are people satisfied enough with the ability to text on the Droid ?

I had a storm 1 and 2 and i like texting on the droid a lot better.

Is the Droid easy to interact with and understand ?

after about a day of playing with it you'll understand everything you need too. after another week of playing you'll learn cool features you didn't know were there.

When sending an email from the Droid, does it say "sent from my Droid", or something like that ?

you can add a signature but i don't think it will say that out of the box.

Any last minute suggestions before I pick it up today ? i bought a multimedia dock and a belt clip.

thanks everyone.

10 Char/10 char

 

[jasonvancouver]

10 Char/10 char

what's 10 Char ?

 

[jasonvancouver]

10 Char/10 char

Thanks Moose - your comments make me feel confident about getting the Droid.

When I first got my BB a few years ago, it seemed like it took like 6 months to figure everything out... hopefully the Droid will be easier, like you said.

thanks !

 

[Jared DiPane]

I switched from a BB to a Droid, and honestly I have NEVER looked back since. I think you will be extremely satisfied with the performance of the device, and how amazing it is. It will make life so much easier in many aspects for you.

I would definitely suggest picking it up

 

[jasonvancouver]

I switched from a BB to a Droid, and honestly I have NEVER looked back since. I think you will be extremely satisfied with the performance of the device, and how amazing it is. It will make life so much easier in many aspects for you.

I would definitely suggest picking it up

thanks, Jared.

 

[Jared DiPane]

Also, if you are on the road a lot, I would say the car dock will benefit you big time, its a great place to keep the device when not in your hand, it comes with a rapid car charger, and it will place the device to into its car mode, so you have easy access to the navigation and everything

 

[MBSMD]

Be aware that unlike the BlackBerry, only Gmail accounts have true "push" on the Android platform. Other email accounts will have "pull" or "fetch" style checking (at intervals of your choice, but too frequent will cause excess battery drain).

 

[jasonvancouver]

Be aware that unlike the BlackBerry, only Gmail accounts have true "push" on the Android platform. Other email accounts will have "pull" or "fetch" style checking (at intervals of your choice, but too frequent will cause excess battery drain).

Ok, so, like I can set it to check my hotmail every 30 minutes, something like that ?

I can also use the browser to log into my hotmail or other email anytime I want, right ?

 

[Jared DiPane]

Ok, so, like I can set it to check my hotmail every 30 minutes, something like that ?

I can also use the browser to log into my hotmail or other email anytime I want, right ?

Exactly, or your can always use gmail as a server sort of and import your hotmail into it, and then it will push those messages too

Jerry did a very nice write up on this a little while back that would be helpful to you.

 

[zhelf]

Ok, so, like I can set it to check my hotmail every 30 minutes, something like that ?

I can also use the browser to log into my hotmail or other email anytime I want, right ?

yea you can set it at certain intervals or just go into the mail app for your hotmail and it will just fetch once it is opened and you tell it to.

 

[bojowaggie]

Something else that works really well is if you are able to set your email up with a exchange server. With exchange, I have the push option. Works really well.
Aside from everything else everyone has, this phone is DaBomb, my wife has the BB 8530 Curve and my Droid does circles around it and also the Market is a lot better than the BB's app store..

Good luck, I also find myself using the touch keyboard vs the slide out more often than not..

Other than that welcome to the DROID family..

 

[jasonvancouver]

Something else that works really well is if you are able to set your email up with a exchange server. With exchange, I have the push option. Works really well.
Aside from everything else everyone has, this phone is DaBomb, my wife has the BB 8530 Curve and my Droid does circles around it and also the Market is a lot better than the BB's app store..

Good luck, I also find myself using the touch keyboard vs the slide out more often than not..

Other than that welcome to the DROID family..

Thanks bojowaggie - I picked up the Droid just an hour ago and I have a feeling I won't be looking back, either. Thanks for the welcome and the great device. I feel really happy with the purchase so far - I can see what people are raving about now !!

 

[mclarryjr]

Just forward your hotmail to your gmail and you will have push email.

 

[mawint]

And you can reply with your hotmail account as a default

 

[Dapke36]

For the keyboard, if you have large fingers, like me, you might want a different "soft" (software) keyboard. I use this one called "HTC IME", which is HTC's keyboard brought over from their Sense phones and modified. You will have to do some installing, but it's really easy. Here's some steps I wrote up on another post:

1)
Go to this link: [APP MOD] HTC_IME Keyboard (5th April) v20: More swiping and fixes - xda-developers

Under "Instructions", they will have a "high res" and "low res" link in some text. Click the "High res" link, and the package will download to your phone.

2) Go into the Market, and search for "Astro". It is a file manager, like on your home PC, and will allow you to look at the SD card's contents.

3) Go into astro, and find the "downloads" folder.

4) Long press the downloaded .zip IME file, and some options will pop up. Click "extract/extract to this folder".

5) You will now have a "clicker" and 'HTC_IME" icon. Click on the HTC_IME icon, and press "open app manager" (or w/e it is, but it's NOT "Browse file"), and install it.

6) Go to the home screen, click the Menu button (the one with 4 unequal lines), then hit Settings, and then to Language & Keyboard, and enable the Touch Input keyboard (click the checkbox).

7) Finally, go to any input field (email or text), long hold the white box (input field) at the bottom. A menu will come up, and click "input method". You can then choose "touch input".

Hope this helps. I use it all the time, it's my primary keyboard. It's a little laggy sometimes, but extremely accurate autocorrect.


Btw, I hope this isn't written somewhere else (yes, I know it's written on XDA, but that's not specific enough for me), because I spent enough time writing it

 

[kenc3dan]

You can't do handsfree Bluetooth voice dialing on a Droid.
Lots of folks would take such a basic feature for granted but it isn't there.
You can on a Devour for some reason.

 

[jasonvancouver]

For the keyboard, if you have large fingers, like me, you might want a different "soft" (software) keyboard. I use this one called "HTC IME", which is HTC's keyboard brought over from their Sense phones and modified. You will have to do some installing, but it's really easy. Here's some steps I wrote up on another post:

1)
Go to this link: [APP MOD] HTC_IME Keyboard (5th April) v20: More swiping and fixes - xda-developers

Under "Instructions", they will have a "high res" and "low res" link in some text. Click the "High res" link, and the package will download to your phone.

2) Go into the Market, and search for "Astro". It is a file manager, like on your home PC, and will allow you to look at the SD card's contents.

3) Go into astro, and find the "downloads" folder.

4) Long press the downloaded .zip IME file, and some options will pop up. Click "extract/extract to this folder".

5) You will now have a "clicker" and 'HTC_IME" icon. Click on the HTC_IME icon, and press "open app manager" (or w/e it is, but it's NOT "Browse file"), and install it.

6) Go to the home screen, click the Menu button (the one with 4 unequal lines), then hit Settings, and then to Language & Keyboard, and enable the Touch Input keyboard (click the checkbox).

7) Finally, go to any input field (email or text), long hold the white box (input field) at the bottom. A menu will come up, and click "input method". You can then choose "touch input".

Hope this helps. I use it all the time, it's my primary keyboard. It's a little laggy sometimes, but extremely accurate autocorrect.


Btw, I hope this isn't written somewhere else (yes, I know it's written on XDA, but that's not specific enough for me), because I spent enough time writing it

Thank you, Dapke36 !

That is great information to have. I have heard of this before and thanks for leaving the steps here in case I need it, which I may... So far so good, the phone seems great )

 

[jasonvancouver]

You can't do handsfree Bluetooth voice dialing on a Droid.
Lots of folks would take such a basic feature for granted but it isn't there.
You can on a Devour for some reason.

Yes, I tried to dial hands free, but my Droid wont' do it. The blue tooth does work, though, once a phone # is dialed.

Do you know of any apps. that enable to Droid to do voice-dialing via bluetooth ?

Jason.