few questions before purchase

[edoublediz]

how well does pop email incorporate into phone? i have an email address i have hosted by my companies website hoster. can this be tightly integrated into the android platform? im coming from a long line of blackberries and i would get them faster on my BB than on my pc. is there a way to get this from a hosted email address.

can you get active wallpaper on droid?

is it hard to root, i see alot of cool stuff that people keep mentioning rooting.

does the nexus one offer anything that the droid does not?

any other things i might need to know?

TIA

 

[prometheus]

Email is not as easy to set up as on blackberry. But, once set up, it does work very well.

RE speed of email... I have mine set to poll every 15 minutes and there are times that I see the time sent and realize it's been in my inbox for a little longer that 15 minutes. This only occurs with non Gmail accounts. I do understand how that delay may be a deal breaker if your business needs require immediate responses. Gmail on the Droid is going to be a very similar experience to your blackberry email experience. If you are able to forward any other email account to your Gmail, them you're all set.

RE root... I'm not rooted. But from my reading it appears to be a 10 minute procedure. More to the point, Why do you want to root? You may benefit from researching that first and see if it is something you really NEED.

RE active wallpaper... Do you mean live wallpaper? If so, not yet, supposed to be on the next update which is expected either 5 days ago or in a few months - depending on what source you trust.

RE Nexus One... I believe it has multi-touch and a trackball. But, frankly I don't play the game of always lusting after the latest and greatest and next best thing. I kind of ignore hype on products that I don't have. There's too much to learn about MY device without having to worry about another one.

I came from Blackberry 8330 and couldn't be happier. I used to have a different business need and did a stupid amount of email, 70-80 a day. My email needs changed and I'm only doing about 10 a day now. If I was still a power user on email, I might be disappointed with Droid. But, that's the only arena where bb might have ANY advantage.

What else do you need to know... I never used GPS. I just couldn't stomach paying verizon for something that they disabled. That always ticked me off. The "GPS" blackberry offered was a joke, basically just cell tower triangulation. So, what do you need to know? You will be blown away by a truly GPS enabled smart phone. The world of tools it opens up are amazing.

 

[nox]

Email is not as easy to set up as on blackberry. But, once set up, it does work very well.

RE speed of email... I have mine set to poll every 15 minutes and there are times that I see the time sent and realize it's been in my inbox for a little longer that 15 minutes. This only occurs with non Gmail accounts. I do understand how that delay may be a deal breaker if your business needs require immediate responses. Gmail on the Droid is going to be a very similar experience to your blackberry email experience. If you are able to forward any other email account to your Gmail, them you're all set.

RE root... I'm not rooted. But from my reading it appears to be a 10 minute procedure. More to the point, Why do you want to root? You may benefit from researching that first and see if it is something you really NEED.

RE active wallpaper... Do you mean live wallpaper? If so, not yet, supposed to be on the next update which is expected either 5 days ago or in a few months - depending on what source you trust.

RE Nexus One... I believe it has multi-touch and a trackball. But, frankly I don't play the game of always lusting after the latest and greatest and next best thing. I kind of ignore hype on products that I don't have. There's too much to learn about MY device without having to worry about another one.

I came from Blackberry 8330 and couldn't be happier. I used to have a different business need and did a stupid amount of email, 70-80 a day. My email needs changed and I'm only doing about 10 a day now. If I was still a power user on email, I might be disappointed with Droid. But, that's the only arena where bb might have ANY advantage.

What else do you need to know... I never used GPS. I just couldn't stomach paying verizon for something that they disabled. That always ticked me off. The "GPS" blackberry offered was a joke, basically just cell tower triangulation. So, what do you need to know? You will be blown away by a truly GPS enabled smart phone. The world of tools it opens up are amazing.

What he said except the Nexus One doesn't have multi touch. It does have live wallpapers, though it's a battery waster. I would pick the Droid over the Nexus, especially since the Nexus has all these issues with it, not worth it imo.

 

[edoublediz]

thanks alot

sounds like good info. i think i could migrate my mail to gmail, i do alot of email, but i keep really good contacts for almost everybody i email. i could send mass email and give everybody my new email address. i just registered my old domain as a new gmail account ted @ xxxxxx . com to xxxxxx @ gmail . com.

how do you get contacts from outlook to gmail? this has to be somewhat seemless as i have about 700 contacts and growing.

can google voice be used as visual voice mail from verizon? does it work well?

are their multiple apps for every function? like multiple voice mail clients, SMS clients, phone dialers? if so i dont want to have to explore 10 apps to get 1 good one. is the standard issue most of the time sufficient?

what benefit is their to root? i know you need them to install custom ROM's but that leads me to another question, what are custom ROMs and what type of features do you get by loading them?

is RAM the only place to store apps or can you store to SD card?

as for the Droid vs N1. of course since i havnt bought yet i feel i have time to wait for N1. i feel i would be tickled pink with droid but i am a tech junky. the RAM, CPU, screen all entice me. plus i feel i would be happy without the keyboard.

 

[prometheus]

What he said except the Nexus One doesn't have multi touch. It does have live wallpapers, though it's a battery waster. I would pick the Droid over the Nexus, especially since the Nexus has all these issues with it, not worth it imo.

Thanks for the clarification, I'm not very well educated on N1

 

[simp_10]

how do you get contacts from outlook to gmail? this has to be somewhat seemless as i have about 700 contacts and growing.
Export to a .csv and import to gmail contacts

can google voice be used as visual voice mail from verizon? does it work well?
Yes. Forward your current phones to your Google Voice number. Works great so far. They are working on getting the transcripts to be better but you can usually make it out.

You can search and find almost any answer you may need. Good luck!

 

[Dapke36]

You don't even need to do much work to forward your voicemail to GVoice. I believe there is an option in GV that says "forward your number to ______", and it gives you instructions on what to do.

 

[prometheus]

sounds like good info. i think i could migrate my mail to gmail, i do alot of email, but i keep really good contacts for almost everybody i email. i could send mass email and give everybody my new email address. i just registered my old domain as a new gmail account ted @ xxxxxx . com to xxxxxx @ gmail . com.

I did the same thing, I just sent a mass email to all friends and family saying, "new email is xxxx @yahoo.com. and if you already have a gmail account established, it'll be easy

how do you get contacts from outlook to gmail? this has to be somewhat seemless as i have about 700 contacts and growing.

Easy as pie. Open your gmail account from your PC and look for the contacts button on the far left side, click that and then in the box that opens - look at the tab in the upper right corner, "import" - click that and you'll see the note,

"We support importing CSV files from Outlook, Outlook Express, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, Eudora and some other apps. We also support importing vCard from apps like Apple Address Book.
Please select a CSV or vCard file to upload:"

there'll be a "browse" button there. Once you start browsing, it'll default to any .cvs file and you'll have every single one of your contacts in your gmail account in about 15 seconds. Then when in the Verizon store in order to activate the phone you'll need to assign a gmail account as your primary account, choose the one you've already loaded your contacts into. You'll see an option on your Droid settings to "sync with gmail" - click that and before you walk out of the store you'll have every contact in your Droid.

can google voice be used as visual voice mail from verizon? does it work well?

Sorry, not familiar with google voice. However, this device is VERY google friendly. The OS is MADE by google. I use a third party visual voice mail (Youmail) and it works flawlessly on the Droid and even had an app for free in the market (app store for Doid). I would be very shocked if google voice mail wasn't an easy plug n' play process

are their multiple apps for every function? like multiple voice mail clients, SMS clients, phone dialers? if so i dont want to have to explore 10 apps to get 1 good one. is the standard issue most of the time sufficient?.

There is a dedicated system default icon and app for all of the apps you mentioned (except multiple voice mail clients) I go with stock as much as possible. I do recommend a third part SMS/MMS app called Handcent (free). It just gives the SMS conversations a bit more UI and classier look than the stock messaging app. Plus it allows configuring notifications of incoming messages to be more defined. i.e. - custom LED lights per contact, custom vibration sequesnce per contact. as well as different font and background for message displays per contact.

However, no extra apps are needed to do any basic communication via phone, voice mail, SMS, MMS, email, or google's IM service known as Talk

what benefit is their to root? i know you need them to install custom ROM's but that leads me to another question, what are custom ROMs and what type of features do you get by loading them?

To root or not to root is more often considered here that Hamlet's to be or not to be. Total personal choice.

Pro: Offers more customization.
Con: Loses some automatic update capabilities
Pro: Gives you more control
Con: Opens the door to make your phone an expensive paperweight
Pro: Appeals to one's techy, geeky side
Con: waste of time

I personally don't root because there's never been a need for me to. Best thing to keep in mind: It is easy to do and is reversible.

is RAM the only place to store apps or can you store to SD card?

Yes, you can only store apps on phone's memory. Unless you root. However, this phone has massive memory. I have over 50 apps installed and have 64% of memory available. AND, I don't delete old messages, clear cache, or reboot.

as for the Droid vs N1. of course since i havnt bought yet i feel i have time to wait for N1. i feel i would be tickled pink with droid but i am a tech junky. the RAM, CPU, screen all entice me. plus i feel i would be happy without the keyboard.

I can't speak to the technical aspects of the N1. I can tell you that the Droid keyboard is useless (at least to me) I DO NOT use it. at all. ever. a total waste of space. However, I've heard many people sing its praises - so, personal taste.

 

[edoublediz]

thanks guys

 

[prometheus]

thanks guys

any time.