Official Droid 2 first impressions thread (plus, win a free case!)
- Thread starter Phil Nickinson
- Start date
I got my D2 today. I am quite pleased with it overall. I upgraded from the Palm Pre Plus. The only thing I miss was how easily you could switch applications but it isn't too big of a deal for me. I love the keyboard and the size. I like the apps on the android market more than I do the ones for WebOS. Camera takes nice pictures. Sound is much better than my palm was in call quality and music. Overall I am quite happy with it. Was choosing between the DX and the D2 and the two main things that made me go with the D2 was the keyboard and the fact that they said the DX wouldn't ship till the 30th, I am an impatient person.
wan2run
Well-known member
- Jul 26, 2010
- 59
- 1
- 0
I've had a few days to play with this and I have to say it is a huge improvement over the Ally. I ran the Quadrant and Neocore on it against my X and the results are very similar.
Quadrant : X - 1293, D2 - 1339
Neocore : X - 43.3 FPS, D2 - 42.6 FPS
I wonder how the X will fare once it gets Froyo.
My GF is small so she didn't want the big X. All in all I think it was a great decision for her...I may shoot a vid of the 2 and post it here.
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"L" key launches calendar issue : anyone find a fix?
Hi, new to Android (with a Droid 2) and new to your forum. I searched for the above problem and am only finding this single reference to it but am probably missing it elsewhere.
Is this a common bug with the Droid 2? Has anyone found a simple settings fix or are we all awaiting an OTA fix from Moto/VZW?
I waited for this device to jump onto Android as I've found that I much prefer a hard keyboard for my particular needs. Tough to use when the calendar always opens up just by pressing "L".
Thanks, everyone.
-PDX
Hi, new to Android (with a Droid 2) and new to your forum. I searched for the above problem and am only finding this single reference to it but am probably missing it elsewhere.
Is this a common bug with the Droid 2? Has anyone found a simple settings fix or are we all awaiting an OTA fix from Moto/VZW?
I waited for this device to jump onto Android as I've found that I much prefer a hard keyboard for my particular needs. Tough to use when the calendar always opens up just by pressing "L".
Thanks, everyone.
-PDX
New too android a few weeks ago, but I traded my lg ally for the droid 2 Saturday morning. All I can say is wow!!!! It is worlds better than the ally. Very impressed, although like I said, the ally is my only comparison. The only trouble I have had is with the Verizon store. They didn't want to honor the 30 day trade period. They told me that Verizon was basically hanging them out to dry. They said Verizon was sticking them with all these traded phones that had no warranty which they were not able to sell. Well, to make a long story short, they had to make the switch and now I am a happy droid 2 owner.
j7469
Well-known member
- Nov 17, 2009
- 207
- 1
- 0
My wife's Droid 2 came in the mail today. Having owned the original Droid, I can safely say that the Droid 2 is a great upgrade.
The overall speed of the phone is much faster. I read Engadget's review where they stated that the speed wasn't that much more improved so I was a little worried but no longer so. The physical keyboard is another huge improvement. I have large hands and can use the keyboard with ease. I also believe the newer colors and appearance changes are for the better but that's a personal preference.
In the short time I've used the phone I can honestly say that even if we didn't get a great deal from Verizon to come back (my wife switched to the Captivate for a bit but couldn't get AT&T service at her work) I'd probably still have upgraded her to this phone from the original.
The overall speed of the phone is much faster. I read Engadget's review where they stated that the speed wasn't that much more improved so I was a little worried but no longer so. The physical keyboard is another huge improvement. I have large hands and can use the keyboard with ease. I also believe the newer colors and appearance changes are for the better but that's a personal preference.
In the short time I've used the phone I can honestly say that even if we didn't get a great deal from Verizon to come back (my wife switched to the Captivate for a bit but couldn't get AT&T service at her work) I'd probably still have upgraded her to this phone from the original.
I don't like the looks of the new droid mostly the color scheme, though one of the members said it isn't as blue as it appears it is almost black. I think that if i saw it in person it would be a little bit better, but I just can't see myself switching from my X to this phone. I don't know if the appereance is just a turn off or if its the fact that I feel the X has a great screen size. Overall I think the Droid 2 is a good phone, just not for me right now. Although I would really like an R2D2 edition Droid 2( along with my X of course ).
It really is almost black. I know that a lot of people are not happy with the new design/colors, but I personally like it much better than the original Droid.
One of my coworkers got an X the same day that I got a Droid 2. He's coming from an iPhone 3G and I'm coming from WinMo, so we spend a lot of time talking about it. If I had an X I would keep it over the Droid 2. The Droid 2 is a great phone, but the bigger screen and better camera definitely had me leaning towards the X. Faced with the decision I went with the Droid 2 over the X because the Droid 2 has a better battery life (my old phone ate batteries) and I wanted to go back to a physical keyboard (well, the X was out of stock at the time too). Now that I've gotten used to Swype though, I don't see the keyboard as much of an advantage.
I only have three issues with the Droid 2:
First, I can't set a contact picture from within contacts if I want to use an image file that i already have. Motorola has confirmed this is a bug and suggested that I set the contact picture from within the Gallery app, which works fine.
Secondly, I can't change the contacts to sort by lastname, firstname. I gather that this is a universal Android thing, and fortunatly search works well enough.
Finally, Voice Search is flakey for me. It seems like it recognizes what I'm saying but doesn't search the right things (like contacts before the web). It seems to work fine on the Droid X, so it may be a 2.2 thing.
My wife recently got an LG Ally and I have to say, its keyboard blows away the Droid 2's (which I got at the same time.) On the Droid 2, I'm always bumping my fingers up against the display when hitting keys on the top row. The Ally has has a row of numbers above the top row of letters so this is not as big a problem. I also love the Ally's spring loaded keyboard mechanism. The droid 2 does seem snappier in terms of UI responsiveness, and of course its screen is noticeably larger. Shame though that Motorola couldn't design a good keyboard for the Droid even after two attempts.
Compared to a Droid 1
I thought the Droid 1 was very well constructed; the Droid 2, IMO is even better. I could squeeze the edges of my D1, and produce a small squeak. No such thing occurs on the D2. There was also a very subtle wiggle to the keyboard when closed. I would say roughly an 8th of an inch-that has been eliminated as well. The speaker sounds just as clear as the D1, even at full volume, although the volume seems just a tad lower overall. I think the KB is very well done. Keys are big, have texture, and travel just enough to make rapid landscape typing a reality. I'm still getting used to the staggered, read "proper" layout of the keyboard however. I'm still used to the Droid 1's grid layout.
Stuff I like
Well, the hardware is top notch. Very fast, very capable, plenty of RAM and storage. I can leap back to my homescreen using the home button and not the back button (back usually closes apps in case you didn't know that) and Launcher Pro NEVER has to redraw and reload. Live Wallpapers, which are worthless from a usability standpoint, but are cool to look at, at times are much more fluid as well. My favorite thing about Motorola's new software by far is the new cursor and zoom feature they added to text fields. Doesn't matter what keyboard you use, the cursor feature is always active. Nice touch, IMO. Also, this may be controversial to some, but I LOVE the media gallery. Its reminiscent to the gallery that came installed on the Moto Milestone. Gives you a handful of picture editing tools-without the lag and buggyness of the 3D gallery. It allows uploading to Picasa, but no viewing. I downloaded an app from the market to pick up the slack.
Stuff I'm not sure about
I haven't used it enough to make any definite determinations on battery life, but so far, so good. The camera software doesn't have NEARLY the amount of options that stock Froyo has, however, I noticed it did produce less noise than my D1 when taking pictures indoors. It also snaps alot faster. I haven't really put the camera through its paces yet, and admittedly, I'm not that big of a camera buff anyway.
Stuff I hate
The contact list application. Wow, it is abysmal. First off, for reasons beyond my comprehension, Moto decided to actually split up the functions of the contacts app, and phone app. Sure, Android as always done this, but you always had access to same options regardless of which you clicked on. Moto won't even allow you to edit an contact via the phone app, you HAVE TO load the contacts app. I could write a book on just that failure of the phone/contact application alone, just take my word for it when I say it is FUBAR. Makes you want to tug at your hair.
and lets not forget, BLOATWARE!! City ID, Kindle, Skype, etc.. If I really wanted those apps on my phone, I would install them via the market, myself. I can't even plug my phone into my computer and activate mass storage without launching the Vcast page on Verizon via my browser. Even if I make a connection twice without unplugging, it will load, AGAIN. Makes you wanna punch a wall.
Misc stuff
I'm a huge fan of Smart Keyboard Pro. It kind of combines all of the things that are great about the stock keyboard, and Sense, all in one. Combined that with the cursor feature, and you got a winner. Use Launcher Pro, can't stress that enough. I'm sick of returning home when I really wanted to access the menu button. I'm personally not a fan of the cartoonish icons. Even when I ran the DX theme on my Droid 1, I always made sure to 86 em, but meh, what are you gonna do? I'm also not a fan of the blue back, and sliver grill. That just reeks of The Dallas Cowgirls. I suggest getting a case, or one of those colorful decals to cover the back of it.
Hope someone finds any of this helpful
I thought the Droid 1 was very well constructed; the Droid 2, IMO is even better. I could squeeze the edges of my D1, and produce a small squeak. No such thing occurs on the D2. There was also a very subtle wiggle to the keyboard when closed. I would say roughly an 8th of an inch-that has been eliminated as well. The speaker sounds just as clear as the D1, even at full volume, although the volume seems just a tad lower overall. I think the KB is very well done. Keys are big, have texture, and travel just enough to make rapid landscape typing a reality. I'm still getting used to the staggered, read "proper" layout of the keyboard however. I'm still used to the Droid 1's grid layout.
Stuff I like
Well, the hardware is top notch. Very fast, very capable, plenty of RAM and storage. I can leap back to my homescreen using the home button and not the back button (back usually closes apps in case you didn't know that) and Launcher Pro NEVER has to redraw and reload. Live Wallpapers, which are worthless from a usability standpoint, but are cool to look at, at times are much more fluid as well. My favorite thing about Motorola's new software by far is the new cursor and zoom feature they added to text fields. Doesn't matter what keyboard you use, the cursor feature is always active. Nice touch, IMO. Also, this may be controversial to some, but I LOVE the media gallery. Its reminiscent to the gallery that came installed on the Moto Milestone. Gives you a handful of picture editing tools-without the lag and buggyness of the 3D gallery. It allows uploading to Picasa, but no viewing. I downloaded an app from the market to pick up the slack.
Stuff I'm not sure about
I haven't used it enough to make any definite determinations on battery life, but so far, so good. The camera software doesn't have NEARLY the amount of options that stock Froyo has, however, I noticed it did produce less noise than my D1 when taking pictures indoors. It also snaps alot faster. I haven't really put the camera through its paces yet, and admittedly, I'm not that big of a camera buff anyway.
Stuff I hate
The contact list application. Wow, it is abysmal. First off, for reasons beyond my comprehension, Moto decided to actually split up the functions of the contacts app, and phone app. Sure, Android as always done this, but you always had access to same options regardless of which you clicked on. Moto won't even allow you to edit an contact via the phone app, you HAVE TO load the contacts app. I could write a book on just that failure of the phone/contact application alone, just take my word for it when I say it is FUBAR. Makes you want to tug at your hair.
and lets not forget, BLOATWARE!! City ID, Kindle, Skype, etc.. If I really wanted those apps on my phone, I would install them via the market, myself. I can't even plug my phone into my computer and activate mass storage without launching the Vcast page on Verizon via my browser. Even if I make a connection twice without unplugging, it will load, AGAIN. Makes you wanna punch a wall.
Misc stuff
I'm a huge fan of Smart Keyboard Pro. It kind of combines all of the things that are great about the stock keyboard, and Sense, all in one. Combined that with the cursor feature, and you got a winner. Use Launcher Pro, can't stress that enough. I'm sick of returning home when I really wanted to access the menu button. I'm personally not a fan of the cartoonish icons. Even when I ran the DX theme on my Droid 1, I always made sure to 86 em, but meh, what are you gonna do? I'm also not a fan of the blue back, and sliver grill. That just reeks of The Dallas Cowgirls. I suggest getting a case, or one of those colorful decals to cover the back of it.
Hope someone finds any of this helpful
The Droid 2 is a very good phone - definately the best phone I've ever owned, though it should be as it's my first smart phone. Pros include: it is fast, looks good, good battery life under moderate use, decent keyboard, swype is fun (multi-touch keyboard is still better), Froyo, etc.
That being said, I do have my gripes, much the same as Bushido Brown. Bloatware cannot be deleted, but it's not really that big of a deal, just annoying.
Email and gmail on my iPod Touch are just better than on my Droid 2, but the Droid 2 does work fine - except I can only recieve my UC Mail and not send(set up through EMail, not corporate sync...another story there. Does using corporate sync for Exchange email accounts cost extra a month?)
Contacts is just dumb...damn motorola - if you go straight to your contact list and hit "search", you can search just fine; conversely, if you first go to "phone", then touch the contacts tab and hit "search", nothing happens (you can search here with the physical keyboard, but if I'm calling someone, I don't tend to slide open the phone). Just seems counter-intuitive. Motorola needs to steal some ideas from HTC and their Sense UI. Makes me want the Incredible, but I refrain from switching due to the Incredible's reported abysmal battery life.
My biggest complaint is with WiFi - it's hit or miss. At home, WiFi is normally fine using a Linksys router. I run into major problems when connecting to public networks. On parts of campus (U. of Cincinnati), WiFi works just fine. On other parts of campus and in some classrooms, WiFi cannot connect and goes through its On/Off fit, which normally ends with me turning off the WiFi and switching over to ol' trusty (3g iPod touch - which gets WiFi everywhere on campus just fine). Same deal when connecting to the guest network at work. Hopefully this will be fixed very soon.
I have had my signal bars and 3g drop unexpectedly, annoying but normally comes back fairly quickly.
Despite all it's downcomings, the Droid 2 is an awesome phone. Compared to a couple of friend's Droids, it is noticably faster. Compared to a couple of friend's Evos, it was a wash. Evo would be faster in some aspects, Droid 2 in others. Both are very fast.
That being said, I do have my gripes, much the same as Bushido Brown. Bloatware cannot be deleted, but it's not really that big of a deal, just annoying.
Email and gmail on my iPod Touch are just better than on my Droid 2, but the Droid 2 does work fine - except I can only recieve my UC Mail and not send(set up through EMail, not corporate sync...another story there. Does using corporate sync for Exchange email accounts cost extra a month?)
Contacts is just dumb...damn motorola - if you go straight to your contact list and hit "search", you can search just fine; conversely, if you first go to "phone", then touch the contacts tab and hit "search", nothing happens (you can search here with the physical keyboard, but if I'm calling someone, I don't tend to slide open the phone). Just seems counter-intuitive. Motorola needs to steal some ideas from HTC and their Sense UI. Makes me want the Incredible, but I refrain from switching due to the Incredible's reported abysmal battery life.
My biggest complaint is with WiFi - it's hit or miss. At home, WiFi is normally fine using a Linksys router. I run into major problems when connecting to public networks. On parts of campus (U. of Cincinnati), WiFi works just fine. On other parts of campus and in some classrooms, WiFi cannot connect and goes through its On/Off fit, which normally ends with me turning off the WiFi and switching over to ol' trusty (3g iPod touch - which gets WiFi everywhere on campus just fine). Same deal when connecting to the guest network at work. Hopefully this will be fixed very soon.
I have had my signal bars and 3g drop unexpectedly, annoying but normally comes back fairly quickly.
Despite all it's downcomings, the Droid 2 is an awesome phone. Compared to a couple of friend's Droids, it is noticably faster. Compared to a couple of friend's Evos, it was a wash. Evo would be faster in some aspects, Droid 2 in others. Both are very fast.
thebizz
phone addict
- Nov 8, 2009
- 3,568
- 42
- 0
After having the d1 since nov vzw saw fit to upgrade my phone to a d2 the new keyboard is much better design is mah blur is ok its much faster than my droid when running at the stock frequency at 1.0 its a toss up. The added ram is a huge plus I haven't seen a homescreen reload yet. Its a decent upgrade but with the progress of technology it will be outdated soon
Btw hate that they moved the buttons around
Btw hate that they moved the buttons around
Keyboard is nice, but I never had an issue with the first one.
The upgrade in speed I noticed immediately.
Really the phone full circle is better, minus one thing;
the contacts.
You can't make it filter them ALL the time! It always syncs everything if you have twitter or FB or MS. Sure you can go into the settings and look at just one account's contacts at a time, but thats a pain! It doesn't give you an option to sync or not sync contacts. Totally lame!
I don't want all my twitter followers/followies in my contacts
The upgrade in speed I noticed immediately.
Really the phone full circle is better, minus one thing;
the contacts.
You can't make it filter them ALL the time! It always syncs everything if you have twitter or FB or MS. Sure you can go into the settings and look at just one account's contacts at a time, but thats a pain! It doesn't give you an option to sync or not sync contacts. Totally lame!
I don't want all my twitter followers/followies in my contacts
my girl just got a d2 in replacement for a d1 that just crapped out on her. I must say I was absolutely in love with the d1 but when my upgrade came out I decided to get the Dinc.
My previous phones all had keyboards so I was worried when i moved to the Dinc but over the months i have fallen in love with it, till the d2 arrived on our door step. I just say this phone is AMAZING!
The keyboard is so much better than the d1, I picked it up and just started typing away...never could type on the d1. The camera has some amazing features and different modes that my Dinc does not have, that said the Dinc camera is faster and takes better pictures and videos in everyway.
This phone is very fast compared to the D1 w/2.2, its really no contest. That said the Dinc just feels faster and snappier then the d2. Even if the d2 has a superior 1ghz processor the Dinc renders websites much faster on 3g and wifi.
The d2 gets spanked by my Dinc in linpack but theres no doubt the d2 can render graphics much better.
All things considered even tho the Dinc is a faster phone I will be selling it to buy the d2, its that good of a phone. The build quality is amazing and the keyboard is stellar.
My previous phones all had keyboards so I was worried when i moved to the Dinc but over the months i have fallen in love with it, till the d2 arrived on our door step. I just say this phone is AMAZING!
The keyboard is so much better than the d1, I picked it up and just started typing away...never could type on the d1. The camera has some amazing features and different modes that my Dinc does not have, that said the Dinc camera is faster and takes better pictures and videos in everyway.
This phone is very fast compared to the D1 w/2.2, its really no contest. That said the Dinc just feels faster and snappier then the d2. Even if the d2 has a superior 1ghz processor the Dinc renders websites much faster on 3g and wifi.
The d2 gets spanked by my Dinc in linpack but theres no doubt the d2 can render graphics much better.
All things considered even tho the Dinc is a faster phone I will be selling it to buy the d2, its that good of a phone. The build quality is amazing and the keyboard is stellar.
phillyphreak
Well-known member
- Aug 26, 2010
- 69
- 1
- 0
Day 2 and im loving this phone. Although I can't figure out why my widgets disappear...
Holy crappy battery life! I need to find a way to keep this thing alive for 12 hours! Seriously, its been in my pocket and it wont last a day. Help!?!?!?!?!?!
Holy crappy battery life! I need to find a way to keep this thing alive for 12 hours! Seriously, its been in my pocket and it wont last a day. Help!?!?!?!?!?!
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Shooperman
Active member
- Aug 5, 2010
- 26
- 0
- 0
I just switched from my Blackberry Storm 2 (9550) the other day, and I have no clue why I didn't switch sooner. This is the most impressive handset I have ever used. It does everything I could ever want/need. If anybody is still debating the Blackberry / Android switch, go for it. You won't regret it.
drathos
Well-known member
- Feb 19, 2010
- 71
- 1
- 0
Just got "upgraded" from a Droid to a Droid 2 via warranty replacement (touchscreen flaked out and started dying, section by section).
First impressions:
Keyboard- Seems a little better than the Droid, but I rarely used the physical keyboard on the Droid after becoming a Swype convert.
Swype- Great that it's built in, but seems buggier than the beta that I had on the Droid. Loops and back-and-forth swipes for double letters aren't recognized as easily as in the beta. Double-tap correction doesn't work, either.
Speed- Snappier than the Droid was when not overclocked.
Blur- OMG, stop the pain! It wouldn't be so bad if it was just surface layer stuff (launcher, widgets) that I could avoid, but it's not. Motorola, in their infinite wisdom, replaced a lot of the standard functionality in stock Froyo with their own, sub-par implementations. The account management forces almost everything (thankfully not gmail) to go through "Motorola Mobile Services" and even the official Facebook app can't add an account (it adds a second Facebook button, but it won't do anything). The Gallery is poorly thought out. But the worst of all is the contacts management.
In short, Motorola made a decent upgrade in the hardware, but ruined it by trying to be a software developer with a bad case of Not Invented Here Syndrome. I can't wait for root and ROMs for it.
First impressions:
Keyboard- Seems a little better than the Droid, but I rarely used the physical keyboard on the Droid after becoming a Swype convert.
Swype- Great that it's built in, but seems buggier than the beta that I had on the Droid. Loops and back-and-forth swipes for double letters aren't recognized as easily as in the beta. Double-tap correction doesn't work, either.
Speed- Snappier than the Droid was when not overclocked.
Blur- OMG, stop the pain! It wouldn't be so bad if it was just surface layer stuff (launcher, widgets) that I could avoid, but it's not. Motorola, in their infinite wisdom, replaced a lot of the standard functionality in stock Froyo with their own, sub-par implementations. The account management forces almost everything (thankfully not gmail) to go through "Motorola Mobile Services" and even the official Facebook app can't add an account (it adds a second Facebook button, but it won't do anything). The Gallery is poorly thought out. But the worst of all is the contacts management.
In short, Motorola made a decent upgrade in the hardware, but ruined it by trying to be a software developer with a bad case of Not Invented Here Syndrome. I can't wait for root and ROMs for it.
I bought my D2 less than 24 hrs ago. Coming from an BB Storm 1.
What a difference! Learning to navigate the D2 now. Similar to an iPod touch in so many ways, but different in others. The browser is fantastic, especially after I discovered how to set the font size so the pages render in a size I can actually read without having to pinch and then scroll back and forth to read a line.
I am not sure about the Flash 10.1. I know it works, but I go to places like MSN or Yahoo and the Vids won't play. It says, "No video format for your mobile device." Frustrating, but I will probably figure it out as I go.
The Android Market had my favorite apps like Weather Bug, and a version of Tether.
I am not thrilled with the power key and unlocking ritual.
I can not type on either of the virtual keyboards, but I do well with the slider, I just do not like using it. I think I am used to the S1 sure press and it will take time to learn on these Virtual keyboards. The space bar irritates me because I hit it instead of the bottom row of characters.
I like getting full HTML email as well.
What a difference! Learning to navigate the D2 now. Similar to an iPod touch in so many ways, but different in others. The browser is fantastic, especially after I discovered how to set the font size so the pages render in a size I can actually read without having to pinch and then scroll back and forth to read a line.
I am not sure about the Flash 10.1. I know it works, but I go to places like MSN or Yahoo and the Vids won't play. It says, "No video format for your mobile device." Frustrating, but I will probably figure it out as I go.
The Android Market had my favorite apps like Weather Bug, and a version of Tether.
I am not thrilled with the power key and unlocking ritual.
I can not type on either of the virtual keyboards, but I do well with the slider, I just do not like using it. I think I am used to the S1 sure press and it will take time to learn on these Virtual keyboards. The space bar irritates me because I hit it instead of the bottom row of characters.
I like getting full HTML email as well.
- Nov 6, 2009
- 762
- 37
- 0
very useful ive been strongly considering a droid 2 or x and was concerned about wobble like the d1 had somewhat glad to hear its gone. makes the choice even tougher lol.
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