First Looks: The Verizon Motorola Droid

[mloebl]

The more I use the phone... the more I like it. I am driving my wife nuts as multiple times now I have said "This is the best phone I've ever owned..." Part of my love for it I think was due to the dated UI of the WM 6.1 phone I had on the last phone. The UI was definitely a lot more thought out than Microsoft's UIs (though I haven't seen WM 6.5 and 7 so not sure how they compare.) I should play with a ZuneHD and see how it's UI compares to see as I believe this is the direction MS is going.

Classic neat stuff from today... Was watching Wolverine tonight, was curious about one of the characters in the movie. Said the characters name, second later search hits come up on Wikipedia. Easy to read, quick nav thru with the touch screen and get the details I was looking for... Took a lot less time then using my stylus on the old phone.

I opened up the SDK today with the Eclipse add in. Reminded me how long it's been since I've played with Java.

-Mike <--- So far very satisfied with this phone

 

[TheForce]

What you didn't get to see in the store was how stuff like notification works when you receive an email. That is a very nice feature. You also don't get to see how easily contacts are integrated, I like how if I open a contact, I can go directly to a facebook profile, make a phone call, send a text, or an email.

Actually, all that is on the TP2 as well. Pretty standard for the new modified OS's. Contacts are fairly well integrated into GPS Maps navigation, phone, camera of course and search, e-mail and voice command. While I don't use Facebook, I see the hot link button for that too. I have my e-ail poll my POP mail box every 3 minutes which has been adequate.

The OS of stock WM6.1 is pretty plain. I have been using SPB set up with 4 tabs listing of apps. I miss that now but may experiment with it in the future.

I want to try that barcode idea. Last Wednesday I was at Staples and was shopping price for 16Gb micro sd cards and wanted to see what the best price was. I could have used that application. I'll have to see what's available for wm OS similar. Thanks for that great idea.

Pandora is another one I want to check out. I liked it demoed on the Droid in the store. I wanted to see how it would handle two sound streams but as I learned that was not going to happen. On my old XV6800, I would get a mix of audio from two files playing from two different audio mp3 players. Only the phone calls would interrupt.

How does your voice quality compare to the iphone? My son-in-law's iphone sounds so tinny just before his connection gets dropped. What many people discover after switching from att to Verizon is when calling verizon to verizon, or verizon to land line, they just don't lose the connection. It's solid. You'll like that.

 

[JTBenson]

One question about Verizon - When Slingplayer is available on Droid - will they allow it on 3G or just WiFi?

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Actually, all that is on the TP2 as well. Pretty standard for the new modified OS's. Contacts are fairly well integrated into GPS Maps navigation, phone, camera of course and search, e-mail and voice command. While I don't use Facebook, I see the hot link button for that too. I have my e-ail poll my POP mail box every 3 minutes which has been adequate.

The OS of stock WM6.1 is pretty plain. I have been using SPB set up with 4 tabs listing of apps. I miss that now but may experiment with it in the future.

I want to try that barcode idea. Last Wednesday I was at Staples and was shopping price for 16Gb micro sd cards and wanted to see what the best price was. I could have used that application. I'll have to see what's available for wm OS similar. Thanks for that great idea.

Pandora is another one I want to check out. I liked it demoed on the Droid in the store. I wanted to see how it would handle two sound streams but as I learned that was not going to happen. On my old XV6800, I would get a mix of audio from two files playing from two different audio mp3 players. Only the phone calls would interrupt.

How does your voice quality compare to the iphone? My son-in-law's iphone sounds so tinny just before his connection gets dropped. What many people discover after switching from att to Verizon is when calling verizon to verizon, or verizon to land line, they just don't lose the connection. It's solid. You'll like that.

I have an ipod touch, not an iphone, so I cannot compare, but the voice quality is among the best I have ever had on any phone I have owned. And the speaker phone is excellent too.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

One question about Verizon - When Slingplayer is available on Droid - will they allow it on 3G or just WiFi?

No one knows the answer, but they are allowing google voice on 3G, and they are touting the fact that it is open-source, so I would be very surprised if they limited access to sling.

Need to have Scott press his contacts with Dish to see if they are working on a sling player for Android.

 

[legatebroke]

Does it have TV? Can Sling Player Mobile be loaded in it?

This is the response I got from Sling in an email last week. They give some lame excuses, like most OS they run SlingPlayer are Windows based and Android is linuix. Well iPhone/iTouch are not windows base, at least I would not think so. I have responded with my disappiontment on this App not coming to Amdriod. The more voices heard the more likely they will support this new OS.

Thank you for contacting Sling Media Technical Support.

As we understand, you want to know if the Slingbox will support the Motorola Droid Mobile device. We will be more than willing to assist you.

Android is a software platform and operating system for mobile devices, based on the Linux operating system, developed by Google and later the Open Handset Alliance. It allows developers to write managed code in a Java-like language that utilizes Google-developed Java libraries, but does not support programs developed in native code.

Most of the supported cell phones run on Windows OS. Since Android runs on Linux OS, it is not compatible with the SlingPlayer. Therefore, Slingbox will not support it.

If you require further assistance, feel free to visit Sling Media Support - Support or contact us at 1-877-GO-SLING (877-467-5464) Monday through Sunday 7am-7pm Pacific Time.

For future reference your case number is 230162.

Best regards,
Randall
Sling Media Technical Support.

Your comment:

I am going to be purchasing a Motorola Driod smartphone from Verizon wireless. Question is are you going to creat an APP for this platform like the blackberry and iphone?

Best regards,
Randall
Sling Media Technical Support
ref:00D491rT.50048oN0l:ref

 

[wiiplayer]

this is an awesome phone got it on Friday

I talked to motorola's lead development team and said the camera is a software issue
and a fix is already to go (autofocus problem) will be pushed in next update(before thanksgiving)

 

[JamesJ]

by the way I need to correct something here...Droid is actually the name of a series of phones (its confusiong and I Hope the drop it) but its motorola droid, htc droid eris and future phones (again I hope they stop which it looks like they are doing, but if you open the eris box it says droid eris.)

 

[Ronnie-]

The Droid name would have been a great idea for the motorola OR the series (or androids in general), but to do them both is, as stuart said, confusing.

 

[SatinKzo]

Hell I didn't know they did them both that way. that is confusing considing they are different manufacturers.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

The Droid name would have been a great idea for the motorola OR the series (or androids in general), but to do them both is, as stuart said, confusing.

And after reading that, I remember he is right, as I accidentally picked up a Droid Eris screen protector before realizing it was for the wrong phone.

Bad move.

 

[Ronnie-]

And after reading that, I remember he is right, as I accidentally picked up a Droid Eris screen protector before realizing it was for the wrong phone.

Bad move.

Lol, my local Cell South store would be lost if they had to deal with that.

They had the HTC Hero accessories section loaded with covers, cases, ect that fit the HTC Snap. They tried to sell them to me, and I pointed out that the model numbers didnt match. It wasnt until I put one of the silicon covers for the snap on my Hero that they realized I was right.

 

[JamesJ]

photo of our offices we are building right now (note it was early and a little cloudy but I dont think it was bad at all) taken with the motorola droid ( yes I did get 4 green corners, and its straight settings, nothing tweeked.)

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Nice shot of the sewage runnoff.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Here is a sample shot from Saturday at a football game. Its not great, but not terrible either.

 

[JamesJ]

Nice shot of the sewage runnoff.

epa makes you have holding ponds of water runoff (not from building but rain water and such) so we had to dig this thing out and put all sorts of things in there! :rant: ITS FREAKING RAIN WATER...but whatever its fine, this project has gone smooth so far

by the way here is some good info!

Motorola Droid OTA Update Coming December 11th? | Android Phone Fans

 

[rockymtnhigh]

epa makes you have holding ponds of water runoff (not from building but rain water and such) so we had to dig this thing out and put all sorts of things in there! :rant: ITS FREAKING RAIN WATER...but whatever its fine, this project has gone smooth so far

by the way here is some good info!

Motorola Droid OTA Update Coming December 11th? | Android Phone Fans

Interesting. My case has a magnet to close it, and sure enough on two occasions when I took the phone out it was in Multimedia Dock mode. Confused the heck out of me, but now I know why. Guess I need to start looking for a new case.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

epa makes you have holding ponds of water runoff (not from building but rain water and such) so we had to dig this thing out and put all sorts of things in there! :rant: ITS FREAKING RAIN WATER...but whatever its fine, this project has gone smooth so far

by the way here is some good info!

Motorola Droid OTA Update Coming December 11th? | Android Phone Fans

I was just razzing you.

 

[--sexy-warlock--]

How is the reception compared to the Omnia? When I moved to the i910 from the EnV my bars went from 1-2 to 0-1 inside my house.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Haven't noticed much difference from the Omnia.