Motorola Droid 2.1 Update is HERE

[rockymtnhigh]

I decided this deserved a thread of its own.

Folks, the Motorola Droid 2.1 update has begun dropping OTA, but you do not need to wait for your turn. The update file is available online, and you can install it manually. They said 1st Quarter 2010, and they squeaked it, with it dropping 3/31/2010!

Two sites to go to get the new software:

http://www.droid-life.com/2010/03/31/manual-android-2-1-update-for-motorola-droid/

http://www.androidcentral.com/how-manually-update-your-droid-android-21

With thanks to Droid-Life and Android Central.


Lets use this thread to discuss people's experiences with 2.1

 

[Jeff0575]

i want this update but i think i want to see if its really a good update before i take the install

 

[Rey]

This is only available for the moto droid?

 

[rockymtnhigh]

This is only available for the moto droid?

Yup, Moto Droid only.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

The install took about 5 minutes. I have the "eye" right now, and am waiting for it to finish its first boot.

A little nerve-wracking, but I read that the first boot is slow.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Running 2.1.

 

[meStevo]

Running 2.1.

Same.

Gallery is nice. A handful of the live backgrounds i downloaded from the app store force quit or dont work right though it looks like.

Using the starfield for my wallpaper now.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I had to uninstall Helix Launcher and then reinstall it for it to work, but I now have 7 screens with Helix, live wallpapers with Droid 2.1 (using the neural net), multi-touch pinch and zoom in the browser and in the gallery, pretty happy.

 

[meStevo]

Oh yeah, Swype doesnt work now, will have to poke around for a fix, it's in beta, i can't just reinstall it. Got a message saying that i'd have reduced functionality because my copy of swype was for another phone.

 

[Jeff0575]

I had to uninstall Helix Launcher and then reinstall it for it to work, but I now have 7 screens with Helix, live wallpapers with Droid 2.1 (using the neural net), multi-touch pinch and zoom in the browser and in the gallery, pretty happy.

whats helix?

 

[meStevo]

Helix is a home replacement, it's in the app store, HelixLauncher i think

woot, got swype working again, had to uninstall/reinstall

 

[rockymtnhigh]

whats helix?

The best Home screen there is. Looks like the Nexus 2.1 with the little box, permits up to 9 screens; it is fast, it is stable. The app drawer is still 2D, but I never was impressed with the 3D one anyway.

It has a dock on the bottom to put 4 apps, I put Phone, gmail, email, and browser. They are docked on ALL Helix screens. Very nice.

I am setup with 7 screens. If you double-press home, it jumps to the middle one (which is my "real" home screen, with most important things on it). I have space for Executive Assistant+ full-screen widget, to toggle calendar, facebook, twitter (I have that off), messages, and phone log.

HelixLauncher is free in the marketplace. I need to check to see what the differences are with the new Helix 2, which supports the 2.1-update1 (which is the Droid's new firmware).

 

[meStevo]

im having issues downloading from the store for some reason, just getting 'download failed'

Deleted some extra stuff off my memory card (only 1.7gb used) and its working now....

 

[rockymtnhigh]

The Helix 2 launcher actually has the 3D app drawer, but it is force closing on the Droid with the new 2.1 ESE81 build. I am sure there will be a fix, and then Helix will be even better.


Dang, this has cost me an entire morning's work!

 

[meStevo]

Can't believe my droid has gotten even better.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Can't believe my droid has gotten even better.

Yup, Droid Does.


And lets see the iphone run the widgets I have going on.

 

[Ramy]

Nice I can't wait to get this on mine.

 

[mloebl]

I couldn't wait... I tried... I know it's at most 48hrs depending where you are on the roll out list... but I still couldn't wait.

Easy upgrade as was mentioned earlier, seems to work fine (though that first boot while the red eye is going is nerve racking!) I do like the Live Wall paper, and Google Earth works quite well also. I didn't realize Gallery automatically integrated with your Picasa account which is cool.

-Mike

 

[rockymtnhigh]

After day 1 with Droid 2.1, I think it was definitely worthwhile. I really like the Live Wallpapers; and the multi-touch browser is very nice. I think it falls short by not providing more home-screens, but Helix takes care of that for me. The new Gallery and the google news widget (which I have had in a ported version for 2 months) is very good too. I like Google Earth. Don't need it, but its cool to have on the device.

Is it faster? I can't really tell. It seems like it was in loading up apps; time will tell if it has better battery life.

Having done the manual install, I realize that rooting would not be hard at all (same basic commands to get the process going), and once 2.1update 1 is rooted, I'll probably give Cyanogen a try, but I have to say, I am very pleased. My Droid that does, now does it a little bit better. And I realize yet again why I like this better than the iphone/ipod touch. Those devices just have icons on the screen -- I have screens filled with icons, application widgets, and photos. It is inherently flexible.

 

[Jeff0575]

I think rooting the phone might be an interesting thing to do just to see how much better the phone can get. i too just did the manual update and i dont think rooting can be that much harder. if anyone roots there phone let me know what you think of your droid after you do it.