Picked up the Droid

[Blackbirdws6]

Decided to treat myself to a new phone yesterday and Verizon sent me an offer to upgrade early. Picked up the Motorola Droid and I really like it. I have a new gen iTouch which is like an iPhone but it can't make a phone call or take pics but does do all the apps along with Wifi.

I'm still playing with all the features but its pretty damn slick so far.It does pretty much everything but I wish it could work Flash. Its also got some weight to it. The 5mp camera works well and the option of a regular keyboard versus a touch screen is nice. It also can run multiple apps at once. This phone is def on par with the iPhone if not better in certain areas. Verizon is my network of choice so I was waiting for a phone like this to come out.

And yes I posting from it now lol.

[JerzyIroc]

Ya that phone is pretty sweet. The Android os is awesome. I'm lovin my Hero. It runs off the Android too. From what hear they will get a firmware update eventually that'll give it flash support. Have you downloaded any apps yet? I strongly suggest gettin an app killer. youll see a huge difference in battery life. And yes, i just posted from my phone too lol

[nj85z28]

I got the DROID when it first came out a couple weeks ago, and I love it. No problems with it so far either. You'll enjoy it

[deadtrend1]

back in june was when i was allowed to upgrade. but like I said earlier, when this GZone dies ill get something else. Ill look into the droid

[Knipps]

I have one beef with the droid. You get 256mb for apps. That's it. Motorola's depending on external memory cards for most of the phone's mmory but from what I've heard you can't run the apps off the memory card. (kinda odd if you ask me, I have stuff for my blackberry on an external card)

[Tsar]

If only it wasn't the size of a small child. Why do they insist on making the cell phones bigger each year?

[Blackbirdws6]

Ya that phone is pretty sweet. The Android os is awesome. I'm lovin my Hero. It runs off the Android too. From what hear they will get a firmware update eventually that'll give it flash support. Have you downloaded any apps yet? I strongly suggest gettin an app killer. youll see a huge difference in battery life. And yes, i just posted from my phone too lol

I hear they will have an update which will support flash but I'm not sure why this is such a big issue. I love watching streetfire vids and it would be great to have that ability. Granted many of these same vids are on youtube but meh.

What is a good app killer?

If only it wasn't the size of a small child. Why do they insist on making the cell phones bigger each year?

Yea that was the first thing I noticed when I got it out of the box. Trying it in the store hooked up to the security cord doesn't give you much of a feeling for weight. It doesn't bother me since I usually have my phone on a belt clip but I appreciate the large screen.

[SteveR]

A motorola.... that works? :lol:


I havent seen the new ones, but I've had a lot of bad experiences with them with their older phones.

[JerzyIroc]

Ya I don't know why it wouldn't have it right from the box either. Probably some crazy technical stuff.. The App kill i have on my Hero is called: Advanced Task Killer. I got the free version. Works great. You'll know its the right one if the icon is a little green droid with an X over it. Its so easy and quick to use. I went thru about 4 other app killers and this one was by far the easiest and quickest to use. With some other ones you have to close an app one by one. With this one, you drag your notification bar down. Tap Advanced Task Killer and you'll see all the apps that are open. They'll all have a green check next to them. Tap Kill apps and ur done. If you want any apps to stay open, just tap the green check and it wont close. Itll actually remember to never close that app unless you tap the green check again which is cool cuz you never have to keep taping the green check to keep the ones u want open. The entire time it taks from the moment you drag the notification bar down and kill the apps is literally no more than 4 seconds an it'll save ur battery big time. Another VERY important App to download: Flexilis. It's an antivirus program that also backs up ur data as well as locate your lost phone. To find your lost phone you go on their website an it'll make it "scream" and locate where it is. It's also free, sweet an very important since you can dl a lot of third party apps. Whenever you dl an app FLexilis will automatically scan it before it installs on your phone as well as emails an email attachments

[Jersey Mike]

Do you have a data plan?
I don't think I can justify spending an additional $350 a year on my phone, otherwise I'd get the droid.

[Blackbirdws6]

Do you have a data plan?
I don't think I can justify spending an additional $350 a year on my phone, otherwise I'd get the droid.

Yea I have a data plan but I also use the phone for work. I do think the cost is expensive for what it is but I enjoy the ability to do use the phone as a full multimedia device.

Ya I don't know why it wouldn't have it right from the box either. Probably some crazy technical stuff.. The App kill i have on my Hero is called: Advanced Task Killer. I got the free version. Works great. You'll know its the right one if the icon is a little green droid with an X over it. Its so easy and quick to use. I went thru about 4 other app killers and this one was by far the easiest and quickest to use. With some other ones you have to close an app one by one. With this one, you drag your notification bar down. Tap Advanced Task Killer and you'll see all the apps that are open. They'll all have a green check next to them. Tap Kill apps and ur done. If you want any apps to stay open, just tap the green check and it wont close. Itll actually remember to never close that app unless you tap the green check again which is cool cuz you never have to keep taping the green check to keep the ones u want open. The entire time it taks from the moment you drag the notification bar down and kill the apps is literally no more than 4 seconds an it'll save ur battery big time. Another VERY important App to download: Flexilis. It's an antivirus program that also backs up ur data as well as locate your lost phone. To find your lost phone you go on their website an it'll make it "scream" and locate where it is. It's also free, sweet an very important since you can dl a lot of third party apps. Whenever you dl an app FLexilis will automatically scan it before it installs on your phone as well as emails an email attachments

I'll def grab those both. Thanks.

[r0nin89]

Is there any plans for a 3g/wifi android based non phone dealy like the Itouch is to the Iphone?

[Knipps]

Probably not.

[Mark B]

I have been thinking about getting this phone. Can any of you guys tell me if I can get my outlook mail on it? (I cant stand BlackBerrys)

[Knipps]

Well, what do you have against blackberrys that you're looking to avoid in the other phones?

[SuperSweet]

Outlook can be synced if you link it to your Gmail account (required for droid). Flexillis is great anti-virus, and TasKiller I think is better than Advanced Task Killer. Make sure you do all your research on what you can do with the phone. Took me a few days to get completely set up. But I love mine too!

[Mark B]

Well, what do you have against blackberrys that you're looking to avoid in the other phones?

Mostly the keyboard & web browsing abilites. I do alot of texting & I hate dealing with that fake internet that most phones give you.

[SuperSweet]

I have one beef with the droid. You get 256mb for apps. That's it. Motorola's depending on external memory cards for most of the phone's mmory but from what I've heard you can't run the apps off the memory card. (kinda odd if you ask me, I have stuff for my blackberry on an external card)

You get 256mb of RAM and another 256mb for ROM. The apps are downloaded to the SD card and use MINIMAL memory for each app. This is better because the phone won't slow down from using ROM to open and opperate each app. Switching between apps is instantaneous and when using the TasKiller widget you can kill apps without ever opening an additional app that consumes more memory...personally I think this phone is amazing.

[Knipps]

Mostly the keyboard & web browsing abilites. I do alot of texting & I hate dealing with that fake internet that most phones give you.

idk what blackberry you've tried but my curve has "real" internet, arrow cursor and all.

[Knipps]

http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2009/11/10/motorola-droid-hype-android-app-restrictionHowever, according to iphone help, what all that hype doesn’t say is that this supposed new iPhone killer doesn’t actually take full advantage of the thousands of Android applications available on the Android Market, the reason being application installation is restricted by a measly 256MB of memory.

In the past, many supposed iPhone killer handsets have quickly fallen by the wayside due to the lack of a substantial iTunes App Store competitor, and the Motorola Droid only allowing 256MB of internal applications storage space just doesn’t cut the mustard.

Furthermore, as Android doesn’t have the ability to support application installations on an SD card, Motorola Droid owners are stuck with that pitiful 256MB for apps, compared to the iPhone which packs a nice large 7GB of application space minimum.

[Mark B]

Now that you mention it, the tour that I was looking at in the Verizon store had the "real" internet as well. Thats great, but it still leaves me with the hard to use keyboard. Still a deal breaker for me. I have gotten used to the full keyboard on my Voyager.

Since the Droid doesnt handle E-Mail any better than what I have now... I probably wont upgrade anytime soon unless I break my current phone.

[BurninrubberGT]

im thinking about the droid as my next phone, played with it awhile in the store looked pretty good

[SuperSweet]

However, according to iphone help, what all that hype doesn’t say is that this supposed new iPhone killer doesn’t actually take full advantage of the thousands of Android applications available on the Android Market, the reason being application installation is restricted by a measly 256MB of memory.

In the past, many supposed iPhone killer handsets have quickly fallen by the wayside due to the lack of a substantial iTunes App Store competitor, and the Motorola Droid only allowing 256MB of internal applications storage space just doesn’t cut the mustard.

Furthermore, as Android doesn’t have the ability to support application installations on an SD card, Motorola Droid owners are stuck with that pitiful 256MB for apps, compared to the iPhone which packs a nice large 7GB of application space minimum.


Did you happen to scroll down and read the comments explaining the fact that most apps only download the .exe file to internal memory and the rest goes to the SD card. The executable files are usually so small that you could fi an average of 200apps easy

[SuperSweet]

And who cares if apple has 80000 apps when a good chunk of them are apps like a gun that virtually fires rounds, or a beer mug that spills out when you tip.

[BurninrubberGT]

And who cares if apple has 80000 apps when a good chunk of them are apps like a gun that virtually fires rounds, or a beer mug that spills out when you tip.

ahahaha ya half of those are the stupidest things in the world

[Frosty]

Outlook can be synced if you link it to your Gmail account (required for droid).

Can you clarify this...do you have to have a Gmail account to get email on a Droid? I don't and won't have a Gmail account(no need for it).

[Blackbirdws6]

However, according to iphone help, what all that hype doesn’t say is that this supposed new iPhone killer doesn’t actually take full advantage of the thousands of Android applications available on the Android Market, the reason being application installation is restricted by a measly 256MB of memory.

In the past, many supposed iPhone killer handsets have quickly fallen by the wayside due to the lack of a substantial iTunes App Store competitor, and the Motorola Droid only allowing 256MB of internal applications storage space just doesn’t cut the mustard.

Furthermore, as Android doesn’t have the ability to support application installations on an SD card, Motorola Droid owners are stuck with that pitiful 256MB for apps, compared to the iPhone which packs a nice large 7GB of application space minimum.

Do a little more reading and you'll find that this may effect only users who like to play large scale games on their phone. Even so, the application source code can be run from the core memory and the large files can be stored on the SD card (16GB). It's simply a developer work around so I wouldn't get caught up as this being a huge issue. Granted they should have just dropped in more memory but for someone like myself who keeps his large scale games reserved to his gaming system a la PS3, I have no issue with this.

I am not making this to be a "I have a Droid, so every other phone sucks" type thread. I prefer Verizon's phone service over AT&T plain and simple. The basic function of the phone is to make a call. I made the mistake in the past of purchasing the phone that did all the cool functions but couldn't make or not drop a phone call due to the service provider.

[SuperSweet]

Can you clarify this...do you have to have a Gmail account to get email on a Droid? I don't and won't have a Gmail account(no need for it).
Just google "sync outlook to gmail"..or you can use the exchange app. Gmail is auto synced to the droid via internet at intervals you set. Or there is an email widget you can setup as a POP client to receive email just like outlook does

[Frosty]

Just google "sync outlook to gmail"..or you can use the exchange app. Gmail is auto synced to the droid via internet at intervals you set. Or there is an email widget you can setup as a POP client to receive email just like outlook does

Oh OK, that's what I thought(it's just like any other phone), it sounded like you meant something else.

Crisis adverted lol

[Mark B]

Just found an app called "Touchdown" Seems to do exactly what I am looking for. It allows the android to sync E-mails & contacts to an exchange server! If you just want to view your E-Mails, its free. If you want full functionality... You gotta pay for it.


Looks like I may be getting a new phone after all.

http://www.nitrodesk.com/dk_touchdownFeatures.aspx

[usp55]

I love my droid, not even sure how I functioned before with out it

[BigAls87Z28]

Now that you mention it, the tour that I was looking at in the Verizon store had the "real" internet as well. Thats great, but it still leaves me with the hard to use keyboard. Still a deal breaker for me. I have gotten used to the full keyboard on my Voyager.

Since the Droid doesnt handle E-Mail any better than what I have now... I probably wont upgrade anytime soon unless I break my current phone.

Storm sounds like its for you.

[andy78TA]

im contemplating picking one of these up... I have had the same phone for 3.5 years now and verizon told me I could pretty much get any phone for free with all the upgrade credits I have. Im afraid I'll break it though, they don't make phones like they used to ha

[Blackbirdws6]

im contemplating picking one of these up... I have had the same phone for 3.5 years now and verizon told me I could pretty much get any phone for free with all the upgrade credits I have. Im afraid I'll break it though, they don't make phones like they used to ha

Check it out in the store. It's certainly got a beefy feel to it. Dropping it would probably only scratch it just like any other phone. The case is made of metal.

[Frosty]

I just messed with one at the VZ store a little while ago....ME WANTS.

They have some shady advertising though, you see the $199 w/2-year contract but it's really $299 with a $100 debate card rebate through the mail....bastards lol

[usp55]

Yeah but all u have to do is go to best buy, the eat that rebate for you and u walk out the door with the droid for only 200. That's how I got mine and oh yeah I'm posting from my droid.

[Frosty]

Ahh nice.

[andy78TA]

decisions decisions... my old phone has been in the atlantic and pacific oceans, a hot tub, a pool, run over by my dads truck and gets dropped 50 times a day and thrown when i get pissed... I don't know if im ready to give it up. haha

[Frosty]

Picked up one tonight as an early Christmas present from the significant other....I'm digging it so far.

[Jersey Mike]

wondering if it's worth it without a data plan..

[Frosty]

You need the data plan, the make you get it.

[Teds89IROC]

You need the data plan, the make you get it.

what does that consist of, unlimited texts/internet or something? What does verizon charge for that?

[Savage_Messiah]

kid i work with has it. I freak out every time he gets a text and i hear "DROID"

[Frosty]

what does that consist of, unlimited texts/internet or something? What does verizon charge for that?

Yeah, it's their internet/email blah blah blah for smartphones. It's like $10 more than their regular unlimited text/VCAST plan.

[Blackbirdws6]

kid i work with has it. I freak out every time he gets a text and i hear "DROID"

Wifey made me change it since it bugged her out. I actually liked it.

[Anti_Rice_Guy]

Brian, how long does your battery last? My friend got one this weekend. Yesterday, he had 5% battery left after having it unplugged from 11:15 am to 9pm. He was showing me it...it's pretty damn cool

[KirstiKitti]

You are so lucky....if Justin finds out u have it he will probably be upset cuz he wants that phone....good luck with it :)

[Tru2Chevy]

You are so lucky....if Justin finds out u have it he will probably be upset cuz he wants that phone....good luck with it :)

Quit posting from school - get back to work!

- Justin

[Savage_Messiah]

Quit posting from school - get back to work!

- Justin

:lol:

[Blackbirdws6]

Brian, how long does your battery last? My friend got one this weekend. Yesterday, he had 5% battery left after having it unplugged from 11:15 am to 9pm. He was showing me it...it's pretty damn cool

It really depends. When I first got it, it didn't last long since I was messing around with it a lot. I can charge it roughly every couple days depending on its use. If I am heavy into the applications and such, then a daily charge may be necessary. I would suggest getting one of those app killer applications as it will help reduce the battery usage with stuff running in the background you aren't using.

[Frosty]

That app killer posted on the first page is great.