warrrreagl

The new Droid phone became available at Verizon on Friday, and Grancey and I got ours. We've been with Verizon for 6 years, and our two-year contract was up for renewal on Friday (big coincidence), so we took the plunge.

We are two people who have NEVER accessed the internet, music, or e-mail through our phones before (we both had RAZR phones before this), and we're rocking out with these new Droids. I love mine, and so far I can probably only do about 2% of what it's capable of handling.

We were starting to get a little fed up with Verizon's customer service and were considering switching to AT&T for an iPhone when the Verizon contract expired, but several things changed our minds. The main issue was coverage - when we finish our house and move to the country, AT&T will just not work out there, whereas Verizon is all over the place. Secondly, a very trusted friend told us all about the Droid a couple of weeks ago, so we started looking at info. Finally, we went into the Verizon store Friday just to look at it when we ran into an IT guy from another business who raved and gushed to us about how fantastic the Droid would be.

When a geek gushes about technology, you listen.

If you're considering getting one, here's a major caveat - be prepared to log into your gmail account BEFORE you walk into the store (that means mail address PLUS password). It took us literally two hours to finally get logged in from our phone (the Droid is synced up to gmail and Google) because neither of us could get our paswords to work. I didn't have my glasses with me and couldn't read the teeny tiny screen that was telling me what to do in case I forgot my password (I dare you to try and read a CAPTCHA from a 3.7 inch screen), so we eventually drove home to our home computers, logged in, wrote down our passwords, and drove back to the Verizon store to finish up.

All in all, we're like kids at Christmas this weekend.

__________________
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amonkie

I am not a huge geek toy fan, and the Droid has me drooling.

I've been with Verizon for almost 4 years, and didn't want to switch for the same reasons - I like having excellent coverage.

However, as much as I want to run out and get it now that Verizon has something substantial enough to compete with the iPhone, I am going to hold off for a couple more months.

Warrreagl, did you have to upgrade your plan in order to take advantage of the Driod?

I currently get a corporate discount on my plan that helps, but I have a hard time justifying paying $100+ a month for phone service, unless I'm going to be on my phone 24/7.

I have a laptop at home and a PC at work with no filters for access. The only time I'm using my phone is when I'm out and about, and at some point you just have to cut the internet dependency. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

But man. I am so drooling over this phone right now.

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Xerxys

There's no difference between the droid, and the samsung instinct/behold/Solstice Blackberry bold or all the other HTC look a-likes that try to mimic the iPhone.

Just very good marketing.

Truly innovative phones are of course the HTC Touch, the iPhone, and the Palm Pre yet to be released in the USA on the GSM network.

warrrreagl

No, we kept the same plan. It's the same monthly charges we used to have, plus $30 per phone per month for internet access. Our plan has always been fairly spartan, since we rarely (if ever) text each other, and we were very pleased to learn we could keep it exactly the same. Plus, the internet access charge is one charge that covers everything, so we don't have to worry about hidden fees for various things.

The thing that woried me most about the iPhone (other than AT&T's crappy coverage out here in the sticks) was its proprietary nature, and the Droid doesn't suffer any of that. Even battery replacement is user-friendly on the Droid, and most of the Apps I've seen that I wanted (and downloaed) were all Free.

There were two Droids available - the Motorola and the HTC. The HTC is cheaper, but its OS (version 6) is already obsolete. The Motorola (OS version 7) is the way to go.

__________________
Living is easy with eyes closed.

telekinetic

Wow...are you extremely ignorant about the current state of smart phones, making some oblique point that isn't obvious, or are you just trying to troll?

Congratulations on your Droids! The wife and I have been rocking G1's for over a year, and have loved 'em! We will be staying with Android as long as there is a viable platform to do so!

---------- Post added at 01:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:25 PM ----------

I don't know what Software Version thing you're talking about--the nice thing about Android-based phones is they will never be obsolete. My one-year-old G1 will be getting the same operating system you are running as soon as they push out an OTA update (or if they don't, I'll just download it and install it myself!).

As far as I know, the HTC Droid Eris is running Sense (also known as 'hero') on top of an Android 1.5 ("Cupcake") kernal, and the Motorola Droid is running a verizonified version of Android 2.0 ("Eclair"). The biggest difference is the Droid has higher resolution and a keyboard, wherease the Droid Eris has (in my opinion) a nicer interface. I currently run a hacked version of the "Sense" OS on my G1.

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twisted no more

Xerxys

Twisted, for some particular reason I'm biased against the blackberry. I can't seem to find good software to integrate it on/to my PC and I'm too lazy to write one. But it's a better phone than any other non smart phone pioneers. That and my blackberry really sucks.

And current state of smart phones?? They have more complaints to them than the others because they're more popular. Software on a phone can be updated. But the firmware cant. The droid strikes me to be a mimic like all the others though.

telekinetic

OK, so you don't like blackberries...I still don't understand why you do not include android-based phones in your 'truly innovative' category with the Pre, iPhone, and a windows mobile device, and instead try to group them with dumphones.

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twisted no more

Manic_Skafe

I don't know much about Droid but that iDon't commercial is awesome. What makes 'em so special?



I hope you meant the HTC Touch HD2. I swore I'd never go Winmo again but that phone gets my panties wet.

__________________
"Porn is a zoo of exotic animals that becomes boring upon ownership." -Nersesian

cdwonderful

geez, dont you ever get tired of being the wet blanket on the camp fire?

there are some possible problems , most stores only have the motorolas (which are generally crap)
but the htc will kick ass..... My roomate is a verizon rep so I have gotten to see all the training and pre release info. The Iphone has alot to be worried about.

still, I will wait for the 2nd generation to come out. why? well, the 70 percent return rate for the storm is a good example......

__________________
Never try to teach a pig to whistle
it wastes your time,
and annoys the pig.....

Charlatan

Perhaps these are the 'droids I've been looking for...

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

cdwonderful

move along!

couldnt resist

__________________
Never try to teach a pig to whistle
it wastes your time,
and annoys the pig.....

Lasereth

Me and my wife bought one each on Saturday. I upgraded from a Razr so it's a huge difference. I love it so far...it's like having an iphone except....MORER AWESOMERRR!!!!!!! BTW I have Desktop Tower Defense on it right now so there goes my free time.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

BurntToast

My wife is due for an upgrade and she said I can pick out a new phone and swap with her.

I love my wife.

__________________
The taint. Conveniently located between the snack bar and the dumpster.

YaWhateva

I want one bad but I don't get an upgrade for another year

__________________
“If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again.” - Bill O'Reilly

"This is my United States of Whateva!"

Glory's Sun

I <3 my blackberry. So piss off Xman

Look, these new droid phones are awesome. Just deal with it and accept it. I'm an apple guy, but these make the iPhones look ridiculous. The only phone out that I'm not a fan of is the Pre. but it's mostly aesthetic.

Ilow

i just picked up a Motorola Droid on Saturday. I am not the typical "get the new thing as soon as it first comes out" guy, but my old smartphone (samsung i760) was really crapping the bed (#'s 3 and 6 didn't work, the End Call button didn't work and neither did the Down arrow). I am very happy with the new Droid, with the possible exception that the calls apparently sound like crap on the other end and the service still isn't super in my condo. The internet is freaking amazing and with all the apps and the gps as well as Pandora, I am all good as long as I have battery life (another potential problem down the road that I forsee). So far I would definitely recommend them to anyone who is on the fence. I was pleasantly surprised the my sausage fingers could easily type on the screen with hardly any mistakes! Now that i think of it i guess i should have posted this message via my phone, oh well, next time.

__________________
"Religion is the one area of our discourse in which it is considered noble to pretend to be certain about things no human being could possibly be certain about"
--Sam Harris

Rekna

G1 user here. Android rocks, I have been doing whatever I want with my phone for a year now. I hope someone figures out how to root the droid soon. Once rooted you can get all the goodies (like wifi tether, aps2sd, and over clocking).

Here are my top apps:

Locale : sets phone settings based on criteria you set, like time of day or where you are, or who is calling etc.

Pandora: enough said

Fring: Skype your friends in Europe for free using fring!

Flash 10.1 (not here yet but will in the first half of this year)

Google voice visual voice mail

Task Killer (worth buying)

Weather Widget with the callendar (from some guy with the french name), also worh buying

Navigation owns

Qik is not bad if you want to do some video journalism.

google scoreboard is goof for simple score updates

twitter widget is a guilty pleasure.



Here is the deal, Android has come and has come hard and with numbers. 3 months ago the market had 10000 apps. Today it has 16000. Thats a pretty big increase for 3 months. The rate of increase on new maps per month appears to be increasing by about 13% a month. And in November will likely add another 3000 apps. If this rate continues android will have over 1000,000 apps in 11 months. For these stats see Android Market statistics from AndroLib, Androlib, Android Applications and Games

You can also look at the mobile marketshare
Wed Nov 18 2009
Web browser
Marketshare (US) Web browser
Marketshare (non-US)
iPhone 53.85% 62.41%
Android 9.74% 3.00%
Droid 3.38% 0.01%
Everything else 36.42% 34.60%


Tue Nov 17 2009
Web browser
Marketshare (US) Web browser
Marketshare (non-US)
iPhone 55.01% 61.81%
Android 9.71% 3.12%
Droid 3.47% 0.01%
Everything else 35.27% 35.07%


Mon Nov 16 2009
Web browser
Marketshare (US) Web browser
Marketshare (non-US)
iPhone 56.50% 64.79%
Android 9.55% 2.99%
Droid 3.26% 0.00%
Everything else 33.94% 32.23%


Sun Nov 15 2009
Web browser
Marketshare (US) Web browser
Marketshare (non-US)
iPhone 57.62% 66.97%
Android 8.83% 3.02%
Droid 2.93% 0.00%
Everything else 33.55% 30.02%


Sat Nov 14 2009
Web browser
Marketshare (US) Web browser
Marketshare (non-US)
iPhone 56.34% 65.26%
Android 8.94% 3.00%
Droid 3.16% 0.01%
Everything else 34.72% 31.74%


Fri Nov 13 2009
Web browser
Marketshare (US) Web browser
Marketshare (non-US)
iPhone 55.37% 63.55%
Android 9.25% 3.03%
Droid 3.32% 0.00%
Everything else 35.38% 33.42%


Thu Nov 12 2009
Web browser
Marketshare (US) Web browser
Marketshare (non-US)
iPhone 58.46% 66.26%
Android 8.31% 3.09%
Droid 2.84% 0.01%
Everything else 33.23% 30.64%


Wed Nov 11 2009
Web browser
Marketshare (US) Web browser
Marketshare (non-US)
iPhone 57.46% 65.95%
Android 8.17% 3.51%
Droid 2.63% 0.00%
Everything else 34.37% 30.55%


Iphone is moving down and android is moving up. The droid is already at 3% market share.

Lasereth

My official review of the Droid after a few weeks of use:

1. The battery cover comes off at least 5 times per day when I take it out of my pocket. This problem is all over the Internet. Some people are able to get a new cover, but sometimes that doesn't fix it. It's really annoying because sometimes you don't even know the cover is off and then you have to go looking for it. My Razr's cover never came off in the years and years of use. I don't get why they would go with such a poor design.

2. The phone comes unlocked in my pocket constantly. I'm always accidentally calling people and browsing the app store, GPSing, etc. without knowing it. I did figure out how to make it harder to unlock the phone with a more complicated movement scheme, but even then, the emergency dialer funtion is always going and I'm accidentally dialing people still.

3. Sometimes the phone simply locks up. It's locked up 6 times so far. You have to take the battery out to restart it.

4. Sometimes the dial pad doesn't show up when you are hanging up a call. I wave the phone around to make the buttons appear on the touchscreen but they never show up. The other person has to hang up on me during these times. If I called someone and the voicemail came up, and I don't want to leave a message, I end up leaving a 15 second voicemail of nothing because the screen won't appear.

5. I've lost approximately 25 calls since I got the phone. My Razr lost 3 calls in 4 years. My Droid has lost 25 in 3 weeks. Same service provider (Verizon), same place (my house), yet I lose calls like I'm in the desert.

6. The hardware keypad is hard to use. I always hit the wrong keys when using it. Thankfully the software keyboard is absolutely great.

7. The phone slides apart in my pocket constantly. It's annoying to have to slide it back together before I can take it out of my pocket.

8. When talking on the phone with anyone, my cheek is always pressing the touch screen and doing random shit like activating GPS or dialing numbers, etc. Why does the touch screen even work during a call? It should wait until you move it down from your face and then activate the screen. It has this capability.

9. There needs to be zero buttons on the side of the phone. They all do various functions, and when calling someone, it's way too easy to hit these side buttons, especially if you're trying to multitask. They need to do nothing when on a call.

10. Web surfing is phenomenal. Web pages look amazing, load quickly, and scroll down perfectly. Easily the best part of this phone.

11. Apps work great. The voice GPS is amazing. The other day I was going out to a fire station to fix a PC and I opened my phone and said "Navigate to one one zero five Old Salem Road, Kernersville, NC" and it said "turn right onto 8th street" and after 10 minutes of following the turn by turn voice commands, I was there. This is serious Star Trek shit.

12. The UI is a bit unintuitive. An OS from Google should be easier to use IMO. Deleting files and shortcuts is a huge pain. Anything that requires more than clicking something requires you to bring up the options menu, and the important stuff is generally buried in multiple menus.

13. The camera is amazing. The picture quality of snapshots and movies is very, very good.

14. The battery life is pretty shitty. If you use it as a telephone only, it'll go about 2 days. If you use any sort of app on it, 24 hours and you're doing good. Not a huge deal since it's a smart phone, but I miss charging my phone once a week.

Yet I am still keeping the phone. The good outweighs the bad, and Google will constantly be updating the OS. Really the biggest issues for me right now are the dropped calls and the battery cover constantly coming off.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Vinrej

Thanks for sharing your review. I think I have to wait for the next generation of Droid.

Frankie Zee

Just got rid of my BlackBerry and switched services to get a Droid on Verizon...EXTREMELY happy I did so. The only thing I miss about my BlackBerry is the BB Instant Messenger.

Oh, and the constant battery pulls

Never had the battery panel come off, but I broke down and got a leather holster since it is somewhat larger and heavier than most other phones. A little much for me to carry in my pocket. I do agree the battery life is a little suspect. If I'm on it constantly, surfing the web, downloading apps, or playing games, I can have the thing dead in less than a day. Never had a problem with my cheek pressing buttons during a call. I've had my phone for a couple weeks and haven't had a lockup yet. I can say that I did have problems when I had the docking station connected to my computer. Constantly getting connect/disconnect tones and would even have my keyboard and mouse completely lose connectivity if left there for too long, causing a reboot by pressing the power button. But if I'm just transferring files and it's only connected for a couple minutes, I haven't had an issue. I simply plugged the docking station into the surge protector instead of the computer.

connyosis

Just got the european equivalent, the Motorola Milestone and I have to say it rocks. Compared to my old Sony Ericsson phone it's amazing. It seems to be a little picky when it comes to wireless networks though.

__________________
If atheism is a religion, then not collecting stamps is a hobby.

Frankie Zee

I lose 3G fairly often and seemingly at random times when I'm just sitting at my house. I've attributed that to Verizon's spotty coverage in my area though.

Edit: Oh, and I was having problems staying connected to Wi-Fi at the bar I was at Sunday for football. I lost 3G altogether and it wouldn't stay connected to the bar's Wi-Fi for more than a few seconds...of course, I may not have been really coherent at the time...

telekinetic

Does the droid not have long-press to drag shortcuts to the trash can like other Android operating systems? That's only slightly more complicated than a click.

__________________
twisted no more

Orchrist

I've been wanting a Droid since they came out but since I'm still on my current Verizon contract which expires in a few months if I wait I'll get the discount for upgrading phones at same time as renewing contract.... damn waiting. This is of course compounded by the fact that my phone battery is starting to die now in the home stretch and who wants to buy a new battery when they're getting ready to buy a new phone.

I'm using a Dare now and its just illustrates how much I really don't dig touchscreens or touchscreen keyboards, maybe its just this phone though. That's one feature(hardware keyboard) that makes me want to get the Droid over the Nexus One which will be hitting Verizon around the time my contract is up for renewal though, but it's another Android option to look at.

YaWhateva

I got a Droid and I love it. So far I have not had any problems with 3G, and I'm in a tiny town that I never even knew had 3G and it certainly doesn't on other networks.

I absolutely love the phone so far. Calls are clearer than my old enV2, and I don't know what Las is talking about but my Droid turns the screen off when I hold it to my face while on the phone. The UI and the physical keypad are taking some getting used to but that's all part of a new phone I believe.

Well deserving of Times' Top Gadget of 2009.

Edit: To add, I've never had an iPhone but I have an iPod Touch 2G (which is really a phoneless iPhone) and this Droid blows it out of the water in my eyes. I know its not really an apples to apples comparison but still.

__________________
“If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again.” - Bill O'Reilly

"This is my United States of Whateva!"

Meditrina

I know this thread is a bit old, but I have been looking at phones and found this deal: Droid well, actually, a friend found the deal for me. How do I know if this is a legit deal? I have been with Verizon for awhile, since I get a slight discount from my job. It says I a due for my "new every 2" in Jan 2011. Do I have to wait till then to upgrade?

__________________
"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles." ~Alex Karras

Redjake

The deal is expired now, but it definitely worked, because I jumped on it

I got my wife and I 2 Droids for $39.99 with $50 cashback from Bing, so I got them for -$10.

__________________
Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.

Meditrina

Thanks, redjake. I didn't even notice the deal was expired. I guess I will keep looking.

__________________
"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles." ~Alex Karras

Daniel_

I like the look of the new HTC Legend and Desire android phones just available in the UK. The Desire is basically a new version of the Nexus, but with more memory. When my contract runs out, I have to say I'm tempted.

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╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗
Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
╚═════════════════════════════════════════╝

Orchrist

Ah damn a few days ago amazon had a deal for the Droids for .01 with a 2 year contract, I'm not sure how that would work with the existing contracts though.

I'm salivating over the HTC Incredible(also Android) coming out in a week, and my new every 2 is up with Verizon tomorrow so couldn't be better timing. It was between the Incredible and the Nexus One, but looks like whoever comes out first is going to win in my book, because my current phone is on it's last legs.

SecretMethod70

Daniel_: Definitely go with the Desire, it's the superior phone in pretty much every way.

Meditrina: If you want the new contract discount then yes, you have to wait until Jan 2011 (maybe a month or two earlier if you ask a sales rep). I wouldn't worry about missing the deal: by Jan 2011, the original Motorola Droid will be over a year old and it should be easy to find deals on it if it's still being sold. Technologically, by this summer every carrier will have at least one phone superior to the Droid, so who knows what the market will look like by January

Orchrist: If you're committed to Verizon, go with the Incredible. HTC's Sense UI is a great addition to Android, and it's not missing anything that the Nexus One has. If you're open to another network and can wait until June...

HTC's Sense UI puts some really nice lipstick on WinMo 6.5, but it's still WinMo 6.5. If you really like the HD2, wait until the summer for the HTC Evo 4G on Sprint - it's the HD2, with even better specs, and running Android.

__________________
Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

boink

I just pre orderd the droid incredible too. and a 16 gb sd card from newegg. this will be my first cell phone ever. loosing my land line next weekend for good and all. hope I'll be happy.

__________________
when you believe in things that you don't understand, then you suffer. Superstition ain't the way.

Daniel_

I checked my contract recently, and realised that I hadn't signed up for 12 months, I'd signed up for 18 - so I've got longer to wait than I thought, unless I buy out. Hopefully by the time I'd due a replacement, there will be even more new goodies out there. For now, I'm very happy with my Nokia E71.

__________________

╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗
Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
╚═════════════════════════════════════════╝

Orchrist

Yea once pre-orders came up and reviews were available last week I pre-ordered the Incredible. Can't wait for Thursday...!

I'm still curious over what's up with the Nexus One though, I read somewhere Google mentioned when it DOES come to Verizon it's coming with a few tweaks, as to whether that's hardware or software they were tight lipped.

SecretMethod70

One software tweak I know about is that the Nexus One has an FM tuner, but stock Android doesn't come with software to use it. Froyo (Android 2.2) is supposed to change that.

__________________
Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

Anxst

As the Nexus One is no longer coming to the Verizon network, I've got my order in for an HTC Droid Incredible. I'll probably put up a review for it over on my site, and I'll post some highlights here as well once I get the thing.

Edit: Here's a link to the review I threw up on the site I write at. A Review

It's not a gadget site or anything, so it's not in depth. I pretty much write for fun over there.

(Mods: If this counts as site plugging, let me know and I'll remove it immediately. It's topical here, so I think I'm okay. It's still my site, though, so I thought I'd say something, in case.)

__________________
Don't mind me. I'm just releasing the insanity pressure from my headvalves.

Orchrist

Yup, I saw that too, makes me glad I already pre-ordered my Incredible, should be here tomorrow!

boink

Got my D Inc. here....neat toy. lotta cool stuff in here. fast as all get out. wonder how many Android users are here ? should there be an Android app sticky thread ?