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Droid rants, raves

OK the phone does a pretty good job in general. I have a feeling that the keyboards are going to fail prematurely unless Moore people are like me and forego the thing for the soft keyboard. Right now in this box the keyboard is being slow as hell. This is the firs I've seen this on this device but it is running about six or seven words behind. Perhaps it has to do with the HTML editor.

Finally I want to scream about the camera. The storm camera took a bit to become good but is now very very goo the camera on the Droid needs some serious software effort put forth. How common are updates on android phones?

Wow. I just counted and it was more like 15 words behind. At least it keeps what you have tapped out and does finally catch up
 
bthoward said:
Wow. I just counted and it was more like 15 words behind. At least it keeps what you have tapped out and does finally catch up
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I think it's something to do with this web site...

When I type out a post on this site I can only do about 15-20 words per minute or the phone falls WAAAAY behind, but when I'm typing in texts I can go full speed and it doesn't have a problem
 
Derekv said:
Raves: FAST!! Thing zooms along. Screen size and overall screen quality are great, really responsive to touch (I came from WM so anything is better i guess). Small text looks awesome without the need to squint. Battery seems great. Thing feels as solid as a rock. Keyboard is not nearly as bad as some reviews would have you think. Speaker phone is very loud and clear, as well as ringtones and anything else that uses that speaker. Touch buttons on the bottom row work great, much better than i expected. I like the Facebook integration. Memory management seems great.

Rant: Visual Voicemail still does not work for me. Called tech support and he said it will be a while for Florida? The camera is hit and miss sometimes, the flash is crap which leaves pictures looking blue. The default Droid sounds are cool for about 5 minutes, then you realize you look like a tool when a SMS comes through and DROID bellows through your insanely loud motodroid speaker. Synced contacts from Facebook do not allow you to edit them to add phone numbers, instead I had to create duplicate contacts that Android would automatically merge with the Facebook synced contacts.
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I refused to allow my FB and contacts get merged. Perhaps it is just me, but I have tons of FB contacts that I have never called, and probably will never call. But if I did, I'd be in your shoes - annoyed to Hades and back with something as simple as this....

mcbtrain929 said:
is the app store/market/whatever its called the same for the droid as the eris? or are they different because of the whole 1.5 vs 2.0 OS?
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In scanning apps on market, I have seen apps listing themselves as having been tested only on certain versions of the OS - 1.0, 1.5, etc. - so I'd have to say that Market is cross generational....

it'd be nice if they started filtering based upon OS version / compatibility, though....

Derekv said:
johnlgalt said:
major rant: cannot get it to pair with Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit.
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I had to download a program called usb mount for it to see my droid as a mass usb drive. Not sure if this is what you mean.
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No, the USB charging cable made the computer automatically recognize my phone as the Motorola Droid A855 and installed drivers for it and the Mass Storage device, so the drivers are there, but it simply will not pair, giving me an error code....

Edaze55 said:
Sorry, its an App available in Market called Barcode Scanner. There are a number of other barcode scanners out there. They all use the built in camera to "scan" the barcode.
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Thanks for the info
 
Raves: huge gorgeous screen, fast! much to learn and fun!
Rants: That huge gorgeous screen and sooo much of the text is so small I have to squint or find glasses to read it. Icons like 6 on the home screen leaves all the space bigger icons be cool to. Keyboard is as bad as they said. I use the virtual. Speaker should be on if I click it on like the Storm always in visual voice (toggle on off and stick!) notification is about the size of a pin head. Its the biggest phone with the smallest stuff
 
1. It will not connect to my home wi-fi.
2. It will not connect to either of my two Bluetooth headphones.
3. Because there is no easy way to turn off apps, the battery gets drained too quickly.
4. The Motorola Media Link software I downloaded to sync my Ipod content with the phone does not recognize the phone and will not connect to it.
5. You have to "swipe" to answer the phone.
6. Recharging cable is way too short
7. Using the snap-on gel cover to protect the phone means that the phone will not fit in the dashboard cradle.
8. The pressure needed to click on something varies widely between apps, making for a frustrating experience.
9. No pinch and zoom. Even the Eris has this.
10. I new it had no global capabilities when I bought it, but that just clinches it.

:mad: Looking at the Storm 2 today
 
athflying said:
Try Cyrket.com for a desktop web version. Its not very polished but gets the job done and if you find an app you want to download, there is a barcode on the page you can scan with your phone that takes you to it in the Market.

With notifications you can have a default tone and also set a seperate tone for SMS, email, pop up reminders, etc. The option is found when you hit menu in the respective program you wanna change. Volume is going to be the same for all though.
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I am getting blank pages (no content) when loading this site in Fx and IE - I did a whois, and found the owner, and went to his main site, saurik.com, and saw that he has a lot of sites listed, and even going to cyrket.com from that site produces the same results.

Anyone else having problems with cyrket?
 
johnlgalt said:
No, the USB charging cable made the computer automatically recognize my phone as the Motorola Droid A855 and installed drivers for it and the Mass Storage device, so the drivers are there, but it simply will not pair, giving me an error code....



Thanks for the info
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Make sure you also pull down the Settings menu and click the USB connected button. Then click Mount.

This is a quirky method that I don't understand but it works.

Simply plugging in the device the first time loads the drivers but does not mount it as a drive.
 
This is a pretty cool rave: the wife hates gadgets and has never cared for the stuff I buy. Well, we are on the way to another city about an hour away for shopping and she wants to look at my "new phone" in which she replies, "Can I look on the internet." "Sure Honey." So I pull it out of the GPS mount which is routing us to our destination and has already showed us a faster way than we traditionally go (although this is not always the case) and she begins surfing. Shen is finding all the stuff she wants to buy surfing the net with the screaming 3g and asks, "So why did you not want the iPhone thingy?" At the same time the GPS voice kicks in and begins giving voice directions while she is still surfing the net. Easy reply, "Because the iPhone can't do that, er, well, the iPhone would not even have signal here either."

Raves: Super fast, reliable network, some great features including the music player (may not be flashy enough for others, but works for me.) and GPS.

Rants: Still a few bugs to work out, but we'll get there...come on guys its been out for two days.
 
e39e60 said:
Make sure you also pull down the Settings menu and click the USB connected button. Then click Mount.

This is a quirky method that I don't understand but it works.

Simply plugging in the device the first time loads the drivers but does not mount it as a drive.
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yeah, I have no problem connecting via usb - my issue is with bluetooth
 
johnlgalt said:
yeah, I have no problem connecting via usb - my issue is with bluetooth
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Oh, I didn't see you mention Bluetooth in your original message. Unfortunately that isn't going to synch anytime soon without third party software I guess. It's a step backwards IMO from WM that's causing me some regrets.
 
johnlgalt said:
yeah, I have no problem connecting via usb - my issue is with bluetooth
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When I hooked up the phone to my Windows 7 64bit, there were 4 drivers it tried to install. Three of them installed automatically and I had to go to Motorola's website to get the fourth. I think you'll need this driver to do any type of interaction beyond mass storage. I needed it to get pdaNET to work.
 
Rave: Its Fast. Free Apps. Video camera is great. Pictures are slow to take but come out good.

Rant: Where the hell is the video player in this thing? The Gallery player doesn't play all the videos I have. There is now way I am going to convert all my videos for it to work. When I did try to convert it to an mp4 through handbrake, the audio was delayed on the phone. On my computer the video is fine. I have tried multiple applications from the market with no luck. That brings up another point. Not all the applications in the market support the 2.0 os and I have found a few that crash.

Other than that I love the phone. My wife is getting pissed because I am always on it. :)
 
Rave: I'm a first time smart phone user. Love how smooth integration was for everything Google that I already had. Facebook, & my Google addresses/info merged into my contact list seamlessly. Love the gadgets/apps/widgets already available. I've been wanting to have a Dynomometer/Accelerometer app for eons, and now I have one, also being able to wardrive with my Droid is the coolest thing ever.

The GPS Navigation and voice guidance is great, I love the fact it AUTOMAGICALLY SWITCHES TO STREETVIEW. Blew my mind, outta the water. I am amazed!!

RANTS:
1) My $20 damned verizon hard case won't fit in the GPS Car cradle/multimedia dock.
2) The same $20 hard case makes the keyboard difficult to slide out (probably returning the hard case for a different one).
3) NO WAY TO ADD FAVORITES FROM OLD GPS UNIT TO DROID - WHAT THE F*&K... Seriously who had their head up their ass on that one. *shakes head* Hope they fix that shit soon.
4) GPS Voice Nav - Magically switched to coming outta the handset speaker instead of the speakerphone. Can't figure out how to switch back (after spending a few hours with the manual and fudging around with various options).
5) The slide out keyboard is worthless IMO. Seriously it's way too close to the upper shell to actually be able to type with. I MUCH prefer the landscape view virtual keyboard. They keys are too small, too flat, not textile enough and look like they're going to peel off.
6) Volume Rocker should adjust NAV VOLUME when in Google Maps assisted Nav. NOT adjust the "Ringer Volume"....
7) Custom ringtones.. for each contact, as well as one for email, one for text/sms messages etc.. would be nice.
 
New Droid user - just switched from blackberry
1. Is there a way to add an email signature on my work email - not gmail?

2. Please explain to me how to sync this thing with Outlook. I need to get my contacts and calendar on this phone.

3. Is there a task manager that will sync with Outlook or do I need to download an app?
 
Rant - Verizon wasn't aware of the fact that a call cannot be initiated using a bluetooth headset. I called Motorola and was promptly informed that it wasn't supported. I can answer a call and even re-dial but no voice commands. That stinks. I hope they fix it quickly.
 
OK, I read a million times (or so) how great the screen was, but the ifone and even the Sammy rogue have better screens WRT contrast and brightness. Sheesh.
- It's not any bigger than the ifone, really. It's wider, but narrower.
- The default (and unchangeable) font and icon size is too small. Period.
- Its not easy to read outdoors, due to lack of brightness.

I do not own a BB Storm, but I've always liked the on-screen keyboard (where the keys glow when you hover over them) That would have been a nice feature. While the mechanical keyboard is not the state-of-the-art we're expect, it's not too bad to use once in a while. I like that I can make the phone "bigger" by extending the keyboard, for long e-mails and to free up the viewable area of the screen.
That said, the virtual keyboard has some kewl features. Nice.

Apps: Holy cow, what a rip! I mean, the 10,000 apps were NOT written for the Droid, so they run (If they run) with limitations from previous versions of Android, in many cases.
I do hope that changes; welcome to early-adopter hell.

Time will tell if Verizon service pans out, but I will say that I've been pleased so far.
I LOVE that it's square. It's a guy's phone. No fake rounded corners and space-wasting curves.

I loved the anti-ifone advertising. The second "stealth" ad might have been for a transformer. Yikes, who are they targeting? 10-year old boys or serious people who want an alternative to ATT.

It's obvious that Verizon/Motorola pushed the Droid out fast, to beat the many HD phones waiting in the wings for late 4th quarter. I hope they commit to improving the SW and applications, and soon, I'd hate to see this promising device spiral down into "Razor" hell......

I will miss my podcast sync. (V/M!! Please address this quickly!!!)

I actually think the main buzz about this phone, is how many things Verizon and Motorola DID NOT screw up. That in itself is worth praise.
 
I get some very LOUD notifications when the Droid is home-docked, even with the volume tuned to lowest level. I take the handset off the dock and the volume remains set.

Wouldn't matter normally, but at night, when I'm snoozing, the sonar beep certainly gets my attention.
 
I dunno, most of the issues I see ranted on in this thread I been able to solve either via a less-obvious setting or a free app.
If your phone reboots and all that, you gotta exchange it - there apparently have been quite a few defective ones. Mine haven't had a single reboot, and generally functions exactly as it should.
My top rant would be the utter failure of handsfree implementation. Droid has excellent speech recognition, which makes the gimped handsfree especially sad. There should be a handsfree/eyesfree mode where action can be initiated via bluetooth or a single screen tap, and should let user make callls and navigate to places without not only touching, but even looking at the screen. (Thats the idea behind voice-prompted navigation anyway)
And other than that... not much really. There are things I wish it would do, but I can see those things eventually coming in form of apps.
 
scorrpio said:
I dunno, most of the issues I see ranted on in this thread I been able to solve either via a less-obvious setting or a free app.
If your phone reboots and all that, you gotta exchange it - there apparently have been quite a few defective ones. Mine haven't had a single reboot, and generally functions exactly as it should.
My top rant would be the utter failure of handsfree implementation. Droid has excellent speech recognition, which makes the gimped handsfree especially sad. There should be a handsfree/eyesfree mode where action can be initiated via bluetooth or a single screen tap, and should let user make callls and navigate to places without not only touching, but even looking at the screen. (Thats the idea behind voice-prompted navigation anyway)
And other than that... not much really. There are things I wish it would do, but I can see those things eventually coming in form of apps.
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If you hold down the search soft key, it brings up voice search and from there you just speak your commands. It works well and will bring up contacts, directions, etc. I lost my bluetooth headset, so haven't had a chance to play around with that yet.
 
Or that they haven't gotten like me and started answering posts left and right....150+ in less than 2 weeks....IIRC it may be as little as a week....
 
johnlgalt said:
major rant: cannot get it to pair with Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit.

Mine is working great with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I have had some issues with certain micro USB cables. I bought a mini usb cable with a plug on micro usb adapter from Best Buy. The two together don't recognize the device but if I plug the micro usb adapter onto another mini usb cable, it works fine. Hope this helps.
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Raves

Screen - It's amazing, makes my iPhone look like a total piece of crap. I was sort of planning to use my iPhone as iPod after but I don't even like to look at it anymore. It makes reading text so much nicer and it's awesome being able to read a bulk of sites in full zoom out mode.

Build Quality - It's solid feeling, feels much more like a tool or a pro item rather then a toy like most smartphones feel like. I wish the sliding motion was a bit more fluid but oh well.

Multitasking - Smooth, easy, and finally I can stream Pandora, have AIM running, and web browse at the same time well on a phone/PDA. It's easy to kill apps with that task killer, and in general it's just an extremely pleasant experience.

Navigation - Great, just awesome. It's already come in use when we were searching for a house in a foggy nasty night, brought us right to it, to the nearest subway, and back home. I'm SURE we would have been lost for at least a half hour without it there.

Verizon - 3G coverage finally. It's the main reason I had to ditch my iPhone. I live outside Asheville, NC and it's absolutely a joke that there isn't 3G coverage here from AT&T. Verizon even in my house (which is really tucked away in a mountain) gets 3 or so bars. It's such a joy being able to finally browse the web on a phone well over cell coverage.

Keyboard - Surprisingly have to put this here, it's probably not the best (I haven't had much to compare it to) but it's better then none and I type pretty well on it.

Speed - Everything is just fluid and speedy

____________________

Rants

Camera - It's really a shame that this camera is so ugh, being 5mp being in the commercials you'd think they would launch this so it worked well. I know there is an OTA update (hopefully) coming to fix this but that doesn't change for the next month or so this I won't be able to focus the camera which makes it pretty much useless to me. Hopefully the update fixes both the focus issue and the slowness of the app (although something tells me the slowness is the SD card)..

Marketplace - Coming from the iPhone where this is arguably it's best asset right now it's not really a disappointment (because I expected it) but it's sorta surprising to see how little big time developers give Android the respect it deserves. Things like Skype being a joke

No Multitouch - Although I gotta say that this is not a massive deal because I'm more of a double tapper but it's just stupid it's not in considering the GSM version will have it in.
 
Appleanche said:
Raves


No Multitouch - Although I gotta say that this is not a massive deal because I'm more of a double tapper but it's just stupid it's not in considering the GSM version will have it in.
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The phone OS and hardware do Multitouch. Just have to wait for the software to catch up. Download Pic Say photo editor to witness the multitouchedness :-)
 
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