Thinking about buying the Motorola Droid coming from WM6.5

[nuttsp]

Hi I am thinking of jumping off of my HTC FUZE (and ATT). ATT in my area is not that good. Verizon is much better.

Here is what I love about my phone now and I am wondering if the Motorola Droid can do this.

GPS. I have a third party map software that I love. I can get a lock on GPS in less that 10 seconds. My fear is
that google maps will not be as good. I like to store several locations at once on my trip so I can recall at once.

Lotus notes support. ATT provides someting called express mail. A program runs on my computer and sends mail and calendar
to my phone. This would be a must have as well. I don't see anything that can do this for Andriod.

Battery life. One day should be enough. I tweaked my phone enough to get done with a busy day and be at 25% at the end.
I check mail like onece an hour I don't need instant email support.



Things that I think about but I think will be ok

IM chat support. I see Meebo and some others I am sure this will be good enough.

Touch screen. The Motorola droid seems light years ahead of my resistive crappy screen that I have now.

KEYBOARD. I need a keyboard. I hate typing on the screen. I think the device will be fine for me.

Anyone else have anything to add coming from windows mobile phone?

 

[johnlgalt]

GPS - handled natively by the phone. It's not an 'app'; rather, it is built in - and it works. However, the maps that Google just recently bought (presumably so they would not have to pay royalties for continued access from DROID users) may have some discrepancies - just go online to Google Maps and find the discrepancies, report them, and they will usually fix it pretty quickly (I have 5 responses from reports I made that were sent to me 1 day later, claiming they would be fixed in a month - but it's only been a week)....

As for storing locations, well, I haven't worked on that one yet - I keep using locations from my contacts....I'll look into this soon. Honestly, though, IIRC, I did not see a place to store locations, other than using contacts...but, again, I haven't really looked into it, just casually browsed.

Lotus Notes - not sure if that is going to happen or not - but, you might be able to get around that - is your company infrastructure using Lotus as the server application as well? If not (for example, the server is Exchange server) then you can set up the phone to login to retrieve your mail if you know the correct parameters. Some folks have had issues with checking email via POP, and some have had issues using IMAP - I am currently only checking one email address, GMail, and using the standard setup built into the phone (I.e. POP). I plan on trying IMAP this week for my GMail account, as that is how I access it from all my (other) computers, and I want to see if I can get the total package for my main email account....Another thing to note - if you are planning to get email from a corporate server, VZW may make you pay for the higher priced data plan (which is designed for corporate email use).

Battery life - when you get the phone, run it down til the phone powers off 2-3 times, followed each time by a full charge. This has extended my battery life from 6-7 hours to as long as 14-15 hours, depending upon my usage.

IM chat support - there are quite a few apps out there - I don't use any, so....

Touchscreen is awesome - I bought a pack of the VZW screen protectors, but after seeing the video, I removed mine - it is now gloriously free of protectors (and the native screen is more oil resistant than the protector was lol).

The KB needs some getting used to - it's a matter of personal choice - some like the slide out and some of us prefer the virtual.

 

[colnago]

I have a Moto Q running 6.1 (my buddy who bought a DROID with me had a Fuze). Hardware wise, the DROID is much better, along with the search and browsing experience. Where you may find trouble is in the business/communication apps you're familiar with, and may want to continue to use. I suggest searching for app compatibility on the Android platform. There is alot on the Android Market (you'll have access via a shortcut and Gmail account on the Droid out of the box) which will make most of your transition seamless. I was able to mimic 95% of my Q's functionality with the DROID. I was really only missing SlingMobile support. This after multiple registry and OS mods.

However depending on your local VZ coverage, you may have some signal issues as it seems to be a recurring problem now. Don't let the battery threads throw you. As always, it takes a few re-charging cycles for the battery to mature.

FWIW, I couldn't wait for the Tilt2 to come out, and my AT&T upgrade eligibility is in 2 weeks.

 

[nuttsp]

QUOTE: FWIW, I couldn't wait for the Tilt2 to come out, and my AT&T upgrade eligibility is in 2 weeks.

Why are you sticking with WM and not android? I assume that the tilt 2 is WM.

 

[bruceo]

Hi I am thinking of jumping off of my HTC FUZE (and ATT). ATT in my area is not that good. Verizon is much better.

Here is what I love about my phone now and I am wondering if the Motorola Droid can do this.

GPS. I have a third party map software that I love. I can get a lock on GPS in less that 10 seconds. My fear is
that google maps will not be as good. I like to store several locations at once on my trip so I can recall at once.

Lotus notes support. ATT provides someting called express mail. A program runs on my computer and sends mail and calendar
to my phone. This would be a must have as well. I don't see anything that can do this for Andriod.

Battery life. One day should be enough. I tweaked my phone enough to get done with a busy day and be at 25% at the end.
I check mail like onece an hour I don't need instant email support.



Things that I think about but I think will be ok

IM chat support. I see Meebo and some others I am sure this will be good enough.

Touch screen. The Motorola droid seems light years ahead of my resistive crappy screen that I have now.

KEYBOARD. I need a keyboard. I hate typing on the screen. I think the device will be fine for me.

Anyone else have anything to add coming from windows mobile phone?

I came from touch pro which is pretty much the same as your fuze.

A ton of bad feedback on the keyboard but coming from the fuze you will like the keyboard. It is basically the same as the fuse without dedicated number row, but bigger.

Screen destroys the TP.

I went through at least 100+ custom roms and never got more than 8-12 hrs of moderate use out of it, usually I would get 4-6 with moderate and 1-2 of heavy. I get 6-8 of heavy use out of the droid and 10-12+ with moderate use. Guys have complained that this is terrible but coming from 10+ yrs of PPC winmo this is phenomenal to me.

GPS is pretty darn good, but I do miss Igo8, for me it was spot on where Google maps have been a little off about 5 out of 10 destinations so far.

Outlook and lotus notes support is not very good. One of the things I bitch about on Iphone, Webos and Android is the fact that they have no good native synching task and notes like winmo does. The lack of task and reminders with interval snooze times is really annoying.

Bluetooth on android is pretty crippled whereas the Fuze/Touch Pro has good bluetooth support.

But, so far even with a lot of compromises, outside of the iphone and coming from winmo Android is great.

 

[colnago]

The HTC Touch Pro 2/Tilt 2 are all WinMo devices. I don't want to stay with WinMo, so much as there is no SlingMobile nor Hava support for viewing my Sat service on the phone. Like I said, I can replicate almost all my functionality from the Moto Q on the Droid save for that. I was also looking to pick up TV-Out with a new cell, be it TP2 or the N900. I went Droid and VZ because I like Motorola devices, the OS seems much lighter than WinMo, or WinMo + TF3d, plus the VZ bundle and corp. discount I can get...basically went Droid out of nowhere last minute.

Like I've said, I think that the Droid "2" running Android "3.0" will probably be the phone that could have it all. Right now, I think its N900, if nothing else because of Flash support when it hits the ground.

 

[nuttsp]

I came from touch pro which is pretty much the same as your fuze.

A ton of bad feedback on the keyboard but coming from the fuze you will like the keyboard. It is basically the same as the fuse without dedicated number row, but bigger.

Screen destroys the TP.

I went through at least 100+ custom roms and never got more than 8-12 hrs of moderate use out of it, usually I would get 4-6 with moderate and 1-2 of heavy. I get 6-8 of heavy use out of the droid and 10-12+ with moderate use. Guys have complained that this is terrible but coming from 10+ yrs of PPC winmo this is phenomenal to me.

GPS is pretty darn good, but I do miss Igo8, for me it was spot on where Google maps have been a little off about 5 out of 10 destinations so far.

Outlook and lotus notes support is not very good. One of the things I bitch about on Iphone, Webos and Android is the fact that they have no good native synching task and notes like winmo does. The lack of task and reminders with interval snooze times is really annoying.

Bluetooth on android is pretty crippled whereas the Fuze/Touch Pro has good bluetooth support.

But, so far even with a lot of compromises, outside of the iphone and coming from winmo Android is great.

Thanks for all your feedback.

The fact that they don't have tasks with reminders is bad also. I forgot that i need that as well. I think I saw some web enabled todo managers like "rememberthemilk".

If I find a way to do lotus email and calendar I may be sold. I found "companionlink software" and I am going to give them a call.

What about the camera?? I heard it sucks.

 

[johnlgalt]

The camera had a bug where, depending upon the date, it would not autofocus. Since about a week ago the bug is not present (b/c of the change in dates) but a Dec 11th OS update is all set to address that issue permanently.

The pics are great, from a 5 MP camera, and video is pretty darn good too.

 

[colnago]

...The fact that they don't have tasks with reminders is bad also. I forgot that i need that as well. I think I saw some web enabled todo managers like "rememberthemilk"..

There are a few "To Do" apps, which work as apps or widgets, and have reminder alerts as well...free on Android Market. I just picked one up called Astrid and use as a widget. Its nice in that if I want to just create shopping lists, nothing requiring a fixed time/date, it will show as one line in the widget "Target". If I press on the Target line, I can customize which fields appear in full screen, most importantly, the list of things I need at Target.

If you need timers/expiration dates, etc, all that is configurable. I just got my DROID to receive data again...I don't know, I may change my mind. Buddy offered to buy me an n900 for BDay/Christmas...decisions.

 

[jdmba]

Battery life - when you get the phone, run it down til the phone powers off 2-3 times, followed each time by a full charge. This has extended my battery life from 6-7 hours to as long as 14-15 hours, depending upon my usage.

EXCEEDINGLY BAD ADVICE. DO NOT DO THIS.

Lithium Ion batteries do not have a memory effect and if you run them down to 0 you damage them. I do not want to post every single story out there, but you can either google search or peruse the following:

Howstuffworks "How Lithium-ion Batteries Work"

How to prolong lithium-based batteries
(4 paragraphs below the chart)

 

[syntrix]

My Maps, in google maps on the pc. Map out points, and can sync to google maps on android.

 

[sho95]

Your going to need to buy an office sweet. Like Documents to go cause the Droid does not come with one like the new Touch Pro2.

 

[nuttsp]

EXCEEDINGLY BAD ADVICE. DO NOT DO THIS.

Lithium Ion batteries do not have a memory effect and if you run them down to 0 you damage them. I do not want to post every single story out there, but you can either google search or peruse the following:

Howstuffworks "How Lithium-ion Batteries Work"

How to prolong lithium-based batteries
(4 paragraphs below the chart)

You are right Li-Ion Batteries do not have the memory effect. You could damage them but they have a protection circuit in them so they will not. The only reason to run low in the phone may be to let the phone learn the characteristics of the battery. Then it can properly display the battery level.

I may wait till Dec 11 to see what is fixed and if I find a soultion for lotus notes I will buy it. By the way is there a good post to read about tweaking the droid? or maybe even ROM tweaking? I did this on my Fuze and it made a huge improvement.

 

[johnlgalt]

EXCEEDINGLY BAD ADVICE. DO NOT DO THIS.

Lithium Ion batteries do not have a memory effect and if you run them down to 0 you damage them. I do not want to post every single story out there, but you can either google search or peruse the following:

Howstuffworks "How Lithium-ion Batteries Work"

How to prolong lithium-based batteries
(4 paragraphs below the chart)

You are right Li-Ion Batteries do not have the memory effect. You could damage them but they have a protection circuit in them so they will not. The only reason to run low in the phone may be to let the phone learn the characteristics of the battery. Then it can properly display the battery level.

I may wait till Dec 11 to see what is fixed and if I find a soultion for lotus notes I will buy it. By the way is there a good post to read about tweaking the droid? or maybe even ROM tweaking? I did this on my Fuze and it made a huge improvement.

I never mention anything about a memory effect, nor do I mention running them down to 0. As the subsequent quotation notes, it has protection circuit to power off before it reaches is point where it does not have the power to power off (I know, sounds rather silly, doesn't it?)

Also, I am not the only one that has experienced this - several users in this very forum can attest to the fact that after a couple of charge cycles their battery life extended, and some pretty dramatically.

It is entirely your choice - but I never once mentioned removing the battery and draining it of every last milliAmpere at all - I simply said let it run down until it powers off and then recharge.

I stand by my observations that my battery life is significantly longer now - when I first bought my DROID it lasted me about 6+ hours on moderate use. Now, I get more than 12 hours on moderate use and more than 7 on heavy use.

 

[bruceo]

Thanks for all your feedback.

The fact that they don't have tasks with reminders is bad also. I forgot that i need that as well. I think I saw some web enabled todo managers like "rememberthemilk".

If I find a way to do lotus email and calendar I may be sold. I found "companionlink software" and I am going to give them a call.

What about the camera?? I heard it sucks.

The other poster listed Astrid, which is what I am using and syncing to remember the milk and while they both have merits and are actually much more feature laden than the outlook tasks they actually fail quite miserably in the basic task of reminding you.

Mainly because the only reliable reminder is on your phone and say you have 5 tasks to get to today, they are listed in astrid and scheduled to occur at different times between 8am to 10pm. But you decide to wake up at 11.

So now all of your tasks are popped up in your notification queue. You deal with the first one by clicking the notification then an astrid popup comes up and you deal with it by snooze (punch in an interval, no common preset intervals, but is still better than other apps because I havent found a good one that actually has a snooze at all) view or close.

Problem here is once you select your option you are now at the astrid index of tasks view and any subsequent reminder in the notification curtain that you press just brings you right to this index, not to the snooze popup, not even to the task just the overall list, so now you have to scroll through 100 tasks just to find it and deal with it.

Actually this lack of tasks functionality is a major problem on all mobile OS platforms other than Winmo. They all suck and dont have good snooze. Iphone doesnt even have a good snooze option for calendar reminders.

Any good time management instruction I have seen says to get your tasks off your calendar and onto separate lists. It was nice on winmo to have this system because if you procrastinate (which I'm sure I'm the only procrastinator around here) and you let your tasks pile up on you you could quickly deal with them and reallocate them, by snooze and reschedule. Right now Android is a FAIL along with Iphone and WebOS

Camera seems to be about the same as the Fuze if you turn off autofocus (which is a main feature that is broken) with supposed fix on Dec 11. The Eris and Hero also have 5MP cameras but are significantly better than the droid, especially in lower light where the droid miserably fails even with the flash.

Video recording however, kills the fuze, eris and hero. Color fidelity is not that great but overall it is pretty awesome for a phone.

 

[syntrix]

Someone mentioned the camera above.

I was using my droid to take pics of my daughter's b-day party. An iphone owner was like, "WOW your camera takes really clear pictures!".

Fire off another one in lower light indoors, "WOW your camera has a flash??!!!!".

 

[colnago]

Lol...I just sent a PDF to my girl. Took like 2 minutes to email it out from the phone, having never used it before.....about as easy as sending pic via MMS. Previous process was to:

1. Scan image on printer with HP Image Zone (unbearably slow to open)
2. Adjust image so its not 20MB
3. Spend another 5 minutes trying to find where it saved
4. Turn on Adobe Distiller server, again change settings so file isn't 10MB
5. Print image from HP thru Adobe to convert to PDF
6. Open email, attatch, send.

 

[bruceo]

Someone mentioned the camera above.

I was using my droid to take pics of my daughter's b-day party. An iphone owner was like, "WOW your camera takes really clear pictures!".

Fire off another one in lower light indoors, "WOW your camera has a flash??!!!!".

Yeah, maybe an Iphone 1G. In a dim, but sufficiently lit room the droid actually uneccessarily darkens the pic to black, making it unable to even take a pic without flash and the resulting flash pic is much more horrid than an Iphone 3G/s pic with no flash. Grainy washed out and not color corrected properly for the blue tint of LED flash.

The only thing that would really put envy in an Iphone 3GS's owners heart is when you take your same sized device and flip out the keyboard, but that would be temporary when they actually tried it and see that there is no predictive text and then the virtual keyboard's predictive text is TERRIBLE. Another check for HTC sense, whose predictive keyboard destroys droid and could prob give Iphone virtual keyboard a challenge.

 

[syntrix]

Yeah, maybe an Iphone 1G. In a dim, but sufficiently lit room the droid actually uneccessarily darkens the pic to black, making it unable to even take a pic without flash and the resulting flash pic is much more horrid than an Iphone 3G/s pic with no flash. Grainy washed out and not color corrected properly for the blue tint of LED flash.

The only thing that would really put envy in an Iphone 3GS's owners heart is when you take your same sized device and flip out the keyboard, but that would be temporary when they actually tried it and see that there is no predictive text and then the virtual keyboard's predictive text is TERRIBLE. Another check for HTC sense, whose predictive keyboard destroys droid and could prob give Iphone virtual keyboard a challenge.

When I use the sliding keyboard I go for precision, not quick predictive stuff. I'm glad it's NOT on the sliding keyboard! but to each their own.

Because the droid is not an iphone, there are people that will hate it for this very reason!

And I'm certainly talking about a 3G owner here for the pics, not 1G, LOL how silly is that!