3GS owners thoughts after 72 hours with DROID

[Droidzilla]

I have been an iphone user since day one. Upgrade every time a new model releases. Have had my droid for 72 hours.

The first droid I had never made it out of the vzw store. It would shut itself off over and over while being setup. Not the best of starts. The second phone has worked perfectly.

I will keep this quick. I think at this point the droid is still behind the iphone for the average user. Camera has issues, apps are a bit clunkier for the most part (one glaring example is how awful the facebook app is compared to the FB for iphone, and there are numerous other examples. It is almost like we are in beta....), overall more hardware/reliability/compatibility issues, mms is better with att (at least in my experience, half the people I try to send videos to can't even receive them, never had that issue with att, I am also having texts completely lost before delivery). These issues will keep users like my wife with Apple, until they are mostly resolved.

With all of that said, I am keeping this phone and selling my iphone. I love the screen,it is the best part of the phone. I also believe that within three months the app issues will be straightened out, and the open source is a huge win over apple! With the December update, I hope that most of the current issues will be resolved.

And then of course the best reason of all is the massive fail of the ATT network, the Vista of mobile networks.

Zilla

 

[DrDude]

Thanks for the post!

 

[Richard371]

I test all these devices for a large software company. So far I found the active sync on the Droid to be very slow compared to the Iphone. Calendar appointments can take 30 min or more to replicate on the droid vs. a min or less for the Iphone. I like the sharper screen, google maps/gps is much better on the Droid and it is nice you can customize it. As much as I hate to say it, the iphone is a better corporate device then the Droid. Blackberry beats both as a corporate device. Since i get all of these devices for free I am unbiased.

Thanks for the post!

 

[Droidood]

You're definitely right about some of the slugishness and lack of polish type stuff, and also right that it will probably be fixed.

There's not really anything about the iPhone where someone could say "iPhone can do X but Droid can't." On the other hand, I can list several things Droid can do that iPhone can't:

1. Take pictures in the dark
2. Unify email inboxes
3. Use Google Voice
4. Slide out a physical keyboard
5. Play classic game emulators
6. Widgets
7. Run on a decent network...

And how about FREE navigation? I guess they'll try to get that on the iPhone eventually, but it seems to be at least several months away...

I came very close to buying an iPhone 3GS and would have really REALLY regretted that decision once I saw a Droid.

 

[Secretsound]

5. Play classic game emulators

Not to be a smartass but.. The Iphone can play classic game emulators.
Just needs a little bit of tweaking.

I just have an Ipod touch but I can say that I all most want to give it up because my droid can do pretty much everything and more!

 

[Droidood]

Not to be a smartass but.. The Iphone can play classic game emulators.
Just needs a little bit of tweaking.

I just have an Ipod touch but I can say that I all most want to give it up because my droid can do pretty much everything and more!

I don't consider Jailbreaking an option. It's a huge hassle, can have negative impacts on operation and excludes you from updates until new jailbreaking methods are released... also, if anything happens to your phone you're screwed because Apple won't fix it.

Oh, and did I mention that newer iPhones are even harder to jailbreak? And if they lock up you need to have access to a computer with blackra1n or redsn0w to fix them?

Not my cup of tea... but I'm sure some don't mind. Either way, I wouldn't want to play any classic games with only virtual buttons. Much better with a physical keyboard and D-pad.

 

[Droidzilla]

Left out poor copy and paste ability. Probably my biggest disappointment.

 

[Richard371]

Oh yea I forgot about that. How do you do it on the Droid? I guess it realy depends on your needs but I still prefer the 3GS. Its a win win for everyone because of the competition. Apple will be forced to open up multitasking etc. I thought the slide out KB would be a big deal but I have barely used it.

 

[Droidzilla]

AFAIK, you can only copy while using the slide out keyboard. I NEVER use it, and I would prefer a Droid w/o one. IMHO, it would be better for both the size and physical reliability of the phone.

 

[prerunnerseth]

Keep in mind that the droid has been out for a week. The iphone has been around for much longer. Yes Android has been around for longer then the droid but, this is the first device expected to bring it into the main stream. The first get Iphone was a Nightmare and didn't do squat and what it did do it did quite poorly. With the abundance of android devices around and more and more companies jumping on it evolution will happen rapidly.

 

[BLOWNCO]

Keep in mind that the droid has been out for a week. The iphone has been around for much longer. Yes Android has been around for longer then the droid but, this is the first device expected to bring it into the main stream. The first get Iphone was a Nightmare and didn't do squat and what it did do it did quite poorly. With the abundance of android devices around and more and more companies jumping on it evolution will happen rapidly.

+1 i dumped the iphone 3g for the droid and i have no regrets i absolutely love it. the iphone i think is just hype and all the apple fan base lol

 

[argylecyclist]

AFAIK, you can only copy while using the slide out keyboard. I NEVER use it, and I would prefer a Droid w/o one. IMHO, it would be better for both the size and physical reliability of the phone.

I discovered how to do this on accident. You can copy and paste using the on screen keyboard by utilizing the long-press options. Think of long-pressing on the screen as right-clicking on a mouse. I double tap the word I want to copy, then long-press it and it brings up a menu where I select "copy". Long press again to paste.

 

[Droidzilla]

Does not work for me in gmail, browser, etc....

Can u give a specific example.

 

[Droidzilla]

I did just discover that in the browser u can select more options and there is an option for copy text. You only have one shot however, if you get it wrong you have to start over.

 

[eNons3nse]

I don't consider Jailbreaking an option. It's a huge hassle, can have negative impacts on operation and excludes you from updates until new jailbreaking methods are released... also, if anything happens to your phone you're screwed because Apple won't fix it.

Oh, and did I mention that newer iPhones are even harder to jailbreak? And if they lock up you need to have access to a computer with blackra1n or redsn0w to fix them?

Not my cup of tea... but I'm sure some don't mind. Either way, I wouldn't want to play any classic games with only virtual buttons. Much better with a physical keyboard and D-pad.

Besides all that, given the option between a closed but hackable system and a different system built on open source ideals, I'll take the open one on principal. I'd just rather not support apple's business practices. Vote with your dollar. Plus using an ipod/iphone while running Ubuntu exclusively is a pain.

 

[argylecyclist]

I hadn't tried the long press technique in the browser... I was referencing my success with copy and paste of my own typing. For example: if I'm typing a text message or email I can cut/copy/paste using the technique I described. I should have been more specific. Hopefully someone will find this technique useful. )

I will try what you described in the browser. I haven't need to copy anything there yet, but now you have me curious!

 

[bthoward]

I test all these devices for a large software company. So far I found the active sync on the Droid to be very slow compared to the Iphone. Calendar appointments can take 30 min or more to replicate on the droid vs. a min or less for the Iphone. I like the sharper screen, google maps/gps is much better on the Droid and it is nice you can customize it. As much as I hate to say it, the iphone is a better corporate device then the Droid. Blackberry beats both as a corporate device. Since i get all of these devices for free I am unbiased.

This is exactly what was stated to be an issue and its on the slate to be fixed on December 11th.