Help true frequency/severity of current droid problems?

[enemkay]

i've been seeing various reports of both quality problems and usability criticisms cited for the droid on this forum, they all seem relatively minor, but i wanted to get a general idea about both the frequency of droids with the quality problems and the degree of the impact of usability issues on YOUR satisfaction with the phone. here are the ones i've run across while reading this forum:

quality problems:
random reboots
loose battery cover
app incompatibility
unresponsive proximity sensor

usability issues:
jerky homescreen transitions
predictive text performance
no call/end buttons
power button for screen wake
barebones music player interface
camera, in general
lack of ring tone customizations/profiles (wondering if this is just a case of rtfm)

note: I am aware and very convinced of the main strengths of the droid, because they are well-documented, but I'm having trouble judging how seriously to consider the scattered reports of problems.

 

[chris.h]

Don't forget MMS not working for some people.

 

[enemkay]

i wonder if a "droid problems and resolutions" thread will make its way to sticky

 

[LarryMcJ]

As is the case with many smartphones...the first manufactured lot could have some hardware flaws (good case in point was the recently launched BlackBerry Tour) which hit the street with several hardware problems. In less than three weeks a second batch of Tours was arriving at VZW stores that did NOT have these same problems. Yes, there were some Tour owners very hacked off...but they could do nothing.

So, as bad as I want a Droid (I've already tried the Eris and it went back in two days after crashing ten times a day and some other issues)...just how long should I wait in hopes of getting a "better" Droid, if there were to even be one? Perhaps with a better battery, or a battery door that fits better, or.....(fill in the blanks from some of the initial hardware issues right here in this forum).

I'm not worried about the software problems at all...they'll be resolved OTA, and most of these will be fixed on December 11th (thanks, VZW). It's the hardware itself I'm worried about. The last thing I want to read a month after purchasing the Droid is a BGR report saying they've just gotten their hands on the latest Droid Motorola is shipping and all its hardware problems have been fixed.

Oh, well...it's just a thought, but you see where I'm going with this

 

[brettlewis]

If you are worried about hardware problems I can assure you there are less issues then you think. However, If you do run into and problems, you can trade in your phone for free and get it replaced with a working one

 

[LarryMcJ]

If you are worried about hardware problems I can assure you there are less issues then you think. However, If you do run into and problems, you can trade in your phone for free and get it replaced with a working one

I realize I can get it replaced...but I've read every single thread in the Droid Forum and there are some major issues...and a lot of folks having the same ones. I guess exchanging is the only option...and the fix for the battery door sounds simple enough, though I can't image how the company who started the cell phone revolution would make a phone today with a battery cover engineered as this one is. It's awful.

 

[Droidood]

Get the warranty with it. If you find out yours has hardware issues just find some way to *accidentally* break it and get a new one...

Actually I don't know about Verizon's warranty, but I got the warranty at Best Buy and it has accidental damage coverage. I think it's kind of silly to be carrying a $700 device that fits in your pocket without some sort of insurance...

 

[Legacystar]

only issues i've heard of are all software issues so it doesn't matter if you get one now cause it can be updated. why wait!

 

[Fabolous]

I guess exchanging is the only option...and the fix for the battery door sounds simple enough, though I can't image how the company who started the cell phone revolution would make a phone today with a battery cover engineered as this one is. It's awful.

What exactly is the issue with the battery door? I haven't seen any posts with complaints.

 

[c2beatty]

I'm a huge fan of the Droid!! So to me, there are annoying quirks but nothing that makes me want to move on. I am so used to getting an HTC WM phone and waiting for the hacks and ROMs to come out, that waiting for android apps or hacks is nothing. there are so many applications available. and i'm not having to enter registry hacks to control functions that should be easy to modify,... not looking back. I miss eReader and .m4a player but those are things that will eventually come along. It's just a waiting game.

The fact is, the performance of the phone is so good that I really know that I have taken a few steps up and will wait for the new applications to come along and make it a great phone!!

Now, to answer your question: I have the proximity sensor annoying issues with waiking up the phone after a call to press end. I have a slightly loose battery cover, that seems to work it's way open from time to time (going to bet a case for it anyway).

 

[brettlewis]

The Verizon warranty is a standard one year for free. I belive you can extend after that. What is the battery door issue? i haven't heard of it.

 

[GrandMasterB]

The Verizon warranty is a standard one year for free. I belive you can extend after that. What is the battery door issue? i haven't heard of it.

1+ Warrantied for a full year. If your 'j' key quits working on day 31 > 365th day they will overnight you a replacement for free. But you cant extend the warranty after that unless you have been paying for the extended warranty for a full year as it can only be applied within the first 30 days of purchase and does not take effect until after the initial manufacturers 1 year warranty is up. It's ludicrous I know....

And yes , what battery door 'issue'?

 

[ctlongley]

i've been seeing various reports of both quality problems and usability criticisms cited for the droid on this forum, they all seem relatively minor, but i wanted to get a general idea about both the frequency of droids with the quality problems and the degree of the impact of usability issues on YOUR satisfaction with the phone. here are the ones i've run across while reading this forum:

quality problems:
random reboots
loose battery cover
app incompatibility
unresponsive proximity sensor

usability issues:
jerky homescreen transitions
predictive text performance
no call/end buttons
power button for screen wake
barebones music player interface
camera, in general
lack of ring tone customizations/profiles (wondering if this is just a case of rtfm)

note: I am aware and very convinced of the main strengths of the droid, because they are well-documented, but I'm having trouble judging how seriously to consider the scattered reports of problems.

I thought I would share my .02 regarding your questions with the Droid:

quality problems:
random reboots - Yes I have these, but a quick battery pull fixes the problem - most likely a software issue.
loose battery cover - Yes, not that big of a deal though.
app incompatibility - Yes, but software issue
unresponsive proximity sensor - Haven't had this issue

usability issues:
jerky homescreen transitions - Only see it occasionally, again, most likely to be software
predictive text performance - None encountered
no call/end buttons - I had an iPhone before this (3 in fact) - I don't need a physical call/end button so no issue here.
power button for screen wake - No issues here.
barebones music player interface - Yes it is "barebones" but honestly I have been able to navigate quite well through it (9 gigs of music). Once again, a software update or 3rd party app could fix this.
camera, in general - This is my biggest complaint (although I bought a phone that occasionally takes pictures, not a camera that occasionally makes calls). The camera is very slow to respond - again most likely a software issue
lack of ring tone customizations/profiles (wondering if this is just a case of rtfm) - Don't care about the ringtones so not a good question for me.

Overall I am very happy with the Droid. For this being the first hardware release and first 2.0 Android release it is a pretty solid product. As soon as they start rolling out Android updates and devs update their software to become compatible everything will smooth out. As a former iPhone user (since the original release, 3G, 3GS) people often forget how buggy the iPhone OS was for a number of releases - they are still working out the kinks. The bottom line is I have been happy with the Droid as have a number of other users. It does at times feel like I am playing with beta software, but the software seems to be the piece that needs to catch up to the hardware - I think Motorola truly made a nice piece of gear.

 

[tailwheel]

My battery door does fit a little loose. My first Droid (had to get a replacement because of the random reboot issue) had a door that fit very snugly - it was actually somewhat difficult to remove which I liked. My replacement has a door that fits much more loosely. I don't think it's bad enough that it would actually fall off but I know now that, regarding the battery door, there is variability from one phone to another.

 

[htowngtr]

Your ETF will rise to $350 from the current $175 on the 15th of the month, I believe.

I would suggest getting in early.

 

[vincentp]

I'll keep this short. As for the quality problems you listed, others will have to take these on as I have not experienced them in my use of the device.

As for the usability issues, I've already become accustomed to the lock button location. The jerkiness on my unit (don't laugh at that statement) is not an annoyance for me, and the other issues you mentioned have not really been a concern. I understand that these are different for everybody, but they are mostly things that can (and will) be fixed with software updates or additional apps, so I'm not really worried about them.

Overall, I've grown accustomed to the phone and I love the way it works. I do not regularly feel annoyed by anything that the phone does in normal usage.

 

[KeyserSoze]

Got mine on saturday morning. Had to start a google doc to keep up with all of the problems. Typed in haste while usually furious of what I'm afraid was a $600+ mistake (cost of droid plus early termination from AT&T). I miss my iPhone.

Text app crashes once or twice per day
Couldn't answer a call while viewing a text.
Couldn't answer a call when phone was locked then phone app crashed.
Sometimes phone wont wake up and no hard buttons work.
Sometimes it will wake up but screen and hard buttons are unresponsive.
Touch keyboards don't open in text app frequently.
Text app crashed and deleted all texts and all threads!!!
Voice search always goes to Google? I don't need to see a web page about calling moms house...
Couldn't update email. "No connection" even though I had cell signal AND wifi.
When attempting to end a call phone is unresponsive. Wakes up once the other party hangs up. (proximity sensor)
For about an hour today every click took 2-3 seconds. TWO soft resets brought it back.

YMMV.

Granted, I haven't even read the 9 page manual yet but according to a VZ tech this evening most of these are "known issues". Don't worry, google (in all it's might) is hoping to have a OS update to fix this by December 11th. You'd think with their kind of clout and funds they could have this fixed by tomorrow morning... Or just have made it work before they released it.

On the upside, you can call someone from a text easier than I could on the iphone. EVERYTHING else takes 2,3,4 more clicks.

Oh and getting ringtones is easier. They sound better too. Plenty of time to listen to them while you try unsuccessfully to answer the call....

 

[scheng12]

i've been seeing various reports of both quality problems and usability criticisms cited for the droid on this forum, they all seem relatively minor, but i wanted to get a general idea about both the frequency of droids with the quality problems and the degree of the impact of usability issues on YOUR satisfaction with the phone. here are the ones i've run across while reading this forum:

quality problems:
random reboots
loose battery cover
app incompatibility
unresponsive proximity sensor

usability issues:
jerky homescreen transitions
predictive text performance
no call/end buttons
power button for screen wake
barebones music player interface
camera, in general
lack of ring tone customizations/profiles (wondering if this is just a case of rtfm)

note: I am aware and very convinced of the main strengths of the droid, because they are well-documented, but I'm having trouble judging how seriously to consider the scattered reports of problems.

random reboots: This is a hardware problem I believe with some Droids manufactured around the same date. If it becomes too frequent, return it to the store and they will give you a new one

loose battery covers: This happens occasionally as well but not that big of a deal. My cover seems pretty snug

app incompatibility: I haven't downloaded an app that was incompatible yet but since Droid is new, obviously not all apps are compatible with it yet. I'm sure the devs are working on it for 2.0


unresponsive proximity sensor: I'm not sure what this is referring to.

The homescreen transitions don't seem that noticeable. Maybe it depends on what or how many apps you are running?

The Call/end buttons don't seem necessary. The accelerometer wakes up the phone when you take it away from your ear and you can just hit End Call.

Everything else can be fixed with a software update. Verizon even said that they were fixing the camera and other issues on Dec. 11th

 

[KeyserSoze]

And the form factor.... don't get me started. The slider keyboard will give me carpal tunnel in my right wrist unless I can get used to hitting 75% of the keys with my left thumb. I have to twist my right wrist inward to type normally. Good thing I have that D pad though... It could have been on the left side and the KB would me more centered. I just got used to the landscape touch keyboard and have almost slowed down my typing enough so that the phone can register each letter. I am a pretty fast touch screen typer these days though. So now I have a thick slider with a next to useless keyboard.

Volume buttons are left handed as well.

Longley has a good point though. I didn't get an iPhone until Feb 09 so it ran right out of the box. It had quirks and issues but it worked a lot better than this thing. Just wanted to vent.

 

[brettlewis]

KeyserSoze, you have an unusual amout of issues. Either you have a error between keyboard and user, or you need to get it replaced. Some of the functions aren't as intuitive as many would think and many people do the wrong things to get to places and then say its the phones problem when in reality they just don't know how to use it.

granted, I didnt read your entire post cause Im lazy

 

[markjrodgers]

I realized there was a problem when I received my first call and it terminated a few seconds into it. I gradually realized the problem was that when I held the droid to my face that buttons were being hit by my face, really inconvenient ones like End and Mute. After a bit of internet research I realized this was the "proximity sensor" problem, the phone is supposed to detect when the phone is approaching a face to disable those buttons and vice versa, pretty cool I imagine when it works.

I have to say my calls to Motorola were a big dissapointment, the guys I spoke with in my 3 calls seemed poorly trained and struggled with English. The first call ended with my instruction to try taking the battery out and putting it back in, that didn't work. My next call ended (all these calls I did on speaker phone so I wouldn't hang up on them by mistake) with their suggestion of trying a new battery they would mail me but I didn't have time to give them my information. It was then that I did the internet research, calling them back a 3rd time to say I didn't see why a battery was related to a proximity sensor problem, after putting me on hold multiple times the guy told me he'd send me a new one, fine I thought. He then asked, "is there anything else I can help you with today?" I said, well, you need my address right? Oh yes sir, sorry sir, what is that please? I gave him my street address and he gives me that "is there anything else I can help you with" question at which point I said he needed the rest of my address, he apologized and took the information -- left me feeling not at all confident I'm going to receive anything.

I guess I should have waited a month for these early glitches to get sorted out... Otherwise the droid seems cool.

 

[brettlewis]

don't deal with Motorola directly. go to Verizon and let them deal with Motorola. They will send you phone back to the manufacturer to become refurbished and give you a new one

 

[Barbara]

I have had nothing but a great experience with this phone for close to a week now. I got it on day one. Calls have been great. Text messaging is great. Facebook and Twitter work great. Email was good but now great since I installed K9. I have had one dropped call and I think it was on the other end (based on past experience with that contact). Any problems that I had were user error and solved by the generous-with-their-knowledge people on this forum. I wish it could be this good for everyone but the problem could be A) your phone is bad and needs to be replaced or B) this phone is not for everyone. I don't mean that as a dig. Thai food is not for everyone but I love it. Some things that appeal to me don't appeal to others. It really is a case of different strokes for different folks.

 

[markjrodgers]

Yeah Verizon has Mororola's phone number to call if you have a problem on their foldout quick user guide... guess everyone prefers to pass the buck! But having dealt with the atrocious quality of Motorola's "level 1" support, yeah, I'm never calling them again, I'll take my chances with Verizon.

 

[polakatl]

I got a Droid the Friday they were available. The phone rebooted multiple timeas a day and it froze quite often. Once it froze during a phone call which was strange because the call didn't end but the phone went blank. I thought it was just the way things are with android and moto. I decided to take it back and got a new one after the tech took mine for an hour. I currently have 65hrs uptime on my phone with no problems at all.

The first one had a battery door that would slide off when I pulled the phone out of my pocket. The second one hasn't done this.

I do have people reporting bad call quality from me. I keep getting huhs and whats when using the Droid. I din't have this problem with a BB on ATT.

This call quality problem happened in my first and second Droid.