Droid - Just arrived and first take!

[Berkshire5]

All,

My Blackberry days are over, and here's why.

I am still a newbie to the forums, and as promised, my Droid arrived today at about 6 PM EST.

Took the darn thing out of the box to make sure it didn't slip out of my hands like some of you , then proceeded to self activation. Easy as pie, linked up with my Google accounts, etc. As soon as the accounts are done, got a notification telling me 2.1 OTA is here!

I was a bit skpetical about this update as I've read some horror stories on here, but proceeded anyways. Update took about 3-4 minutes including the restart. This is god-like coming from a Blackberry user. Updates on Blackberries can take up to 2 hours!

I checked the phone for 'defects' as people suggested. IE: loose screen, keyboard, prox. sensor, etc. Turns out everything checks out, and I have a happy Droid!

I at first was really bad with the touch-screen keyboard, but refused to use the physical keyboard because I know this will probably be the last phone running Android with one. Might as well start early! After a few hours of usage, I got quite good, but the only thing I don't recommend is trying to type while walking.

My personal e-mail is with gmail, so I get it with about 40 seconds delay from the actual send time. My school e-mail, however, is not with gmail directly, but on a Google platform. After a few e-mail tests, turns out the arrival rate is pretty much the same as gmail. Very happy about this, but still am getting use to the e-mail system.

All in all, I am a very happy customer, and glad I made the switch. Now, if you forgive me, I have a few questions.

1. Is there a way to avoid seeing my complete inbox that is sitting in my mailbox? IE, like Blackberry, only new mail are retrieved from the servers, rather than seeing about 2,000 messages?

2. Is there a way to delete market search history?

3. What are some live-wall paper recommendations? I am loving this option, and have not seen a performance change.

4. I'd like to set my voicemail the same way as my Blackberry, which is to hold down 1 for a second. Is there a way to do this for the Droid?

5. Stock news and weather seems to be broken? I keep seeing "unavil" no matter I use auto set, by zip, or by city.

Apologies for the long read, but I am a very happy camper.

 

[mrjam3s]

Welcome aboard!

 

[hexon]

1. There is a gmail unread message widget on the market

2. No idea

3. I like the substrate LWPs but I don't use them myself

4. Use google voice if you can score an invite. That's the best voice mail substitute out there and you can just an icon your your screen or it pushes notifications to your notification bar

5. no idea

 

[cruud]

Take the plastic sticker off the back of the screen!

 

[radikal]

get on appaware or appbrain and find some good apps, there are 25000 to 30000 apps

 

[aaron19953]

if you get a lag receiving email from your school.. If you have gmail "check" an email account it only does it once per 15 minutes.. However if you setup your school email to forward a copy to your gmail account it will happen almost instantly..

As far as the voicemail, use google voice.. Seeing how you're new to the family i can give you and invite..

oh and one last thing, enjoy !!

-=<> aaron <>=-

 

[Berkshire5]

Thank you all for the kind words. I'm glad to be part of the Android-Droid family.

The plastic was the first thing I peeled off of the back. Don't you worry!

In regards to Google Voice, I already have an invite, but thank you anyways!

I have been playing with it, but I suppose it will take a little while to get use to.

 

[Berkshire5]

Gmail not so instant?

I was trying to play around with the timing and such, and the times varied from 3.5 minutes to 10 seconds.

Anyone else having the same "problem?"

 

[Deleted User]

Take the plastic sticker off the back of the screen!

why?
was this a humorous or a sarcastic comment, or just helpful.

 

[DECGTC]

why?
was this a humorous or a sarcastic comment, or just helpful.

Not this big debate again!

 

[RandolphNY]

Quote:
Originally Posted by JUNGI
why?
was this a humorous or a sarcastic comment, or just helpful.

Not this big debate again!


Don't mean to cause what appears a debate again, but I have not removed my plastic and am really confused of why or why not?

After 2 months, I still have it on, as it looks like it is protecting the bottom of the keyboard.....thxs for any clarification.

 

[Clementine_3]

Not sure about the clarification part but here is the thread in all it's glory...

http://androidforums.com/how-tips/19202-dont-forget-remove-plastic-film-back-screen.html

 

[SinfulDragon]

1. Is there a way to avoid seeing my complete inbox that is sitting in my mailbox? IE, like Blackberry, only new mail are retrieved from the servers, rather than seeing about 2,000 messages? - You can change how many days it sync's for each folder.

2. Is there a way to delete market search history? Not that I've heard as of yet

3. What are some live-wall paper recommendations? I am loving this option, and have not seen a performance change. Maps with Traffic, thats just fun

4. I'd like to set my voicemail the same way as my Blackberry, which is to hold down 1 for a second. Is there a way to do this for the Droid? There is a VM button on the dial pad, it looks like an old 110 Film Cartridge. You can also set it up to auto enter your PIN like a BB but for the life of me I can't remember where to do that LOL. I'll try to find it for ya

5. Stock news and weather seems to be broken? I keep seeing "unavil" no matter I use auto set, by zip, or by city. Thats an odd one, have you tried removing and readding the widget?

 

[dougwilson2000]

4. Yes! On your dial pad, left of the phone symbol (send button), there is a button that like a old roll of film (two circles with a line connecting at the top). This button when pushed takes you to voicemail.
By going to menu- settings-call settings-voicemail settings you can adjust it to put in your password and 1 to go straight to your messages.
Right now it has *86. For example if your password is 6677,then you would make the number in the space *86,6677#,,,1. The commas are pauses. Now when you press the button ,you go straight to your messages.

 

[Berkshire5]

Thank you all. As I have stated already, I couldn't be happier to be part of the Android community.

Can anyone shed some light on the gmail issue? It is having a few minutes delay.

 

[SinfulDragon]

4. Yes! On your dial pad, left of the phone symbol (send button), there is a button that like a old roll of film (two circles with a line connecting at the top). This button when pushed takes you to voicemail.
By going to menu- settings-call settings-voicemail settings you can adjust it to put in your password and 1 to go straight to your messages.
Right now it has *86. For example if your password is 6677,then you would make the number in the space *86,6677#,,,1. The commas are pauses. Now when you press the button ,you go straight to your messages.

I know I had this done before the upgrade but now all the settings have reset well thats my fault not the updates as I did a factory reset... any who.

how do I put in a comma? I don't have the option on the keyboard to do that

Scratch that, physical keyboard is the answer, I forget sometimes that I have it LOL

 

[sooper_droid12]

Welcome to DROID Nation and don't take the plastic off the back of the screen.

 

[cggorman]

On the screen keyboard, press the "?123" key at bottom left. It will bring up the "shift" keys.

 

[jindogae]

Useful shortcut to the voicemail. Just in case any canadian users are reading this the settings on the milestone has your phone number and not *86. However, if you put a comma and your password after your number and then another comma followed by 1 you get the same results.

4. Yes! On your dial pad, left of the phone symbol (send button), there is a button that like a old roll of film (two circles with a line connecting at the top). This button when pushed takes you to voicemail.
By going to menu- settings-call settings-voicemail settings you can adjust it to put in your password and 1 to go straight to your messages.
Right now it has *86. For example if your password is 6677,then you would make the number in the space *86,6677#,,,1. The commas are pauses. Now when you press the button ,you go straight to your messages.

 

[dougwilson2000]

On the virtual key board, next to the zero (left),there is a button labeled *#( press that. A new screen will show and you hit PAUSE to get the comma. WAIT will cause a pause until you hit a key to continue, good for somethings but not vm.

 

[dougwilson2000]

This is also a great way to zip through some pesky answering services like business to get to a certain person or department. I store some phone number like this for hassle free dialing. Just have to adjust the number of pauses.

 

[takeshi]

Can anyone shed some light on the gmail issue? It is having a few minutes delay.

There's really nothing you can do about it unless you configured it to poll somehow.

 

[dougwilson2000]

Thank you all. As I have stated already, I couldn't be happier to be part of the Android community.

Can anyone shed some light on the gmail issue? It is having a few minutes delay.

Nature of the beast. Google push is better now. Droid only polls every 15 minutes or so. If polling was constant, your battery would suffer big time.
A few minutes for email is not bad, seems like GV SMS are a lot quicker now for texting back and forth, must have a priority push on them.

 

[uacdub]

2. Is there a way to delete market search history? YES, Download CacheMate from the market.

 

[Berkshire5]

Thanks all! Instant e-mail is very important to me, but this phone is too good to give up for another Blackberry.

I can only hope Google is working towards an instant push and will be here in the near future.

In regards to the plastic behind the screen... The phone gets hot enough as is, wouldn't this plastic film trap heat if you don't remove it?