Droid rants, raves

[Matthew]

Well I figured I would start this up just as everybody is getting their Droids.

What do you like about the phone?

What don't you like about the phone (software or hardware)?

 

[dmodert66]

@ Mods...This would be a good stickey thread

 

[TogaLive]

In addition to this, check out my "Ode de Droid" thread and follow the directions so you can get your very same rave you post here placed into a youtube montage

Great idea on the thread Matthew!
TogaLive

 

[Matthew]

Raves: the screen is amazing. the battery, I charged the battery last night and have been playing with the phone and its still at about 75%. andoid, I am new to android and although I have to google a few things its still been ptetty smooth sailing. Vzw, with a phone as capable as the droid on a network as good as this you can't go wrong.

Rants: alright I know this has been beaten to death but the keyboard being so offcenter is brutal, although I am starting to get used to it. The camera is also a bit of a dissapointment but I really think something software wise is wrong with it and hopefully an update will fix it.

 

[narps80]

Raves - Great screen and software is very good. Watching trailers in fantastic

Rants - I live in Des Moines. The market place / browser is hit and miss. Even with 4 bars and wi-fi at 2 bars. I can't even get Pandora to play. Any suggestions on how to get more succuss w/ marketplace and brower?

 

[Scott]

Raves: This thing is FAST! Screen is leaps ahead of all the rest. Great speaker. Feels good in the hand (nice and thin).

Rants: constant re-boot cycles (about 1 every 2 hours), most often requiring a battery removal to reset. Keyboard is awful; virtual keyboard is much better.

 

[michaelkahl]

Rave: Beautiful screen, Speedy, Solid construction, Loud quality speaker phone, it's on Verizon's network.

Rant: Keyboard, Camera, it uses Verizon's pricing.

 

[kg6epf]

Raves:
Very fast, sooo much faster than my Storm was.
Videos (i.e. YouTube) load quickly and play in high res.
Web pages load fast and render nicely.
Lots of great apps, gotta love the open platform.
Great screen with fantastic resolution and accurate touch.

Rants:
Keyboard keys flat, a little rise on them would make it easier to type. Notifier LED is really small and dim, check the BB Storm on how to do that one right.
Lack of ringtone, notifier tone customization (hopefully coming with an app) so I can set different tones for different notifiers and have seperate volume settings and repeated reminders for each.
App store needs a little work and a full version on the web so I don't have to look everything up on the phone.

Loving my Droid!

 

[eraser]

Rants: Thought I couldn't copy text from an email, but kg6epf set me straight, so scratch this one.

This being a CDMA device, I can't use data and voice at the same time. (I was aware of this before getting the device, I would have preferred a GSM device but at this time this is the only Android 2.0 device available).

The micro USB cable that comes with the device is way too short. I can't use it in bed while it is charging. I used to do this all the time with my old BlackBerry.

ShopSavvy doesn't work on the device. It is one of the applications I wanted to try as soon as I got an Android device.

The virtual keyboard takes some getting used to. (I've had problems with all of the ones I tried (MyTouch and Hero), so maybe the problem is me and not the keyboard, nevertheless I make too many mistakes on it).

Raves: The Google Navigation application is awesome.

The phone is nice and responsive, unlike some other Android phones I've tried, which tend to lag (the Hero comes to mind).

I like the fact that it comes with a 16 GB micro sd card, much better than the 2 GB one that comes with most Android devices.

I like the physical keyboard, it's only drawback is that it is impossible to use one handed, which would be handy if your other hand is busy carrying something.

 

[kg6epf]

Rants: I can't copy text from an email! (This seems to be an Android thing, not a droid specific thing, nevertheless I was unpleasantly surprised to find this).

Open the keyboard and hold down the shift key... tap and drag your finger along the text to copy to clipboard.

 

[eraser]

Open the keyboard and hold down the shift key... tap and drag your finger along the text to copy to clipboard.

Awesome! Thanks for the tip. I googled around and couldn't find anything.

You should add this to the "Droid tips, tricks, and easter eggs" thread.

I would do it, but I'd rather you get the credit.

I'm going to edit my original post to remove that particular rant.

 

[CSSVT]

Raves:
App store needs a little work and a full version on the web so I don't have to look everything up on the phone.

Loving my Droid!

Coming from a BB Storm I have to say that the Android Market is great. One of the biggest selling points for me. As for online listing I've found that androlib.com is pretty good and lists top apps for the day. They list pay and free apps.

Love my droid too, don't use and didn't plan on using the hard keyboard....just figured it'd be nice to have if i decide to get used to it and want it but since going to full touchscreen and getting used to it I can't see myself going back.

 

[kg6epf]

Added to tips & Tricks ty

 

[athflying]

Raves - Great screen and software is very good. Watching trailers in fantastic

Rants - I live in Des Moines. The market place / browser is hit and miss. Even with 4 bars and wi-fi at 2 bars. I can't even get Pandora to play. Any suggestions on how to get more succuss w/ marketplace and brower?

Something is wrong because I used to use Pandora with Edge on my G1 and rarely did it skip. Unfortunately I don't know how to fix it. Did you run a speed test to see what speed you are downloading at? Any other network problems? If its not your network connection, try emailing Pandora, they respond quickly.

 

[athflying]

Raves:
Very fast, sooo much faster than my Storm was.
Videos (i.e. YouTube) load quickly and play in high res.
Web pages load fast and render nicely.
Lots of great apps, gotta love the open platform.
Great screen with fantastic resolution and accurate touch.

Rants:
Keyboard keys flat, a little rise on them would make it easier to type. Notifier LED is really small and dim, check the BB Storm on how to do that one right.
Lack of ringtone, notifier tone customization (hopefully coming with an app) so I can set different tones for different notifiers and have seperate volume settings and repeated reminders for each.
App store needs a little work and a full version on the web so I don't have to look everything up on the phone.

Loving my Droid!

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.

 

[Droidood]

Just one Rant: If you have the keyboard open in one mode and you switch to another (between Portrait and Landscape) the keyboard closes and sometimes takes a couple presses in the text box to open again

 

[Steve_OS]

Open the keyboard and hold down the shift key... tap and drag your finger along the text to copy to clipboard.

I love you. Well, you know...

 

[johnlgalt]

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.

That leads me to a different question - how would you scan with the droid, take a pic?

 

[Edaze55]

That leads me to a different question - how would you scan with the droid, take a pic?

Barcode Scanner does QR Codes, but it may, or may not be working with Droid yet.

 

[johnlgalt]

Raves: The phone is very well designed and works really well in terms of web browsing, email, social media (read: Twitter) and GPS navigation. The screen works well, and I have already started ignoring the slide out KB in favor of the on screen KB - it just works.

Rants: Some settings that I would prefer to be there are simply not there, and there is still to much going on with the phone that I have no clue about.

major rant: cannot get it to pair with Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit.

major rant: Cases are not compatible with GPS mount nor Multimedia dock (I got the body glove case b/c of the integrated holster....)

 

[johnlgalt]

Barcode Scanner does QR Codes, but it may, or may not be working with Droid yet.

OK, I obviously have no idea that the DROID has a Barcode Scanner....or else that it employs a unique methodology to simulate a barcode scanner.

I suppose I'll have to research this now....

Sucks being brand new to smartphones....so much to learn....

 

[Derekv]

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.

 

[mcbtrain929]

Coming from a BB Storm I have to say that the Android Market is great. One of the biggest selling points for me. As for online listing I've found that androlib.com is pretty good and lists top apps for the day. They list pay and free apps.

Love my droid too, don't use and didn't plan on using the hard keyboard....just figured it'd be nice to have if i decide to get used to it and want it but since going to full touchscreen and getting used to it I can't see myself going back.

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?

 

[Derekv]

major rant: cannot get it to pair with Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit.


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.

 

[Edaze55]

OK, I obviously have no idea that the DROID has a Barcode Scanner....or else that it employs a unique methodology to simulate a barcode scanner.

I suppose I'll have to research this now....

Sucks being brand new to smartphones....so much to learn....

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.