Ally vs. Moto Droid

They seem to be really close. Other than the DDR ram I asked about in a different thread and the Ally using an ancient ARM 11 processor (not sure how that will work out. I've heard that it can't handle full flash. Not sure if that means it will be stuck on android 2.1 forever because 2.2 has full flash not flash lite.).

Wirefly side-by-side

IMO, the better keyboard is the only clear win for the Ally vs. the Moto. Everything else is either a draw or Moto advantage.

i think the ally is more comparible to the Moment. Both have REALLY similar slide out qwerty's which are spring loaded. Both have the same size screen, both are on 2.1, both, have ARM 11 processors, etc.

If this phone gets android 2.2, do you think that the memory will be so much of an issue until apps start getting bigger?

I read that in 2.2, you can install things to the SD card. I am putting Google Earth back on!

Other than the versions of android, how do you think that this phone stacks up against the Devour? Does the Ally have bluetooth voice dialing?

ithejdi said:

They seem to be really close. Other than the DDR ram I asked about in a different thread and the Ally using an ancient ARM 11 processor (not sure how that will work out. I've heard that it can't handle full flash. Not sure if that means it will be stuck on android 2.1 forever because 2.2 has full flash not flash lite.).

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Well, my friend, lets not forget, HTC promised the Mytouch 3g Slide would be getting the 2.2 upgrade eventually. The Mytouch 3g slide has the same 600Mhz ARM 11 processor.

On Thursday, HTC said that it would "most likely offer an upgrade" to Froyo for HTC phones launched in 2010. The company listed the already released Droid Incredible and the Desire, as well as the soon-to-be-released Evo 4G, myTouch Slide and other "upcoming models" (which it did not name).

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I messed around with the Ally at the VZW store today, and while I didn't get to go in-depth, I can at least comment on the keyboard, which IMHO is WAY better than the Moto Droid...the weak keyboard stopped me dead in my tracks when I was looking at the droid for my first smartphone, and the Ally steps it up quite a bit...roomy, without feeling too big, no interference from the sliding face on the top row (I don't have small fingers, and I never bumped the rim of the sliding face) there is a bit of getting used to all the modifiers you have to use, but I think that will come with time.

That's all I got for now.

I too stopped at a VZW store to look at the Ally. It was sitting side by side with a Droid so I was able to play with both of them at the same time. In all honesty, i'd have to say the performance was just about equal on both units for what I tried. Can't really say how downloaded apps or games will perform on one vs. the other because all they had was the stock apps running. I did notice a bit of lag at times on the Ally when pressing the Home, Return, etc. buttons. Nothing drastic, but I did have to press the home boutton twice a couple of times on the Ally to get it back to the Home screen. Not something that was a deal killer for me though.

I found the keyboard was nicer to use on the Ally because the keys were not flat, but I didn't have trouble typing on either of them. I did like that the Ally had phyiscal Call and End buttons.

As for looks, again I liked the Ally because it had more rounded edges instead of that rectangle look the Droid has. While it was still very boring looking, it was at least a little bit more asthetically pleasing to look at. The Ally is also a very sturdy feeling phone like the Droid is. I felt like if I dropped it, the case alone would protect it from damage just like the Droid case feels.

Both displays were very crisp and clean and reading text on both of them was very easy. I'd say the Ally looked a little brighter, but that may have been due to the way the VZW reps had the display settings setup on each one. Maybe they had the Droid brightness turned down.

Couldn't test the cameras because of the antitheft attachment on the back of each, but just looking at the specs, it would seem the Droid should take better pictures in theory.

In all honesty, to me they are basically the exact same phones. Not being an expert on these phones, i'm sure there are some subtle differences to the hardware (like the bigger SD card that comes stock on the Droid) that would make one better than the other, but to the average user they are probably interchangable. Myself, i'm going to pay close attention to some reviews to see if there is anything drastically better on the Droid that would make me pass on the Ally. If not, I may end up getting the Ally because I like how it looks better than the Droid.

i just converted my wife from bb to the ally.
i have the droid.

hers just came yesterday and i've had mine for 3 months.

they are different but comparable. I'm a little biased toward the droid though.
in my ten hours of setting hers up here's what i see:

the ally is lighter (weight wise), smaller screen and smooth edges.
....
I'll probably sound like a pig but i don't care: It's a more girly phone.

@CBLJazz

After your phone has been off the charger for atleast 30 minutes.

Please go to Settings -> About -> Battery -? Battery Use -> cell standby

What is the percent without signal? My wifes was at 61% this morning.

I know the Eris has an issue with this.

CBLJazz said:

I'll probably sound like a pig but i don't care: It's a more girly phone.

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I don't think you're a pig and I am a more girly person.

If by girly phone you mean not as good, then I advise you to tell your wife that.

3devious said:

I don't think you're a pig and I am a more girly person.

If by girly phone you mean not as good, then I advise you to tell your wife that.

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by girly i just mean softer- not less than in any way.

OBSERVATION
BTW- i think the battery life on the ally is better than the droid or even her former bb tour. I'll know definitively after this weekend.

The Ally is very similar to the Moment imo.

Mydaughter and I both got Allys last week. We love everything but the battery life. We've done everything to help the battery life...advanced task killer all the time, dim screens, short time outs, power manager, and LOTS of airplane mode when possible, but still want the phone to last at least one day. Hers keeps dying in the early evening. We think the Moto Droid has a bigger battery and will last at least a day (16 hrs?) Thinking of taking it back to Verizon and making an exchange. Any help or comments?

Cindy Gorman said:

Mydaughter and I both got Allys last week. We love everything but the battery life. We've done everything to help the battery life...advanced task killer all the time, dim screens, short time outs, power manager, and LOTS of airplane mode when possible, but still want the phone to last at least one day. Hers keeps dying in the early evening. We think the Moto Droid has a bigger battery and will last at least a day (16 hrs?) Thinking of taking it back to Verizon and making an exchange. Any help or comments?

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According to Verizon's website, the Ally actually has the bigger battery. I have a Devour and I take it off the charger at 630/7am by the time I get home around 6pm, it's down to 10% with moderate usage and battery saver mode turned on.

The Mod over at LG's forums claimed that "a few" batteries made it out of the factory without being properly seasoned. I've taken mine to full charge and then let drain to zero twice now. The second time it took approx 28 hours to die completely with moderate use. Also there are a few things to try for the "Time without signal" issue. The Airplane Mode one works for me.

I get 2-3 days out of my battery with moderate data and text usage and lots of phone calls because it's a work phone. I've done a few things to tweak my battery life that I will list in case you want to try some if you haven't.

1.) I turned off haptic feedback and any vibration settings in apps that have them. I'm looking at the screen so I can see if i've hit a button so I don't really need to feel it.

2.) I use the power bar widget to turn off wifi, bluetooth and GPS when i'm not using them and simply use the power bar widget to turn them on when I do.

3.) I set my screen brightness to manual and lowered it down to the lowest possible setting it can be. It's still plent bright indoors. When i'm outside and need it brighter, I again use the power bar widget to cycle through various levels. Once i'm back inside, I lower it to down to zero again.

4.) I don't autosync any of my email accounts and check for emails manually when I want to.

5.) I don't use a task manager because apps sitting idle do not use any cpu cycles or battery life, but a task manager constantly closing apps does. Plus, task killers can actually close things that Android needs and when a task manager closes them, android reopens them and then task killer closes them, and so on and so forth. All this is using up CPU cylces and draining the battery. Not saying a task killer is not a good app to have, but I would not use it to close apps automatically. Simply use it manually to kill apps and kill task manager\killer at the same time.

I

I’m on my 4th Moto Droid. The sound quality is horrible and I have experienced nothing but problems with it. It worked great the first few months. Each replacement droid I have received has worked fine, for a while, then begins to malfunction. Verizon has now shipped me the ally as a replacement. Although I paid much more for the droid I am happy to receive the Ally. The moto droid is bulky and the slide out keyboard is difficult to use. Already I prefer the Ally over the Droid. I picked the droid over the ally because of the 5.0 megapixel camera… big mistake. The batter life is MUCH longer on the ally as well. I was also told, in confidence and after daily complaining, by a Verizon employee that the motorola droid is inferior to LG in many ways (by way of customer complaints). I should have known this from my past experieces. LG IS superior to motorola in many ways and I believe their technology is far superior to the aging motorola.
I also spent day after day at the verizon store and while I was there at least seven, thats 7, other people where there to compain about the same problems with the droid as I was.
Hope this helps anyone looking to make the decision of lg or moto

CBLJazz said:

i just converted my wife from bb to the ally.
i have the droid.

hers just came yesterday and i've had mine for 3 months.

they are different but comparable. I'm a little biased toward the droid though.
in my ten hours of setting hers up here's what i see:

the ally is lighter (weight wise), smaller screen and smooth edges.
....
I'll probably sound like a pig but i don't care: It's a more girly phone.

Click to expand...

Haha, I agree I got the Eris originally, because it was cute and girly. I didn't have a great experience (had 3 sent to me, all with same problem), so Verizon sent me an Ally. I love it so far! Much cuter than my husband's Motorola Droid .

Go, Philly! That's where I grew up.

I dumped my Ally for the Moto Droid and have never looked back. The Droid is a much better device. More responsive screen, Faster at loading apps, far better signal strength, and many other things. There are only 2 things that the Ally did better: Booted faster and has a much better keyboard.

gndmepyon said:

The Mod over at LG's forums claimed that "a few" batteries made it out of the factory without being properly seasoned. I've taken mine to full charge and then let drain to zero twice now. The second time it took approx 28 hours to die completely with moderate use. Also there are a few things to try for the "Time without signal" issue. The Airplane Mode one works for me.

Click to expand...

ive gone through 2 allys now, the first one i had to let it die and charge full at least 5 times before it was as good as the second one was right out of the box.

I much rather have the ally than a droid because IMO the Droid is Ugly. If they made a Droid that was sexy like the Ally then I would get it.

The wife just got the ally. Its noticeabley lags in response time but nothing too drastic. I think for those that want a taste of android but don't need all the bells n whistles will find the ally adequate. it certainly earned its bang for buck value but for those wanting extra oomph will want to consider the upper tier android phones

Im torn between the two.... The Droid has bigger screen, but the Ally is a better "phone" and nicer keyboard... Droid has no overlay though for quicker updates.... I still may swap my Droid for a friends Ally, because i miss the one I had...