Lots of questions....

[Sherman901]

OK, let me preface this by saying I'm a big gadget hound. I love toying with gadgets and getting new stuff to mess with. I have an iPhone, I had the original, switched to the Pre, didn't like the way it was built and switched to the iPhone 3GS. I have it jailbroken and everything and I have everything the way I want it.

Now, I wanted to get my brother an iPhone for Christmas. We are both on the same plan and I thought it'd be pretty easy to upgrade. Nope. AT&T is going to make it difficult and it's going to cost around $300+ to get the iPhone plus an extra $30 on the bill where we already pay $145. Now, I found this website called Sell Or Trade In Your Old Mobile & Cell Phones | Flipswap.com where they will take my iPhone and give me around $350-450 which will cover the early termination fee (I re-upped with AT&T around June) and get me a Droid and then I could also buy my brother a Droid for the $200 that was originally intended for a new iPhone and the monthly cost would be $160 with Verizon versus the ~$170 with AT&T.

Now I'm torn as to whether or not I should go with getting the Droid or not and I want to hear some feedback as far as what people think about the quality of the phone, their experience with it, rooting it, toying with it, etc. The thing I love about the iPhone is that it is a quality phone, it is built well, and it's snappy. I want to know how to go about rooting the Droid and what kind of themes are available. Could I, for instance, install the Sense UI on the Droid? Is it possible for full customization? I just want to make sure before I make a decision. Sorry for such a long post! I'm just really anal about this kind of stuff haha

EDIT: Also, are there any today screen type of things for the Droid? How do the notifications work when the screen is locked? I can't seem to find any videos or pictures. Right now, with my jailbroken iPhone I am using LockInfo which shows my calendar, notifications, e-mail, weather, etc.

 

[The_Chief]

Also, are there any today screen type of things for the Droid? How do the notifications work when the screen is locked?

There is a little green LED that flashes when there is something new in the Notification Panel. It flashes red for low battery. As far as "screen type things", do you mean screen protectors? Yes, I am using Clear Protector with excellent results. Hope that helps.

 

[Sherman901]

There is a little green LED that flashes when there is something new in the Notification Panel. It flashes red for low battery. As far as "screen type things", do you mean screen protectors? Yes, I am using Clear Protector with excellent results. Hope that helps.

By screen type things I actually meant like notifications on the screen that gave a preview of the text message or whatever. Hahah sorry, sometimes I can't even speak my own language.

 

[The_Chief]

Oh okay, yeah the green LED tells you to open the Notification Panel. There will be a list of things in the Panel for you to check, what's installed, new messages etc. So the Notification Panel stays nicely hidden away until you choose to open it, not taking up unnecessary screen space.

 

[Sherman901]

Ah, okay. Thanks for the help!

Is there visual voicemail available for the Droid? That's one of the things I love most about my iPhone.

 

[2FR35H]

Ah, okay. Thanks for the help!

Is there visual voicemail available for the Droid? That's one of the things I love most about my iPhone.

Yeah we have an app for that lol

 

[2FR35H]

all things you can do with iPhone you can do with droid for free well maybe except tv out but who really uses that?

 

[tsaunders]

I like the fact that I can run multiple apps and also have widgets on my screens.

Also if/once you get the Droid, get Home++ from the market, it's a great home replacement app.

 

[Legacystar]

OK, let me preface this by saying I'm a big gadget hound. I love toying with gadgets and getting new stuff to mess with. I have an iPhone, I had the original, switched to the Pre, didn't like the way it was built and switched to the iPhone 3GS. I have it jailbroken and everything and I have everything the way I want it.

Now, I wanted to get my brother an iPhone for Christmas. We are both on the same plan and I thought it'd be pretty easy to upgrade. Nope. AT&T is going to make it difficult and it's going to cost around $300+ to get the iPhone plus an extra $30 on the bill where we already pay $145. Now, I found this website called Sell Or Trade In Your Old Mobile & Cell Phones | Flipswap.com where they will take my iPhone and give me around $350-450 which will cover the early termination fee (I re-upped with AT&T around June) and get me a Droid and then I could also buy my brother a Droid for the $200 that was originally intended for a new iPhone and the monthly cost would be $160 with Verizon versus the ~$170 with AT&T.

Now I'm torn as to whether or not I should go with getting the Droid or not and I want to hear some feedback as far as what people think about the quality of the phone, their experience with it, rooting it, toying with it, etc. The thing I love about the iPhone is that it is a quality phone, it is built well, and it's snappy. I want to know how to go about rooting the Droid and what kind of themes are available. Could I, for instance, install the Sense UI on the Droid? Is it possible for full customization? I just want to make sure before I make a decision. Sorry for such a long post! I'm just really anal about this kind of stuff haha

EDIT: Also, are there any today screen type of things for the Droid? How do the notifications work when the screen is locked? I can't seem to find any videos or pictures. Right now, with my jailbroken iPhone I am using LockInfo which shows my calendar, notifications, e-mail, weather, etc.

let me try and answer your questions a little (i have an itouch and my roomate has an iphone 3gs both jailbroken)
1:build quality- the droid is a tank to say the least. i have never held a more sturdy fealing phone. the iphone feels nice but after holding the droid it feels like a toy lol

2:My experience- So far i freaking love this phone. the amount you can customize it blows the iphone away 10 fold. widgets are awsome and there is pretty much a widget for everything. don't like the messaaging app? change it. don't like the video player? change it. don't like anything you can get another version to fit your liking.

3: speed- The droid is hands down faster then the iphone 3gs. not just in pure speed but in the ability to swap between tasks. for example you are searching a website and you wanna open a link, you can open the link in a new window and navigate between the 2 while one loads you swap to the other tab and browse around. then you get a text while doing this which previews the text in the notification bar and stays there untill you are ready to view it. simply pull it down, see the text, dicide either to reply or not and then back to the web surfing. seemless multitasking.

also lets say you wanna install a bunch of apps all at once. no waiting 1 by one like the iphone. install everything at once!

4: Customization- as i said before if you don't like something you can change it. As for the sense UI, there are peices of the sense UI that have been more or less copied and put on the droid. as for a full sense port over i doubt thats possible because of how HTC coded it to not work on other phones. but with root access who knows.

Root access was only achieved a week or so ago and im sure the devs are hard at work with the custom roms. The possibilities are pretty much endless with what we can do on the droid. i meen hell, the nexus One rom was put on the droid lol. if thats not customization i don't know what is lol.

I think you guys will really like the droid. The screen is out of this world (blows the iphone away). the speed, the feel. Hell if you even wanna try the eris out they are doing buy one droid get an eris for free. so you and your bro can try them both out and if you don't like the eris take it back within 30 days, pay the $200 more for the droid and you are set!!