Ok, I'm considering purchasing the Droid, so I'm obviously reading your posts and about to take the plunge... but I can't help but hit the brakes when I see so many problem threads... I mean.... sheeeeeesh! Is this typical with smartphone launches? Are these problems just being experienced by a tiny percent of unfortunate Droid owners? There's even a thread about how to return the phone as it appears that Verizon puts up a fight and therefore a sneaky strategy is required. There's a lonnnng thread regarding nationwide GPS issues at My Droid can't find GPS.. It just stays on "Searching for GPS" when I try to Navigate. My Use GPS is toggled on. - Google Mobile Help Yet, with all these issues, there are so many of you who seem to have simply fallen head over heals for this piece of technology. Soooooooo, nothing left for me to do but to head over and try it out this weekend and just do it. Nervous, of course, but excited. And I will definitely post my experiences here, good and bad, in effort to hopefully assist others on the fence, one way or another...
Get it, you won't regret it. Yeah there are a few issues, but there are a few issues with every piece of technology out there. You have to remember that someone who logs onto these forums is generally an advanced user. Meaning that every little problem will get noticed and discussed. It reminds me of when I was shopping for a new TV. If you go into the forums for ANY tv and I suspect for ANY phone, you are going to find people with complaints. It's just the way it is. If I had paid attention to all the forums regarding the TVs I was considering, I would have never bought a tv. Same thing here. I haven't been to an iPhone forum, or forums for the other smartphones, but I doubt seriously that they are problem free. I for one love this phone.
I've had five smartphones: AT&T 8525 (HTC Hermes) HTC Fuze (Touch Pro) iPhone 3G HTC Magic Droid The Droid is easily the best of the bunch.
Something to remember is this: the complaints you're reading on these forums are here because people ARE having problems, but it probably gives readers a skewed perspective: like most user reviews, restaurants and such, people are often most motivated by bad experiences. That makes it seem as though everyone is unhappy, because you don't really hear from the satisfied users as much. Some of the complaints can be attributed to user expectations not being met, some to expected true shortcomings/glitches common with any new gadget/system, and a lot can be attributed to getting a lemon phone. Doesn't really matter, since everything I've read sounds like Verizon will happily swap your phone for a new one any time inside the 30-day trial window, for ANY reason, so if you're not happy, you have 30 days to make a change, either get a new phone or go back to your old one. Free of charge. You're also getting the benefit of not being among the first test monkeys, so you have our experiences to learn from! And it appears that Google/Moto/Verizon ears are open to user complaints - witness the 2.0.1 update, just 5 weeks post-launch. I say go for it
If you have a doubt, then well... just get it anyway. Verizon gives you a trial period where if you don't like the phone you can return it. I think there is a restocking fee, but that's better than ending up with a phone you don't like for 2 yrs.
Love my droid. No real issues.. have had some glitches but nothing that a restart wont solve. But.. don't forget there IS at 35.00 restocking fee if you do return it. Not to discourage.. just wanted to share. Get it!
The Droid is awesome. There are always threads about every phone, and all you see is problems in all phone's threads much of the time. The Droid is really really great. I definitely recommend it. I came from the BB Storm, which I liked by the way. the Droid is great!!!!
There is a $35 restocking fee if you exchange your phone for another brand / model phone. There is NO restocking fee if you simply return the phone or if you return it and reactivate your old one.
I am not sure what "numerous issues" you are referring to because I haven't had ONE. If you are the complaining type I'd say run dont walk away from the Droid. However, if you have realistic expectations i'd venture to say you will love the phone like i do. I came from a iPhone 3Gs and there has been no looking back.
just wanted to say ive come from bb storm.ive had no promblems with the droid.there is so much you can do with it because of the apps.you want regret it at all.its the best.
Indeed, it would make for pretty boring reading if we all started new threads with our 'My Droid has worked fine all along' stories. I have had zero 'issues' with my Droid, but lots of questions about how to do things, which is why these forums are so great! BTW, did I mention my phone has worked great all along?
They have sold 800,000 phones so far. as with all technology, you are seeing only the problems on the forums. very few people have the urge to jump on a forum just to say "my phone is great" (unless they drink the apple coolaid).
The GPS issue reported above is for real. There are a growing number of people that are expieriencing this issue.... myself included. Worked great for Three weeks... bought the car dock... built a custom map on google maps with all my contacts and poi's.... totally commited. All the sudden... and with no changes to the phone on my part it just stopped. Now all I get it "Searching for GPS...". I took a 2 hour drive out of state was working great... went to return... nothing. "Searching for GPS..." the whole way home. I am a longtime Verizon customer was not ported over from another carrier. I've done every fix imaginable that's been posted except hardware reset... which from what I can tell doesn't fix the problem. Simply put.... I'm frustrated. Now I understand that every piece of new technology has it's bugs and quircks... really I do. I work in the tech industry. But when a major part of the device stops working that the end user relies on a great deal of time and goes unresolved by the carrier.... and was also a major point of advertising to sell the device (regardless if it's considered "Beta")... its a problem. This is where class action lawsuits ultimatly begin. I'm not wrting this to scar you away... really im not. Other than this issue I'm happy with the phone. Just beware based on what you've researched and unserstand that you to could be one of the frustrated.
I think your name says it all. There is no grounds for a lawsuit, Google Navigation is in beta and there is no guarantee it will work. Mine hasn't had a single problem yet but I guess a few people have, at least we don't have to deal with all the bugs the iPhone has (former 3G owner here). When you are blatantly biased then your comments hold very little weight. Anyway to answer the OP, every phone that sells this many units in just under 2 months is going to have some problems. It happens with all the big ones, look at a Blackberry forum or iPhone forum, you will see plenty of threads/posts with users complaining about issues. Also a lot of stuff here is user error, Android is a very advanced OS and if you don't know what your doing you might change a setting and not realize it until things start acting funny and you can't figure out how to fix it. I had a G1 (Android) before this and I can easily say the Droid is a much better device, it is faster, stabler, has more features, and overall offers a better user experience. Of course the best thing you can do is just take it for a test drive and if you don't like it then just return it.
I too have had many smart phones unfortunately the trend has gone more to keeping release dates and fixing problems on the go rather then push back release dates. The droid has had the most minor bugs out of any phone I have had but I said the same thing about the last phone I had. The big difference between the last 3 phones I have had and the droid is the droid has a brand new OS so you have to expect a few minor issues. Most of the bugs people report would go away by cycling the phone off and on, others are caused by apps that are not paying nice with each other, but some are just droid issues. I my self have had no issue that made me want to drop kick the phone and with my temper that's saying a lot. Todays phones do so much and so many different 3rd parties are making apps at the same time the OS is being developed and refined that you are bound to have a few issues. My friends I phone has had issues with different apps from the store and he just deleted them, at least with the android store you will get a refund. I would suggest downloading one app at a time and run the stock home and widgets for a week while you get an idea or benchmark of how the phone should act
... thats funny. I've actually never owned an iphone. thought it would give people a rise... guess it worked...lol. If you advertise and sell a product on core services and it does not work as advertised or issues go unresolved based on those "as adversised" services there are grounds for a class action (regardless of beta). Especially if it happens to enough people and can be proven that the carrier knows of the issue... which they do. I mean common they sell a car dock and advertise it to be used with the Google Nav.... wake up already!. Regardless... did you actually read the last sentance of the second para?. "This is where class action lawsuits ultimatly begin" ....... (ultimaly begin)..... ok. I didnt say I was start proceeding today.
better work on your spelling first i dont own a droid, yet, but if this is all true about the gps i dont know what i want to do. thats a major point im getting the phone. that and the weight of the phone, anyone have comments on if the weight will hamper me from sliding it into my pocket and forgeting about it?
You would more quickly "forget" every other available phone sooner than the Droid haha. I think its a great device but lets be realistic- its big and heavy.
I didn't read through the thread so I don't see what you mean by problem with the GPS because mine works perfectly. I thought it was pretty heavy at first, but now I like it. It feels sturdy, I can easily just put it in my pocket and ALMOST forget about it. I still try not to put other stuff in there or hit it with something.
My Droid can't find GPS.. It just stays on "Searching for GPS" when I try to Navigate. My Use GPS is toggled on. - Google Mobile Help The short of it: Just keeps "Searching for GPS..." in Google Nav. Even on fresh out of the box phones. Mine was working great then just stopped.... no changes to the phone. Still unresolved after many attempted fixes. Did not think anything of it until it happened to me... after I've come to depend on it. So naturally I... like everyone else, start looking for resolution.
ABSOLUTELY> I'd be flamingly pissed if the navigation function stopped working, especially after just three weeks. Did you call verizon and let them know the phone was broken and wanted an exchange? I don't see you did and I'm curious why you didn't walk into the nearest store or call the hotline immediately and demand a new phone. What's the current status on your situation?
A couple of things to note... - Most people are only going to post their problems. Very few people drop by just to say how much they like the phone, so obviously problematic threads will abound. - Most problems are unique to one or a few users. Everybody has little quirks with the phone, but I think for the most part, the phone is solid and doesn't have any widespread, serious issues. If you have one of the few, you can always replace the device. If you just have minor issues, we can usually help. - I've had and used a lot of phones. Even with some of the problems I've run into, this is by far the greatest phone / device I've ever used. No question about it.
Well said. Its like when you buy a big screen TV, its rare people will contact the manufacturer or use a forum to tell everyone how great the product is, but instead will utilize those options when they are having issues. That being said, I have used a slew of smart phones and this is easily the best and most intuitive phone I have ever used.
