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Thinking of switching to the Droid

First off let me start by saying I love the Hero and all the features that go along with it, but one thing I don't love is the overall responsiveness of the phone. I've had my Hero for almost a month now so its coming down to the time where I decided if I wanna be a Hero or something else.

My question to you all is, what made you decide to stay with the Hero? I really wanna stay with the Hero, because the lagginess isn't really THAT bad, but for and additional $100 and $10 per month extra the Droid isn't looking too bad at the moment.
 
I switched to the DROID for the same reason, I switched back because the DROID is NOT faster.

I have both of these phones, here is my review.
1.)Seven home screens instead of three.
2.)Better designed widgets
3.)Brighter more vibrant screen
4.)Smaller form factor
5.)Better Battery Life
6.)Dedicated call/end call buttons
7.)Better Camera
8.)Multi Touch
9.)Eye Candy
10.)Brighter LED Indicator Light
11.)Standard USB Plugs
12.)Better Keyboard

Some people may claim the higher resolution makes the DROID way better, I can tell you that it doesn’t. Heres why:

The standard android widigets and the spacing between icons on the screen do not utilize the DROIDS extra real estate well.

Home Screen Maximum Icons
DROID: 16 Hero/Eris: 16

Contacts on screen when scrolling through list
DROID: 8 Hero/Eris: 8

Screen Usage
DROID home screen: 4 Icons, Weather, Clock & Calendar
Hero/Eris: home screen: 6 Icons, Weather, Clock & Calendar

Browser
You can only see 1 or 2 lines more on the DROID, the Hero/Eris hides all of the title bars etc, the DROID does not.

I have both of these phones right now and I can fit more information on the screens, and that is what is important…Information. If you hold your phone when you talk (no Bluetooth) The DROID will hurt after about a half hour, the corners dig into your hand and ear.

Yes, the DROID has a larger, higher res screen, but it does not use it well, because of this, its more of an annoyance. The Hero/Eris has much better eye candy going on with the better widgets and such.

The DROID seems to be a faster phone at first glance, and in some cases, it is faster (opening emails, its about a full second faster to display text content), but in most cases, it is seriously perception. I put the phones right next to each other and they were identical in speed. The DROID also has more free internal memory; this could be important to some, but I don’t have over 100 megs of apps on my phone anyhow.

I switched to Verizon from Sprint for the DROID, and the longer I used it, the less I liked it, and the more I wanted my Hero. So, now that I have my Hero back, I can tell you first hand, for the reasons above, the Hero/Eris > DROID.

If you do a side by side, they are pretty much the same.
 
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I had both during about two weeks of overlapping 30-day evaluation periods and ended up keeping the Hero. My thoughts:

1. At full brightness the Hero has the brighter screen (see below). In addition, photographs displayed on the Hero's screen had higher and more-pleasing contrast.

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2. The screen sizes and resolution are clearly different but the higher resolution of the Droid made no difference in readability to me and, as can be seen, there's little difference in screen real estate. Only a few more lines of Google News show in the screen above.

3. The Droid seemed faster at doing things when connection speed wasn't an issue.

4. The Droid weighs exactly one-third more than the Hero - 170 grams vs. 126 - and because of its square corners and flat profile it really holds like a brick in your hand. When I'd leave the house I'd find myself grabbing the Hero because the Droid was just to big, pointy, and heavy. I didn't want it in my hand or my pocket.

5. The Droid's hardware keyboard, though drawing negative comments, was easier for me to type on than the Hero's landscape s/w keyboard. Since going full-time with the Hero I've found it progressively easier to use its keyboard.

6. I used Sprint Nav and Google Nav simultaneously on a 400-mile trip. Google was quirky and sometimes urged me to take pointless detours from the direct route (something that will doubtless be improved) but it was much better than Sprint Nav. It was more customizable and gave a much better display of the surrounding roads and countryside regardless of the zoom level or orientation. But see #8 below.

7. I liked Droid's email app with its combined mailboxes better. On the other hand I missed pinch zooming on the Droid and didn't like tapping or selecting + and - to zoom.

8. Google Nav and better email will accompany Android 2.0 when it reaches the Hero, so those advantages for Droid are only temporary. Its massiveness is permanent.

For my particular situation it was going to cost me about the same per month for either phone. For me the Hero seemed to be the right choice.
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I was at Best Buy today and picked up one of there display models. This of course was a non working model so this is just a hardware statement but I was surprised with the "oreo" effect going on. One of the major problems with the Pre was the wobble between the two halves of the phone and I was surprised to see the same thing. I know you will always have some wiggle on a slider but this was more than a little, granted it is a display model so lot of wear. I also have to say that it is one of the ugliest looking phones.
 
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Thanks for the reply! $340 doesn't seem like a big of a deal for me when im completely satisfied with a purchase (even though ill probably never be).

Then I'm not sure what you want us to say to you. It would be one thing if you hadn't made a purchase yet and was asking for feedback to help you with your decision. But you have owned the Hero and don't seem that thrilled with it. At the same time, you seem quite enamored with the Droid. It's a personal decision that no one can really make for you. If I wasn't really happy with something, then I'd go get something that I COULD be happy with. Give the Droid a try for yourself and see how you like it. Personally, I love my Hero and haven't noticed any significant performance issues with it. There is an occasional lag I suppose, but it never lasts for long and it's noting that slows me down too much from doing what I need to.
 
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does really all matter? If someone has enough of a personal preference for a phone that they're willing to switch providers and pay more money on a monthly basis than more power to them. Me personally, if coverage is fine and the price is right, no phone would make me switch providers. It's just a phone, and if it accomplishes the tasks I need, if another does it better in a different casing or whatever, I don't really care.

That being said, having held the Droid, I was amazed at its size for the screen size & res and the slide out keyboard. I only hope Samsung and HTC take notice and create a much better 2nd gen CDMA device that will easily entice me to upgrade after my year with the Moment is up. I hope to see a much trimmer slider from HTC as I don't have a lot of faith in Samsung doing anything earth shattering for round 2.
 
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Thanks to everyone for their input! I decided to make the switch and I must say that I'm very pleased so far. This is what an android phone is supposed to be. I love how snappy and response it is, I feel that I can really push the phone and still get things done. If only it had the sense UI it would be the perfect phone. Ill be playing around with it much more till I get a feel for it.
 
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