Who's Droid is and has been working just fine?

[kbayer]

Well, I went in to test and buy a Droid Saturday and there were two on display, neither has been updated with the new firmware. The first I picked up was great. I disliked the physical keyboard as everyone said I would, but I see that a lot of you like it after getting used to it.

I later went to try the Eris, which was so-so.

I went back to the first Droid, which was in someone elses hands, so I went to the other on display. It sucked. Lag, lag, lag. 15 seconds between camera resets. Rebooted once on it's own while in my hands for the 6 minutes I toyed with it.

I came back to this forum and see threads like "top complaints", "returning the Droid", and "post update issues".... and really unnerving threads on other forums like Issue 5286 - android - Browser lags when scrolling after 2.0.1 Update on Motorola DROID - Project Hosting on Google Code

My wife says I'm focusing too much on the potential problems, so that's all I'm going to continue to see. Since I really LOVE the potential of what this phone has to offer, she says I should focus on the good aspects of this phone. So I like the thread of "how has this phone saved your @ss"...

And I'm not whining -- it's like researching a new car before buying. If I constantly see owners posting that the gas mileage isn't what the manufacturer said it would be, or if a tire keeps falling off, or if the AC only works occasionally, or if the car dies out every time you turn the radio on... well, you get the point.

My newbie understanding is -- Yep, these are not "just phones", but great pieces of technology and consumers should expect them to do as advertised and you should EXPECT to get what you pay for... no settling, compromising, or tolerating.

That concept of accepting glitches "since the technology is fresh and new" was developed by the manufacturers just so their product can be rushed to market and the profits can start rolling in...

Why should we be brainwashed to believe and except that there will be glitches and that these glitches will be dealt with (and possibly resolved) over time?

Sorry for the rant - I was actually trying to start a happy thread.

I need to just buy one and get it over with, right? But now I gotta know.... really... for the sake of the phone and everyone reading this thread:

How many of you have Droids that are working perfectly (or close to "perfectly") ?

 

[gnmitchell]

The phone has been great for me. I have not had any issues with it before or after the update. The update definitely helped with the camera and haven't noticed the lag some people have talked about with their browser. By far this is the best phone I've ever had and I have had quite a few smart-phones.

 

[Mainiac]

I've had no trouble with the operation of my Droid, only with the battery door staying on.

Does everything I could want it to do and more.

Some people are way too fussy about tech. it's not perfect and new stuff never will be perfect right out of the gate, those type people should either wait for bit before getting the tech. or buy something more mature (read antique, yes I'm looking at you iPhone ).

 

[crowell392]

mine works fine no trouble at all

 

[Matthew]

I haven't had any problems until this morning actually.

I installed GDE and then installed a hero theme and it was all fine until the keyboard refused to light up. So I uninstalled GDE and reinstalled and all is well now. That is really the only problem I have had.

I think the great majority of Droids work without a problem but it just appears that they have a lot of problems because everyone who has problems comes here for help.

 

[JDMS33]

We have 3 in the house. I have had no problems at all - except 1 soft restart. Had phone since 11-7.

My son has had no problems - also got phone on 11-7.

My wife first got Eris...returned for Droid within 24 hours. First droid kept resetting. Returned 1 week later and since she has had no real problems - although she gets frustrated - not a sexist comment but fact - she has had that reaction to every phone she has ever had.

 

[messenger13]

Owned my first DROID for a day. It sucked. It rebooted a lot, was laggy, I just knew it wasn't right. I took it back for an exchange and couldn't be happier. This DROID has NEVER rebooted and is quite snappy and responsive. Today makes four weeks of ownership and I wonder how I ever lived without it.

 

[brandoshido]

Had mine since day 1. It has worked fine before and after the update

 

[fireshaper]

I have to agree with your wife on this one, if you continue to look for the negatives that's all you will see. I've had my Droid since day one and haven't had any problems with it (except for the battery door sliding off once or twice in my pocket). I manually updated mine to 2.0.1 and have only seen improvements. There will always be something people will complain about, especially with new tech. If you like the Droid and can take the time to get to used to it you should go for it.

 

[jbg25]

Had my Droid since Launch day. I have had very very few problems...and those that I have experienced were bugs in software I downloaded...and was fixed within 48hrs of reporting to developer.

Since 2.0.1 update:
- screen scroll smooth and snappy
- browser is pretty f'n fast (some pages take longer...but I believe this is an algorithym thing...based on the load that page presents...not a bug in the software)
- Camera is not great in low light...but is not nearly as bad for me as many have stated
- No reboots happened without my initiation...and only once did the phone freeze and have to be hard-shutdown. I uninstalled an app I had just downloaded and viola...gone!

As for expecting this to be perfect...you need to understand what you are asking. This is the First CDMA Android phone to get rolled out by Verizon...so they had very small sample from testing to see what potential issues they had.

But even more important is the business/economic side fo what you are asking. The Droid might just be Motorolas last chance to save their remaining share in the Mobile market. Verizon has lost millions of customers to the iPhone over the last few years. Google and Verizon have made an agreement regarding the Android Platform...and both companies need to have immediate success.

Finally, you clearly do not understand sales in regards to consumer electronics. With mobile phone technology being out dated every 3 months...you have a small window to be the "BEST GADGET". Just cause you delay your product...does not mean your competitor will hold theirs...AND what happens in 10 days (Dec 24th?)? when it comes to retail...especially for the holidays...you have a very very limited window. If you plan on releasing any item that is supposed to take the most advantage of the holiday season...you MUST have your product on the shelves by late October or the first week of Nov (did you think a Nov 6th release was picked arbitrarily?)...which means if it is shipping by boat from China...you must ship it at least 2 months prior to the official release.

ANY delays, not only cost sales...but could blow your entire marketing plan as well as lose your chance to make the big splash before all the other expensive gadgets go on sale. If Motorola had delayed the release for anything less than a widespread defect, both Verizon and Motorola would have failed to garner what they have though this campaign. If your hardware fail rate is less than 10%...and everything else can be updated by OTA files transfer...then there is absolutely no reason to wait. Especially since the vast majority of people who got this phone so far are either techies and understand...or want it cause it is the new big things...and dont care.

 

[dman2275]

I have had one for over two weeks and not one problem.

 

[Barbara]

I still have my original that I got the morning of Nov. 6th. I have not had any problems. The battery door does not come off because I have a snap on silicone/gel case. The keyboard clicks open and clicks shut and does not open on it's own. I don't have any random reboots. The battery lasts me a whole day.

I think this is just another one of those things that those that have phones that are doing what they are supposed to do don't bring that up because it's just sort of expected. It's when the unexpected happens that it gets talked about so solutions can be found.

 

[TXLady]

Mine works fine and I haven't had any problems. (I've only had it just under a week now.)

The other thing you really need to consider is that normally, the people most likely to post are those who are having problems and looking for resolution. Most people who aren't having problems won't post. I also would take the condition of the display phones with a grain of salt -- they get abused by people who have no idea what they are doing and I've even seen small kids playing with them while Mom and Dad are ignoring the kids in the store.

If you want to wait until all the bugs are worked out, then you will not get the newest technology but wait to buy it until it has been out a while. Also, you will not load third party apps (basically everything that didn't come with the phone) since problems may be caused by the apps).

So, yeah, I think you are focusing too much on problems. But that's okay, just so you are realistic about your expectations.

 

[The_Chief]

Loved mine since November 6 with no problems. This thing has saved my digital hide more than once. LOVE MY DROID!

 

[sooper_droid12]

No problem here.

 

[sly]

I purchased my Droid on release day. During the purchase, my phone wouldn't activate and had the random shutdown/powerups that have plagued some of the early Droids. The Best Buy employee promptly put that one away and setup another one that booted up and activated just fine.

Since the day of purchase, I've installed and tested a bunch of apps that I thought looked cool. I've been plagued by REALLY poor battery life, until now. I had to uninstall and reinstall different apps, or uninstall apps completely, until I encountered proper battery life.

I've found that apps certainly DO have a great impact on your battery life, so if you do have bad battery life, please test out which apps are doing it by uninstalling/reinstalling. I believe SportsTap or WeatherChannel to be one of the main factors giving my phone bad battery life as those are some that I uninstalled and never re-installed. Ones I still have that perform rather well include dxTop Home Alternative and handcent SMS. I thought these might suck major juice, but they actually are programmed rather well and I've been very pleased with the improvements and additional features these two apps provide over the standard interfaces for home screen(s) and SMS.

I like the Droid a lot. It's versatile, has great capabilities, and feels rock solid. It's mainly thanks to google's Android OS, though. I don't know the Droid Eris's capabilities specific to that phone, but I do know Droid has performed impressively for me and I have been very happy.

 

[AZDroid]

I bought 2 on launch weekend. My son has had no issues with his, I'm on number 3. First was replaced with signal issues but I think it was more network related than device but they wanted to give me a new one. My second was replaced after it started going weird, like the screen going black except the banner and after it happened 5 times I wiped the device thinking it was a bad app causing it. But then when setting up the device after wipe, I was trying to enter my gmail addy and it went black again. So they gave me another new one. No regrets though, sometimes weird stuff happens.

But basically out of the 4 Droids I have had only the black screen one was bad...

 

[brandoshido]

Ok, I retract my statement. I went to call someone and only had 3 of my 50+ contacts available. And some of my friends on facebook aren't showing up.

 

[hiway]

Been fine and tons better experience than a Hero I tried for 3 weeks. Battery doesn't last great though. Half hour browsing this forum has used 30% of battery. That's with auto bright on and GPS off with no active Widgets.

 

[Takami826]

in all honesty, ANY issues we've had thus far are operator error and being guilty of downloading questionable apps (not skeevy just ones that weren't well suited for the droid) that we've since uninstalled and learned to look closer into if it's an app we really need and what the reviews/problems others have...

no piece of tech is ever going to be perfect, there will always be something to displease someone and remember MOST people who are happy hum along with a cheery tune going on their own way happy as pigs in poo but the minute something is wrong, people dash to teh intarwebs to complain so you will ALWAYS ALWAYS find more gripes and grunts and groans than warm fuzzies, not just about droid but anything.

do your research, weigh the pros and cons, compare some phones of similar (hahah as if) ability and decide.

 

[Coronach]

Mine has had a few very minor issues, all easily resolved.

1. The ringer volume suddenly went wonky (it was playing speaker sounds through the earpiece). I rebooted it, and it worked fine. Happened once.

2. The phone hung in the middle of attempting to make a call. I could not get it to do anything with the phone, but the rest of the device worked. As I needed to make a call, I could not wait to see if it would sort itself out. I rebooted, and it worked fine. Happened once. I attribut it to being in a sketchy coverage area and the phone tried to make the call, lost the connection, and just sorta hung there.

3. A couple of apps I was trying force-closed. Probably the apps' problems, not the phone's.

I've had it for two weeks now, and that's it. It has been remarkably fast and stable, both pre and post update.

Mike

 

[Coronach]

Ok, I retract my statement. I went to call someone and only had 3 of my 50+ contacts available. And some of my friends on facebook aren't showing up.

Did you resync contacts and accounts after your upgrade? Mine did the same thing, but when I went in and rechecked syncing, it restored everything.

I didn't really count it as a bug/problem, as it was more of a preference being reset by a firmware upgrade.

Mike

 

[blue]

I had a few issues before the update. But not issue at all now.

 

[oceanlight]

like butter from day one (launch day). that's not to say i haven't experienced an occasional bug, but that's normal.



.

 

[droidism]

How many of you have Droids that are working perfectly (or close to "perfectly") ?

As I have posted many times in the past, I purchased my Droid a week after release and have had ZERO problems. However, based on what I have read there seems to be a good and bad "first run" Droid batch and I seem to have gotten one from the good batch.

-S