So – I bought it and as most of you predicted – I love it! It took a while to get used to not being as simple or intuitive as the Palm 700p, but once I caught on, it was very easy to use and unlike Windows Mobile – it actually works! Is it the iPhone killer? I don’t know but I bet it will be the windows mobile killer because if I were a cell phone manufacturer I would pull WM from all my products and install Android.
Having said that, you can tell that it is a young operating system in need of more work. First, and this it Motorola’s fault, the wallpaper it comes with is hideous. Who uses a gray background for a color phone? The navigator is cool, but will need some work. It would be far better if apps had a help selection with online documentation.
Just playing with some of the cool stuff, like there is a bar code reader app that ties into the camera so you can scan a bar code and look it up on the web. I found a cool compass app. Voice recognition is good. I can say “navigate to sushi” and it will pull up a list of sushi places close to me. When I pick one, it then tells me how to drive there.
Things the iPhone can’t do are impressive. I like having a real keyboard option. The SD card can be upgraded and the battery can be changed. In other words – the back opens up. The audio is clear and loud when making phone calls and using the speakerphone, but you also notice the multitasking. I can be talking on the phone, checking my email and running SSH on a server all at the same time.
There are a number of things I want to do but haven’t figured out yet. I’d like to:
1) Get root access to a command line.
2) Be able to turn the phone into a WiFi hotspot.
3) If an email has an attached WAV file I want to click on it and have something play it.
4) Need some sort of good file browser.
5) Like to have some setting program that sets stuff other stuff that they don’t normally give you access to.
6) Recommendations for some must have applications.
Bottom line – I love this phone. I recommend it.
Regarding #4, if you want a good file browser (not a goof one), try Astro.
Have fun with it…. I envy you for having Android 2.0 already, i still have 1.6 on my G1..
Layar (augmented reality) and Google Listen (for Podcasts) are my favorites for now.
It was my understanding that with Verizon’s 3G implementation you can’t run both voice and data at the same time, i.e. you couldn’t be in a call, checking your email and running SSH all at once.
Have you really done this, or was that just a made up example?
If so, can someone point out a reference showing it is really possible?
Still UGGGGGGGLLLLLLYYY!!!!
Does the fingerprint scanner work?
You need to get AppKiller. Does what it sounds like. I was surprised to find a few apps don’t close when you navigate away from them.
Google Sky Map shows you what stars you are looking at based on the direction you are standing. It’s pretty impressive. Well at least for me here in CT. I can actually see the stars (no smog).
Shazam can find the name of a song you are listening to. Probably better for your kids ’cause the app can’t go back in time to find the name of that concerto your listening to I’m sure. 😉
That is all well and good Marc, but will it stop the Novel N1H1 flu?
How is the keyboard?
I tried it in the store and the keys seemed to run together.
Do you get used to it?
Otherwise, I liked the look and feel.
(thinking of buying one)
It’s ugly as hell…
Windows Mobile killer FTW
but it’s a shame it’s soooo FUGLY
At least it doesn’t have that hideous chin like the G1.
I Love the look and the feel of Droid, to me very high tech and cool, it will kill the WMphone, it has already done so with me. I didn’t have an upgrade on my account so I had to plop down the 600 bucks and I not sorry I did. A phone I can use the way I want. I’ve been very happy.
Have fun.
Dvorak you old Kazurkinski-esque curmudgeon! I told you that you would love an Android phone.
So, is Google Voice everything it’s cracked up to be? You like those free phone calls do ya?
SKL
[This was posted by Marc Perkel… not John C. Dvorak. – ed.]
Crazy Marc Perkel got a droid! I wonder if it turns him on more than that pet squirrel of his? o_O
What will really blow your mind is a in a couple weeks when you’ve got everything figured out and you realize the power of having everything interconnected and automatically synced and backed up. Ad a friend on facebook or new contact to your gmail and back its pushed to the phone. The power of google in your pocket.
Not having to deal with all the clunky weirdness cell phones have made us accustomed to. I had to RMA my first G1 a while back, I took it to t-mobile got a new one, logged in and it was like nothing happened.
I strained the other day and got a ‘droid.
I can tell you that you CAN do voice and data at the same time. I did run IMAP while talking on the phone.
Pity about the god awful design, and that insanely stupid looking D-pad thingy.
I like the dpad. The keyboard is ugly but it works. And to me works is an important feature.
# 8 SparkyOne said, “…the Novel N1H1 flu?”
Who wrote that?
Is it available on Kindle?
Or Audible?
Perkel: I am so jealous. I hate my Omnia WinMob phone. I want a Druid, err, Droid so badly. But, I’m living in a GSM country. Please keep us updated.
Getting this ugly thing confirms to the Ladies that you really DO NOT want to get laid.
Let us know how the battery life is Marc… John said it sucks.
I read somewhere that this phone is the Blackberry killer. Notice you don’t hear anything about the Storm 2 now?
Windows Mobile will kill itself…
Marc: You’ll never have root access to the phone. The telco will not allow that.
Glad you got a phone you enjoy!
This aint the droid we are looking for
What about the squirrel?
The squirrel needs a little collar cam with a Eye-Fi Pro card and a Flickr account so we can track him via Google maps on a Droid in real time. Make it so.
I think it’s interesting that all of the reviewers that got the phone early claimed excellent battery life and now that the phone has been released to the general public there are many, many complaints of poor battery life. Were all of those early review units somehow different? Or were those “journalists” somehow swayed in favor of writing glowing reviews of the phone? My contract with AT&T is up in January and I’m hoping that all the bugs are worked out of the Droid by then.
Tried it while waiting around at the verizon store, I was really impressed with how sluggish scrolling was and that there is no pinch-zoom support. GG.
Great! Now if you are poor like me, you can hack it. Sort of. Well, Okay. it is not a hack. http://tinyurl.com/yfg28gq