Acantha Posted November 7, 2009 Posted November 7, 2009 Contract on my phone doesn't come up for a year, but I'm glad that it looks like iphone finally has some competition, especially on a different network. I expect by this time next year there will be two or 3 different choices, but at least there are real choices now.
/dev/null Posted November 7, 2009 Posted November 7, 2009 Well played grasshopper. You can go about your business. Move along...
Lv-Bills Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 Well, how'd you all like your Droid over the weekend? Thinking of ordering one online today. I can get it for $99.
Phlegm Alley Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 Well, how'd you all like your Droid over the weekend? Thinking of ordering one online today. I can get it for $99. Curious as to where you've seen it online for $100. I just did a search and the cheapest I've found is this: $129 I came across this from a blog that was writing an article stating that you could get the Droid for $99, but that deal has since evaporated and they tacked on $30 more to the deal, which still isn't bad.
Doc Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 I just recently got my wife the iphone. I had to sign-up for 2 years. I've heard that there is a 30-day period during which I can return the phone. Does anyone know if this is true, and if so, will I also be let out-of my 2-year contract? Not saying I'm necessarily going to do it, just curious.
Indy Dave Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 For what it's worth, I was a Verizon customer for years but switched to AT&T a few months ago because I wanted the Iphone. I worried about not having the great coverage that Verizon has because I travel a lot and need good coverage. Thankfully, I haven't had any issues with the Iphone or AT&T, whether I've been in New York City, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Myrtle Beach, Little Rock or wide open spaces in between.
MattyT Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 A brief Motorola Droid Review...note that most of these comments aren't comparing the Droid to iPhone or Blackberry or whatever. I've never used a Blackberry and have only spent about 15 minutes total on an iPhone. My previous phone was a Moto Razr. The Good - Screen is gorgeous and everything is extremely responsive. - Browser renderings have been good...tested both the default WebKit based browser and Opera Mini. - Highly customizable. By default you only have 3 screens, but I downloaded an app that lets me customize wallpapers, icons, etc....and it adds four more screens for a total of 7. Having seven separate screens is really sweet. - Battery life is good so far. - The selection of apps in the Marketplace is sufficient and should really grow now that these new phones should increase demand and attract a larger base of developers. - If you Twitter, try out both Swift and Twidroid. Everyone talks about Twidroid, but I found Swift to be better. - I like the hardware keyboard. Having both a hardware keyboard and a touch screen keyboard was a bonus for me because I wasn't sure which I was going to prefer. Here I have the best of both and find myself using both. - Totally integrated with Gmail which is my primary email. - Favorite downloaded apps/widgets so far... 1. Pandora - You can listen to Pandora while doing other tasks. 2. Swift - Nice Twitter app. 3. One touch buttons for turning on/off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Silent Mode. 4. SportsTap - Scores, standings, news and alerts for most major sports. 5. Shazam - Listens to a song, analyzes it and tells you the name of the artist, song and album. 6. Toddler lock - My 20 mos old daughter inevitably gets her hands on everything around the house. If she gets my phone I can turn on Toddler lock by pressing one button and it locks out everything on the phone except for the touch screen which she can then use to doodle and create shapes on. No more calling random people from my Contacts 7. NewsRob - All my Google Reader RSS feeds pulled down into one app. The Bad - The battery door keeps falling off when I pull the phone out of my pocket. It's just a simple slider with no locking mechanism. This thing has a hair trigger. I'm taking it back to the store to have evaluated. A phone cover may fix this but I don't really want a $200 phone that relies on a cover to keep the door on. - The touch screen is difficult to use when the phone is laying on a flat surface. It just isn't very responsive. This sucks because sometimes I just want to set it down and work it with one hand, but it seems like I have to hold it in my hand to work reliably. - Needs more apps (specifically a browser) with pinch to zoom functionality. The phone supports it, but I haven't found a browser that includes it yet. The double-tap to zoom is okay, but pinch zoom is one iPhone feature that I miss. - Camera is kinda slow between pics. I realize this is a phone and not a DSLR, but when I was trying to take pics of my daughter playing in a pile of leaves and around the yard I feel like I missed a lot of good shots because the phone took too long between shots. Don't know how this compares with other SmartPhones. - OS isn't quite as intuitive as the iPhone. I had to really play around with a few things to figure out some pretty basic functionality like switching between apps. Once I figured it out it was no problem though. Also, I'm a Mac guy so some of the visual cues that Apple used on the iPhone may have already been familiar to me. - The touch screen keyboard is very difficult for me to use...especially in portrait mode. Landscape isn't too bad plus the phone is excellent at making suggestions based on past use. Also, you can download other keyboards as separate apps if you don't like the default. Additional Notes... - I haven't tried out the free text-to-speech GPS yet, but I like knowing it's there in case my wife needs the Garmin for the day. - I bought two media docks that are being shipped to me this week. I'll update on how those are once I get them. Let me know if anyone has any questions.
Fezmid Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/09/11/09/...Price?art_pos=7
ExiledInIllinois Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 Dopped calls! Dropped calls! Dropped calls! Ya... Verizon is like that for me... Everywhere except my house/neighborhood, the network is fine... And I am right next to a tower (don't ask how I figured that out). Maybe God is telling me to stay off my cell phone when I am home.
Lv-Bills Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 Curious as to where you've seen it online for $100. I just did a search and the cheapest I've found is this: $129 I came across this from a blog that was writing an article stating that you could get the Droid for $99, but that deal has since evaporated and they tacked on $30 more to the deal, which still isn't bad. The Droid is $299. Online discount is $100. New Every 2 Discount is another $100. $99
DrFishfinder Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 I switched from the touchpro 2 to this phone. No comparison. The manager at best buy said "this is the greatest phone I've used. Period." His only complaint was the laggy camera. I need a Windows phone to run specific apps for my business. I'm very happy with the TouchPro, but Sprint bites the Big Barloonga. I get THE crappiest reception in the 2 places where I need it most: my office my house I have an old Moto Razr with TMobile and I get perfect reception at my office and my house and everywhere in between. And I work in Fort Lauderdale and live in Miami, so it's not like I'm out in Buzzard's Butt, Wyoming ferchrissakes. Sprint needs to put more than 2 towers in Florida. Sheesh. Cheap bastids.
DrFishfinder Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 I wouldn't use Verizon or AT&T unless those were the only 2 cellular providers remaining on the planet. And then I would have to give it some serious thought. I had Verizon before and the reception at my home was so bad I had to go OUTSIDE to use the phone. OUTSIDE. Verizon even had me upgrade to a "Tri Mode" phone (my fault for falling for such a blatant "excuse of the day" ploy from them). I finally switched to TMobile because my wife had the cheapest Nokia phone available with TMobile and she got ab so lutely perfect reception. Not to mention a much better price. So much for Verizon and all their lies. AT&T screwed my company so royally on the office business plan (phone line plus 6M DSL), that I will never use them or recommend them again for any reason. They gave me a good plan, in theory, over the phone....land line plus 6M DSL for $99/month. What they never told me on the phone was that they were going to charge me the non discounted price (about $250/m) for up to 2 billing periods BEFORE the discount would kick in. So instead of getting a bill for about $110, I get a bill for about $270 for the 1st month. And I got the same thing for the 2nd month. I fought this as far as I could go, even got a friend of mine who is (was) a supervisor for AT&T to try to try to iron this thing out. All I wanted was what AT&T promised me on the phone, $99/m for land line and 6M DSL, from Day 1....not after 2 months and $540. AT&T refused to budge. So now, whenever my clients ask me for recommendations on cellular, land lines and network providers, I tell them "Anyone but AT&T." After that screwing, I will never recommend, nor will I ever use AT&T for anything again.
MattyT Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 I had Verizon before and the reception at my home was so bad I had to go OUTSIDE to use the phone. OUTSIDE. Verizon even had me upgrade to a "Tri Mode" phone (my fault for falling for such a blatant "excuse of the day" ploy from them). I finally switched to TMobile because my wife had the cheapest Nokia phone available with TMobile and she got ab so lutely perfect reception. Not to mention a much better price. So much for Verizon and all their lies. I had the same problem when I was with T-Mobile, then switched to Verizon and have never had better coverage. It's just diff in diff areas. Tough to argue about who is best.
ExiledInIllinois Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 I had the same problem when I was with T-Mobile, then switched to Verizon and have never had better coverage. It's just diff in diff areas. Tough to argue about who is best. It is the opposite with me. Go figure, I guess we are all screwed!
Acantha Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 I think saying "find the right company for you" should really be the end of the argument. But everyone has to have the best and trash the rest. Just the way of things.
DrFishfinder Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 I had the same problem when I was with T-Mobile, then switched to Verizon and have never had better coverage. It's just diff in diff areas. Tough to argue about who is best. What is needed here, methinks, is a way for John & Jane Q. Public, to see who has their towers/receivers/transmitters, where. That way we could see which company has coverage in the areas we need it most. What do you think the chances of THAT happening, are?
Phlegm Alley Posted November 9, 2009 Posted November 9, 2009 What is needed here, methinks, is a way for John & Jane Q. Public, to see who has their towers/receivers/transmitters, where. That way we could see which company has coverage in the areas we need it most. What do you think the chances of THAT happening, are? There's an app for that.
Rubes Posted November 10, 2009 Posted November 10, 2009 A brief Motorola Droid Review...note that most of these comments aren't comparing the Droid to iPhone or Blackberry or whatever. I've never used a Blackberry and have only spent about 15 minutes total on an iPhone. My previous phone was a Moto Razr. ... The Bad -- The touch screen is difficult to use when the phone is laying on a flat surface. It just isn't very responsive. This sucks because sometimes I just want to set it down and work it with one hand... Jeez man, are you watching porn on it or something?
HopsGuy Posted November 10, 2009 Posted November 10, 2009 Here's the Engaget Review with some videos. I've had my Moto RAZR V3 for way too long now, so I'm overdue to take the smart phone plunge. This device seems just geeky enough for me.
Phlegm Alley Posted November 10, 2009 Posted November 10, 2009 I picked up the Droid yesterday after having my Verizon LG flip phone for 3 years. I am extremely satisfied with it thus far and, being a Mac guy, I have noticed the Android operating system to be very easy to navigate and have utilized various message boards to help me acclimate to the different/helpful capabilities this phone offers. I really wanted the iPhone, but couldn't justify switching to ATT&T. I was also considering the HTC Touch Pro 2 after my girlfriend got it last month, but I found that the browser was difficult to navigate. It suited her needs nicely because of the conferencing capabilities plus the fact that it is a Windows phone with the Windows operating system. I'm still new to the smart phone game, so I'm still getting used to some of its capabilities as well as some of its short comings. Here's what I've discovered thus far about the phone, good and bad: Pros thus far about the Droid: It was easy to mount my phone to my MacBook (one of the major concerns I had) computer to put music on it and other media files using a drag-and-drop method. The music player is great and I can organize playlists. The shortcuts on it are fantastic. On the home screen, if you just press down on an empty space for a couple of seconds, you can set up a one-touch shortcut (ie preload your favorite webpage, your favorite contact, commonly used widgets/apps). The Google Voice Search option is awesome. Just say what it is that you're looking for or who you want to call from your contact list and it will either open up your search results on a web page or direct you to the person who you want to call. Really helpful hands free feature. The Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation is phenomenal. There is a reason why the Tom Tom, Garmin, and Magellan stocks took a plunge when Google announced it was going to provide FREE GPS with this phone and thus far, it hasn't disappointed. Just Voice Search what it is you're looking for (either an address or establishment) and using Google Maps, it will navigate to it for you. The Droid does come with a car mount witch makes it easy to use in the vehicle. The fact that Google has put its thumbprint on the phone is quite remarkable because if you have a Google online profile, you can easily sync up your phone number to it and manage tasks (calendar, status, current location, etc). If you have a Google Voice account, you can utilize it to send and receive text messages so they aren't taking up messages according to your phone plan because the Google Voice messaging counts towards your data plan. The camera on the phone takes quality photos and DVD quality video. However, there are some issues with it. Cons so far about the Droid: The camera, although its 5 mega pixels which is the largest on the market, does a lot of lagging, meaning, when you want to take a picture, it won't take one immediately. It takes one just a few moments afterwards, which can be tedious and cumbersome. You can only store 256 mega bytes worth of Apps on your phone. Even though it comes with 16 giga byte storage SD card, you can't utilize that for Apps. The Apps go on the phone's internal storage. I'm not a huge App guy and only install ones that I know I will use the most (NY Times, TasKiller, Weather, Pandora, Last.FM, Cooking Recipes, etc) along with a few others, and I still have 227 MB worth of storage available, which is more than plenty. The Facebook App is very basic in comparison to other the iPhone and the Blackberry Storm, but it is not a deal breaker.
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