1 month later with the Droid Pro, what are your thoughts?

[MO3iusONE]

So its been about a month since this phone came out, what are your thoughts?

Overall im pretty happy with this phone. Before this phone even came out I was awed by the design of it..the portrait keyboard was the selling point for me. It reminded me of my Treo 650/755p and Blackberry Curve. That's mainly what im about, being able to reply to texts or write down notes with a quickness. I feel like you can't do that as well with slideout keyboards and your prone to too many mistakes with touch screen phones.

My only real complaint about the phone is that I wish the screen was a little wider and they probably could have widen the keys as well but honestly... I see myself having this phone for a while.. unless they release a Droid pro 2 or something lol.

what does everyone else think about their phone after owning it for a month?

 

[jpcalhoun]

So its been about a month since this phone came out, what are your thoughts?

Overall im pretty happy with this phone. Before this phone even came out I was awed by the design of it..the portrait keyboard was the selling point for me. It reminded me of my Treo 650/755p and Blackberry Curve. That's mainly what im about, being able to reply to texts or write down notes with a quickness. I feel like you can't do that as well with slideout keyboards and your prone to too many mistakes with touch screen phones.

My only real complaint about the phone is that I wish the screen was a little wider and they probably could have widen the keys as well but honestly... I see myself having this phone for a while.. unless they release a Droid pro 2 or something lol.

what does everyone else think about their phone after owning it for a month?

I've had my Pro since 12 November. I switched from a BB Tour, and have had other BBs and Treo 600 and 700p. I switched from BB to get a larger screen, more flexibility/availability of apps, more internal phone memory, WiFi, a faster processor and in general a more "state of the art" phone. For the most part the Pro has met or exceeded my expectations. There are a couple of things that I am disappointed in: battery life ( I know Androids are noted for being a power consumer) but I didn't realize how bad. I have the extended battery and would recommend it to anyone who uses their phone for more than a paper wait. Secondly, the ability to sync Outlook data to the phone...right out of the box...no work arounds...no establishing other email accounts...no exporting data and no 3rd Party apps. I know a lot of people don't see this as a big issue...but if you read this forum and other forums...guess what...the CUSTOMERS (a lot of them) think IT IS A BIG PROBLEM...particularly exchange sync (I know, they're working on it...I mean it's a new problem...right...not so much!!) If someone is coming from a BB, they are used to BES or BIS...and they don't want or expect to CHANGE the way they are used to syncing their business or personal Outlook data...people don't like change...and they certainly don't want to learn and manage another email system (gmail).

Putting things into perspective...I don't mean to sound negative about the Pro or any Android phone. I love the Pro...I will not go back to BB. I've had a lot of fun with my Pro...do things that I could never do on a BB. My business and personal email, calendar, task, notes etc are tied up in Outlook. I just didn't like what I had to do to make all that work with my Pro...and unfortunately a lot of potential customers won't put up with it...they'll just take the phone back...BB makes it too easy.

 

[oriald]

Overall pretty good.

My main three issues:

1. Need to be able to shut up the" dddrrroooiiiddd" banner sound when booting. BAD for when in meeting etc.

2. "Cannot send message while loading original message..."???? Terrible for business users. Probably my biggest rant.

3. The menu/home/back/search buttons are too close to the keyboard or too sensitive. I find myself repeatedly hitting them accidentally when writing a message and this really kills my flow.



Sent from my DROID PRO using DroidForums App

 

[bwhite757]

Love the phone. Does everything I expected/wanted it to do so no complaints in functionality.

Battery life though, that's a different story. I've had in my possession, 4 different Android Devices now. Droid 1, HTC Eris, Samsung Fascinate, Droid Pro. The Pro is by-far the worst battery experience I've had. It takes me right back to my Storm1 days (Before the updates). I do believe the battery is too small for this phone. It's the same battery that came with the OG Droid, and that processor was clocked down to 600 MHz. Now we're piping 1 GHz out of this battery and expecting the same life?? Just a'int going to happen.

I was one of the lucky ones that could run an Ultra Low Voltage kernel on the OG Droid, but I never clocked it over 800 MHz, otherwise I couldn't make it 8 hours. Well now with the Pro I can squeeze about 7 hours out of the standard battery and about 11 hours out of the extended battery. With as much as I use the phone, I guess I can't complain too much about it, but that's with all the battery saving tweaks out there. Bone-stock, I can only get 4 hours out of a standard. (Haven't tried stock with the extended). So basically if you're a power-user and don't want to root, you get 4 hours of use out of this phone, then better find a wall outlet or spare battery. Just not what I would consider practical.

I keep reading everyone's hopeful posts that an update to the software will help battery life, however I think it's hardware. 1400 mAh, simply isn't enough for our beasts. Personally I think the extended should've been the standard.

Anyway, it's a great phone. I really do love it, and really don't mind carrying a spare battery. I've been doing it since Storm1, why stop now? The only good thing is, battery swap with an Android device - Downtime 2 minutes. Battery swap with a Blackberry - Downtime 15 minutes. Battery swap with an iPhon - Wait, where's the proprietary charger???

 

[tennvol]

Don't feel bad. I bought a extended battery for my D1 and then the phone died. Ended up with the pro and now I use a extended battery and carry another as a spare. During the work day I run ebuddy and office communicator and I only get 5 hours with the extended battery

Sent from my DROID PRO using DroidForums App

 

[google123]

Overall, still very happy with the Pro. I have not even thought about going back to the Tour as I had with other Android phones. I really like the customization, the performance, the apps its all good.

There are a few niggles though. Battery life, although vastly improved, is still not quite as good as the Tour I had before. I just purchased the extended battery so will see how that works out.

I've also had troubles with email, which is something that happened with the Eris and Droid that I had in the past also. It just stops arriving at my phone after a while. I have tried many apps including the gmail app, the yahoo mail app, the unified inbox on the pro using both POP AND Irma and it works great for a week or so but then emails just start arriving way late or not at all. Tried Maildroid, tried k-9 and its the same thing. I use email but its not such a huge problem for me that im gonna go back to the Tour even though it never had problems with my email. Oh well, I figure android just needs a bit more cooking time to have email as robust and reliable and so easy a caveman can do it.

Sent from my DROID PRO using DroidForums App

 

[jwgraves]

Overall pretty good.

My main three issues:

1. Need to be able to shut up the" dddrrroooiiiddd" banner sound when booting. BAD for when in meeting etc.

2. "Cannot send message while loading original message..."???? Terrible for business users. Probably my biggest rant.

3. The menu/home/back/search buttons are too close to the keyboard or too sensitive. I find myself repeatedly hitting them accidentally when writing a message and this really kills my flow.

I LOVE MY PRO...converted from a BB Curve about a month ago and have no desire at this point to go back to a BB. The customization of the Pro is worth it all.

If you know how to root your Pro, I can show you how to easily remove the "dddrrroooiiiddd" startup sound. I could't stand it either.

 

[meowguy]

I had mine for three weeks and sent it back. I could not keep it connected to my car via bluetooth. As mentioned above it could be about 1/4" wider and that would make a huge difference in the user experience.

I will not try the Pro again until I have some assurance that the bluetooth drop can be solved.

 

[Janet1025]

I had mine for three weeks and sent it back. I could not keep it connected to my car via bluetooth. As mentioned above it could be about 1/4" wider and that would make a huge difference in the user experience.

I will not try the Pro again until I have some assurance that the bluetooth drop can be solved.

Wow three weeks, I lasted about 6 days, coming from the Tour I thought awesome Droid experience with a keyboard-NOT- I THOUGHT I was being neurotic wanting a wider screen, just slightly too narrow for me, not including the proximity of home screen buttons to keyboard( I kept hitting them by accident) and would mess up whatever I was typing, Grainy pics, Poor battery life, Bluetooth-terrible..and my AOL account kept saying connection server error. I could not get to Verizon soon enough to unload this phone! and I swear Im very easy to please!!

LOVING MY X!

 

[meowguy]

Bluetooth-terrible

So Janet, you are finding the bluetooth on the X more stable? That was the downfall for me. I am in my car four hours a day. Without reliable bluetooth pairing I might as well be on another planet. I could put up with all the other stuff, but that was it for me and I was afraid it was systemic with Android, so I am back on my Berry.

 

[Janet1025]

Bluetooth-terrible

So Janet, you are finding the bluetooth on the X more stable? That was the downfall for me. I am in my car four hours a day. Without reliable bluetooth pairing I might as well be on another planet. I could put up with all the other stuff, but that was it for me and I was afraid it was systemic with Android, so I am back on my Berry.

Meowguy---Absolutely the bluetooth works perfect on my Droid X, like I stated in my previous post among the many other things was the bluetooth connection which was terrible and I also work from my car- I am a Visiting Nurse in NY and being able to talk hands free is a must not an option..
I almost considered taking the Pro back and just getting the Bold, but I was completely bored with my Tour as my job stopped allowing our emails going to our Blackberries, so I have to forward them anyway..

I really wanted more web browsing and speed, geez I couldnt even see my online banking on my Tour.. I am amazed at what I can do with my X.. but Im not as savvy and genius as the real techs on here, just a working mom OBSESSESED WITH SMARTPHONES!!

 

[meowguy]

I am amazed at what I can do with my X.. but Im not as savvy and genius as the real techs

Perhaps I will give the X a try in a few weeks. I need to recover from my previous effort with the Pro. You sound "genius" enough for me.

We have hijacked this thread enough. Did not mean to offend anyone.

 

[lemodular]

This thread has been insightful as I am debating on getting the Pro for my wife. She wants a keyboard and I want her to have an android phone, so the pro is the only option. The main complaint I have gathered so far is the battery life; this will be a problem if she can not go at least 12 hours. I can convince her to go virtual keys only such as the X or Incredible (not D1/D2). Will that be a better option?

PS. Another thread indicates lag with Google Map v.5, this may be a problem as she gets lost easily

 

[jwgraves]

I picked up an extended battery for my Pro and I now get two full days out of each charge.

 

[UWSkier]

So far I love everything about the phone except using it as a phone. The call quality would be better with tin cans and a string. It's terrible. I switched from a Blackberry Bold 9000 which would drop calls from time to time (ATT... duh) but the call quality when connected was superb.

Still working on the issue with Verizon support. I'm looking to exhaust every option before swapping phones. I've customized the hell out of this thing and really don't want to start over at square one with a new handset.

Comparing to Blackberry, Droid Pro Advantages:
Screen is far better
Apps!
Browsing is like coming out of the stone age
Better integration with Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Skype Mobile

Droid Pro Disadvantages:
CALL QUALITY
Keypad is nice but not up to BB standards as far as key width, arc to the rows, effort to press
Battery life
Email integration

I won't go back to Blackberry, but if I don't get this phone working for calls soon, I'm going to have to get a new one.