Some questions before buying

DHood

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I have a few questions before I buy the Droid.

1) How good is the turn by turn navigation?
2) I heard that you can set addresses for your contacts and then go into your contacts, select them, and get directions to their house like that, like a gps (save points and get directions easily), truth?
3) If I'm getting directions, and my phone rings, can I like toss it on speaker and still have my map and directions on the screen in front of me?
4) What's my limitations in call? Can I do a lot of what I can do out of a call while in a call?

I'll have more questions, these are just first to mind.
 

Elysian

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I have a few questions before I buy the Droid.

1) How good is the turn by turn navigation?
2) I heard that you can set addresses for your contacts and then go into your contacts, select them, and get directions to their house like that, like a gps (save points and get directions easily), truth?
3) If I'm getting directions, and my phone rings, can I like toss it on speaker and still have my map and directions on the screen in front of me?
4) What's my limitations in call? Can I do a lot of what I can do out of a call while in a call?

I'll have more questions, these are just first to mind.

Can only really answer #4 for you, haven't really messed with navigation. Verizon being CDMA means no data services while talking on the phone, meaning no browsing, GPS will likely not work, etc. I believe you can text(I could with Sprint), but otherwise, yeah, you're not going to do much besides talking while talking. I believe you can still multitask on the phone though.
 

Erron

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1.Turn by turn is the best ive seen on any phone. Maybe slightly lagged from an actual gps with a larger reciever. I haven't tested the gps with the 3 new google maps updates the last two days so it may be better.

2.Yes

3.No. Voice and Data doesn't work at the same time. You would stop receiving the data for the map while on the call. I haven't tested this at all, but that should be the truth.

4.If youre on wifi, yes. If not, once again no data while on a call. But honestly, how much would you really do? I know that when I look at that att commercial about when is the movie blah blah my friends would text me and ask me, then I would check and text them back. Easier than a phone call.


I have a few questions before I buy the Droid.

1) How good is the turn by turn navigation?
2) I heard that you can set addresses for your contacts and then go into your contacts, select them, and get directions to their house like that, like a gps (save points and get directions easily), truth?
3) If I'm getting directions, and my phone rings, can I like toss it on speaker and still have my map and directions on the screen in front of me?
4) What's my limitations in call? Can I do a lot of what I can do out of a call while in a call?

I'll have more questions, these are just first to mind.
 

keiichi25

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I have a few questions before I buy the Droid.

1) How good is the turn by turn navigation?
2) I heard that you can set addresses for your contacts and then go into your contacts, select them, and get directions to their house like that, like a gps (save points and get directions easily), truth?
3) If I'm getting directions, and my phone rings, can I like toss it on speaker and still have my map and directions on the screen in front of me?
4) What's my limitations in call? Can I do a lot of what I can do out of a call while in a call?

I'll have more questions, these are just first to mind.

Can only really answer #4 for you, haven't really messed with navigation. Verizon being CDMA means no data services while talking on the phone, meaning no browsing, GPS will likely not work, etc. I believe you can text(I could with Sprint), but otherwise, yeah, you're not going to do much besides talking while talking. I believe you can still multitask on the phone though.
Actually... GPS will work, as it is independant of the CDMA Network. The GPS radio relies on signals from the GPS Satellites, not just Celltowers, to triangular its location. What it also relies for positive GPS triangulation is a clear line of sight to the sky to get as many satellite fixes.
 

Erron

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Yes, the gps signal works...but what about the data needed for the mapping?

OK just tried it here at my office. Data connection was lost when a call was made while using gps.

I
Actually... GPS will work, as it is independant of the CDMA Network. The GPS radio relies on signals from the GPS Satellites, not just Celltowers, to triangular its location. What it also relies for positive GPS triangulation is a clear line of sight to the sky to get as many satellite fixes.
 
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DHood

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1.Turn by turn is the best ive seen on any phone. Maybe slightly lagged from an actual gps with a larger reciever. I haven't tested the gps with the 3 new google maps updates the last two days so it may be better.

2.Yes

3.No. Voice and Data doesn't work at the same time. You would stop receiving the data for the map while on the call. I haven't tested this at all, but that should be the truth.

4.If youre on wifi, yes. If not, once again no data while on a call. But honestly, how much would you really do? I know that when I look at that att commercial about when is the movie blah blah my friends would text me and ask me, then I would check and text them back. Easier than a phone call.


I have a few questions before I buy the Droid.

1) How good is the turn by turn navigation?
2) I heard that you can set addresses for your contacts and then go into your contacts, select them, and get directions to their house like that, like a gps (save points and get directions easily), truth?
3) If I'm getting directions, and my phone rings, can I like toss it on speaker and still have my map and directions on the screen in front of me?
4) What's my limitations in call? Can I do a lot of what I can do out of a call while in a call?

I'll have more questions, these are just first to mind.

Thanks. Yeah that commercial wasn't the basis of me asking. It's more of a first smart phone and I'm curious how some things work. i.e. doing something online (checking mail, looking something up, bsing, whatever) and my phone rings, I wanna know if I'm gonna be able to continue with the call on speaker or if I'm gona have to stop (not a big deal) and it be in the same spot when I go back or if I'm gonna have to restart.

Also, the gps I won't use that much but it's a nifty feature and I wanna know that if I go out of town and do rely on it, am I gonna get screwed by a call and miss some turns.

5. The multimedia, mostly music, hasn't been talked about much. Can I get a link to a breakdown of how it's set up? Or can someone just explain?
 

keiichi25

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I have a few questions before I buy the Droid.

1) How good is the turn by turn navigation?
2) I heard that you can set addresses for your contacts and then go into your contacts, select them, and get directions to their house like that, like a gps (save points and get directions easily), truth?
3) If I'm getting directions, and my phone rings, can I like toss it on speaker and still have my map and directions on the screen in front of me?
4) What's my limitations in call? Can I do a lot of what I can do out of a call while in a call?

I'll have more questions, these are just first to mind.

1) Actually, the first review of the Navigation was 50/50... Engadget had a video of them trying it out and noting that sometimes it can be wrong. But then again, this is also similar issues with some of the other GPS based devices if you didn't make sure to update the maps within a reasonable period of time.

The Google Map Directions, on the other hand, can be updated by user input, although it has to be done sooner than later for it to work properly for other users following those directions.

2) This is essentially correct. Google Navigation, you can look up through your contacts, so long as you have their address in there, as bookmarked navigation points to go to and it will try its best to give you a route based on where you are at.

3) While Erron says no... I would be hesitant to say 'no' as I have seen how my PocketPC and TomTom deal with maps. While those systems have preloaded maps, the Smartphone has enough memory to allow Navigation to at least maintain a map of the basic directions and map information for a section of the area, but you may not be able to 'switch views' such as satellite view or street view on it while on the phone. Of course, this is something rarely anyone has done, because of safety concerns unless you happen to have someone else messing with it while you are driving to test the capabilities.

4) The limitations while in call are basically, unable to browse the internet, due to CDMA limitations. CDMA only allows Voice OR Data at any given time. The only way to circumvent this issue is to have WiFi enabled, which allows the phone to have a second internet connection it can use. The WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS radios are independant of the Wireless Service Radio Technology, which allows it to be useable even if the Wireless Service is busy or not available.
 

Erron

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Gotcha. My best advice is use wifi if youre in an office and you can do everything while on a call.

The gps will tell you what the next turn will be. So given that its not a super long call you should be OK.


1.Turn by turn is the best ive seen on any phone. Maybe slightly lagged from an actual gps with a larger reciever. I haven't tested the gps with the 3 new google maps updates the last two days so it may be better.

2.Yes

3.No. Voice and Data doesn't work at the same time. You would stop receiving the data for the map while on the call. I haven't tested this at all, but that should be the truth.

4.If youre on wifi, yes. If not, once again no data while on a call. But honestly, how much would you really do? I know that when I look at that att commercial about when is the movie blah blah my friends would text me and ask me, then I would check and text them back. Easier than a phone call.


I have a few questions before I buy the Droid.

1) How good is the turn by turn navigation?
2) I heard that you can set addresses for your contacts and then go into your contacts, select them, and get directions to their house like that, like a gps (save points and get directions easily), truth?
3) If I'm getting directions, and my phone rings, can I like toss it on speaker and still have my map and directions on the screen in front of me?
4) What's my limitations in call? Can I do a lot of what I can do out of a call while in a call?

I'll have more questions, these are just first to mind.

Thanks. Yeah that commercial wasn't the basis of me asking. It's more of a first smart phone and I'm curious how some things work. i.e. doing something online (checking mail, looking something up, bsing, whatever) and my phone rings, I wanna know if I'm gonna be able to continue with the call on speaker or if I'm gona have to stop (not a big deal) and it be in the same spot when I go back or if I'm gonna have to restart.

Also, the gps I won't use that much but it's a nifty feature and I wanna know that if I go out of town and do rely on it, am I gonna get screwed by a call and miss some turns.
 

keiichi25

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Yes, the gps signal works...but what about the data needed for the mapping?

OK just tried it here at my office. Data connection was lost when a call was made while using gps.

Well, I am curious on the test, if you made the call and then tried using your Navigation or used Navigation first, then dealt with a call in the middle. I would be leaning more to the former, which would then cause problems, but also, doing it within the work place limits the answer as a more formal way to test it is to travel a longer distance and try it to see if it does what I believe it does, or if it resorts to 'constant updating' which then, that could be more problematic to take calls while doing navigation, but then again, you don't want to be messing with the phone while driving as per law. :)

Although in honesty sake, I would like to believe Google Navigation took this into account due to the simple fact that people would still want to talk while driving. But again, no one has really tried or posted about this situation to my knowledge, so this is more of an experiment than anything else.
 

keiichi25

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5. The multimedia, mostly music, hasn't been talked about much. Can I get a link to a breakdown of how it's set up? Or can someone just explain?

So far, it treats music like any MP3 player would. While I would not say playing from the phone's speakers is the ideal way of doing it, there are also several music playing apps beyond the basic one to allow users to play music however they want. Rock-On, from what I have seen, does the same as the basic one, but stylizes the view a bit better. The basic music player has a widget to allow you to play without having to go directly into the app itself.

The only thing I dislike about the music apps in general is the lack of 'stop' or turning off the app without the use of TasKiller, but that is more of my preference and OCD than a major need or flaw in the phone.
 

Erron

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Made the call first. Can do the other way. But I know on every app the phone call will take precedence. I doubt gps would be different.

You could, in turn, turn the phone feature off in settings so it wouldnt even ring during navigation. It's more of a verizon issue than google nav. I am not sure if this phone will support the 4g network coming up. If it does then this will no longer be an issue.


Yes, the gps signal works...but what about the data needed for the mapping?

OK just tried it here at my office. Data connection was lost when a call was made while using gps.

Well, I am curious on the test, if you made the call and then tried using your Navigation or used Navigation first, then dealt with a call in the middle. I would be leaning more to the former, which would then cause problems, but also, doing it within the work place limits the answer as a more formal way to test it is to travel a longer distance and try it to see if it does what I believe it does, or if it resorts to 'constant updating' which then, that could be more problematic to take calls while doing navigation, but then again, you don't want to be messing with the phone while driving as per law. :)

Although in honesty sake, I would like to believe Google Navigation took this into account due to the simple fact that people would still want to talk while driving. But again, no one has really tried or posted about this situation to my knowledge, so this is more of an experiment than anything else.
 

keiichi25

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Made the call first. Can do the other way. But I know on every app the phone call will take precedence. I doubt gps would be different.

You could, in turn, turn the phone feature off in settings so it wouldnt even ring during navigation. It's more of a verizon issue than google nav. I am not sure if this phone will support the 4g network coming up. If it does then this will no longer be an issue.

You could turn off the accept phone calls, but then, it would also invalidate how reasonable it is to being a phone as well. One of the things I know TomTom will do, is allow you to link your phone to it's bluetooth so you can minor control it or use the TomTom as the Car Speaker while navigating.

But again, without proper testing, we can't confirm or deny who's interpretation of how it works properly. As you pointed one part, but we have yet to prove or disprove my part with further and more proper testing. :)
 

Erron

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True, true. I will test this on my lunch break.
 
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