State Your Droid PRO'S & CON'S

[Ralo]

To edit the vm phone number to include the password, from the home screen, click the menu option, then select settings, call settings, then voice mail setting. There you can add two commas for a two second delay and then your voice mail password.

It should look like this "*86,,1234" where 1234 is your password.

 

[Ralo]

To make up for the mising speed dial option you can have favorites on the phone screen. I guess that better than nothing.

 

[otaku]

Latest annoyance: A contact got a new phone number and texted me from it in Google Voice. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out a way to copy/paste the phone number he texted from, or to tap and hold on the number to add it to a contact, or even to tap and hold the number to add a new contact (which i could use to copy the number then cancel the new contact). There was absolutely no way I could find to add this number to the contact. I was reduced to literally writing it down on a piece of paper, then going into the contact information and adding it that way.

This thing is more powerful than my first computer, but even my first computer could do simple tasks like this. WTF?

For the record, there was an option hidden in the menu for "Add Contact". Selecting this did absolutely nothing. Appears to be broken in Google Voice.

 

[lennywc]

cut and paste

How do you do a copy ,not that lousy select text, of a web page? The long hold only works on live text. I need to know this badly. My iphone has such a grear copy and paste.

 

[inigomntoya]

To make up for the mising speed dial option you can have favorites on the phone screen. I guess that better than nothing.

I have added a few speed dials to my home screen (for voicemail and my wife).

To do this, press and hold anywhere on the home screen and click shortcuts -> direct dial and select your contact. It creates an icon on your home screen - as long as you have room for it.

This is a nice solution, but I typically just use voice dialing anyway.

 

[lennywc]

apple has nothing to fear

I own an iPhone and I Am missing it more each day. This Droid is great hardware but the user interface Sucks. The screen is so erratic, must be that it is too sensitive. The worst copy function possible. Terrible bookmarking abilities. Constant locking of the screen on timeouts. Screen brightness fluctuates. Hard to hangup from call. Useless QWERTY keyboard. Dumb storing of Apps on internal memory, what is with that? That is what they did with cell phones for obvious reasons. The iPhone is more like a micro laptop computer than this Droid. The Droid is more like a cellphone. Disappointed. Thinking about bringing it back and turning my iPhone back on. Damn..

 

[jimboman]

Add to the CON list inability to run Nav and listen to music at the same time. Not complaining really, as Nav is running on the phone and I've got an Ipod for the car. Just seems that Nav systems today (both OEM and aftermarket plug-ins) can support this feature.

 

[lowtech]

I agree - sadly. I miss my Treo, which is old now and behind the curve, but does all of the useful things so effortlessly. I love the Droid for its beautiful screen, great audio clarity, super apps that are here and no doubt are coming... and for this really great forum too, but I need to use this phone - for email (no batch delete, copy and paste, etc.?), a good calendar (no search?), efficient contact management (by first name only?) proper storage of apps (not on the SD card?) and, as you so clearly state, a device that just leaves my settings alone!

I love being part of a new and promising item like the Droid... but I really need to be able to use it - so perhaps I should not be part of the vanguard. If I could use both the Droid for novelty and thrills and the Treo for practical purposes, that would be ideal. Not possible.

I am going to give it another week or so... I keep hoping I can change my mind...

I own an iPhone and I Am missing it more each day. This Droid is great hardware but the user interface Sucks. The screen is so erratic, must be that it is too sensitive. The worst copy function possible. Terrible bookmarking abilities. Constant locking of the screen on timeouts. Screen brightness fluctuates. Hard to hangup from call. Useless QWERTY keyboard. Dumb storing of Apps on internal memory, what is with that? That is what they did with cell phones for obvious reasons. The iPhone is more like a micro laptop computer than this Droid. The Droid is more like a cellphone. Disappointed. Thinking about bringing it back and turning my iPhone back on. Damn..

 

[spikejnz]

NKA pretty much hit most of the nails on the head. So rather than a repost, I'll simply comment to what he's stated and add a few points of my own.

• Ability to switch placement of icons ala iPhone, instead of having to drag an icon to an empty space, and then move another icon into the freed up space.

Amen!

• More home screens please. I like the folders, but 3 home screens isn't enough

aHome and OpenHome give you this capability...but at the expense of performance degradation. I wasn't happy with either, so I uninstalled them. I'll just wait until Motorola comes out with a fix for this.

YOU HEAR THAT MOTOROLA? FIX THIS!

• Landscape home-screen without the physical keyboard, and without having to activate DockRunner or some other third party app to do this

This is a known issue. Most peoples phones did this from the get-go, but an OTA update broke it. Motorola is aware of this issue and has stated that they intend to correct it.

• Please don't lock my home-screen every time the display turns off. Have a timer set of 10 minutes or something before the phone locks.

This annoys me too. However, you can use the app Locale to set rules for the lock screen. (i.e. don't lock when i'm at my home location, but lock anywere else) Unfortunately, that still doesn't correct the timeout issue. Another minor grievance!

• Create an official application for one touch disabling of Wifi, GPS, 3G/2G, Bluetooth. We shouldn't have to rely on 3rd party developers for this and widgets that take up memory.

There is one... i felt the same way until I realized that the Power Control widget provided with the phone was EXACTLY what I wanted. Better yet? IT WORKS!

• Stop folders from randomly rearranging my shortcuts. I have an order that I set them and I want them that way.

Agreed! I can do this on the Home screen, so why not in a folder? MEH!

Music application:

• The music/video functionality on this phone seem like an afterthought. The iPhone is a iPod first and an phone 2nd. The Droid is a phone with some ability to play music. The Music app needs a face-lift.

• Please give me the option to quit the music app, rather than having it take up memory in the background.

Agreed on both counts! I don't feel the music app is bad, but it certainly could be much better!

Video application:

• Where is a built-in video app? I downloaded Meridian, but it does not have a polished look.

• Please allow me to play more media-types, .AVI, XVID, etc... more codecs are needed. We don't need to be gimped on video playback like the iPhone and force people to convert their videos just for use on their phones.

You can browse the video's and play them through Gallery or though Astro (which I assume you downloaded, given Android's complete lack of a file manager). However, controls are very spartan, and having a dedicated video application would be ideal! Motorola saw fit to anoint this device with the most beautiful screen I've ever seen on a mobile device, so why gimp the capabilities so?

Camera:

• From what I have read, the camera itself is fine, but the software needs some serious work. Give me an option to turn enable/disable flash on the viewscreen and not in the more options settings.

• Please allow me to slide my fingers to switch photos ala iPhone, instead of clicking on the left or right arrow keys.

...I can't possibly say anything about this part of the phone than what others have already stated. All I can hope is that the Dec. 11th OTA update corrects these issues!

Browser:

• I don't want to see the zoom overlay each time I scroll down on the screen when I am trying to read an article. This is distracting. Pinch and zoom ala iPhone would be a welcome addition.

Everyone is begging for multi-touch. Who knows why Motorola decided not to enable this feature in the browser. Let's just hope they enable it sometime in the near future!

Android Market:

• Prevent non-2.0 apps from installing

• Where are the quality iPhone-like games? The screen is fantastic, yet all of the games look pixilated and don’t take advantage of the processor or the screen. This is less a Google complaint than a developer complaint.

• 10,000 Android apps verus 100,000 in the iPhone AppStore. Need I say more?

Are you kidding? Prevent non-2.0 apps from installing? That sounds like restrictions to me! One of the beautiful things about the Android Market is that there aren't any App Nazis to impeed things...a la the :iphone:. Besides, if you blocked non-2.0 compatible apps from installing, you'd get maybe 6 applications! Remember, the first phone with Eclair on it just dropped EXACTLY a week ago, and the SDK was released only a few weeks prior to that!

The reason the iPhone has so many quality apps is because of the sheer size of the user base. Android adoption just went from 'toddler' to 'teenager', so I'd expect to see numerous quality apps to drop VERY quickly!

Phone app:

• When you hold down a contact in the Phone app, you should be able to call the default number, without having to go to another screen where you select what number you want to call. What is the point of having a default number if you have to select the number each time that you want to make a call?

• Speed dials please! I would like to be able to program 1 or two digit speed dials via the contacts, or holding the speed dial buttons and asking if you want to program a speed dial.

Ditto, ditto and ditto!

Applications install location

• Please allow us to install application to the SD card and not be limited to the built in 256 MB HD.

This is something they're already working on...no worries!

-------------------------------------------------------

Now, for my gripes:

Bluetooth

• No support for Bluetooth Voice Dial
  • I ride my motorcycle pretty much every day, regarless of temperature. Because I spend so much time on my bike, I have a Bluetooth headset on my helmet that allows me to talk to passengers, listen to the radio, and send/receive phone calls. Placing a call with my Q9M was as simple as pressing a button on the headset and saying "Call %ContactName Mobile". As of right now, if I need to place a call while on the bike, I need to pull over, yank out my phone, select the contact and place the call. Not exactly what I would call convenient, which is the cornerstone reason for having a cellphone and Bluetooth headset in the first place!

• Send/Receive files
  • Support for this out of the box is...well, nonexistant! I have to download Astro just to manage files on my device, and even there Bluetooth push isn't working right!

File Management

• No preloaded File Manager
  • Astro IS a free download, and is a quite capable application. However, it's rather disappointing that no such application is included with the phone.

Pros

Everything else! This is by far the best phone I've ever had the pleasure of owning! I've not had a single second of buyer's remorse, even if my wife has. I list these cons not as a warning to potential buyers or to show the faults the phone has, but rather as a "wishlist". So here's to hoping Motorola/Google is out there listening to us. Here's to hoping that they make this the phone we all now it can be.

Afterall, :greendroid: = :heart:...

 

[gardobus]

Add to the CON list inability to run Nav and listen to music at the same time. Not complaining really, as Nav is running on the phone and I've got an Ipod for the car. Just seems that Nav systems today (both OEM and aftermarket plug-ins) can support this feature.

I've listened to music and used Nav with no problems whatsoever. It mutes the music for a quick second when it has to say something. Is that what you mean? I actually like the fact that it does that.

 

[FoFa]

Maybe because my Samsung i760 pretty much sucked from a touch screen point of view, the Droid is like a breath of fresh air.

I would like to see either the zoom feature, or font size changes available in things like messaging.

I would like to see more than one zoom level in some that support it.

if you call someone, the screen goes blank until your are done (not sure if the is the call, or movement of the phone that brings it back) unless the other end just rings, and rings, and rings. Then I have found the only way to get the screen back to "end call" is to open the keyboard, leave it open until you press the end call button. Than all seems fine.

 

[Zenmervolt]

[*]Ok, when on a call and the screen goes blank, how am I supposed to hang up the call? Once I say goodbye, the screen is still blank. I don't know if it's hung up or not, which leads to my next grip;

The screen automatically comes back on when you take the phone away from your face. When it's in phone mode, the proximity sensor shuts off the screen if you're holding the phone up to your ear to prevent you from accidentally hitting buttons with your cheek.

When you take the phone away from your face, the screen comes back on in a second or so and you can hit the "end call" button on the screen. This is exactly the same as my old Palm 750 did.

[*]The one/off switch on the top of the phone. Why? Once pressed, the phone is still locked so that switch could be much more easily accessible and if pressed accidently, no problem, as the screen is still locked until you slide you finger across the screen.

Yes, but the screen uses a lot of battery power and once the screen is on, the phone won't go back to sleep if it keeps getting touch signals on the screen. That's why the power button is positioned such that you have to hit it intentionally.

[*]When in a call, there is no memo or note option. Hopefully an update will fix that but I will likely return the phone by then.

There are several free notepad applications in the app store. Install one and then, while on a call, you can access it by going into the home screen and launching the notepad application. The call will not hang up just because you go back to the home screen.

[*]Screen sensitivity is erratic and the four icons are often hard to active or activated accidentally. I always find myself in a screen I was not trying to open, clueless how I got there.

This is a problem that I haven't noticed and would seem to indicate a defective unit if other people can replicate the issue that you're having. I've found the sensitivity on mine to be quite predictable.

It's different from the screen on my old Treo 750 (which used a resistive touch screen instead of the capacitive screen on the Droid and iPhone), but the Droid's screen does not seem to require calibration like the Treo's did and once I got used to the sensitivity differences inherent in the two technologies (took a day or so) I never had to look back.

The Treos use a screen that senses pressure while the Droid's screen, like the iPhone's, senses the electrical properties of human skin. The way the two technologies respond to touch is different, with a capacitance screen like the Droid's needing a far lighter touch as well as being more sensitive to a build-up of oil or dirt.

[*]Some commands exist but I can't figure out how to active them (manual reading time). I know they exist because they show up when I'm not looking for them, yet I can reproduce them once closed.

Can you list the specific commands you're thinking of? Maybe someone here can help you as well.

[*]No native Outlook sync. I tried using CompanionLink and although it worked initially, the next day all my contacts were gone from Outlook but still on the Droid and on Google. Although not the Droids fault, it was the last straw for me. I immediately went back to my trusty Treo 700wx which really does all I need and does it very well. I just wanted something more modern; however, I use it for business so I have to be able to enter and retrieve info very quickly, and often one handed. The Treo is great for that. The Droid, well we will see. So far, its been very stressful.

Not sure what you mean by "Outlook sync". Outlook is a program that can access several different types of accounts, but it is not an account in itself. "Outlook" accounts could be IMAP, POP, Exchange, etc.

That said, my Droid synced effortlessly with my Exchange account and did not remove any contacts from the server side. It required no third-party applications either. I just entered the information for my Exchange server and everything synced in a matter of minutes. No muss, no fuss, no extra apps necessary.

[*]Copy and Paste. I still have not figured out how to select just the text I want to copy and not all or nothing. Hopefully that's in the manual.

Agreed. The copy and paste functionality is significantly below par.

[*]The Keyboards. Although the onscreen keyboards are better than the iPhone, I'm still nowhere near as accurate as I am with the keyboard on my Treo 700wx. Not even the physical landscape keyboard is as comfortable, but maybe with time...

After my Treo 750, I have to agree that the Droid's hardware keyboard takes some getting used to. However, after a couple of days I'm no longer having any difficulties with it.

[*]Oh, how about this...on the iphone you can hold your finger down on the virtual keyboard and slide it over if necessary to get the key you are after. If you do that with the Droid, this accent? menu jumps up which is not what I need. Just another annoyance. I notice it doesn’t do that while texting though.

I can drag my finger over the virtual keyboard on my Droid and go from one letter to the next with it not entering a letter until I remove my finger. The alt menu you describe only comes up if I keep my finger held down on certain letters that have alternate characters for non-English languages. I can see an argument that the system recognizes a "hold" too soon and that the delay should be configurable, but the functionality you describe does exist.

It does do it while texting too. The issue is that only certain letters (E, Y, U, I, O, A, S, C, and N) have the pop-up alt text so it doesn't always trigger a pop-up menu so if a person doesn't notice this, it can seem random.

[*]Oh, I just trying typing and email, got mad and just kept typing even though I was making tons of mistakes. I see it tried to figure out what i was typing once I entered a period. I never knew that feature existed. It would be nice if it would make the correction when I hit the space bar. I least I would have known it was there.

I agree here. The auto-correct for the virtual keyboard can be over-zealous entirely too often.

[*]When composing an email, why doesn't the virtual keyboard popup automatically? I have to use my finger to highlight the "To:" box, which incidentally is already highlighted, to get the keyboard to come up so I can start typing. Geezzz....

I rather like this feature since sometimes I want to read over the message first, but I can understand someone wanting it to operate as you describe as well. I'd suggest that this be a mode that can be switched on or off.

[*]When the phone rings, I have to unlock it before i can answer it. I got use to my Treo doing that automatically. Maybe that's a setting somewhere, but I can find it.

Interesting. Mine doesn't do that. When the phone is locked and I receive a call, the normal call answer screen comes up and I just have to drag the green button to the right like when answering a normal call. I definitely don't have to enter the little connect-the-dots code to answer the call.

[*]When receiving a text msg, the screen stays black even though I get an audible alert. Be nice it the screen would light up, even just for a few seconds. I have to reach to the top of the phone to unlock it, then slide my finger across the screen to unlock it again, then slide the notification bar down, just to see who text me. Boy....

I agree. At the very least there should be an option to allow this. My old Treo 750p would display the text message even if the phone was locked, though you would have to unlock the phone to respond. I miss that.

[*]Some text is ridiculously small. Look at the time stamp on the text messages. But my eyes are almost 50 so maybe it’s just me.

Agreed. Though if you hold your finger on a specific text message a menu comes up. If you select "View message details" it will show you the date and time of the message in a much more legible font size. Still, this is kind of a kludgy work-around. Being only 27 I don't mind the small size, but I can see where other people might have difficulties.

I think this ties in with someone else's suggestion of being able to change font sizes. There should be at least an option of "Small", "Medium", or "Large" text sizes for the phone overall to suit varying levels of eyesight. The BB I had before my Treo had that feature and it was a good one.

I hope that these responses help you a little bit, even if they don't tip the scales in favor of the Droid in the end. I do hope that you find a phone that you're happy with regardless of which one you finally choose.

 

[FoFa]

And the dang volume control rocker. Anyway to set the volumn you want, then lock it so matter what you do it doesn't change it?

 

[nka]

NKA pretty much hit most of the nails on the head. So rather than a repost, I'll simply comment to what he's stated and add a few points of my own.

• Ability to switch placement of icons ala iPhone, instead of having to drag an icon to an empty space, and then move another icon into the freed up space.

Amen!

• More home screens please. I like the folders, but 3 home screens isn't enough

aHome and OpenHome give you this capability...but at the expense of performance degradation. I wasn't happy with either, so I uninstalled them. I'll just wait until Motorola comes out with a fix for this.

YOU HEAR THAT MOTOROLA? FIX THIS!



This is a known issue. Most peoples phones did this from the get-go, but an OTA update broke it. Motorola is aware of this issue and has stated that they intend to correct it.



This annoys me too. However, you can use the app Locale to set rules for the lock screen. (i.e. don't lock when i'm at my home location, but lock anywere else) Unfortunately, that still doesn't correct the timeout issue. Another minor grievance!



There is one... i felt the same way until I realized that the Power Control widget provided with the phone was EXACTLY what I wanted. Better yet? IT WORKS!



Agreed! I can do this on the Home screen, so why not in a folder? MEH!



Agreed on both counts! I don't feel the music app is bad, but it certainly could be much better!



You can browse the video's and play them through Gallery or though Astro (which I assume you downloaded, given Android's complete lack of a file manager). However, controls are very spartan, and having a dedicated video application would be ideal! Motorola saw fit to anoint this device with the most beautiful screen I've ever seen on a mobile device, so why gimp the capabilities so?



...I can't possibly say anything about this part of the phone than what others have already stated. All I can hope is that the Dec. 11th OTA update corrects these issues!



Everyone is begging for multi-touch. Who knows why Motorola decided not to enable this feature in the browser. Let's just hope they enable it sometime in the near future!



Are you kidding? Prevent non-2.0 apps from installing? That sounds like restrictions to me! One of the beautiful things about the Android Market is that there aren't any App Nazis to impeed things...a la the :iphone:. Besides, if you blocked non-2.0 compatible apps from installing, you'd get maybe 6 applications! Remember, the first phone with Eclair on it just dropped EXACTLY a week ago, and the SDK was released only a few weeks prior to that!

The reason the iPhone has so many quality apps is because of the sheer size of the user base. Android adoption just went from 'toddler' to 'teenager', so I'd expect to see numerous quality apps to drop VERY quickly!

Phone app:

• When you hold down a contact in the Phone app, you should be able to call the default number, without having to go to another screen where you select what number you want to call. What is the point of having a default number if you have to select the number each time that you want to make a call?

• Speed dials please! I would like to be able to program 1 or two digit speed dials via the contacts, or holding the speed dial buttons and asking if you want to program a speed dial.

Ditto, ditto and ditto!

Applications install location

• Please allow us to install application to the SD card and not be limited to the built in 256 MB HD.

This is something they're already working on...no worries!

-------------------------------------------------------

Now, for my gripes:

Bluetooth

• No support for Bluetooth Voice Dial
  • I ride my motorcycle pretty much every day, regarless of temperature. Because I spend so much time on my bike, I have a Bluetooth headset on my helmet that allows me to talk to passengers, listen to the radio, and send/receive phone calls. Placing a call with my Q9M was as simple as pressing a button on the headset and saying "Call %ContactName Mobile". As of right now, if I need to place a call while on the bike, I need to pull over, yank out my phone, select the contact and place the call. Not exactly what I would call convenient, which is the cornerstone reason for having a cellphone and Bluetooth headset in the first place!

• Send/Receive files
  • Support for this out of the box is...well, nonexistant! I have to download Astro just to manage files on my device, and even there Bluetooth push isn't working right!

File Management

• No preloaded File Manager
  • Astro IS a free download, and is a quite capable application. However, it's rather disappointing that no such application is included with the phone.

Pros

Everything else! This is by far the best phone I've ever had the pleasure of owning! I've not had a single second of buyer's remorse, even if my wife has. I list these cons not as a warning to potential buyers or to show the faults the phone has, but rather as a "wishlist". So here's to hoping Motorola/Google is out there listening to us. Here's to hoping that they make this the phone we all now it can be.

Afterall, :greendroid: = :heart:...

Thanks for your thoughts. I should clarify my position on my desire to prevent the install of non-2.0 apps. I should have said that I would like some warning when trying to install a non-2.0 compatible apps to prevent the install of incompatible applications and their subsequent crash of the phone.

Does the "Power Control Widget" being constantly on affect the already abysmal battery performance? I use Quick Settings, but wouldn't mind switing.

I did dl Astro lol...what else could I have used! As you said, there is no built-in file manager.

You are spot on with the Bluetooth. What kind of voice command is that if you can't use handsfree! Hello Motorola, hands free means that I don't have to look at my phone while driving. My Blackberry World Edition from 3 yrs ago can do this! Please fix this Motorola, pretty please.

I agree with everything else you said. Hopefully the update Dec 11th will fix this. BTW, where did you hear about the Dec 11 update?

 

[Ralo]

After all the shortcomings I discovered about the Droid, i decided to take another look at the competition. First i looked at the Palm Pre and then the iPhone. I'm not to keen on the Pre hardware but the OS is pretty slick. I like the Pixi too which goes on sale Sunday. But then I looked at the iPhone. Well, anyone who thinks the Droid of today is better, or even in the same league as the iPhone is kidding themselves.

In all fairness to the Droid, the iPhone does have at least a three year headstart but some of the shortcomings of the Droid are just inexcusable. I went back to using my Treo 700wx on day two and the Droid is going back tomorrow. I don't have time for beta testing when I'm trying to run a business. My PDA is a major part of my business and I just need it to work. I doesn't have to be pretty. However, I think the iPhone might be capable now days. I know it wasn't when it first came out. I hate to leave Verizon but there phone selection just plain sucks to me. This Treo will do for now.