Taking it back today

[dezymond]

Having had my Droid for a week now, I can appreciate that it can frustrate new users, especially if you are coming into it from a non-smartphone experience base, as I did. I am short tempered at times and have been so frustrated that I've uinstalled and uninstalled the same apps several times befoer I figured out how to get it to work. Almost everything that I've hit that is frustrating is due to pilot error or the lack of any clear instructions on how to use the app. That seems to be the nature of this beast. It is a figure it out world that we live in here. The second thing that I've noted is that my expectations were higher than the apps could fulfill in most cases. That is the fault of the state of the app development for the phone right now and not the phone itself. Many apps that are out there and sound great in their Market write-ups are crap or at least don't do anywhere near what you might assume that they would. I'm still putzing around trygin to find a print app that will let me print something of importance and not just the crumby little built-in call log or contacts or other such nonsense.

Will it get better? YOu bet. Give teh app development community a few months and they'll turn this device into the great tool that it could be.

I agree, the phone is very unfriendly to the non-techies. That goes for every smartphone, it always intimidates new users. I'm familiar with smartphones as I've come from WinMo, but Android is fairly straightforward, to me at least. But if you're coming straight from a say, flip phone, then I can see your frustration. You'll get used to it, but you have a much steeper learning curve than say I do. Once you do figure it out, it's an amazing phone. I hope you don't return it because it really is an awesome phone, but I cannot speak for you or anyone else, I can only speak for myself. Good luck!

 

[Narsil]

Ignore the couple of jackasses who have posted farther up in this thread. If you don't have something constructive to say in a polite fashion, shut up.

I'm sorry you're having so many problems and are so frustrated. I am personally frustrated with mine due to GPS problems with both phones I've had in the first week.

Before you give up on the Droid completely, try swapping it out and see if any of the problems you are having are due to a bum device. You've got 30 days (from what I hear) to take it back and say, "No thanks; I'd like a refund." Give the second phone a chance to woo you. You've still got 3 weeks to drop the Droid.

 

[MarksDroid]

Thank you all (well most of you) for the great responses. Will try the apps. If it can solve the volume problem, that was my biggest issue. BTW, I am not a newbie, have a masters degree in engineering, and have used many smartphones. Cheers

 

[MarksDroid]

New hardware?

New hardware on Dec. 11? Please explain. Ha! That's past the 30 day return. How can we get it? How much to upgrade?

The phone has it's issues right now, but I hope you change your mind. Maybe trade in the unit due to possible defect. The phone is great, but I've heard some stories on this forum about their phones, I luckily have no problems at all with it. Hopefully the update on Dec 11th will help you change your mind. It's a new OS and new hardware, there's always going to be problems. Good luck!

 

[Narsil]

It is not a hardware upgrade. It is an OVA (over the air) update of the phone's software. It is supposed to fix quite a few of the software glitches including the inability of most of the cameras to properly autofocus. There should be no charge for this update. There is also supposed to be another one coming in January.

 

[sir]

It is no one's place to tell anyone to shut up or to suppress their opinions on the matter. If you have a problem with people being able to state their opinion in whatever manner they want, then the Internet is not for you.

That being said - Marksdroid - please get back to us and let us know if any apps have helped make using your droid any better, and specifically which ones solved it. It's always great to hear about issues people have and the way they resolve them in the event someone else feels the same way you do about certain functionality.

 

[moosc]

i love my MOTO DROID.....

 

[reggin]

My advice on the notifications would be to keep Phone, Contacts, and Messaging Apps on your home screen. Then whenever you see a notification, you don't have to actually pull the window shade down, you just go to your home screen and click on the app that has a notification. The notification will go away as soon as the app opens.

 

[Erron]

I am sorry your droid experience hasn't been great. Hopefully you find a phone better suited for your needs.

 

[pete1230]

take it back for another unit. you have 30 days within purchase for full exchange. furthermore, there is a 12 month warranty by motorola, if issues persist, VZW will exchange the device at no charge. lastly, PATIENCE...android 2.0 just came out, give the developers some time to come up with neat widgets and useful tools that will further enhance your experience.

 

[JoeOxfordCT]

I finally traded in my old flip phone and have had my Droid for about a week now and although I love it it has thrown me some curves too. I topped off the battery one morning on my laptop and the phone was working properly when I left the house. On the ride into work I tried to power up the phone and could not get a response. Got to work, searched and found this forum and posted. Kept trying the little power button and about 3 hours later the phone powered up and was normal again.

Yesterday I wanted to clean the fingerprints off the screen. I sprayed a little Windex on it and while the phone was powered on but locked, used a cloth to wipe down the screen. After that I could not get the phone to respond to my touch for about an hour...I would try sliding to unlock but nothing. Then I was able to finally unlock the phone but would not respond to me any further...screen was flickering and just acting crazy.....phone rang but I couldn't answer it. About 45 minutes after that the phone reverted back to normal.....

I am also having issues with hanging up on phone calls. I was hitting the power switch too and then read here about the proximity sensor and made sure I was moving the phone far away from my head. Still mixed results....sometimes the screen would come back up, sometimes not. This is especially frustrating when you're trying to punch in a code to get into voicemail and you can't get to the keypad.

Another question while I'm at it.....It's very hard to scroll on the screen sometimes without accidentally selecting an item. There's a touch to it I can tell but still, when scrolling through contacts where darn near everything is clickable it's tough. And while we're on Contacts, is there a way I can quickly jump to a particular letter of contacts ? I've imported contacts from both my Gmail account and Facebook and I now have lots.....scrolling through them is tedious....Also, I have some near duplicate contacts. Can I consolidate them offline somehow and then delete & reload my contacts ?

I thought some of this stuff was me, especially coming from a flip phone previously but after reading here I think I'm going to go exchange it for another Droid.

 

[godanigo]

Another question while I'm at it.....It's very hard to scroll on the screen sometimes without accidentally selecting an item. There's a touch to it I can tell but still, when scrolling through contacts where darn near everything is clickable it's tough. And while we're on Contacts, is there a way I can quickly jump to a particular letter of contacts ? I've imported contacts from both my Gmail account and Facebook and I now have lots.....scrolling through them is tedious....Also, I have some near duplicate contacts. Can I consolidate them offline somehow and then delete & reload my contacts ?

I thought some of this stuff was me, especially coming from a flip phone previously but after reading here I think I'm going to go exchange it for another Droid.

If you log into your gmail there is a contacts link right below your inbox and folder links on the left side. Click on that and edit your contacts to your hearts content.

And with the touch screen, I think it just takes a little getting used to, the sensitivity and the swiping motions etc.

And hell yeah, if I was having all those problems, I'd exchange my Droid.

 

[andjarnic]

Joe.. don't EVER spray windex on a phone screen. Use the lint cloth that comes with it. Sounds like you may have spared some inside the unit a little bit or something.

 

[JoeOxfordCT]

Joe.. don't EVER spray windex on a phone screen. Use the lint cloth that comes with it. Sounds like you may have spared some inside the unit a little bit or something.

Thanks for the heads up...I certainly didn't drench the screen or anything.....if I can't find the lint cloth that came with the phone what else can/should I be using ?

 

[jweber]

Joe.. don't EVER spray windex on a phone screen. Use the lint cloth that comes with it. Sounds like you may have spared some inside the unit a little bit or something.

Thanks for the heads up...I certainly didn't drench the screen or anything.....if I can't find the lint cloth that came with the phone what else can/should I be using ?

You can use any cloth you like, the screen is glass and wont scratch from a paper towel or rag. Of course a high quality towel is recommended so that it will produce the smallest amount of lint possible.

As far as the durability of the screen there is not a whle lot to concern yourself with. A chamois works well too, (no lint)