Top 10 Droid Features to Improve

[tjoebgen]

Not included on my original list, but worth mentioning

• Crappy documentation for how to use the many non-intuitive features. This phone, as shipped, is very likely to frustrate non-techies. It needs a better instruction manual and/or CD with manual to be included with the phone.

Big time agree. I was explaining my frustrations to the Mrs and she's hoping I get us all set before she gets hers.

My key board seems to not have a standard for illuminating, on during day, no light during dark periods--if I could find the sensor, I could cover it.

light sensor seems to be just left of the message indicator (flashing green led).

If you hold down the 'Home' key, a box much like the one you see in Windows when you push ALT-TAB comes up, which shows you all running application, and allows you to switch to them (I found this out by mistake). You can't however kill the tasks from there.

Not always - this shows most recently used apps. Some of those 6 apps may still be running but not necessarily. Settings - Applications - Running Services shows them, along with extra background tasks. Advanced Task Killer can show programs running too - but it's confusing. You can kill these programs and tasks from either screen.

 

[aaf709]

Can we somehow get a projector added to the Droid 2.0? Something like that new LG Projector Phone? That would be great.

Probably not. There's just not enough demand for an accessory like that.

According to LG, AT&T Announce 1-GHz Projector Phone - Reviews by PC Magazine that accessory will add $179 and isn't out yet. Be a little late to show that upcoming Avatar trailer.

 

[tjoebgen]

there are several different mini-projectors out now. They fit easily in a shirt pocket. I'd rather have that (and a cable) than to muck up a smart phone/pda with it being semi-built in.

 

[NVash]

Can we somehow get a projector added to the Droid 2.0? Something like that new LG Projector Phone? That would be great.

Probably not. There's just not enough demand for an accessory like that.

According to LG, AT&T Announce 1-GHz Projector Phone - Reviews by PC Magazine that accessory will add $179 and isn't out yet. Be a little late to show that upcoming Avatar trailer.

No, I mean for the next Droid. Itd be cool if they had it so that it had a projector built in, especially if it isnt an attachment and doesnt make the phone look huge.

But looking at that article, I didnt know it was a separate attachment. That kinda sucks. The phone is bad enough at $300 but the projector for the projector phone is another $200? And the thing can only project up to eight feet? Man, thats not very impressive at all and truthfully I cant see this phone selling well at all.

 

[wwarlock]

Were to start...

First the phone is great compaired to most phones I have used... (storm, motoQ)

as for what to fix:

no birth dates anniversaries, in the contacts and it will not include them in the calendar app.

multimedia I can not say anything good about this. in general it needs an overhaul.

everyone else is talking about exchange so I am not going to go into that.

volume controls needs to be handled diff. you can not turn the volume up when you need or down when you need. for instance when I am playing music great it turns the multimedia volume up and down . but when I am in a game I still get the phone volume so no sneaking a game while at work. to scared I forgot to turn the volume down before going into the game.

battery is one thing that needs improvement. enough said

contacts no search while in contacts. for some reason I have 2 lists one that is a-z at the top this list does not have the divider for each letter like the bottom does and another list at the bottom that is again a-z not sure why also I have half of my contacts seem to have 2 phone numbers locations when I go to edit them.

as for bluetooth I am not having the problems some of you seem to be having with it. I have a stereo headset a single ear piece, and it connects in my car and everything works. maybe because it never worked that well with my storm that I am happy with what I have but can not complain.

the back light I to think needs some adjusting. not sure why but it seems to shut off when I need it to stay on or stays on when I need it to shut off. I have just gotten into the habit of just hitting the top lock button to shut the screen off so I can leave the screen on for 2 min.

the google nav is great. however I have to agree with the other poster why does that program shut the back light off. that is dangerous when you are driving that I have to play with the phone when I am trying to get navigation and can not see the map because the screen timed out. So I have to take my eyes off the road to fix the problem.

the face book integration sucks. the storm also had better integration when it comes to this app.

why when I turn the phone sideways does it not auto rotate till I open the keyboard? I have it set to rotate. I now have a new desktop that rotates the screen it works pretty good. few bugs but not bad. it is the home++ it is free and even with the bugs worth getting imho.

my camera also is not that bad. again I am coming from the storm that took 5 min to take a singe pic (or at least it felt that way sometimes) so I might be a little bias on this one.

email seams to sometimes be there right away other times it seams I get like 6 in a row. When I was on the storm I do realize it was a :blackberry: but the emails seem to come in when yahoo or what ever other email I was using.

and the last thing is with txt msg. I can ot resend a txt msg that my phones says went through but the other person did not get. I can not seem to copy and past the text and resend it and I can not even forward the msg to the same person. I have to re right the text. Unless I am missing something...

even with all these problems I can still say I would not go back this phone is a better phone then the storm ever was.

 

[NVash]

EMail, right. I have yet to get the thing to sync right with my school EMail address. Ive asked Verizon and the school, no one has any idea whats wrong with it. And Yahoo, why is it that it pushes the EMails to me and I delete all the spam daily, but then all of a sudden one day I get just about all the EMails back like I never deleted them? Is that a syncing problem?

 

[craigcap]

The comments below are being said so that a programmer somewhere may hear and improve the phone. Don't get me wrong... I love the Droid. I think it’s one of most impressive phones I have seen. I have never owned an iphone but it is just about as cool. I have owned a blackberry and this wins - for the most part. With that being said I must comment on the

Top 10 Failures of the Droid
(These are in no particular order)

1. Exchange email (Moving items) - I don't understand how this feature was left out. You cannot properly manage your email because there is no option to move a message from one folder to another. I was previously a blackberry user. This is a must fix.
Recommendation: Allow users to move mail between folders for Exchange email.

2. Physical Keyboard - Now I know what you are thinking, "he is going to say the same thing as everyone else". Nope. I actually kinda sorta liked the keyboard. I LIKED it until I put a case on the phone. There is no room no between the top row of the keys and the top portion of the phone that slides out. Utilizing the top row of the physical keyboard can be a little frustrating. I must say though the virtual keyboard isn’t too shabby.
Recommendation: In the next model give more room for the physical keyboard, improve the physical button shape and increase the size of the physical return key.

3. No verify for message functions - This is mostly for exchange users. Already I have prematurely sent and discarded a number of emails when typing with physical keyboard. The Send and Discard button are wayyyyyyyyy to easy to hit. I would have liked the option to have a verification message say "are you sure you want to send/discard?” Now, this message does appear in Gmail when you want to discard an email but not send. There needs to be an option to on to prompt the user for some input prior to any touch command when writing an email.
Recommendation: Add an option let the user decide if there is a verification notice to send/save as draft/discard.

4. Exchange Folder Management - Like most other exchange users I have a lot of folders in exchange. When you go to view your folders there is a huge list that pops up that is a pain to go through. You don't even get the big scroll button option like you do when you view your contacts. It’s just a big ass list. If I send an email I shouldn't have to scroll forever to go find it.
Recommendation: There should be a way go to a window to view "favorite folders".

5. Exchange Email Navigation - When I sent an email or created a draft of an email at 3pm, on my blackberry I could just browse my email at 3pm and find that sent or drafted email. This is nowhere to be found and is frustrating.
Recommendation: Please create a function that replicates the blackberry function to easily view your drafts and sent items.

6. Exchange Search Nonexistent - You can't search through your email if you are on exchange. Not Cool. You can do it through Gmail but not through exchange. This is also a feature commonly used on my blackberry that I found very useful.
Recommendation: Add search to exchange email.

7. Gmail's Reply, Reply to, Forward - Here is one area the exchange email wins against Google Gmail. When I open an exchange email I am present with an option to reply, etc right away. In Gmail I have to scroll all the way down to find those buttons. They are not even in the options menu.
Recommendation: Add the reply, etc options to Gmail from the moment you view the email - like they do with exchange email.

8. Password - Right now the password can only be based on a pattern you draw with your finger. For cooperate users this does not fit the bill. There are too many policies being created that require a certain lengthen password. I have to admit it is an amazingly quick way to unlock your phone but there should be other options.
Recommendation: Give the option for the user to input an actual password prior to unlocking their phone.

9. Calendar integration with email - I have not tested this out enough but I was send multiple calendar invites to meetings and such. The Droid would not recognize the attachment and allow me to put the item on my calendar. A little inconvenient.
Recommendation: Allow exchange calendar invites to be posted onto the calendar.

10. Exchange Folder refresh - When you are going through your folders in exchange you see nothing by default. At first one would think that there aren’t any messages in the folder. You must first refresh the folder before the messages come in. I think it is implied that if I open the folder I would like to see what is in.
Recommendation: Just tell the Droid to go fetch the mail from the folder when a folder is accessed.

Again these were mentioned to aid in the development of the software. I love my Droid but there are just some frustrating aspects to the phone. With these improvements the Droid would be sitting alongside the iphone and blackberry in email management and "cool".
Just my 2!

Include in this list ALL email apps/UI's: Corporate (using pop3) and Gmail....major failures. It's mind-blowing in this day and age to not be able to get this right.