Android Questions

[RETG]

Looking at jumping to an Android and getting rid of my BB Tour. But have a few questions.

Do they make any vertical style cases for these Android phones? All I see are horizontal cases and I cannot use one of these; need something vertical to clip to the left belt area. Horizontal takes up too much real estate on the belt and gets in the way of another item I am required to carry that attaches to the left side on the belt. (Prefer not to carry phone in my pants pockets or in a shirt pocket.)

GPS maps. Is google the only app for GPS maps? Even though I travel in a vehicle that has a 16 inch laptop over the console that can run Garmin nRoute when needed, I still need a small compact GPS device for outside the vehicle. Usually I will use a Garmin 60CSx, but at times, I have used my Tour, but running RIM maps. Google maps on the BB never worked correctly.

Coming from the BB world, I learned that battery pulls were required often. So, I obtain an APP that did it for me via the software (Quickpull). So, are battery pulls a common occurrence with Androids and if so, do they offer APPS that simulate the battery pull?

How are the browsers on Android phones? The RIM (BB) browser is downright terrible. I have learned to live with it, but would prefer a better experience when accessing the internet via the phone.
Verizon is my only option due to where I live and where I work. Sprint can be used where I live, but a few miles outside of town it drops off to nothing. Verizon is amazing in the western states, so I have no desire to leave Verizon.

Sorry for all the questions; and who knows, there will probably be more in the future. But my thanks for any answers.

Ok, a few more questions.

Does the Android line offer a bedside mode? That being where I can turn off all the features of the phone (such as email notifications) except for the actual phone.

Does the Android offer an alarm clock?

WIFI? Are these phone WIFI compatible?

 

[VideoGameMatt]

You can't go wrong with android and you really don't know too much yet if you don't know that android has wifi and an alarm clock lol well these forums are for education so here is what i know. On the maps navigation i am not sure of what other apps offer it but i think there are a few but the google maps navigation is free and has always treated me right. Battery pulls only needed done rarely. I think maybe once a month is when i do a battery pull but it is typically not needed. The froyo browser is very fast but froyo isnt out fully yet. but there are paid ones, one of which is insanely fast it is called xscope browser its only a few dollars but totally worth it. You are in good hands with verizon since they are investing a lot of money into android. I love my droid and think its phenomenal but you have plenty of choice. Like right now the Droid, Motorola Devour, LG Ally and HTC Incredible are out. And the Droid X is coming soon and will be a great phone and the Droid 2 should be out in August. There is no "bedside" mode but there could be an app that does that. With android you will always have options. And with these forums you will always get an answer to your questions

 

[FootballRef]

I can't answer everything, but I will start

-yes, there are several alarm clocks
-yes, wifi
-I think you could create the bedside mode you are talking about. I know with BB you are able to create profiles. You could get Timeriffic or something like that to create what you want
-I have never had to do a battery pull and I have had my Droid for about 4 months
-I use xScope browser and it is good.

I had a BB Pearl and it could not sniff the jock of my Droid

 

[eliassami5]

Looking at jumping to an Android and getting rid of my BB Tour. But have a few questions.

Do they make any vertical style cases for these Android phones? All I see are horizontal cases and I cannot use one of these; need something vertical to clip to the left belt area. Horizontal takes up too much real estate on the belt and gets in the way of another item I am required to carry that attaches to the left side on the belt. (Prefer not to carry phone in my pants pockets or in a shirt pocket.)

Most belt clips can be rotates landscape or vertical, verizon offers 2 belt style holsters for the DROID i believe and they both can rotate anyway you want.

GPS maps. Is google the only app for GPS maps? Even though I travel in a vehicle that has a 16 inch laptop over the console that can run Garmin nRoute when needed, I still need a small compact GPS device for outside the vehicle. Usually I will use a Garmin 60CSx, but at times, I have used my Tour, but running RIM maps. Google maps on the BB never worked correctly.

Dunno what your google maps experience was like on the BB, but believe me its nothing like the google maps on any Android phone. It works pretty much flawlessly.

Coming from the BB world, I learned that battery pulls were required often. So, I obtain an APP that did it for me via the software (Quickpull). So, are battery pulls a common occurrence with Androids and if so, do they offer APPS that simulate the battery pull?

Battery pulls are very rare, i can remember a total of 3 times i have had to do a batt pull on my DROID, ive had it for 8 months.

How are the browsers on Android phones? The RIM (BB) browser is downright terrible. I have learned to live with it, but would prefer a better experience when accessing the internet via the phone.
Verizon is my only option due to where I live and where I work. Sprint can be used where I live, but a few miles outside of town it drops off to nothing. Verizon is amazing in the western states, so I have no desire to leave Verizon.

The stock browser is great..5x faster when the 2.2 update comes along. I dont use browsers from the market place but there are some great ones like Xscope as mentioned, and Dolphin browser, Firefox is comming out with a browser also, dont know if its available now tho but you can download a beta version. But yes the browsing is amazing, blows the BB out of the water.

Sorry for all the questions; and who knows, there will probably be more in the future. But my thanks for any answers.

Ok, a few more questions.

Does the Android line offer a bedside mode? That being where I can turn off all the features of the phone (such as email notifications) except for the actual phone.

There are many apps in the market that will do this for you.


Does the Android offer an alarm clock?

Yes lol it comes with an alarm clock. If you wanna buy the dock it can function as a stand alone alarm clock.


WIFI? Are these phone WIFI compatible?

..yes its wifi capable

 

[lilhill]

BB Tour = GI Joe :blackberry::sad:
DROID = Optimus Prime dancedroid

The Moto Droid was built to showcase how awesome Google Maps/GPS could be, so as far as that's concerened it works as well as any standard GPS you can buy - it even has text to voice commands.

If you look at the stock market charts for Garmin and TomTom for the day the Moto Droid was released (November 9, 2009 I believe), you can see that both companies' stocks took a very noticeable tumble bc of how awesome Droid's GPS capabilites are...

 

[Backnblack]

BB Tour = GI Joe :blackberry::sad:
DROID = Optimus Prime dancedroid

Come on....We all Know GI Joe rocks dancedroid

 

[Johnly]

GI Jane is rocking too...

 

[RETG]

BB Tour = GI Joe :blackberry::sad:
DROID = Optimus Prime dancedroid

The Moto Droid was built to showcase how awesome Google Maps/GPS could be, so as far as that's concerened it works as well as any standard GPS you can buy - it even has text to voice commands.

If you look at the stock market charts for Garmin and TomTom for the day the Moto Droid was released (November 9, 2009 I believe), you can see that both companies' stocks took a very noticeable tumble bc of how awesome Droid's GPS capabilites are...

Ok, so I should have imagined a droid should be able to run Google since the operating system is google.

However, how many channels does the droid have? Can you output a gpx file to a computer, are they waas enabled, is there an electronic compass built in, can you load TOPO maps and especially, land surface use TOPO maps, or am I stuck with just standard Google maps (which really are worthless for areas outside of the mainstream areas)? (Motorala does not state how many channels are on any of their droid phones!)

As much as I am hating my BB, it has served a purpose, and the stock RIM maps that came with the phone were pretty darn impressive. However, google did not interface their maps well with BB (can't blame 'em).

Really, the GPS is not a big item since I will continue to go into the desert with a garmin loaded with TOPO surface area maps, a reliable compass and a good topo paper map. Electronics do tend to take a dump when you need them most, and a compass and map need no batteries.

 

[liam.]

Google maps on BB sucked IMHO. I hated it, it works awesome on the Droid, near perfection and when you activate the navigation feature its on point, was going to buy a new GPS before I got my Droid and once I got the Droid I had no reason to.

 

[jsh1120]

...GPS maps. Is google the only app for GPS maps? Even though I travel in a vehicle that has a 16 inch laptop over the console that can run Garmin nRoute when needed, I still need a small compact GPS device for outside the vehicle. Usually I will use a Garmin 60CSx, but at times, I have used my Tour, but running RIM maps. Google maps on the BB never worked correctly...

Most of your other questions have been answered adequately. I'd only add a couple of points about Google maps. A couple of points to keep in mind. First, the various Google gps-related apps are almost all beta versions and the support infrastructure reflects that status. For anyone for whom GPS and related maps are critical, relying exclusively on the features available in the android market is a bit iffy.

Second, google maps does not store map information internally on the Droid. It depends upon a 3G signal to provide the map context for the gps signal. Thus, you can find yourself in the boonies with a perfectly acceptable GPS signal and no map because the 3G signal is not available.

Again, this is typically not a problem but several weeks ago I found myself lost on a country road in Oregon. I knew where I was and I knew where my destination was. I just didn't know how to find the roads that connected the two points. My google map app displayed a very large gray area between the two points.

For a set of free applications, the various Google apps are amazing and are reliable, I'd estimate, more than 90% of the time. Furthermore, they are constantly improving. But for those who need the bells and whistles of many gps devices and those for whom that other 10% is critical, looking to third party apps or another device (such as the new Garmin android phone) is probably recommended.