Couple Droid questions..

[Bahester]

Hey all new to these forums, and just had a couple of Droid 2 questions. I've had a smartphone for about 3-4 years now. I'm currently stuck with the Blackberry Pearl (ew, I know). However, as of yesterday I have an available Verizon upgrade. I've been doing a good amount of research between the Droid 2 and Droid X and right now I'm leaning towards the 2 because I've had a physical keyboard for so long. I am also thinking of getting the extended battery because I'm a college student, and I tend to use my phones A LOT during the day for all kinds of things.

However, I wanted to hear opinions from maybe anyone thats switched from a BB to the Droid, and their experience. Also, I've been doing some reading on "rooting" and how it's really the only way to get the maximum experience from your droid. I consider myself decent in the technology department, but I think rooting might be a little bit outside of my knowledge. Is the stock OS really THAT bad, or is it acceptable enough to stick with?

Lastly, this might be an incredibly stupid question but I'm very new to the Android OS, etc. but when they do come out with a new OS, ie. 2.5 or whatever, will all the existing droid phones eventually get the update? I guess what I'm trying to say in simpler terms is if I go with a Droid 2 or X and they come out with a new phone with a new OS in a few months, will I have just wasted a few hundred dollars and be behind already?

 

[patchm00]

Hey all new to these forums, and just had a couple of Droid 2 questions. I've had a smartphone for about 3-4 years now. I'm currently stuck with the Blackberry Pearl (ew, I know). However, as of yesterday I have an available Verizon upgrade. I've been doing a good amount of research between the Droid 2 and Droid X and right now I'm leaning towards the 2 because I've had a physical keyboard for so long. I am also thinking of getting the extended battery because I'm a college student, and I tend to use my phones A LOT during the day for all kinds of things.

However, I wanted to hear opinions from maybe anyone thats switched from a BB to the Droid, and their experience. Also, I've been doing some reading on "rooting" and how it's really the only way to get the maximum experience from your droid. I consider myself decent in the technology department, but I think rooting might be a little bit outside of my knowledge. Is the stock OS really THAT bad, or is it acceptable enough to stick with?

Lastly, this might be an incredibly stupid question but I'm very new to the Android OS, etc. but when they do come out with a new OS, ie. 2.5 or whatever, will all the existing droid phones eventually get the update? I guess what I'm trying to say in simpler terms is if I go with a Droid 2 or X and they come out with a new phone with a new OS in a few months, will I have just wasted a few hundred dollars and be behind already?

1. I went from 4 years of BlackBerry to Droid (original Droid) and never looked back. Everything about a DROID is better IMO except perhaps the email synching which in my opinion, is perfect on Blackberry (we use a BB server here but even pop accounts sync well and reliably). The screen and functionality differences far outweigh anything else. I don't need the keyboard but the Droid 1 had it and i had no other choice at the time I did get a Droid 2 replacement when my Droid 1 died! Also, you have 30 days so if you don't like the phone you picked take it back and try another - the cost is $35 restocking which is not much compared to getting stuck with a phone you don't like for 2 years.

2. Rooting - You should stay on the stock OS for a while and if it does everything you need it to leave it alone. I went about 9 months before rooting although I did not even think about it until there was a) an easy way to do it and b) a way to backup your phone so you can go back. Just read through these forums and find out what people are doing with root. It gets more exciting every day and sooner or later you will see something that you can't live without and then you will need to read very carefully the methods of rooting.

3. With any technology (especially computers and phones that are really computers) you will always be purchasing something that is obsolete very quickly. To borrow a golf term, it is the "rub of the green". Just part of what technology is - quick moving and exciting, that's why we love it. I wish I would have had this advice before my purchase but I've seen others say they can buy phones without a 2 year contract but I don't know how much those phones cost them when they do that. If I could buy another phone right now I would probably get the Droid X or the Fascnicate. I will get some flack for this probably in this thread but I also liked the HTC EVO but I hate Sprint network and Verizon is best so... In my job I am able to demo all phones so I've tried quite a few in the past year and that is a blast.

Good luck

 

[Bahester]

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[cshotter]

I was on the stock OS for my 6 months with the D1 and then for about a month with the D2. What pushed me to root was enabling the free wifi tethering. My philosophy now is wait the 30 days until your return policy is up and then root away. Just make sure that you read up on how to root, read up again, and then make sure you don't have any questions about what you are doing.

 

[spdivr1122]

Well I didn't go from blakberry to droid, but I can tell you its worth it. My original droid wathe longest lasting pine I've ever had (8 months. Yeah I use my phone that much) the problem was the keyboard actually started falling apart. Everything else works perfectly still though. now that I have a droid 2 , the battery life is so much better after rooting it. I also try to not use the physical keyboard too much because I don't want the same fate. I typed this whole message on the touch screen. So the droid 2 and X are both great phones, go with what you like

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk

 

[trook]

I had a BB curve 8310 on att, then they came out with the backflip:icon_evil:, all that thing did was make me mad, but I did learn alot about android hacks having that thing. Ditched the backflop for a D2, rooted it, now I do what I want. Rooting is not hard, I'm sure that you could handle it. The stock os isn't bad, its fine, we all root for many different reasons, one day your reason may come up, but until then stock is great. I also don't think our phones will be forgotten when it comes time to upgrade the software, but if they do get left behind.....root it and run the new software anyway!dancedroid

PS: I'm not knocking the DX now guys, its an awesome phone, but its really big, it should come with a backpack.