Droid Day 1 (ex BlackBerry user)

[BigPete]

Well, I got my Droid today and so far so good. I'm a BlackBerry convert having used the Pearl, Curve and Tour all on Verizon.

I will say that I LOVE this phone so far. Naturally, however, it's not without its shortcomings but I hope those will be fixed and/or apps will be released to fill in the gaps.

What I like:

• Threaded message view.
• Looking stuff up on the map seems to be faster. I work for FedEx and I look stuff up all day long and I can honestly say results are usually returned in a second or two VS. AT LEAST a few seconds (or more) on my tour.
• The Market and MP3 store. These are both almost identical to what I get on my iPod touch and they work perfectly. Just awesome.
• Web Browsing... no BlackBerry on the market even comes close
• Navigation... its only missing a few features such as speed and tripometers you find on stand alone GPS units. Absolute best navigation you will find on a phone.
• Speech recognition. I only used it briefly but it works surprisingly well and quickly.

What I dislike:

• I miss my keyboard shortcuts. Like in google maps hitting the 0 (zero) key to go to "my location" on the map.
• Different profiles for notifications!! BlackBerry let me create different profiles with different ringtones/sounds etc for whatever. Just more customizable.
• How about vibrating before actually ringing/making a sound?
• Phone dialer! I should be able to type in a contacts name right from the start. Instead you have to go to contacts and then scroll through the list to find the person. Was easier on BlackBerry.
• My email from gmail does not show up under "Messaging". I would like one folder for ALL my messages (voicemail, text, sms, mms, email, etc etc).

That's all I have for my first day of use. I did get a call and sent a bunch of texts, gtalks, and emails. In addition I used the maps quite a bit and tinkered with almost all the features. So far the battery has been satisfactory (I was worried about this after reading a bit) and I haven't had a single crash!

If anyone has any suggestions for some of my dislikes, I'm all ears. I'm not knocking the phone in anyway those are just things that I miss from my BlackBerry that will hopefully be rolled out in future updates or apps.

Thanks for reading!

-Pete

 

[dezymond]

welcome to the forums and your Droid!

As you know the phone and the OS is new, so there will be improvements here and there. The phone is practically in beta form so bare with it, but glad to hear you love it so far. Google is rolling out with an update this week so hope you'll like that. Fixes small things here and there, but there is one planned for next month i believe as well, so your experience will get better.

As i like to think, this phone will get better over time.

 

[DurangoJim]

Try quick profiles in the marketplace.

 

[darreno1]

Welcome, you'll like this phone the more you use it, trust me. Since you're an ex blackberry user, you might want to give Touchdown exhange client a try. There's a 5-day free trial in the Market. It contains a whole host of features found on the blackberry.

BTW you can type in a contact's name quickly by using the search button (right most). No need for even opening the phone app. You can also use it in the phone dialer if desired.

 

[BigPete]

Thanks for that tip darreno. I'm sure most of my hangups are just things that I will have to learn to do differently. I am very excited about the Droid. I have always used all things Google and there is no doubt in my mind that they will continue to roll out updates and add features. It's all very exciting and this phone has the most promise out of all the "smart" devices I have ever owned.

 

[Vladimir]

Explore the market place and all the apps before listing things you dislike as all of them have a simple fix - USER ERROR -

 

[BigPete]

Explore the market place and all the apps before listing things you dislike as all of them have a simple fix - USER ERROR -

Vlad, I have read that as a common response to peoples complaints and I have to say I disagree. There are some things which should just be part of the operating system and I feel that my dislikes so far are things which should be included by default. I shouldn't have to download an application for managing my notifications with greater granularity... that should be built in.

I'm just a bit weary of the marketplace for now because some people have reported problems with different apps. I did download the Bank of America banking app and I will download a few more tonight. I still maintain that my dislikes thus far should be included in the OS and not require any additional downloads.

 

[wsbsteven]

Mine vibrates before ringing, maybe mine is a freak?

 

[BigPete]

I have only gotten mine to vibrate WHILE ringing. I don't see an option to vibrate for messages (texts, emails, etc) at all.

 

[Vladimir]

Well the OS hasnt been out long enough for anyone to put in their advice... my suggestion would be return it and wait a year before purchasing a Android OS phone... I'd be more than happy to help you out with finding these apps in market place to fix your issues btw, just pm me. With the ring before vibrate thing, if you are using a custom ringtone make sure that there is no initial delay, i ran into that one my self. if you click on your sms, and then click menu, then settings, you will see an option on the bottom to turn on vibrate. also in gmail, mail etc etc, cool thing to remember about the droid, is that the menu button works in most applications, as well as the search! hope that helps.

 

[darreno1]

Explore the market place and all the apps before listing things you dislike as all of them have a simple fix - USER ERROR -

Vlad, I have read that as a common response to peoples complaints and I have to say I disagree. There are some things which should just be part of the operating system and I feel that my dislikes so far are things which should be included by default. I shouldn't have to download an application for managing my notifications with greater granularity... that should be built in.

I'm just a bit weary of the marketplace for now because some people have reported problems with different apps. I did download the Bank of America banking app and I will download a few more tonight. I still maintain that my dislikes thus far should be included in the OS and not require any additional downloads.

I get what you're saying, especially since you came from a phone that didn't depend on a market and targeted a specific group, but phones like the Droid/iPhone etc are very dependent on third party apps for specific functionality (many of them free). Think of the iPhone without the App Store- it would be a dud.

Most users would probably get by just fine with what's there by default, but those with specific needs will need the market place. Like you said, it's a different system you'll eventually get used to.

 

[BigPete]

I definitely have no plans to return it and wait a year to get an Android phone. I'm perfectly happy being an early adopter and my dislikes are in no way "deal breakers". The phones a keepers and, as I stated, I'm sure my hangups will go away with time as I find new apps and just adjust to the new "Android" way of doing things instead of the old "BlackBerry" way.

 

[Martin030908]

I definitely have no plans to return it and wait a year to get an Android phone. I'm perfectly happy being an early adopter and my dislikes are in no way "deal breakers". The phones a keepers and, as I stated, I'm sure my hangups will go away with time as I find new apps and just adjust to the new "Android" way of doing things instead of the old "BlackBerry" way.

i know that coming from my BB Storm the first day with the Droid I literally was about to smash it against a wall... i just didn't get it... information overload.
After learning the device I've decided I'm not going anywhere.

 

[boatman2220]

Yeah, BB has a lot of pros, but there's the downsides that most people got so used to that they overlooked the flaws and just did battery pulls and things like that as a usual operating procedure. Even after updating to the 5.0 OS on the Storm, there's no comparison. :byestorm:

 

[Martin030908]

Yeah, BB has a lot of pros, but there's the downsides that most people got so used to that they overlooked the flaws and just did battery pulls and things like that as a usual operating procedure. Even after updating to the 5.0 OS on the Storm, there's no comparison. :byestorm:

exactly how i felt.