Questions from a new owner

[Sports1131]

I first decided I would switch from BlackBerry to Android around July, but because of my two-year contract with Verizon and hopes of getting a dual core LTE device I figured I'd wait until early 2011. With the Bionic not due out until summer and more importantly Verizon silently eliminating their good international plan, I hopped on eBay this morning and purchased the original Droid for $105 (looks like it's in excellent condition). I bought my BlackBerry Tour in December 2009 because it was Verizon's best global phone at the time, but it doesn't have WiFi so I wanted this phone to hold me over until the Bionic is released.

I haven't received it yet, but I have a few questions:

1. Is it possible to use stock Gingerbread on this phone?
2. If not, is Cyanogen widely considered the best alternative? From the videos I've seen it looks pretty cool but it's hard to tell since their website doesn't actually list the features/changes.
3. Is there any consensus as to what the best overclocking settings are to avoid killing battery? It's my understanding that the processor is this phone's biggest limitation but I'm hoping to get adequate performance.
4. Is LauncherPro considered the best third-party launcher? Is there anywhere I can see the different possibilities it offers? I'd really like to make this thing feel "mine" but I don't find their website very helpful either.

Sorry if these are stupid questions...thanks for your help!

 

[guidot]

Not stupid questions.

Some searching will get you better answers.

CM is a good rom from what I've heard (never used it).

GB is available as a custom rom.

SetCPU is your overclocking friend. When you overclock you can also underclock when the phone is not in use.

LP, ADW, Zeam, GO, Home++ are some of your options for home replacements. Personal preference is all it is.

Sent from my GimpDroid (Installed by RZR).

 

[Sports1131]

Thanks for the help!

After doing some research I think I'll give Cyanogen a shot at least until (if?) Gingerbread is officially released for the Droid. I'm certainly not holding my breath on that since I know how much companies hate to support older models, but supposedly any phone that can run Froyo should be able to handle Gingerbread so who knows.

I'm sure I don't know most of the things you can accomplish with Launcher Pro, but I think the Windows Phone 7 style could be pretty cool to customize.

Does anyone know what the best overclocking settings are? Is it possible to get 800+ MHz with any kind of stability?

 

[guidot]

Android constantly changes speed but I can do 1.1 without issue.

Sent from my GimpDroid (Installed by RZR).

 

[Sports1131]

Awesome, that's a lot better than I expected. Thanks!

 

[doublea500]

1. im not sure
2 cyanogen is a good rom, my friend has it. i would not consider it to be the best though. i like bb, ud, and miui. id say cyanogen has to be in my top 5 though.
3. not that i know of
4 launcher pro is one of the best launchers. also try adw or adw ex, cuz those are my top 2, i used to use launcher pro but now im adwex. im going back to launcher pro to try it soon because they have been working on a new update for months where they rewrite everything

 

[Dawg72]

I have tried BB, Liqiud, sapphire, MIUI, and now currently on Sourcery Rom. I have found IMHO that SOURCERY is the best Rom for me. It is clean, fast, smooth, and the support, if needed which I havn't, is top shelf. Just my .02

 

[danrodz]

I'm currently running Liquid's gingerbread and its by far the best, smoothest rom I've used. Its like having a new phone. I've also used bugless beast and cyanogen and they are both good choices.

With bugless or cyanogen you might want to flash a good low voltage kernel and couple that with setcpu and you will have outstanding performance with good battery life. LG 1.0 works outstandingly well with the included kernel and I added in setcpu for the profiles.

With any of these take a chance and you'll be pleased

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums App

 

[Sports1131]

Thanks for the advice, everyone!

I received my Droid in the mail today and it seems to be in excellent condition. The battery seems to hold it's charge and I was able to wipe and then activate it on my Verizon account.

I'll wait a day or two to try loading a custom ROM (have to pick up a USB cable as I can't find the one from my BlackBerry), but I do have one issue that I'd like to resolve ASAP -- the default browser is missing. The icon is there on my dock, but when I click it I get a message saying "Application is not installed on your phone."

Can someone help me get this working? If necessary I can download Opera/Dolphin/etc., but I'd rather use Chrome.

 

[guidot]

Hmm. That sounds curious. Is that the link in the launcher on the homepage? Or from the apps list?

Sent from my GimpDroid (Installed by RZR).

 

[Sports1131]

That link is from the launcher on the homepage. The browser is not listed in my apps list.

Is it possible to download the 2.2 apk file for the Droid Browser somewhere?

 

[guidot]

Is it rooted? You said you did a factory reset?

Sounds like you need to do another factory data reset.

If that doesn't fix it, you may have to see if you can manually update to the latest version.

What is the version listed in homescreen>menu>about phone>version (should be at the bottom somewhere)

Sent from my GimpDroid (Installed by RZR).

 

[Sports1131]

I have not rooted yet.

Is the default browser included in custom ROMs such as Cyanogen? I'll probably buy a USB cable during my lunch break today so I can give that a shot. If the browser wasn't there when I received it or after doing a hard reset I have my doubts that repeating the wipe would help anything. Unless doing a wipe isn't the same as restoring the factory defaults?

My Android version is 2.2, my kernel version is 2.6.32.9-g874c292, and my build number is FRG22D. Not sure if that helps at all.

 

[guidot]

Yes the default browser is included in all Roms. No idea how you don't have it after a factory reset.

Sent from my GimpDroid (Installed by RZR).