I am actually not the last one this time!! Usually, my process for adopting new technology is to let other people buy it and find the problems. By the time I am ready to take the plunge, the product has usually been available for a few years and had many of the ‘bugs’ discovered. This also allows the manufacturer time to fix those problems. Generally, there are lots of reviews available to help me make the decision to go ahead and buy what ever the product is.
For example, I refused to get a Blackberry for the longest time because I had not heard a lot of good things right after they came out. Well, finally, I was persuaded to get one through work and really liked it. By the time I started using one, there were many people around that knew how to use one and could answer any of my questions. Many of the software issues were patched and upgraded by RIM by that time as well. As a company cost savings measure, cell phones were taken away, which was the right choice for the company, but left me with serious ‘crackberry’ withdrawals. I had to go out and upgrade my personal phone to a Blackberry just to get my daily fix. I found that I could not live without it (or at least didn’t want to).
As my Blackberry began to age and take the abuse of my active lifestyle, it began to have more and more problems requiring the frequent removal of the battery. Of course, I’m sure that dropping it on concrete several times and having a two year old throw it down the stairs had nothing to do with it. Anyway, that was about the time that the Android (aka Droid) phone was being launched by Google. I was intrigued by the commercials and its supposed functionality. As the months passed, I kept hearing good things about the Droid and I finally came due for upgrade. Whoohoo!
I walked into the wireless store having already made up my mind that I was going to get the Droid but wasn’t sure which of the two brands I wanted. One was touch screen only and the other was touch screen with a built in keyboard. I chose the Motorola with the keyboard because I could hardly type on the screen keyboard. Conveniently, the screen slides over the keyboard making a fairly compact phone.
The Droid is my favorite cell phone that I have owned so far. I am able to talk on the phone and surf the web / check my email / play games, etc. all at the same time. There is a huge Droid Market similar to the AppStore that the iPhone uses where you can find tons of free applications and games. However, there are a fair number of paid applications to choose from as well that typically have more functionality than the free versions. One of my favorite applications is the one I downloaded to get free, that’s right, FREE ringtones. Want a 30 second clip from your favorite song as a ringtone? Just search and download. Super easy.
The Droid is a heavy phone in comparison to my Blackberry. However, the Droid’s case is made from metal so heavier is to be expected. I personally like the weight because it feels like a very durable phone…proved by accidentally skipping across the tile bathroom floor and bouncing off the bathtub with no ill effects (other than a slight nick in the outer case).
The Droid comes with a 16 gigabyte memory card which can hold a lot of pictures from the onboard 5 mega pixel camera. It can even take video. Pictures and video are really easy to share with friends and family. You can even upload directly to your Facebook account if you feel so inclined.
The internet browser can be a little cumbersome to use at times because of the touch screen. Webpages come up really small making it hard to not only read but also clicking on the links. Fortunately, zooming is easy to do but does get a little annoying zooming in and out depending on what you are surfing. However, the internet capabilities are almost like sitting at a desktop computer. The screen is very crisp and clear. However, any sections of a webpage that require flash cannot be displayed. Hopefully, they are developing a version of Flash for the Droid. This would make the browser even better. I just have to keep reminding myself that it is, by design, a phone and not a personal computer.
The Droid comes with a standard headphone jack. This is great because I had to buy a special pair with a small jack for my Blackberry. I use the jack to listen to Pandora Radio at work and not disturbing my neighbors. If a phone call comes in, the Droid automatically sends the audio through the headphones so you do not have to unplug just to answer the phone.
Another great feature of the Droid is software updates are pushed out to the phone meaning that you do not have to go looking for them. Occasionally, I will get a notification that an update is available. When I get a chance, I read what the update is and click download. I can still use the phone while the updates are downloaded and installed. However, all the updates I have gotten for the Android operating system (totaling two so far) have required the phone to reboot. Not a big deal since the phone boots faster than my old Blackberry.
There are some things about the Droid that I do not like as much as my Blackberry. For instance, some applications like password manager and a note pad do not come standard on the Droid. This was easily remedied by visiting the Droid Market and downloading (for free) those two applications, which turned out to have more functionality than the Blackberry standard apps. The Facebook application for the Droid is not nearly as good as the Blackberry application. However, I found a way around this by using the internet browser and going through Facebook Touch. I am waiting for the phone application to improve so I get all my notifications.
The Droid requires that you have a Google email account. If you do not already have a gmail account, they will get one set up for you at the store to get you started. While this may seem like a strange requirement, if I were Google, I would do the same thing. However, there are advantages to using gmail. Being that the Android operating system is powered by Google, synchronizing with your email, contacts, calendar, etc. is very simple. You can also add additional email accounts as needed. You can easily add all your Facebook, Google and other account contacts to your phone’s contact list. It is really easy to keep in touch with people you know.
Ringtones and notifications are separate on the Droid. Some applications like email use a ‘notification’ which is generally a very short noise to alert you. Other applications, like the phone ringer, use a longer ‘ringtone’. Unfortunately, I have not found a way to assign ringtones to email and visa versa. This is mainly because you are not able to access the ringtone files from the phone itself. To make a ringtone a notification, the phone must be connected to a computer. A little inconvenient but tolerable since I do not have a need to do this everyday.
Overall, the Droid is the best cell phone I have owned up to this point. There is a lot of functionality designed into this phone and I would not go back to my Blackberry. The 3G network is fast compared to my previous service and I have not come across any locations that I do not have both data and phone coverage, which was all too common with my Blackberry. I am very happy with my new Droid and Laura is counting the days to when she is eligible for upgrade on her phone.
Check out a very detailed description of the Droid, key features and how to buy one at the link below.
