Motorola Droid Review
If you’ve been wondering what to think of all of the attention the Motorola Droid on the Verizon network has been getting, let me add a little more for you to consider. I purchased the Droid December 4th and as you can imagine I have been monkeying around with it almost nonstop much to the chagrin of my loving wife. Here follows some of the things I have learned and loved about the Droid.
Many people have asked me if I think the Droid is the “iPhone Killer” it has been touted as – my response is that in Montana the iPhone really isn’t around to kill. However, in a broader sense, I do think that the Droid is a contender in the smart phone battle – at least in the US. One of the biggest advantages that the Droid has over the iPhone is the open-source nature of the OS. This allows developers to offer more apps faster. No hoops to jump through – just code it, test it, deploy and support it. Currently there are only about 15,000 applications available for the Droid compared to the 100,000 for the iPhone, but there is no doubt that app developers will jump on the Android bandwagon and we’ll soon see applications for all sorts of things you never knew you didn’t need.
Basic Usage
Motorola Droid includes a full QWERTY slide-out keyboard as well as a very responsive touch keyboard.
The Droid requires a connection with a Gmail / Google account and provides a wide variety of functionality that Google offers including GPS with real-time mapping through Google Maps (includes satellite and other layers), one-touch voice search, and more. For document handling, the Droid includes a mobile version of Google Docs that handles PDF files as well as a standard version of Docs To Go for Microsoft Word and Excel files. An upgrade for Docs To Go is available for $14.99 through the Android Market. The integration with Google is a valuable asset that allows you to keep your mobile life in sync even when offline.
A very useful feature of the device that is not enabled by default is haptic feedback on the on-screen keyboard. I found the on-screen keyboard exceptionally easy to use while in landscape mode while the portrait version was smaller I was still able to use it without much difficulty. The number pad for dialing is quite large and easy to use – even while driving (but I NEVER do that) and the Droid features an on-screen button to add a caller to the current call. Call quality is just as good as other phones I have had and callers have said they do not notice much background noise. I have yet to test it with a Bluetooth headset simply due to the fact that I have yet to find one worth using.
In general, the Droid has an intuitive design with a large, bright, highly responsive touch screen. A very responsive accelerometer enables the user to switch between landscape and portrait mode with ease. The slide out QWERTY keyboard is a little awkward compared to the exceptional on-screen keyboard and battery life can be somewhat disappointing if not properly managed. However, the Droid is a fun-to-use and highly functional device. The threaded SMS / MMS layout makes texting a breeze and even displays any photos received.
The Droid’s awesome WVGA display is an impressive 3.7″ and provides 854 x 480 resolution. The built-in YouTube integration (including direct uploading) makes the Droid one of the best mobile-video devices I have seen. The 5.0 megapixel camera includes LED flash and auto-focus capabilities that can sometime make taking quick pictures somewhat taxing. However, like most camera phones, all features of the camera can be adjusted to meet your needs. The video camera takes excellent video and the included 16GB Micro SD card provides plenty of space for capturing those once-in-a-lifetime moments. The “share” feature included in the camera functions allows for direct uploading to a number of online sharing sites such as Google’s Picasa and YouTube as well as Facebook and many others.
