(Verizon/Motorola/Google) DROID - November 6th

[nickdawgy]

Originally Posted by Deftones

take back iphone, get droid, then buy yourself a nintendo dsi.

The wife doesn't want one because she can't play her GBA games on it.

[nickdawgy]

It seems the biggest complaint is the keyboard. If the touch screen keyboard is anything like the iPhone, I'd that all the time anyway. I have big hands, I can foresee making alot of mistakes on the qwerty.

I'll make a decision by November 9th. That'll give me a weekend of looking at user reviews, and seeing what the flaws are. Of course if Verizon doesn't let me upgrade early, the point is moot

[SonOfAStu]

Originally Posted by nickdawgy

The wife doesn't want one because she can't play her GBA games on it.

I'd be surprised if there wasn't eventually a GBA emulator for it. One of things I'm most looking forward to is installing the SNES emulator and loading up a bunch of games on the SD card.

[al_bundy]

Originally Posted by nickdawgy

It seems the biggest complaint is the keyboard. If the touch screen keyboard is anything like the iPhone, I'd that all the time anyway. I have big hands, I can foresee making alot of mistakes on the qwerty.

I'll make a decision by November 9th. That'll give me a weekend of looking at user reviews, and seeing what the flaws are. Of course if Verizon doesn't let me upgrade early, the point is moot

i like my iphone keyboard better than my BB. and i have big hands

[Baron Of Hell]

Originally Posted by SonOfAStu

I'd be surprised if there wasn't eventually a GBA emulator for it. One of things I'm most looking forward to is installing the SNES emulator and loading up a bunch of games on the SD card.

There actually is one. I think it came out last year or early this year.

[SonOfAStu]

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/c2349f0126.jpg

Look right under "Turn by turn Nav" at the 3:00 position.

I can't believe Verizon and Motorola would claim the DROID does multi-touch when G4 and Engadget obviously know that it doesn't. Shame shame!!

[emachine12]

The thing about the Droid is that it the screen and OS are multi-touch capable so that claim is not "wrong" but the applications that come with the Droid out of the box do not support multi-touch.

Applications would have to be written to take advantage of the multi-touch feature which unfortuntately did not happen with the web browser.

CNet calls it a multi-tap single-touch interface for the applications it comes with. Multi-touch is "there" on the Droid just like Bluetooth was on the iPod Touch 2nd Gen all along. Its just a matter of turning that function on but the better question is will that function ever be turned on?

[FantasticVSDoom]

Originally Posted by al_bundy

i like my iphone keyboard better than my BB. and i have big hands

Yeah, same here....

[Deftones]

Originally Posted by emachine12

The thing about the Droid is that it the screen and OS are multi-touch capable so that claim is not "wrong" but the applications that come with the Droid out of the box do not support multi-touch.

Applications would have to be written to take advantage of the multi-touch feature which unfortuntately did not happen with the web browser.

CNet calls it a multi-tap single-touch interface for the applications it comes with. Multi-touch is "there" on the Droid just like Bluetooth was on the iPod Touch 2nd Gen all along. Its just a matter of turning that function on but the better question is will that function ever be turned on?

Again. All the apps that were running on it were likely made for 1.5 or 1.6. Now that 2.0 is out, people will start programming things with multi-touch capability.

[nickdawgy]

What exactly is multi touch?

[Deftones]

like on google maps, you do a pinch with two fingers together, and spread them apart to zoom out. pinch them together to zoom in. basically, it's the phone recognizing more than one touch input and doing something with it.

[Deftones]

Ridiculously good write-up from someone on Droid vs. iPhone. http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dro...ola-droid.html

[Jay G.]

Originally Posted by Deftones

Again. All the apps that were running on it were likely made for 1.5 or 1.6. Now that 2.0 is out, people will start programming things with multi-touch capability.

True, but none of the reviewer sites are wrong when they say that it currently doesn't have any multi-touch functionality. And Engadget's review specifically pointed out that both the Droid hardware and Android 2.0 were multi-touch capable, so their review in particular was not wrong in any way.

A review is only going to be able to review the device they have in their hands at the moment of the review. If it doesn't have any multi-touch functionality right now, and right now it doesn't, then that's what they have to report on. When multi-touch apps are added to the base install or are available for download, then maybe their reviews should be updated.

It's like emachine12's example of the iPod Touch 2nd Gen. It may have had bluetooth capabilities all along, but I'm sure that when it first came out plenty of reviews made note of its lack of bluetooth functionality.

[Timber]

Pre ordered mine from Best Buy today. Been holding out on my NE2 for a few months now waiting for the Storm 2 but around the time I was going to get that I started reading about this. My fat fingers probably won't touch the keyboard that often so that's not a deal breaker for me.

[Suprmallet]

I've currently got a hacked iPhone 3GS (curse you Apple for denying me access to Google Voice). I was very strongly considering this phone as a big fuck you to AT&T, but have decided to hold off for a few reasons. First, I don't want a phone with a physical keyboard. The more moving parts you have on a phone, the more stuff can break. Don't need a slider or a bank of keys that are useless, since there is a digital keyboard on the touchscreen. Second, the internals on the phone are about equivalent to the Palm Pre and 3GS, and with Snapdragon processors making their way into phones that should be available Q1 2010, I see no reason to buy a phone now that uses a processor slower than 1 GHZ.

On top of all that, Sony Ericsson is about to announce Rachael, their first Android smartphone, which not only has a Snapdragon processor but also has a custom UI that looks phenomenal (and an 8 MP camera to boot). That phone should be announced on Tuesday, and that is the one that may very well pull me away from the iPhone. However, for anyone who needs a new smartphone right now, and doesn't want to use AT&T, the Droid does look excellent.

Edit: Additionally, it looks like Google Turn-By-Turn Maps will be coming to the iPhone as well for free, so that does help even up the iPhone and the Droid a bit. I think the Droid is very close to what I want in a smartphone, but I think a little more refining needs to be done before I dump the iPhone.

[shadowhawk2020]

Does anyone know wether or not this works with Verizon TV? For some reason my mom loves that but none of the good Verizon phones can use it.

[emachine12]

You mean VCast TV where the phone can receive television from MediaFlo?

No. It was not designed for that.

The Imagio which offers WinMo 6.5 offers VCast TV, VCast, and VCast Music with Rhapsody.

[Deftones]

Originally Posted by Suprmallet

I've currently got a hacked iPhone 3GS (curse you Apple for denying me access to Google Voice). I was very strongly considering this phone as a big fuck you to AT&T, but have decided to hold off for a few reasons. First, I don't want a phone with a physical keyboard. The more moving parts you have on a phone, the more stuff can break. Don't need a slider or a bank of keys that are useless, since there is a digital keyboard on the touchscreen. Second, the internals on the phone are about equivalent to the Palm Pre and 3GS, and with Snapdragon processors making their way into phones that should be available Q1 2010, I see no reason to buy a phone now that uses a processor slower than 1 GHZ.

On top of all that, Sony Ericsson is about to announce Rachael, their first Android smartphone, which not only has a Snapdragon processor but also has a custom UI that looks phenomenal (and an 8 MP camera to boot). That phone should be announced on Tuesday, and that is the one that may very well pull me away from the iPhone. However, for anyone who needs a new smartphone right now, and doesn't want to use AT&T, the Droid does look excellent.

Edit: Additionally, it looks like Google Turn-By-Turn Maps will be coming to the iPhone as well for free, so that does help even up the iPhone and the Droid a bit. I think the Droid is very close to what I want in a smartphone, but I think a little more refining needs to be done before I dump the iPhone.

There is rumored to be a Droid hitting next year that doesn't have a keyboard. Probably 1st half of the year. Just to clarify, the keyboard isn't spring hinge based, like most phones that slide or flip. From every report I've heard, it's completely solid and not likely to break unless you are very forceful with it.

Second, from what I've been reading preliminarily about Snapdragon, people have been saying they haven't noticed a significant difference in speeds with it. Obviously, there isn't a phone right now so that'll have to wait until one actually ships.

[SonOfAStu]

I'm not geeky enough or have enough time to go search for the relevant info, but from what I recall, the DROID is running a separate chip for the graphics which allows the main chip to perform that much better and will still come ahead a faster handset than one with a Snapdragon taking care of everything.

[Deftones]

Originally Posted by SonOfAStu

I'm not geeky enough or have enough time to go search for the relevant info, but from what I recall, the DROID is running a separate chip for the graphics which allows the main chip to perform that much better and will still come ahead a faster handset than one with a Snapdragon taking care of everything.

This. It's got a GPU along with the main CPU that takes some of the load off. Snapdragon is only one chip w/o a GPU.

[Deftones]

Just for further some of the rumors that been out there about Snapdragon, Engadget is reporting that the 1st phone with Snapdragon has been clocked down to 768 mhz. My guess is it has to do with battery life.

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/1...t-just-768mhz/

[Deftones]

if verizon pulls this shit, i'm going to be pissed.

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/1...d-probably-on/

[emachine12]

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!

Motorola's GSM version of this phone is called the Milestone and the multi-touch pinch & zoom works on it.

Motorola Milestone Does What Droidon't

Yes, its Android 2.0 and has dual WCDMA radios, quad-band GSM, HSPA, GPRS, and the Wifi. The only thing missing on the Milestone are the dual CDMA radios. But that doesn't even matter since this phone is intended for a different market.

[Deftones]

but it won't run the google stuff for navigation, so i'd say that's a big tradeoff.

[Jay G.]

Originally Posted by Deftones

but it won't run the google stuff for navigation, so i'd say that's a big tradeoff.

It won't run it, or it won't come packaged with it?