IMPRESSIONS: Droid / Storm 2
Just dropped into the Verizon store to do some "market research."
Tried the Droid and the Storm 2. Quick Impressions Droid Overall, the unit doesn't make much of an impression. Seems like yet another slider, which, at the end of the day, it is. I didn't try any calls, just mucked around with the interface. Liked
Google has a long way to go on Droid. It lacks basic polish still. Pick up an iPhone, and everything seems to be in the right place, and reacts exactly as you'd expect. No so with the Droid. Keeping working at it Google. First impressions are big. I wasn't left with the feeling that I would want to invest the time to get used to the Droid. Storm 2 This truly is what the Storm 1 should have been. I might have actually kept a unit like this - that wasn't even a remote possibility with the Storm one. The interface is super snappy, the SurePress has the right feel (still not sure if keeping sure press is a good idea). Only downside I could see was that the 480 x 320 resolution stretched to that size looks a bit pixellated after using the Tour or trying the Droid. So 6 months ago! ;-) Congrats to RIM for getting the Storm 2 right. You best hope you weren't too late. Nice try to Google, but you've still got a lot of work to do it seems... |
Moving to the BlackBerry Versus section.
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I went and checked out the Droid today at Verizon. Since the touch screen is heat sensitive and they had it under a A/C ven the touch cabablilites were pretty much nulled. No matter how hard I pressed it wouldn't even acknowledge my presses. That was enough for me I walked on out.
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Sees like many of these issues are Motorola hardware issues, not Android issues. HTC seems to have gotten it right with their Android phones. Motorola sucks when it comes to phones. I wouldn't write off the whole platform because of them.
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A ggod point, Argon. Has anyone compared the Droid to the T-Mobile MyTouch, for example?
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I bought a Droid yesterday morning at 8 AM and have been using it non-stop since. Clunky? Compared to the Blackberry OS? Puhleeze.
I passed on the iPhone because of some issues that I have with the phone, but the Droid is spot on for me. Is it perfect? Hell no, it isn't. The camera is slow. As it stand right now it blows my former BB away. No contest. Google can and will make it better. The home screens lag a bit when you scroll them. Again, something that Google can and will do something about. Clicking the screen has been no issue at all for me and Google Maps Navigation has been nothing short of perfect. Has not crashed once and I have used it for numerous trips, just to try it out. Directions have been perfect and it recalculates the route faster than my Tom Tom. The Storm 2 might be night and day better than the Storm 1 but it is still running an out of date OS with an out of date web browser using out of date and underpowered hardware. I shall not miss my Blackberry or that stupid f'ing trackball for a second. Oh, FWIW, I did look at a Storm 2 several weeks ago when I was trying to decide between the iPhone or waiting for the Droid. Sorry RIM, not even close to good enough to keep me. |
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I was leery of buying another Moto phone, but this Droid rocks. Plain and simple. None of the restrictions that I hate about the iPhone and very un-Moto like hardware quality. |
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I too was looking @ the phone in a VZW store and got the same impression as the OP, it's not polished and has a way to go, but at the same time I am confident that it will get there in time. This OS has huge potential and I believe it will take off.
One of the biggest complaints that I've seen so far is the problems with exchange integration. It was announced that the Droid had native exchange sync support which is not working well at all. So there are folks who ditched their blackberries for the droid who are stuck. There's a issue on the Android code issue board and there are a lot of upset folks, and rightfully so seeing as this phone was supposed to have exchange integration. I'll probably wait a while and then spring for the Droid or a newer Android 2.x device down the line. At the same time, the Storm 2 is looking pretty promising for my corporate device. |
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I got a Droid on launch day. My last five handsets were Blackberries... this is the first device to make me switch.
Short review: the Blackberry is still the king of email, but the Droid (from a consumer standpoint anyway) trounces it in nearly every other regard. |
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While Google are now at version 2 with Android, most devices are still stuck on 1.5/1.6 and may possibly will be. I feel it's going to take one company to throw all their development at the platform to make Android "grow-up". I did love the google apps intregration, very good WebKit browser, interface etc. Just feel it needs another 18 months to mature. It's not the interface (I only had experience of the standard UI), but maybe the stability that needs to be improved. Loads of crashes and lots of sub-standard apps in the market that really need to be flushed made me go elsewhere. I was thinking of buying the Droid (called the Milestone here in the UK), but no network has offered it as of yet. I'll see how my experience goes with the new 9700 Bold. Only 3 days in and loving it already. Not really missing the touch-screen experience. |
I wish the Droid would come out for other carriers...heard a rumor of a gsm version making rounds.
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The Android OS rocks.
If google maps crashed, there must have been an issue with that phone. It doesn't happen on my wife's phone. It is rock solid, far faster than my 8530, and with a ton more apps. It ticks me off how every app for the BB cost money and my wife gets thousands of apps for free. Anything with Google behind it is going to be a winner. |
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Aside from that, the only phone at this point that will have issue running Android 2 is your G1, but the aforementioned hacking community already has it working quite well. Besides that, it's no worse than the number of handsets that RIM left out of the OS 5 upgrade. My wife bought an 8130 last December and it can't be upgraded to OS 5 so your point is, well, pointless. Better is in the eye of the beholder and to me, Android is the way to go. It is in every single way far superior to BB. That's just my opinion. |
Yeah tried the Droid compared to my touch
The mytouch seems 'slicker' BUT right now they only have OS 1.6 from google. Droid uses the new 2.0 OS which is much better. They won't give mytouch the new OS until Droid has had a chance to shine....so droid has the better OS.
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My Android upgraded itself. All reports also state it will continue to do so in the future. The Eris will move from 1.5 to 2.0 first of the year.
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I wish Verizion wasn't so ridiculously expensive :(. Came to over $70 a month before the university discount (15%) which was just too much for minimum minutes and unlim data. I pay about $45 with tmo right now for that. Also my G1 should be here Monday to try out and see if I like android or not, I plan on rooting it and putting on one of the 1.6 roms.
I also am worried about encryption/protection. With BB the password protection is almost bulletproof, 10 tries, it's wiped, no way around it. I don't see anything similar for the android, I hear the home screen locks a long home press can get around which is just plain unacceptable, no way would I want my email compromised if I lose my phone. |
i was looking @ some deals offered on wirefly.....so i thought it was time to take the plunge....
i've been with tmob for more than 3 years and i wasn't on contract, so i found it a little compelling to get a new phone. i decided to go with verizon this time, and wirefly was offering the 9550 for $ 80, the droid for $ 120. i chose to go with the droid.....although the bb experience has been great and i liked using my unlocked Storm with tmob, there wasn't much incentive for me to stay with tmob, as well as get another bb (i am a personal email user). ultimately, the thing that changed my mind to the droid was being stuck with bbos for another 2 yrs. although it's a good platform, i set a higher bar this time for web browsing & handset features..... so because i changed my mind midway in the order (from the 9550 to the droid), i received both in the mail. the 9550 box is 3 times the weight of the droid box....i wonder what's in there ? left the 9550 sealed because it's going back to wirefly..... so far the droid has this pretty solid industrial look and it's a hefty phone, playing around with the device a little it seems like a nice phone, but i'm limited to using it because it's not activated it. hopefully some time tomorrow it will be activated and i can get started moving all my personal info over..... meanwhile, i will miss doing things the bb way, but it's done now. it was a tough call for me, but from what i'm hearing so far, i don't think i'm going to regret it. there are some apps i do have with the bb that i haven't checked to see if android has an equivalent.....like datavault. |
My Blackberry Tour trackball froze so I brought it to my carrier. While I left my phone there, there was a Droid Eris newly displayed. I got the chance to play around with it and the interface. Wow. There was a Blackberry Storm2 as well beneath the case. Took a look at it and played around with the OS 5.0 interface. Ugh. It wasn't even a close contest between the Eris and the Storm2. It was that obvious.
More than just the OS and the interface, the Storm2 hardware felt heavier and brick like while the Eris felt thinner, lighter, just easier to handle. The cost of the phone and the data plan were also deeply in favor of the Eris. (The data plans are our local island carrier who uses a lot of Sprint and Verizon handsets.) |
i'm not sure how fast the storm 2 hardware is, but the droid....after 2 days use....it's just fast.
never ceases to amaze me, google maps + navigation, when i pulled that up today i pictured myself looking like a jacka$$ for spending money on a garmin last year.... |
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I personally prefer the standalone GPS devices for that reason and also because they talk to you, are much easier to see and have a large POI database. |
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only issue i have with stand-alone's is they lock u into a system where u now must pay every time you'd like to update your maps or get add-ons |
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