just got a Droid
Hi Apple fans. I got nervous about the iPhone getting more and more locked down. I pulled the trigger and got a Droid 2 Global. Seems more customizable than my preliminary messing around with iPhones, though I haven't really used iPhone too much. Had to make a choice, my phone broke. D2g seems to be a pretty good phone, after some tweaking. I made my family "apps" on my main Home screen so just touching the icons dials them in one touch. Can iPhone do that?
So anyone else here a Droid? How well does it sync on OS X, and what apps should I get to sync it to iCal, Mail, iTunes, other iLife stuff etc.
DROOOID. I love it! My first smartphone.
Also I should mention, Flash works great on it. Battery life is great. I got an extended battery though just in case.
So anyone else here a Droid? How well does it sync on OS X, and what apps should I get to sync it to iCal, Mail, iTunes, other iLife stuff etc.
DROOOID. I love it! My first smartphone.
Also I should mention, Flash works great on it. Battery life is great. I got an extended battery though just in case.
Comments
Hi Apple fans. I got nervous about the iPhone getting more and more locked down. I pulled the trigger and got a Droid 2 Global. Seems more customizable than my preliminary messing around with iPhones, though I haven't really used iPhone too much. Had to make a choice, my phone broke. D2g seems to be a pretty good phone, after some tweaking. I made my family "apps" on my main Home screen so just touching the icons dials them in one touch. Can iPhone do that?
So anyone else here a Droid? How well does it sync on OS X, and what apps should I get to sync it to iCal, Mail, iTunes, other iLife stuff etc.
DROOOID. I love it! My first smartphone.
Also I should mention, Flash works great on it. Battery life is great. I got an extended battery though just in case.
Here you go...all the info you need regarding your droid: http://tinyurl.com/6klzkdz
Enjoy!
I think one of the key differences is droid's Widgets. I'm already a big fan of them. I guess the multi-tasking is full-fledged on the Droid and that'd be another difference, though I don't know whether you can do that after jailbreaking iPhones. Same with widgets and custom launchers. Most of all though I wonder how the iPhone is as a phone. Even the Droid, still takes a few clicks to call someone. It seems to require more attention to use in the car. Although I haven't gotten a bluetooth yet. But unlocking etc. requires more time fiddling than just whipping open my old phone and hitting the speed dial button by feel. However: with the lock screen Pattern unlock and the one-button calling icon on the home screen it seems a lot quicker than iPhone.
Also I downloaded SNES and NES emulators. All games tested (mostly Mario ones) worked great, nice and smooth. But they just weren't practical to control with the keyboard, so I deleted them. Kinda sad about that, I figured with the slider keyboard they'd work. The keys are just too small. Also, the camera on this thing SUCKS. It blows out contrast ridiculously in the day, and anything vaguely white looks like the camera was pointed at the sun. But oh well it's a cell camera. It has a physical shutter button and zoom keys, which is another thing I like. A lot. Press the button, camera app opens.
Also syncing appears to be cumbersome with Android. Motorola Media sync just won't work. I have both platforms up to date. Sailing Mediasync seems to work but will cost money. If it works of course I'll gladly buy it but I'm disappointed with Motorola on that front. Also I wish phone makers in general would have a cover over the camera lens. Seems like a no-brainer. Battery life is ok, at least a day's worth with intense use. I did get an extended battery. But it lasts several days if I don't use it much. So that seems pretty decent.
Call quality is actually a bit poorer than my old LG clamshell handset, I have to say. It's still okay, but I feel like it's slightly worse... Speakerphone is very loud and clear, though. Also of note, it's a "world phone" that takes SIM cards and does GSM plus CDMA. But most importantly and what worried me about iPhone is no proximity issues. No death grip. No screen issues. It's nice and heavy but I like that. It seems like most apps so far that I have wanted are on both iOS and Android OS. Hey, at least it's not Windows Mobile, then I'd understand ya'll piling on me here!
So anyone else use Android here? Thoughts? Also I'm still wondering if I should convert my $15 150mb data plan to a $30 unlimited before VZ switched to tiered pricing as well. I'm watching my usage.
"Well... NES games suck, because you can't control them, but it's cool that I can do it!"
"Well... Flash sucks on Android, but at least I have the choice!"
"Android is better than the iPhone because I can run NFS in the background!"
So anyone else use Android here? Thoughts?
I'm an Android user, but my experience is quite the opposite. Maybe two years ago, I had AT&T and an iPhone 3GS. I left because AT&T's service was unusable for a month and I wasn't willing to wait and see how many more months I would have to wait for the service to improve, if it ever did. I first switched to Sprint and used various devices to try and get the best experience (or one equal to or surpassing the iPhone): Pre, Samsung Instinct HD, BB Tour, and HTC Hero. Didn't take. I then switched to VZW and got a Droid (the original), a Storm 2, Droid Eris, Palm Pre Plus, Droid Pro, Droid X, all, again, in an effort to equal or surpass my experience with the iPhone. I have also used the Motorola Q Global and Nokia E72 and, thus, just about every mobile OS available. Some of the hardware was great, but none of them equaled or surpassed the experience on the iPhone In fact, I am currently holding on to my Droid until the iPhone 5 is released. Reasons? Here are some:
1. App quality. Apple might be a tryant, but you have to exercise some standards when it comes to apps and Google seems to exercise zero standards, all in an effort to appear free or freer to the developers. Moreover, considering that the Android Market isn't making much money for the developers, they're not attracting the best developers.
2. Fragmentation. iOS doesn't suffer from this, for obvious reasons: one manufacturer; one device, released annually, by the same company that makes the OS. You have no idea what it's like to have apps work on one device at not on another or the pain in waiting for updates. It's frustrating. You have the manufacturers and carriers add/remove apps/features and overlay the OS with custom UIs, to the point that it takes months to received an update. Hence, the reason why rooting is so popular on Android. It's almost a must in order to get the best experience.
3. Multitasking. Yes, we all know that iOS doesn't multitask in the same way, but it also doesn't need task killers or have apps randomly open or grant themselves permission without your knowledge.
4. Freedom vs. simplicity. I prefer the latter. Why does an OS need to be complicated or take six steps to perform simple tasks? Some things you need to do on Android, some things you want to do on iOS, such as download an alternative launcher, task killers, anti-virus programs, quick uninstallers, or alternative music programs (the one that comes with Android sucks). You might want these things for iOS, but don't necessarily need them.
5. The experience. I find iOs to be be a more polished, refined, and complete mobile operating system than Android.
Of course, all of the above is just my experience and my opinion, but I do think there is a certain benefit to Apple making both the device and the OS. With Android and the various manufacturers and carriers, just about every is different: UIs, button placement, OS versions, etc. I mean, Gingerbread was announced late last year and only two phones (the Nexus One and Nexus S) have it. Google is already talking about Ice Cream (the next version of the OS), when 98% of the devices don't have Gingerbread and many don't have Froyo. Rooting then because a necessary, but even with rooting you have to choose customs ROMs and be at the behest of the people who develop them (they add and remove apps/feature too) and, of course, void your warranty.
Obviously, you're happy with Android and I don't wish to pee in your Kool-Aid, but you did ask for other opinions.
Instead of or in addition to releasing an iPhone mini it would be cool if Apple released an iPhone Pro. With keyboard, more customizing allowed, etc.
Thank you mirodd for your info. Well I am waiting for Gingerbread 2.3 on my Droid. Mostly it was the the physical buttons that made me get Droid, and the speed dial icons. tonton you're old school so I know what you mean. Again, I'm feeling like an old fogey, but I need my buttons!
Instead of or in addition to releasing an iPhone mini it would be cool if Apple released an iPhone Pro. With keyboard, more customizing allowed, etc.
Then download gingerbread yourself:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=869355
-Just root your phone
-Install Rom Manager for free
-Reboot into recovery mode
-Wipe data / factory reset. Wipe Cache / Dalvik cache
-Install the rom of your choice (in this case Fission)
-Done. Enjoy.
I'm running Gingerbread on my 1 year old HTC Aria on AT&T. Overclocked pretty high and it's working great for me. I switched from an iphone to android because the amount of features is incredible (Swype texting anyone????) I'm just waiting to see what the iphone 5 has to offer now
Then download gingerbread yourself:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=869355
-Just root your phone
-Install Rom Manager for free
-Reboot into recovery mode
-Wipe data / factory reset. Wipe Cache / Dalvik cache
-Install the rom of your choice (in this case Fission)
-Done. Enjoy.
I'm running Gingerbread on my 1 year old HTC Aria on AT&T. Overclocked pretty high and it's working great for me. I switched from an iphone to android because the amount of features is incredible (Swype texting anyone????) I'm just waiting to see what the iphone 5 has to offer now
Those aren't gingerbread ROMs, those are Froyo ROMs themed to look like gingerbread. Only Google's Nexus phones have the official gingerbread update.
Another thing I've noticed that is nice about sliders with cases that have a kickstand is you can set it up on a table like a little mini-TV.
Only Google's Nexus phones have the official gingerbread update.
In December Google announced that Gingerbread (Android 2.3) would be pushed to Google Nexus One and Nexus S phones "in the coming weeks".
That's 10 weeks ago, and I still haven't got it on my Nexus One! Where is it?
Although I have been a MacHead since '85 I chose Android instead of iPhone because I don't like Apple's lock-in/lock-out strategy one bit, and love Android's openness, versatility and pliability. And at the going rate Android IS the market leader!
In December Google announced that Gingerbread (Android 2.3) would be pushed to Google Nexus One and Nexus S phones "in the coming weeks".
That's 10 weeks ago, and I still haven't got it on my Nexus One! Where is it?
Although I have been a MacHead since '85 I chose Android instead of iPhone because I don't like Apple's lock-in/lock-out strategy one bit, and love Android's openness, versatility and pliability. And at the going rate Android IS the market leader!
I'm glad I'm not alone, I was beginning to wonder if anyone else that had a Mac had a Droid. I did the same exact thing for same reasons as you! We're like a little community, within a little community! Us Apple/Android users gotta stick together ya know!
I'm glad I'm not alone, I was beginning to wonder if anyone else that had a Mac had a Droid. I did the same exact thing for same reasons as you! We're like a little community, within a little community! Us Apple/Android users gotta stick together ya know!
The psychological prob with users of a brand is that they find it almost impossible to admit their brand's downsides. Which is why rarely anybody here 'confesses' to using or liking another brand.
The App Store is Apple's latest 'development' that makes me definitely not rule out Linux for a next machine: the App Store requires you to register your credit card details to even download FREE applications! That's absurd! Even if I've used, and enjoyed, dozens of Macs over the past 25 years!
Let's face it: when the fun is over, it is over!
I divorced my wife when the fun was over, so I'm not afraid to also divorce my computer or OS brand, if necessary!
In December Google announced that Gingerbread (Android 2.3) would be pushed to Google Nexus One and Nexus S phones "in the coming weeks".
That's 10 weeks ago, and I still haven't got it on my Nexus One! Where is it?
Beats me, but that's the one headache I'm not willing to deal with anymore. I agree that Android is "more open," but open to what and open for what? Openness isn't inherently better, at least not without some set standards and responsibility by the app developers and Google. Android has also opened carriers and manufacturers to push bloatware unto consumers. Surely, they're doing it to subsidized costs, but it also hijacks the pure Android experience. I rooted my Droid X (now running Liberty 1.6) to try and get vanilla Android, but Liberty is still hijacked. It's a custom ROM that also comes with things I don't want/need and also removes things I might have wanted or needed. It's the same with all the custom ROMs I've tried. And if there are bugs or stability issues, you have to wait on/contact the ROM developer; the fixes can take a while, if they ever come. I've gotten so frustrated I simply packed up my Droid X and started using my RAZR again. I can live with Apple's policies. I don't think they're the best or that there is no fault in them, it's just that overall I prefer the way Apple does things. I find Android too loose and all over the place, with no set standards and no real responsibility from Google or the app developers. It's open to a degree, but not like Linux. With Linux anyone can get the code/kernel and develop/modify it (remember Android is Linux based); with Android you have to wait until Google releases it, and that, as you can see, can take months. That's not how open-source works.
Put simply: There is no free lunch. Everything comes with a cost.
1 - Widgets. Yeah, I know you can get them on iOS via jailbreaking, but frankly, all the ones on iOS suck. My nephews have iTouches and Jailbroke them...the widgets they were able to get were a pale shadow of Android widgets, both in quality and quantity. Widgets are definitely something I would miss if I went to an iPhone. Another thing that is not exactly a widget but similar, is Launchers. These change the look and feel of the device. They control how your "desktop" looks and behaves. Right now I am using one called LaucherPro, which is far superior to the stock launcher. Its animation is as good as anything I have seen on an iPhone, and it contains many options the stock launcher lacks. Like widgets, these do not require rooting.
2 - Flash. Yeah, I know the story "OMG you dont need Flash anyway"...thats true. I hardly ever use it. But if I go to a website where I need it, I suddenly need it BAD. This has already happened to me in the days before I upgraded to Android 2.2 on my Droid 1...I went to a site with Flash menus or other flash content and could not see anything. I could use Skyfire to access videos, but that was it. It is something I did miss. It is not something I use all the time, but its something that I know I would miss the first time I did need it. Also the "OMG flash is sloooow anyway!" argument is stupid...on my Droid 1 it works fine for menus or videos or other content. It isnt great for games, but many Flash games do work even on my now-obsolete Droid 1.
3 - Censorship. This really bugs me about Apple...I dont like the idea of Apple censoring content I have access to just because it doesnt like the content. I feel that as an adult, if I want to download the "iBoobies" app (or whatever) I should be allowed to do so. Disallowing apps for competing products (say, Android magazines) really bothers me too.
4 - No drag and drop media. This would be another deal breaker for me. I am really used to just plugging my Droid into my computer via USB and using like a hard drive. The idea of having to "sync" every single file seems really annoying to me. I installed Dropbox on my nephew's iTouch a few weeks ago...I could not get it to actually download anything to the device. It would stream, but not download files. When I asked him what was wrong, he said "nothing". A few seconds later he asked me with a shocked look "You mean Android lets you actually DOWNLOAD stuff with that??". It was pretty funny. He actually thought that streaming instead of downloading was normal.
5 - No expandability/removability. That was a huge plus for me in choosing Android. I have been using 16 gigs for the past year, but if I wanted to I could go to the store right now and double my memory. And I could do it all on my own...which is the other point. I dont need Apple to replace or upgrade my phone for me. No charge, no wait. I can buy after market batteries that are better than stock, or I can use more than one battery for long trips.
6 - Customization. I always thought it was ironic that Apple's commercials said "think different' yet they all looked the same. This is something that I admit is entirely subjective and not a functionality issue, but I like customizing my phone. Things like Live Wallpaper are just really neat (and like widgets, dont require rooting). I like customizing all the sounds and alerts as well.
7 - Notification Bar. This is something I use constantly and would miss a lot. I can get to push content fast and easy and it is very intuitive to use.
8 - Android software. Various things like turn by turn directions, voice command support, ect. Google maps is well integrated and I use it all the time.
Also...someone brought up fragmentation earlier. iOS also has fragmentation. My nephews have 3rd generation iTouches, but say they will not upgrade to the latest OS because it slows down their devices significantly. Other iOS devices are "retired" and cannot use the latest OS at all. Is that not also fragmentation?
Well, there are more, but those are the major things.
Like I said I do not hate Apple products. Apple beats the crap out of Blackberry, WebOS, Symbian and everything else. I dont want Apple to die (though I dont want them to be an industry standard either).
The psychological prob with users of a brand is that they find it almost impossible to admit their brand's downsides. Which is why rarely anybody here 'confesses' to using or liking another brand.
The App Store is Apple's latest 'development' that makes me definitely not rule out Linux for a next machine: the App Store requires you to register your credit card details to even download FREE applications! That's absurd! Even if I've used, and enjoyed, dozens of Macs over the past 25 years!
Let's face it: when the fun is over, it is over!
I divorced my wife when the fun was over, so I'm not afraid to also divorce my computer or OS brand, if necessary!
You have to give Apple credit card # to download free apps? I agree with you that is disturbing. Also Jeff as you point out Google Maps / Navigation is AWESOME. There's no reason it can't be on iPhone except that Steve Jobs said iPhone users aren't allowed to have it. Same for Flash. Sad. I need Flash a lot. It works fine on my Droid 2. Again, wouldn't it be best to have options left off by default but available to power users like us? Apple used to be Think Different. What happened to them. I still think Macs are great and our community is great. But I also am very happy to discover how great the Droid community is. In fact it reminds me of old-school Apple. Lots of hacking and it's a great way to learn a LOT about modern phone OS and hardware.
Google Maps / Navigation is AWESOME. There's no reason it can't be on iPhone except that Steve Jobs said iPhone users aren't allowed to have it.
That has more to do with Google and their strained relationship with Apple plus the fact that they now compete directly with Apple. Google Maps with free turn-by-turn voice guided navigation is also not available on Blackberries, webOS, Symbian, WP7, etc. If Google Maps/Navigation was the same on other platforms as it is on Android, what would make Android unique? It's Android's killer feature, especially for those who drive.
I am currently running a Gingerbread (Android 2.3) ROM. I have not installed a task killer since version 2.2...just havnt needed one. I dont know what specific changes they have made since 2.1, but whatever it is it removed my need to use task killers.
The OS does allow you to force an app to close (you will have to navigate through several settings menus, but it works). But Android seems to do a great job of managing memory on its own now.
I use a Samsung Galaxy Android phone. I hate it, but need it for work. Battery life is laughable if I use it for data. Tried the same thing on an iPhone and it makes me jealous.
The battery life and performance of the phone went up after I rooted it. Makes you wonder what the manufacturers and Google are upto.
Touch screen on my particular phone is bad. App performance is not unto par. I think Google should set baseline hardware requirements for their OS.
But I am not going to get an Apple iPhone until Apple gets their act straight in India. 700 USD for a carrier locked 3GS and there is no official iPhone 4 here yet.
Please share your experiences on how flash based websites that are designed for a desktop scale and work on a small screen touch based device.
I use a Samsung Galaxy Android phone. I hate it, but need it for work. Battery life is laughable if I use it for data. Tried the same thing on an iPhone and it makes me jealous.
The battery life and performance of the phone went up after I rooted it. Makes you wonder what the manufacturers and Google are upto.
Touch screen on my particular phone is bad. App performance is not unto par. I think Google should set baseline hardware requirements for their OS.
But I am not going to get an Apple iPhone until Apple gets their act straight in India. 700 USD for a carrier locked 3GS and there is no official iPhone 4 here yet.
Flash works great. I watch videos on it all the time. Web apps work great. Need it for work like yourself. I don't know if the iPhone processor is just much slower or what, but I'd assume it's not, and Flash would work fine on iPhone if Apple would just allow it. The Droid 2 Global's CPU is only 1.2 ghz. So roughly comparable to iPhone 4. Also battery life is great. It lasts almost two days. I usually keep GPS and mobile data off unless I'm using them of course. But wifi is always on. I use flash a lot, too. I did get the extended battery, though. I was going to overclock it soon with setcpu and see if it gets "Snappier", but it's already as snappy as an iPhone 4, it's essentially real-time.
And I expect with 2.3 and Flash 10.2 it'll be even better.
More and more cool things I am discovering on Droid that require jailbreaking or aren't possible on iPhone. Without even requiring root. The multitasking is great. I use it a lot to do several things at once. That's another big thing I should have mentioned. It's just great!
That has more to do with Google and their strained relationship with Apple plus the fact that they now compete directly with Apple. Google Maps with free turn-by-turn voice guided navigation is also not available on Blackberries, webOS, Symbian, WP7, etc. If Google Maps/Navigation was the same on other platforms as it is on Android, what would make Android unique? It's Android's killer feature, especially for those who drive.
Google makes money off ads. Why would it keep their services and web apps off other platforms? I highly doubt it's their fault. I would image it's Apple and the other platforms that are blocking Google apps for some reason. (Why I can't imagine, though. Google Nav OWNS as you mentioned, it's killer for sure)