Got DROID?
…Yes I am one of them, yes I was there before they opened the doors. Store I went to had orange juice, cookies, and yes, even doughnuts.
Just going to post some of my thoughts on this device having used a Blackberry Storm (and Pearl, and Tour for a few minutes). No need for pics, everyone else has them.
Packaging:
Lets call it efficient. The box contains exactly what you need to get going, nothing more: the phone, the battery, a power brick, usb/charging cable, random paperwork. That’s it. A bit light compared to what came with any of my past phones. Things missing: a token wired hands-free/headphone set (the one from my Blackberry works…); some kind of case/wallet/sleeve, I know it’s a distinctive phone, but lets not scratch it m’kay? I opted to try their hard-case option – not fully perfect, I can feel a corner snap back in place after pushing the slider back in.
Hardware:
Distinctive and solid. Little exterior plastic, full metal and glass. Back plate/battery door is rubberized to limit sliding around. Slider movement takes a little work but moves smooth.
This is a hardware/software note – the hardware camera button on the Blackberry actually fired up the camera, on the droid it does not, it only acts as the shutter button. It might be an option I’ve missed but shouldn’t it be default?
Regarding buttons, I think the lack of hardware start/end call buttons could lead to some confusion. With a hardware end call button, there is no question on how to end the call.
The ’soft buttons’ on the bottom of the DROID for ‘back’, ‘menu’, ‘home’, and ’search’ seem to be sensitive up the the edge of the device which for me resulted in more than one fals triggering. The small lip of the hard case has helped with this.
Software:
I’d also call the out of box software ‘efficient’. Little more than the basics (Facebook, YouTube, …). Conversely there is no shortage of software available.
First a negative, coming from Blackberry the Facebook integration is lacking. On the Blackberry the updates would take you into the Application and allow appropriate responses. On the Android the integration simply isn’t there (or not turned on?).
And on the other front, one item I wanted once I had a ’smart’ phone was the ability to ssh to hosts. Even after finding MidpSSH everything was a battle, hard to use, hard to read, it worked, kinda. Under Android however connectbot just worked.
Voice search is just too cool. Around the dinner table a request was made for the ‘This Is Halloween’ cover by Marilyn Manson. I just tapped the YouTube app, tapped search, tapped the microphone and said ‘this is Halloween by Marilyn Manson’, picked a result, and success! The iPhone at the table remained unimpressed.
Bottom line, no it’s not perfect. But it is better than the others I have tried. I have had no ‘wanna pitch it across the room’ moments, yet.
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