The Droid fails AS A PRODUCT when compared to Palm Pre and iPhone

November 8, 2009 By

So, the hype got to me. Yesterday I headed to Verizon and bought a Motorola Droid, which runs Google’s Android operating system.

Last night my friend Luke Kilpatrick came over and we compared the Droid to the Palm Pre and iPhone. He’s a bit biased toward the Palm, and ran the first Palm Pre Dev Camp but he’s also a mobile freak and has an iPhone and an HTC Hero, which runs an older version of the Android OS. Plus we get together with other people at the Ritz and compare phones regularly and I know he is fair and knows his stuff.

Why did I buy the Droid when I’m a happy iPhone? Because for the past two days Dave Winer has been praising the Droid and because I want to stay up to date on what’s going on on the Android OS. It’s one thing to try a phone for a couple of minutes, it’s a whole nother thing to force yourself to use it.

For instance, if you see it in the store you might not see that the battery door keeps popping off. If it does that after only a few hours of use it’ll really bug the crap out of you after a year.

And that gives you some insight into why the Motorola Droid fails AS A PRODUCT when compared to the Palm Pre and iPhone.

Now, thousands of words have been written about the Droid here’s Chris Brogan who praises the Droid. CrunchGear did TWO in depth iPhone vs. Droid phone comparisons. Here’s the first. Here’s the second. I HIGHLY recommend reading these.

They are right that Android is an interesting phone because it has interesting technology that goes further than the iPhone. What is better about the Droid?

1. It has a FAR better screen. The screen is amazing on the Droid. The Palm Pre is similarly sharp but is very small.
2. Verizon is amazing. It didn’t drop on the usual dead zone on my route home. I have 3G in my house. AT&T? Major fail.
3. The call quality is noticeably better. Dave Winer and I did a comparison last night (we both kept our iPhones) and the phone quality is noticeably better.
4. There are some apps that are dramatically better. Google’s Voice (which Mike Arrington loves) and Google’s Sky Map are two that have already stood out. Other apps are noticeably not even close to as good. Facebook and all the Twitter apps, for instance, are a LOT better on the iPhone.
5. There are some features that are better on Android. The text completion, for instance, is better on Android. It shows you a selection of words it thinks you are trying to type. Dave tells me it learns, too, from your usage. Something iPhone doesn’t do nearly as well.
6. It has a physical keyboard. More on that later.
7. Developers say they like the Android platform better and find that they are able to push apps to customers faster than on iPhone. (Palm Pre has the same advantages and Kilpatrick points out that its developer platform is based on web technologies (Javascript and CSS) rather than on harder-to-learn Java.
8. Integration with Google’s apps (calendar, mail, etc) is better and deeper into the phone than on iPhone (new Gmails pop up on top with an icon, for instance).

Anyway, if you read all of these you might be already headed out the door to buy the Droid.

Here is why you might not want to head out the door yet and why the Droid just isn’t a great product (and, why, on the other hand, if you are a developer you should run now):

First, the out-of-box experience. My first reaction was “boy is the screen beautiful but boy am I overwhelmed by the complexity.” What do I mean by that? the iPhone has a far simpler UI. You can only drag it one direction, left and right. On the Droid you can drag the UI left and right and up and down. This introduces a LOT more complexity. I can see how geeks love it, though, because it’s like getting another monitor. More places to stick icons! Dave Winer told me I would get over this complexity. He’s probably right, because I’m a power user and can see the power in such an approach. It just doesn’t give you a nice out-of-box experience the way the iPhone does. Normal people will try this phone at a Verizon store and not even understand why it feels more complicated.

Second, the hardware. I totally disagree with CrunchGear on this point. Greg Kumparak said that the Droid is “a shining example of great industrial design.”

Oh, please.

It’s a phone an engineer could love. Compared to the iPhone or the Palm Pre it isn’t even in the same league. The battery door on the back proves my point. The iPhone? They just got rid of the idea of replaceable batteries and the Palm Pre spent a LOT of time making sure that having a replaceable battery did NOT make the phone have a noticeable door. The back of both the iPhone and the Palm Pre is smooth. The back of the Droid is not. That is NOT a shining example of great industrial design.

So, where else does the phone not measure up AS A PRODUCT?

The Web browser. Here, go to http://www.techmeme.com. The iPhone displays it properly. The Droid does not (the right hand menu is underneath the content area). This is one reason I’ve turned away from Nokia phones. If your web browser doesn’t work right on the first few websites I visit, what’s the chances it’ll work right on your banking site, or when you go to ESPN or something?

Where else does the Droid fall flat?

Well, last night we went to YouTube on all of the phones. Every phone displayed the high res videos except one: the Droid. Come on now, this is a Google OS running a Google service. It should work far better than the iPhone or the Palm Pre. But it doesn’t and there isn’t an obvious way to force the HD version to come down. Major fail.

What else does it fall flat on?

Most people, when I look at their iPhones, have a common set of apps. Facebook is #1 amongst them. When I visited Apple’s headquarters recently they had a huge screen with the top 3,000 apps displayed on it. Each app blinked when the app was downloaded. Which app was blinking the fastest? Facebook’s.

But Facebook’s UI sucks on Droid compared to iPhone.

Most people will see this and say Droid sucks. Just this one app will affect millions of people’s decisions as to whether or not the phone is a real product. If I were Google I’d make sure that Facebook had BY FAR the best app on Android and if they weren’t willing to play ball with you I’d build my own and put my best engineers on it.

And that comes to Twitter. The best Twitter app on the Droid sucks (everyone told me that Twidroid was the best app on the Droid for Twitter and, indeed, it has the highest ratings in the app store on the Droid). It does not even come close to ANY of the top five apps on the iPhone, not to mention my favorite, Tweetie. It is clear that the bleeding edge app developers are not yet putting their best work into the Android platform. That is quickly changing, Pandora’s founder, Tim Westergren, told me he is seeing the most growth in Android of all the platforms Pandora is available on and they are putting a lot of work into making sure Pandora rocks on Android, but it hasn’t shown up in the apps most people will try. At least not yet.

Some other reasons why the Droid isn’t a great product?

The keyboard and cursor control just don’t come up to the standards set by the Blackberry I had 10 years ago. It’s a low-cost glued on keyboard that just doesn’t offer that many benefits over an optical keyboard. I said on the podcast that I need a week to really give you feedback about why it’s unsatisfying, but here’s an example from my friend Steve Repetti: if you buy the optional case it peels the keyboard off! I talked with Steve last night and he said he almost didn’t write the blog post because he really wants Android to succeed (he’s a developer, are you noticing a trend?) but that he wanted to warn people not to use the rubber “bra.” This is an example of how the industrial design just wasn’t thought out. More and more I’m liking Apple’s decision to just get rid of the physical keyboard. Yes, people gripe about not having a physical keyboard, but no keyboard makes the device a simpler and better-thought-out product.

Another reason?

No multitouch. I just talked with Dave Winer about this and he says it’s the number one thing most people mention to him after he shows them his Droid. It doesn’t make sense, either, because other Android phones support multitouch (pinching to make things zoom in and out). If you really can’t use multitouch you MUST provide a better UI to zoom in. Last night I was at the Ritz with my Droid and tried to show some people some photos of Mavericks. I could not figure out how to zoom in. Later I found that the zoom control was hidden in the corner. Nice way to make me feel stupid. iPhone never had this problem.

Another reason?

In Verizon you could barely even tell that this was a huge product launch weekend. One dinky little sign. Now compare how Apple does the full-court press on its new products. Everyone is wearing T-shirts. There’s tons of signage. There’s tons of excitement. Our salesguy was excited but he was still carrying his old Blackberry. That spoke volumes to me that Verizon really isn’t behind the Droid. It’s just another phone in a long list of phones to them.

Another reason?

The camera sucks. First of all, it’s crashed on me several times. The iPhone and Palm Pre cameras have never crashed on me. Second, the iPhone camera seems magical. You can touch the screen to tell it where to focus. Don’t care about that? Yeah, the Droid has a flash but the flash in the Palm Pre works a LOT better (we took pictures last night in near darkness to compare). The iPhone also has a much better selection of photo apps to use and manipulate your images. Since the camera is an integral part of the experience, this one will leave most people unsatisfied. I do love that the phone says “5 megapixel” right under the camera. The iPhone doesn’t (it’s only a 3, but I found the camera quality to be about the same so far, so even the extra megapixels amount to little more than talk without action).

Anyway, I could keep going. I’ll keep it at least a week and push myself to use it. The voice quality is so much better that I might just use it as my phone and keep the iPhone for other things. I’m fortunate that I can afford to do that, but if I were forced into picking one, today, I’d pick the iPhone without hesitating and I’d recommend the same to everyone.

I told Dave Winer that it looks a lot like Windows 3.1. The Mac back then was way better, but we all know that Apple ended up in 1995 with a small market share compared to Windows 95. The thing is, the Droid is Windows 3.1. It is showing the momentum is shifting but now Google has to ship their metaphorical equivalent of Windows 95. It isn’t this phone.

That said, what do you think? Am I missing something?

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  • jonjonjonjonjon

    Whatever you wrote and I had no problem with DROID. It is not about iPhone or DROID…it's about the coverage. I do love iPhone but I can't use AT&T because it doesn't have the service in many areas. For example, when I am in the Catskill, AT&T doesn't have the coverage and I am stuck.

  • doug

    Text entry on the qwerty keyboard was cumbersome and stupid; there's no dedicated “@” key, for example, for entering emails (!). And to enter numbers, you MUST press at least two keys, sometimes two keys for each number. This is just plain badly thought-out, or should I say, NOT thought out. Scrolling I found impossible by touch, because it often activated apps by mistake. The default website cropped up again and again, I was unable to change the home page to anything else; the GPS was unreachable, and you can't see where the Google Maps is located. The browser being unmanageable was one big reason I turned it in as a piece of beta hardware, about two gens from prime time.

  • http://seekng.com/ memes

    I”m beginning to doubt your understanding of how applications work.

    the iPhone has 256MB of RAM. This is not the same as “app memory” you keep trotting out. Applications installed onto the iPhone must all be packed into the same “app memory”, which leads to very large application installations.

    After this, the CPU must push the app into RAM, which is the same on iPhones and the typical android device.

    If you look at many games on a PC, you'll see that executables are often quite small, and game data is loaded from elsewhere on the drive. This is analagous to small footprint in Android app memory, with data downloaded to the SD. This is exactly what i'm doing with my next game. Game data often dwarfs the needs of executable code, in terms of storage.

    The G1 has 8GB, which i work with, the Droid has 16GB on its SD. Obviously i won't use but a fraction of this. I'm not concerned. You keep trying to speak for Android developers, but you've got it wrong, sir.

    As a developer, however, i am hesitant to deal with Apple's app-rejection process, buy up all their hardware and pay for more expensive dev licenses, and shudder at the thought of refunds being possible 90 days out from point-of-purchase.

  • http://seekng.com/ memes

    your headline is stupid linkbait
    too bad you can't be sued, or forced to take an IQ test
    really disappointed in you, especially when i saw tweetards mindlessly RT'ing this drivel.

  • http://randomfoo.net/ lhl

    Ah yes, a Home->Menu->Settings ->scroll->About phone->Battery use away to get that listing and another simple click->Application Info->scroll->Force stop to stop. What more could you want? ;P

    I prefer webOS's Home->swipe up method better, but since Android already uses the long-press on the Home button to bring up a task-switcher, ideally I'd like to be able to either drag the app icon from the switcher box outside (a la how the OS X Dock works for removal), or dragging to an “X”, or being able to long press on the icon and choosing to kill the process.

    Aaron: as ProfessionalGun touches upon, it's moreso battery-life issues than performance problems per se. Some apps don't behave in the most power-efficient way…

  • http://seekng.com/ memes

    this is hardly a reason to consider the product a big FAIL. Overly dramatic

    And, you aren't entirely correct, as others have pointed out here long before your comment. Highest quality youtube is DEFAULT when you are wireless, and NOT when you are 3G. This is arguably a reasonable position to take, in terms of feature design. If you had real journalistic instincts you might have tried to find out if Verizon requested this (not sure if you've claimed these instincts, but you do seem to try to come off as a bit of a tech journalist)

  • http://seekng.com/ memes

    i am in general agreement with you on all points..

    but i don't like conceding the that Design is one that would appeal ONLY to Geeks or Engineers.

    This is a fallacy. Imagine a Mercenary using the Droid over the lovely, curvy iPhone. Granted, I don't like Blackwater types either, so let's go with an agent of the Secret Service. Or some dude at an NFL game.

    I wouldn't necessarily make this point, but Verizon and Motorola are obviously including this angle in their marketing (making a play for the tough guy.. even the iTough Guys..)

    I have a G1, my co-worker has a Droid, and another has an iPhone 3gs.. next to the Droid, the iPhone looks like an egg (maybe its the powder-blue skin..) And he does NOT look cool or stylish when he has to shut down his browser in order to chat (he even tries to hide this at lunch)

  • J.R.

    “Text entry on the qwerty keyboard was cumbersome and stupid; there's no dedicated “@” key, for example, for entering emails (!).”

    Yes there is. It's next to the space bar on the left. . Sounds like you really spent some time with the phone.

    • Anonymous

      Actually, J.R., there are TWO different versions; the one sold by Costco is the CLIQ, which only has 3 rows of keys and no dedicated number keys, no dedicated “@” key, and a whole host of other issues. I consider it a rare case of Costco ripping-off the unwary; frankly, I didn’t look to see if the keyboard was workable, I just trusted Costco.
      It turns out that the Motorola version of the Android does have 4 rows of keys, dedicated number and “@” keys.
      The CLIQ requires you to press alt to get the “@” and alt-number to get the number.

      It also has the issue of the back falling off, the bad scrolling, the poorly designed desktop, and the fact that it by default goes to some weird website instead of the home page you set it to.

      Costco stumbled on this one, and so did I for trusting them without looking. Let the buyer beware, not all ‘droids are the same, and it’s probably better to wait for them to settle into commodity mode.

  • beertroll

    I believe the gap he is referring to is the feature gap and that obviously is closing. There are no reports that prove that but compare say a G1 to the iPhone features at that point in time and then compare the Droid to the 3GS. Features alone don't make the phone, but he was just merely stating that they are making fast progress.

    It is a difficult position to be in, being the industry leader. You need to truly innovate while everyone else can copy your ideas. It is no surprise that the competitors are going to narrow the gap on features. Apple has a strategic advantage though because they can leverage their mindshare, itunes and a huge lead in app development.

    As far as the progress that Apple has made I gotta say, it is quiet pitiful. My 1st gen iPhone is really not much better than it was at release. They have taken their sweet time implementing basic features and there are still features that I consider to be necessary. Honestly as a developer myself I would be embarrassed at the tacked on “notification” system of the iPhone if I was an Apple developer.

  • bruder

    I got the droid a few days ago. I've never had an iPhone because AT&T is a non-starter for me. I did have an iPod touch for awhile so I am familiar with the user experience. This is my first smartphone, I've never had a blackberry.

    The physical keyboard on the Droid is much easier for me to use than the software keyboards on the Droid/Touch. There is no comparison. I think that the users who complain about the keyboard are comparing it to a blackberry.

    I also think the notification system on the Droid is much better than the iPhone. The indicator LED has significant benefit which is rarely mentioned.

    The things I don't like are the lack of bluetooth voice dialing, and the fact that the Android 2.0 is buggy. If Google/Moto fix these two issues I will be very happy with the device.

    For me, the ability to hold an call is about 100x more important than pinch to zoom.

    I haven't had any problems with the battery door on my phone. I appreciate the replaceable battery, memory card, and standard micro-USB interface for charging and data communications.

  • destardi

    It's been 2 weeks.

    The battery is EXCELLENT; and this metal detector app is freaking cool, hehe.

    I also love that Android Market has an automatic option after downloading an app if you don't like it, to “Uninstall and Refund”.

    How long has Android been around? And how far has it come? Still in it's infancy, but yet it can kick Apple's butt.

    This is going to be interesting.

    luv my Droid.

  • destardi

    My Droid can detect metal studs in a wall; can one of your 100,000 apps do that? Also, how many apps were available for iphone when it first came out? Heh…as an apple fanboy, you should be scared.

  • destardi

    Again, I don't think “so easy, a 4 year old can do it” should be seen as a compliment.

  • rabidcb

    The iPhone already has this app Droidtard. The battery is excellent? Aren't those replaceable batteries?

  • destardi

    Flimsy? hahahaah. What do you call 'flimsy'? Your use of this word to describe the keyboard betrays your bias, and casts the rest of your post/comments in doubt.

    FYI – Your pie is burning in the oven, mr. ladyman.

  • destardi

    'Droidtard'. That's very creative, did you come up with that all by yourself?

  • rabidcb

    I think the basic jist of his post was that he was unipressed with the phone and considered it a heap of poor engineering. If you don't agree, then why is that a problem? He has a different perspective than you and a different standard of quality level than yours. You may like flimsy keyboards and think they are the norm, he on the other hand may have experience with good vs poor quality. Don't get mad just because he recognizes the fact you can't polish a turd, just ignore him and keep polishing.

  • destardi

    And…a replaceable battery? Point? My phone charges in under an hour, and lasts 24 hours with heavy useage. And I don't present myself as a tool.

  • rabidcb

    Actually your username inspired it and your post validated it. Thanks for the inspiration, knew you were good for something.

  • Marty

    Yes. I have been a software developer for 15 years and I have always picked the option that is cheaper, provides more options, and is more open. That approach has always worked for me.

    I agree that Apple will always provide a friendly solution that will work for two groups. People that are very affluent and people who are desperate for others to think they are very affluent.

    My guess is that within a year there will be a free Android phone my guess is that within NEVER there will be a free IPhone.

    As for developers. I remember when 1 out of 3 developers I met were Mac developers. I don't think I've met a Mac developer in at least 5 years.

    I think the IPhone snobs (not all IPhone users are snobs) are defensive and making up names like Droidtard because they don't like the idea of the masses having cool apps too. And gawd forbid these masses have some better apps (like the metal detector app).

    So yes I still feel good about the droid. I will be getting one (well three – one for myself, one for my wife, and one for my daughter) when my current contract ends in two weeks.

  • rabidcb

    I highly doubt you have been a software developer for 15 years and if so it's obvious you are not a successful one. Your choice to pick the option that is cheaper and, what you consider, more options does not reflect the mainstream, take a look at Apples profits and take a look at the cheaper and optional Linux operating system. I cant believe you actually admitted you go for cheap over quality, you've got to be a PC user that would make perfect sense. Exactly what options do you have by owning a Droid that the iPhone does not have? Cheaper does not equal successful, actually, it's actually quite the opposite. To think that Apple serves only two kinds of people (affluent and wanting to be thought of as affluent) is just you burying your head in the sand and a failed attempt to understand why those who choose quality over cheap don't see things the way you do. So now if you others don't have your cheap buying habits then there must be something wrong with them because your cheap buying habits are ideal. So if I am Motorola or Samsung or any other handset maker, the future for me is to offer free phones. How on earth does the operating system result in a free phone, your thought process is purely wishful thinking. Android has been out for over a year and I don't see anything free. Nothing is free dude, get that through you peanut. Ha, iPhone will be free when and Android based phone is free, never. As for the number of Mac developers you have met, can't refute it, for all I know you are totally full of it, I know I can go to the App store and scroll through over 100,000 apps. iPhone users have had to hear about all the iPhone killers quarter after quarter, all of them failing just as the Droid will fail. Ha ha, are you actually using the metal detector as evidence that the Droid is superior? My god, talk about reaching, this is total proof you are not a developer. The iPhone has a metal detector to moron, actually they have about 5 versions of this thing. Definitely get the Droid, you are Droid material. The iPhone was not produced for your lifestyle or level of appreciation for quality. Please do not buy an iPhone, stick with the rest of the tards, it's too bad you are dragging your family down with you.

    • http://seekng.com/ memes

      you are either young, or lack IQ

      Where i work (extremely well known tech company), the Droids are flooding in, and many iPhone users are either envious, or they are in rabid froth. Sorry to say, but the competition is having its effect, and there are more Android phones to come

      You attempt to slam someone for their *cheap* buying habits.. You sound increasingly like a spoiled brat. I wonder where you actually get your money

      iPhones don’t piss me off. iPhone owners spewing vitriol do, though. The Droid is just a phone. Its a good phone, like most Android phones, and if the commercials hurt your feelings, well, get a tissue and grow up

  • bradley

    dude, relax

    we only discussing phones , not religion or the future of mankind. Sure you can be a fanboy but seriously, relax.

    it sounds like you are foaming at the mouth , lol

  • Maven

    No offense man, but that was probably the most useless thing ever posted to the Internet. We’re all stupider for having read it. Basically, your argument boils down to “I’m an Apple Fanboy, and my friend is a Pre Fanboy, and therefore I couldn’t be bothered to write anything relevant”. You spend most of the article describing all the ways that the Droid is better than either of the other phones, then sum up with “but the iPhone is better, because I like the way Steve Job’s nuts taste”. It’s just mind-boggling. For the record, my personal phone is in fact an iPhone. But only an idiot would think that the lack of a replaceable battery is a “good thing”, because you “can’t see the door”. That’s an opinion a five-year-old might have.

  • mehhhh

    This is the most ridiculous, nit-picky article I have ever read. You are blind if you thing the cons outweigh the pros. Motorola made a great phone. I own the DROID, after owning several smart0 phones in the past two years nothing else stacks up. You rely too heavily on the physical “inconvienences” of the product. I have had the back come off of mine very rarely (2-3 times at most and it only has disengaged, not fallen off) and I wear skinny jeans. I feel that this is a biased article. Never had the camera crash on me. Gotta admit though, the physical keyboard is the worst part of this phone soooooo…. I just don't use it.

  • craigcap7

    Amen Distardi. HOLY COOLAID DRINKERS….iphone peeps are too funny. AT&T sucks, period and everyone knows it. I went over for a certain Bberry a few years ago. So bad, I paid hundreds of $'s to break contract and go back to verizon. Amazing to me that 1/2 of the things this writer says are not even true…and the rest are mainly nit-picky. ITS A FREAKIN PHONE. Look how long it's taken iphone to get out some ridiculously rememdial functionality (cut and paste, having to send pics as “attachments”)…I mean, this is recent stuff. And you are so critical of the droid that has so much and the sky is the limit open architecture. You guys need to get a life and wake up. You iphone freaks sound like you are living in jonestown…too funny. Droid is awesome; some annoying misses, but will be fixed quickly either through over-the-air updates or other applications…but overall awesome, and verizon is hands down the best. I mean, if you are even questioning that – as much as they irritate me with their attitude at times – then you completely discredit yourselves.

  • craigcap7

    And it's such a shame that there are incompetent reviewers like this that label article this way – and people that don't know or havent done the research will believe it as the truth. battery door? What? mine's perfect and the option to change the battery is an advantage, clearly.
    BTW – http://www.techmeme.com – WTF are you talking about – loads and reads perfectly and instantaneously..but again thanks for spreading false information. Oh, and camera has already had an auto-focus fix that's based on a timer and will be permanently fixed on Dec 11 – over the air. Wake up dude, and stop posing as a subject matter expert, bashing droid falsely and prematurely and making the iphone cult salvate…if you're going to review, you really should try to be fair and subjective or don't do it. iphone users don't need anymore brainwashing. Cool phone, network sucks…has some better features than Droid (depending on who you ask), and has some worse. Droid has some better features, and some worse. how complicated…not.

  • craigcap7

    And how long has the iphone been out? Very proud of you…with the open source platform, we'll see how long it takes to close the gap from 10,000 to 90,000. Not to mention, how many do you need? And how many 10's of thousands of duplicates…

  • craigcap7

    very well said Gib

  • craigcap7

    true. But also, if you read these reviews you would think you needed to write code to use the droid when you turn it on. Just because it's open and the opportunities for customization are endless, does not make it complicated. Can anyone not pick this phone up and not know how to use it? I'm thinking maybe some of the iphone users and the reviewer making this statement might want to also try a “jitterbug” – the phone with the big numbers for old folks that they advertise on TV…lol.

  • craigcap7

    OMG what a TOOL! You go iphone fan boy rabidcb. get mad, get very very mad….over your phone. Do you sleep with it an night too, is that an app?
    -I must be a tard since I got a Droid….and like it.

  • craigcap7

    It renders perfectly on the droid…

  • craigcap7

    So for now you double tap the screen or tap on the on-screen +/- to zoom; instead of “pinching” the screen. who cares? Case in point, these are just differences, besides being “really cool” what's teh big deal with the same level of effort to get the same affect? not to mention, multi-touch will be available before you know it – the phone is capable…If this is a show stopper for people, well, I don;'t know what to say

  • craigcap7

    So for now you double tap the screen or tap on the on-screen +/- to zoom; instead of “pinching” the screen. who cares? Case in point, these are just differences, besides being “really cool” what's teh big deal with the same level of effort to get the same affect? not to mention, multi-touch will be available before you know it – the phone is capable…If this is a show stopper for people, well, I don;'t know what to say

  • craigcap7

    A-men

  • craigcap7

    A-men

  • http://www.stealthmode.com hardaway

    Honestly, the real showstoppers for me are 1)the cost of breaking my AT&T contract or adding another phone line and bill, and 2)the thought that there will be a better Android phone very soon. As in months.

  • http://www.stealthmode.com hardaway

    Honestly, the real showstoppers for me are 1)the cost of breaking my AT&T contract or adding another phone line and bill, and 2)the thought that there will be a better Android phone very soon. As in months.

  • gthomas

    AT&Ts service is not as good as Verizons. That's why I have the Droid (which is fun and useful to me) and an iPod touch. The iPhone was not reason enough for me to stay with AT&T, sorry.

  • craigcap7

    no more coolaid for you!

  • rabidcb

    Lol! Dude, I'm not mad, I just think it's funny how you guys are buying into this crap phone. Have you been reading the message boards describing the hoards of problems? How bout this, go check out Wired and read how developers are already worried cause the OS is already fragmenting. Their apps are not working across the board, duhhh! This was so obvious that this was going to happen, but the droidtards have their heads burried so deep, they won't admit to it. This phone is going to be a huge failure. Anyway, I just think its funny to read how much praise you guys are giving this junk, based on your low standards of course, but yet I can read the boards and complaints are building all over the place about this poor attempt at an iPhone killer. Of all the iPhone killers, this phone is the worst.

  • craigcap7

    Hey tool rabidcb – when you continue to call the droid “junk”, do you realize how this completely takes away any credibility you might (as if) of been able to fool people with? Let me guess, this blog made you cry and throw your iphone across the room…coolaid

    • rabidcb

      I don’t think it takes away my credibility. I am just reporting to you what many Droid users are starting to realize, that this plastic crap is not what they thought it was going to be. Eventually you will to, right now you are impressed with it cause you have never had anything close to it so you are going through the initial phase of being in awe of something new. Later you will realize you simply bought junk. So, I expect you to defend it right now, so keep on, I’ll be your sound board. Eventually, depending on your intellect level, you will come to realize what took me a couple of days to realize. But I have a feeling this one may take a while for you, you seem kind of slow and dense.

  • someguy

    Who cares about the publicity of the phone. If you want confetti and party poppers then go to your little sisters birthday party. The camera is great. I dont know what your talking about, and just because you dont know how to use the zoom feature doesn’t mean the phone sucks, it just means your an iDiot. It’s only a matter of time before the Android takes over.soemguy

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  • Chris

    Yes you are missing the point entirely, the reason I bought a DROID is that it is NOT an iPhone Apple’s arrogance disgusts me as much as the AT&T network.
    and 1499.00 for a laptop that for the most part all I will do with is store pictures and music and browse the web on… My $228.00 netbook with Windows 7 is just fine thanks. as for engineering every phone I have ever bought something broke on eventually, trackballs, battery doors, screens, keyboards…. friggin buy insurance, and in the end you will buy another device in 18 months to 2 years anyway and who the hell knows what platform it will be on probably WinDroiMacAva instaled by the Obama office of technical superiority.

    Oh and as for Motorola phones, I have a 5 year old razor that still works flawlessly wich is more than I can say for the drawer full of treo’s, samsungs, stack of LG’s, and assorted nokia dungpiles.

    By the device that makes you feel good. I wanted a 220.00 Nav portable for travelling. I got a great Navigation device instead called a Droid and it includes a browser and a whole bunch of cool stuff…..

  • spencercampbell

    First of all I want to thank you for your review. it is very informative. and as i do agree with some of the things, i also disagree with others.
    I have been a verizon customer for about as long as i can remember primarily for the service. i've never owned an iphone but i do have the ipod touch.
    i recently purchased the Droid and love it. Yes, there are some things i like better on my touch, but overall i think the droid is pretty amazing.
    There are a few things i wanted to comment on considering your review.
    1) I have not had any problems with the battery cover. actually, i have a heck of a time getting it off.

    2) you don't have to use the physical keyboard if you don't want to. it has an optical keyboard as well when horizontal.

    3) I have had no problems with the web browser. maybe it's certain sites, but the ones i frequent work fine.

    4) You Tube. There is a function to change the picture quality. you can view videos in HD.

    5) i agree with you on the facebook and twitter apps. they need to improve them.

    6) My understanding is the camera had some issues at release, but are working correctly now and a permanent fix update is due out in a couple weeks.

    7) i know that many of the apps available on the Droid are not as good or they don't have as many options, but considering that apple has been at this for quite some time it should be expected. i believe that you will see an increase in quality apps for the droid in the near future.

    Thank you again,
    Spencer Campbell

  • Justin

    The Droid does support multitouch, it is just not featured in the built-in apps.

    http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/04/motorola-dro…

    Of course the iPhone has more mature apps, it's been out longer. Verizon didn't advertise the release? Seriously? Have you turned on a tv recently?

    The camera date-focus bug fixed itself, and will be patched on the 11th reportedly. The droid is not perfect, but it is a great product IMO.

  • Trevor

    I think what he's saying is it should do multitouch out of the box. Asking a user to hunt for an app for what should be a standard feature now is ridiculous and goes to show that Google has a lot to learn in the user experience dept.

  • Tracey

    Yeah, apps can be fixed but Google hasn't even integrated a suffisticated app update process into the Market!! It requires the user to go and hunt for updates instead of auto-alerting them with an App Store number tab. Google has to seriously revamp the market. Its a giant cluster looking like it was thrown together overnight.

  • Tom

    He's looking at this device through the eyes of a non-techie user. And Scoble has valid points when it comes to that. The device is very complex. Not intuitive at all. Google needs to work on usability for mass market adoption.

  • Tomburnett

    Agree with lhl. Task kill should be as simple as 1 click for the user. Otherwise it will be a geek's device – because they'll spend the extra time to figure it out. Most don't want to spend time to figure it out. They want drop-dead simple usability.

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