droid (in Off-topic)

Well it's in my hands... all I can really say is this...
One click fighting!

That did look like an awesome phone.. I may have to snatch one off ebay pretty soon :)..

nov, can we get more details?

Some examples: Walt Mossberg liked the Droid, but said the physical keyboard stinks plus has no intelli-finish (he ends up saying he uses the on-screen, which HAS intelli-stuff, and prefers it to the physical keyboard.

Also, he mentions the touchscreen seems a _tad_ laggy, and app layout is not as advanced (our plentiful in real estate) as the iPhone.

Finally, how is build quality? I think Mossberg missed the boat on where the droid will shine -- build quality and some cool widgets and apps. Don't get me wrong, I like the iPhone. It is solid with plenty of apps. But once apps reach the five-digit mark, I couldn't care less if Apple has 400 billion apps and Android has 10,001 -- it's "enough". I don't even know what apps are good or how to find them any more for the iPhone, so I rarely even go shopping any more at the iTunes store.

Anyway, any additional insights you can provide (maybe after a couple weeks...) would be awesome...

>nov, can we get more details?

I'm still dealing with the inital awe of having the portable computing platform I've been dreaming of for the last ten years in my hands. Overall I'm rarely happy with large purchases after the fact but I am in no way regretting this rather large expenditure.

>Some examples: Walt Mossberg liked the Droid, but said the physical >keyboard stinks plus has no intelli-finish (he ends up saying he >uses the on-screen, which HAS intelli-stuff, and prefers it to the >physical keyboard.

After a few hours of use I'm pleasantly surprised to find the physical keyboard to be exactly what I wanted. It allows me to keep my fingers out of the way, and to fight on CB using either the d-pad click or the enter key. I have huge fingers (ok so they're only large, huge would be the tradesmen I know with sausage fingers) and I still achieve near 95% accuracy when going quickly. Key size is good, and the space bar is huge!


>Also, he mentions the touchscreen seems a _tad_ laggy, and app >layout is not as advanced (our plentiful in real estate) as the >iPhone.

Touch screen seems better than the iPhone for me, though the increased sensitivity has me clicking a little below where I intend to because of the size of my fingers. Except directly after I dumped 10g of music on it and left the music app to catalog it all I've seen no lag whatsoever.

>Finally, how is build quality? I think Mossberg missed the boat on >where the droid will shine -- build quality and some cool widgets >and apps. Don't get me wrong, I like the iPhone. It is solid with >plenty of apps. But once apps reach the five-digit mark, I couldn't >care less if Apple has 400 billion apps and Android has 10,001 -- >it's "enough". I don't even know what apps are good or how to find >them any more for the iPhone, so I rarely even go shopping any more >at the iTunes store.

Apps are truly the strong point. The open development environment has given us an amazing list of quality apps for free. I'm shocked to see
how much there is, and am somewhat overwhelmed. I think it'll take a while before we see the full blown 3d games the iPhone will have this xmas.

The browser alone is enough to be ecstatic about. Single click fighting with CB, and speed similar to a desktop was all I really wanted and it delivered perfectly. Once I get someone here to solve the sidebar size issue that's common with some browsers it could take the spot from FF as my favorite platform for CB.

I've got a lot of work to do on it, I've only started reading and I expect to break the phone completely at least twice in the coming week. root here I come!

FYI - The droid's touch screen is NOT electrically sensitive like most others, but it is HEAT sensitive. (That may be why it doesn't work like others you have tried - but actually is sensing the tip of your finger not the fingernail)(no styluses please) There is even an app. that will make the screen look frosty when you blow on it. - Its just Trivia I guess, but my wife works at Verizon and it is the only phone they have ever had 4 hours of classes on, and not been bored. (double the normal time of the trainings) She wants one badly, but I doubt I can get her one for a while though - they will probably be sold only to retail customers for a while. Any questions ?? I can ask her. She is the expert now. LOL Actually she said they hardly touched some of the Droid's abilities in the training. Sounds pretty cool to me and the OS is fast and the Apps are generally free from google. Even ringtones are from Google and not Verizon so they are cheaper or free, and music is probably cheaper also??. I figure that alone is almost worth the price of admission.

Thanks for the great info, guys!

One more question -- I am hearing the term "nickel and diming" a LOT now with the Droid on various web sites now: extra fees for texting, for tethering, and for various other niceties. My current bill with the iPhone is around 90 bucks a month, and I HATE nickel and diming (charging for texts, what a joke, AT&T!) So, if anyone can weigh in on cost in the months to come, I'd be very interested. If the Droid can't reduce my cost structure, that would make it very hard for me to switch, especially considering the initial $200 lay-out...)

Verizon Motorola Droid - Unboxing and Hands-On (Phonedog)

Dang, will have to wait till I get home, no YouTube at work! (probably a good thing. *smile*)

is the Verizon service for it by contract and the same price as the iphone through ATT?

kev, roughly... That is why I asked about price. The difference would come in the form of the little fees and taxes they ALL tack on. And yes, the Droid locks you to Verizon the same way that iPhone ostensibly requires AT&T...

The best phone I've used for cb yet. fb.tcl is the most functional at the moment
If spacing was worked on just a bit it'd be perfect.

Don't even need to click fight again after a bot check.

"Don't even need to click fight again after a bot check."

that and the one click keyboard enter for fighting is what i love about my pre, it is also the device i have been waiting for and the best hands down for cb use.

it is nice to see so many cool options these days!

Nov, you know how we have the script to auto scroll down in the favs list? Does that work on the droid? So, you don't have to select the opponent each time?

Yes Titan