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Since a number of friends have asked, here's a micro-review of my new Droid (Motorola A855).
Preface:
The Droid is my first "smart" phone, so I can't say much in comparison to iPhone, Palm, Blackberry, etc. I've been using it now for a week and a half - enough time to get a feel, but not long enough to start hacking it. These are just my general (and quite personal) opinions.
The Good:
- The screen is absofuckingly amazing: 3.7in (94mm), 480 x 854 pixels, 16:9 widescreen. These are some of the tiniest pixels I have ever seen.
- Contact integration from Facebook and Gmail. This works remarkably well, although you might have trouble finding someone's phone number if you happen to have hundreds of Facebook friends. Importing the contacts from my old phone wasn't too bad, I had to save them out as a CSV file and then import them to my Gmail. From there, the phone automagically synced.
- Gmail, POP email & Facebook built in.
- A real web-browser, which means the full, real internets, not that little sliver that my old phone gave me. Walking around with Google in my pocket has... well, it has changed me.
- Google Navigator. Buh bye dedicated GPS units. Turn by turn directions, with voice synthesis & speech recognition, semi-real-time traffic and Google search. Built in. For FREE.
The Bad:
- My bank (Chase) doesn't have an Android app. The ability to do online banking from my phone, was one the reasons I bought a smart phone.
- Occasional crashes. The Droid (unlike the iPhone) allows you to run multiple apps simultaneously. Since most of the apps are developed by 3rd parties, there's no guarantee that they'll play nice together (or even by themselves). This isn't a big deal, rebooting the phone always clears things up... it *is* a computer after all.
- The battery cover comes off in my pocket at random times. There could be a number of contributing factors; including the fact that I ride a motorcycle most of the time and my jeans aren't exactly loose.
- Size. It's a bit on the big side compared to my past phones. I can put it in my back pocket, but I can't stuff it into my corset when I go clubbing (yeah, corset, what of it?). I'm sure I'll get used to it. Overall, it's roughly the same size as the iPhone.
The Unsure:
- The keyboard. Don't get me wrong, I really, really like having a physical, slide-out keyboard. I can't find any specific fault with it. However, it's taking me longer than I had expected to get used to it. I'm currently typing about twice as fast as I did on my old, non-smart, non-qwerty phone. I suspect that this will improve with time. (The phone also has a virtual keyboard, but I type even slower with that).
- Battery life. My old phone could go for a few days without needing a charge, whereas my Droid can't make it through the day. To be fair, this is completely *my* fault. I can't put the damn thing down; I'm constantly looking things up, surfing the web, checking my mail, etc. New toys get played with the most. The battery life will probably improve when the novelty wears off.
Conclusion:
I like this phone. No, I *REALLY* like this phone. It is not an overstatement to say that it has changed my life. I find it hard to believe that, a mere two weeks ago, I walked around without the Google, without my entire art portfolio, without an overhead satellite view of my current location (with traffic!), and without Facebook (for the love of God!)... in my back pocket.
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| - Lars |
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