I’m still waiting for my Droid update to 2.1 from Verizon. Rumors started circulating yesterday about how Verizon was going through with the push and would email users. I would just like to state: I haven’t seen my 2.1 update. I’m still waiting, Verizon. It should never take this long to support an OS update to phones that are supposed to be “open.”
I want to open this post by saying that I have a Motorola Droid and I love (hate) it. I wrote a previous review about my initial thoughts and many of them still stand. Android OS 2.0 really feels like Google met the market at 80% and walked away, trusting in the open market to fill the void. In some sense, this is understandable as it’s an open system and developers will fill in with paid products. What doesn’t make sense is that this 80% also affected the very basic functions of the phone. There’s still been no response from Google about improving the phone’s corporate email functionality.
As my base of Android OS users expand, I continuously warn them of the dreaded “Email vanish!” (See Ninja Vanish) Each user that I support has lost their email once already, I myself have lost it upwards of 4 times. This probably is easily fixed if you know the information to put in to reactivate with the Microsoft Exchange server. For my users, they learn quickly after the first time they lose connectivity, and have to call me. Let’s not forget the vanishing desktop too. Multiple times coming back from sleep or lock, the desktop with either take 5-10 seconds to refresh or not refresh at all; causing me to either pull the battery or do a Left CAPS + Left ALT + DEL to reboot the phone. I feel that it’s either because the phone can’t handle being pushed too hard and it immediately assumes that the application should be force closed. Or, if you give it too many steps it just freaks. It’s a small computer, I get it, so either improve its ability to multi-task or limit this ability. I don’t need to have 5+ applications running. Just close down the oldest and let me roll through them as I see fit. Maybe limiting the amount of applications that the phone multi-tasks could also improve the battery life.
I have to charge my Droid every night because it’s usually down to 20%-30% and I don’t even use Bluetooth. I do use wireless but that’s because I get better wireless signal at work then cell service and it’s faster. This, with reading articles from Feedr, checking Gmail and Corporate email, is about the best I can do without having to recharge my battery multiple times a day. I’d love to play a lot of the shitty games on the market (which I’ll discuss later) but that would involve draining my battery and charging constantly.
The only response from the poor Microsoft Exchange Connectivity Global Address Listing is Motorola’s Corporate Directory. This application suffices as a band-aid, the purpose of a band-aid is to be a short-term solution; yet we’ve passed into the long and festeringly, annoying state. Why Google hasn’t updated the email function to provide inline lookups while creating an email, like it does with your contacts, baffles me. Even if they can’t create an inline lookup during the creation process, at least make the transition from Corporate Lookup to new email better, instead of me having to add contacts to my personal list or memorize the email address. It’s double or triple work to create an email and it’s stupid.
Verizon… Could I please get a response as to why the hell it’s taking so long to release the 2.1 update for the Droid?! Did you hire monkeys to do the transition coding? I’ve seen hackers who’ve done faster and better jobs with software updates than you. I like the idea of an open system and I believe Verizon is making steps (all-be-it small) towards accepting this, these updates show otherwise though. Worst of all they call for the release and then pull it back. It’s a cock tease and it’s bad customer service, very bad. They don’t call Verizon “Big Red” for nothing, very similar to how China treats its citizens, shit on them until they revolt and then bury the evidence.
Finally, I keep seeing articles about how much the Android market has grown and how its expansion is amazing. When you add shit to an already existing pile of shit, it’s still a pile of shit. There have been a few games that are worth noting, some being ports from the iPhone market and others being original. The top paid games on the market are the same ones (for the most part) since release. There are some new ones but it’s still for the most part the same ones. If you look at the top free games, it’s Solitaire and yet ANOTHER variant of Bejeweled (can we please let this game die?!) Otherwise they’re shitty 10 minute applications that provide no depth and barely any concept. Also let’s not forget the other 70% of the games on the market which consist of horrible webpage ports that are loaded with ads, stupid attempts at women standing in inappropriate positions (which can be downloaded by anyone of any age that can work the Android Market), and puzzles. (Yes, the puzzles we used to put together as children.) Another annoying factor of the Android Market is that most people don’t know how to leave appropriate reviews and often times the reason they have problems which cause the shitty reviews is because they’re too stupid to operate the application and/or phone anyway.
Google, please, I want to love your product but it needs help, LOTS of help.
I’ve been using the Motorola Droid for over a week now and personally, I love it. I find the features, such as the touch screen and the interface, to be somewhat unintuitive to start but easy to grasp. The call quality has been superb, there are times though that answering the phone can be tricky since it involves sliding a finger across the screen. Answering could be problematic if you’re cooking or if your hands are wet. The speaker phone does an excellent job and it doesn’t distort like I’ve experienced with other phones such as the LG 8300, Blackberry Storm, and Blackberry Tour.
The most impressive part about the phone is that it feels like it’s more than a phone, at the same time, not forgetting it’s a phone. Often times with a Blackberry, they served the purpose of being an extension of work flawlessly but lacked keeping my consumer side happy. The application market needs some improvements but there’s definitely worth while apps in it. The process of going from looking –> purchasing –> downloading –> installing –> and finally running is a very fluid transition. Google’s store front ties in to your gmail account (if you have one) and allows you to assign different credit cards and accounts for purchasing. The updating of purchased applications is also very well done. If there’s an update, the phone notifies you and you can start downloading right away.
I do have some complaints and concerns though:
The Motorola Droid’s battery life leaves much to be desired. This is most likely due to the GPS not being “smart” in turning itself on or off based on when an application is needed. With my GPS turned off my phones battery life increased 20%. By lunch time, with as much mucking as I do, my phone would be around 40% to 50%, now it’s at 70%. Part of this probably has to do with the WiFi connectivity too. Having WiFi connectivity on a phone is amazing but it’s also a drain on the battery. I try to be smart about enabling/disabling it which helps to prolong the life of my battery.
My biggest complaint about the phone is it’s lack of Exchange Active-Sync implementation. It was amazing how easy it was to set the phone up on my works Exchange server. It was so that I expected an equally amazing extension of my work be available. This was not the case by any means. Two very basic features were left off the phone. First, there’s no way to directly look up a contact against your global address list while writing an email. The very simple function of forwarding an email to a coworker, who’s email I do not have easily accessible, suddenly becomes nightmarish when I’m mobile. Motorola added the Corporate Lookup app which allows you to look up information against the Global Address List but it’s still a severe chore to take that information and get it to an already created email. The Blackberry, Pre, Window Mobile, and Apple OS do this flawlessly.
Another very simple function that was not added was being able to create a signature for your phone. Often times responding to a user, it’s almost necessary for them to understand that I am mobile and cannot be readily accessible.
Coming from a Blackberry Tour I was excited about the Motorola Droid. As I often tell my coworkers, it tweaks my inner geek. Unfortunately my inner geek also needs to work in order to make money, to continue being a geek. The Motorola Droid doesn’t make this an easy task and unless they start making some improvements I don’t see people willing to jump ship from more solid “work friendly” phones.