Motorola Droid

[Solesk]

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/28/m...irst-hands-on/

ok, i'm not posting this to get into some sort of apple vs android debate. i'm not trying to say this is some sort of iphone killer. because the truth is both have a place in the market.

but this is the first serious contender from an android phone and i'm super pumped about it. so much so that i'm thinking of terminating my iphone contract and switching. i make no secret to the fact i'm not exactly pleased with my iphone. but 70% of my gripes are service related.

all the early reviews have been positive so far. highlights are as follows:

comparable hardware to an iphone. nearly the same processor, agps, 3g, multi touch screen, 5mp camera, wifi, micro sd (16gb included) ect. the only real difference is the physical keyboard. which isn't perfect, but is decent. yes, the camera is more megapixels. but lets be honest. it's still a camera phone. it still wont replace a proper camera, even a point and shoot. but it does appear to take decent enough pictures, and handle video fairly well. most of the reviews have said if feels fairly solid also, not a cheap plastic model. also not that even though the processor looks similar in speed to past android models, it's a different class of processor. so it is faster.

they are also planning on different kinds of docks that will automatically switch the displayed information, depending on which dock you put it into. so you could say put it into a dock next to your bed and it will automatically switch to a clock for alarm clock mode. the screen also shows weather and temp info and even has a dim button so that the time still shows but isnt so bright it keeps you awake. or you put it in a car dock and it automatically switches to the gps navigation screen. so far they've only showed the 2 different kinds of docks. but more kinds, or customizable ones would be cool and not out of reach. which leads into:

google is also rolling out a new service. free turn by turn directions. it is stored server side, unlike the tomtom app for iphone which is completely local. but once you set a route it will supposedly cache that data locally in case you lose service en route. it also has some new features like showing street view pictures of your turns, on top of doing some of the things garmin and tomtom charge more for, like the voice directions actually announcing street names. it looks so solid that garmin and tomtom stock plummeted upon the announcement (although i assume they will climb back up and normalize). the only thing i'm unsure of is what happens if you get a call while using it. if it stays up and you can talk while navigating then it's a home run. if it shuts down like the iphones, then it's just another over hyped feature. but neither of the reviews i saw mentioned one way or the other. this is one thing i will verify before making my final decision.

i am also going to familiarize myself with android a little more before i make my decision, as i want to make sure it can do the other things i want. but with google voice available, unlike on the iphone. and multi tasking, i'd be surprised if it does not meet my basic needs.

the other interesting thing to note is that verizon has not in any way restricted the phone, like most feared verizon would, once it brought android into the fold. android market is fully accessible and wifi is unlocked. there was talk at one point about verizon having their own android store and forcing everyone to use that. go through them. but there is no sign of it for the moment. so that's good news.

is anyone else considering this phone? or are you holding out for the next 6 months to see what apple and everyone else comes out with in the coming year?

[aazdazen]

As an fyi VZW will make you get one of their data plans for it, $30 for personal email and web and $45 for corporate email and web.

[Solesk]

i assumed that. but to be honest, anyone really looking at these phones is going to end up getting data i think. i'm not really looking at switching as a price savings point. although i am curious how the price stacks up to an iphone. last time i looked verizon included more txt and picture messaging.

[aazdazen]

I have not worked for them for a year but I do not believe the plans changed a whole lot except adding the family circle thing. The data for pda does not include txt/pix, that will be an additional charge depening on how many you need($20 for unlimited txt/pix). If you need unlimited everything you would be looking around $150/month and 450mins will be about $100/month.
If you do not get a txt/pix plan you will pay .20 and .25 respectively per message.
Being on a plan $100/month or more will make you a vip after a few months. Vip will get you waived phonebook transfers(normally $10), waived activation fees on new lines and a discount on accessories.
You can also look into corporate discounts. The rep may or may not tell you about the corporate discounts so ask just to make sure. Not all reps know about them and in my former store we were told to stop offering them because we were doing to many of them. I still asked everyone where they worked, worst they could do to me was tell me to stop again and I did not mind taking that heat to make sure my customers were happy.

o and you would be surprised how many people did not want data, said they were never going to use it. Then they would get this huge thousand dollar bills and come back complaining. We would look and see it was data and explain to them what happened. We would also comment accounts saying customer refused data(back when you could, 1.5yrs ago) so it would not come back on us as reps(cust would tell national cs that we did not mention the data)

[Beli]

My phone contract expires in January so I'm definitely going to be upgrading at that point. I'm pretty likely to get an iphone, but I'm also eyeballing the Droid because I prefer keyboards that slide out. Ringo has an iphone so there's an advantage in being able to share the same programs he has.

I am just going to wait and see. I don't ask for a lot out of a phone other than accessible text messaging. Being able to peek at facebook and my bank account from iphone sound like fun, but I also like playing popcap games such as bejeweled and peggle (and soon plants vs zombies) on Ringo's iphone. So it'll depend on what the droid can do. I don't really care about being able to take pictures or anything.

Text messaging is my big feature. The sidekick I have is set up that I have to read messages like an email. If someone responds to me and I can't remember what I asked them, I have to dig through my sent folder, which is dumb. I like the iphone back and forth chat log. Would like to see what it looks like on the droid.

[Vdou]

I'll be picking this up next week (or as soon as I can get my hands on it).

[Vladius]

I'm kinda smacking my head against the wall over this one. I just bought an Iphone 2 months ago. I used to be on Verizon and never had any complaints about service. The Iphone is a good product but it's shackled down to a shitty network.

I see this phone as a good thing. It will force Apple to change it's ways. I'm wondering if I should just say screw it and scuttle my Iphone (and pay the termination fee. I'll have to wait and see.

[Lysandor]

That's a nice phone, and I have been on Verizon for 10+ years. I guess you could say I am in the market, as it were, for a replacement for my Voyager.

[Widge]

I really want to get my hands on one of these. Too bad I just got a new phone in January and can't get the new every two price until August. As awesome as it looks, it's not $600 worth of awesome.

[Goladus]

definitely considering it.

[Mdar]

I'm up for my upgrade in December and that's also the time I get my bonus from work (hopefully it's decent this year). I really want a smart phone too as my little enV, while good, leaves a lot to be desired.

Also, Veriozon has a page setup for the droid
http://phones.verizonwireless.com/motorola/droid/
Don't skip the Intro!

Edit: sound after the intro.

[Eamin]

Not a world phone so I'm not even considering it. If I do get a smartphone it'll be the N900 or one of the 1Ghz Snapdragon Android phones coming out after the holidays.

T-Mobile's new service plans that let you break up phone payments into monthly installments without signing a contract are pretty attractive.

[aazdazen]

I really want to get my hands on one of these. Too bad I just got a new phone in January and can't get the new every two price until August. As awesome as it looks, it's not $600 worth of awesome.

Depending on your plan you can get a phone after 1 calender year. You will get the 2year price and sign a new 2yr contract. You may also get $50 off the 2yr price if you are a vip.

[Gentex]

A few weeks ago I considered breaking my verizon contract to get an iphone. Verizon's smartphone selection has really sucked ass recently, and I was getting really tired of my shitty LG chocolate. But, it would have cost me $90 to break my contract and then the cost of an iphone, plus the more pricey data plan . . . so I balked. And then . . . android phones for Verizon. Woot!!!

My New Every Two discount comes up next week (like a day after the moto droid is released), so I should get an additional $50 off the price of an upgraded phone. So, I get a sweet new android phone and get to stick with Verizon's network. Yay for me.

I'm not even interested in the iphone killer debate. It doesn't really matter, and no one phone will kill the iphone. But, getting that kind of functionality from a phone on my preferred network is great for me, and good for Verizon, that's all I care about.

[Solesk]

Not a world phone so I'm not even considering it. If I do get a smartphone it'll be the N900 or one of the 1Ghz Snapdragon Android phones coming out after the holidays.

this is honestly my only gripe with verizon (aside from price gouging). and i wonder how easily at&t would beat down verizon if it had the same quality of network hardware. as they would have a distinct advantage with anyone ever planning a vacation over seas. my only hope here is that in the coming generations everyone moves to a common standard. which from what i've heard might be possible by a 5g time frame.

it almost makes you wish the government would just take over the business of cell hardware, consolidating it all to an worldwide standard, freeing up bandwidth for other uses, and leaving the cell phone companies to quibble over pricing plans.

back to the phone though. i've been giving this more thought. assuming for a second that your primary reason for waiting up until this point, was to stay with verizon and not switch to at&t, with the droid being released, what reason is there to still wait? i waited past all the other android phones because they were under powered and lacked a physical keyboard, and werent on verizon.

but while the new sony x3 will be faster, i dont think it will have the cool docks. and most everything else will be comparable. so really, aside from upgraded specs, which probably wont be earth shattering in the next year, what reasons are there to not get the droid? this is an honest question for anyone out there. as i'd like to weigh the cons also.

i know verizon has some sort of open initiative going? that's supposedly releasing a phone in the 1st quarter? but if they already have an unrestricted android phone, i'm not sure what the immediate benefit to the consumer the other phone will have. and while phones in the future will no doubt have better hardware, i see no major pieces of technology completely missing from the droid. and i would argue that we're unlikely to see a phone with better hardware than the droid, on verizon, in the next 6 months at least. the x3 is the only one i've heard about, but i'm unsure which network it's coming to.

[aazdazen]

this is honestly my only gripe with verizon (aside from price gouging). and i wonder how easily at&t would beat down verizon if it had the same quality of network hardware. as they would have a distinct advantage with anyone ever planning a vacation over seas. my only hope here is that in the coming generations everyone moves to a common standard. which from what i've heard might be possible by a 5g time frame.

For the most part that is going to happen with 4g phones. I know VZW, AT&T, Vodaphone(part owner of VZW) and T-Mobile are all going LTE(long term evolution). Sprint is the only one I know of not using LTE. This should mean you can use any phone on any network plus make pretty much all phones global capable. The change to LTE should start within the next year. I am not sure how long it will take to completely roll out though. It took VZW a couple years to spread the EVDO network throughout the country (It was fun trying to sell EVDO extras when it was not in my area but yet we had quota on it.)

Just did a little reading, looks like AT&T is not scheduled to do LTE until 2011 and VZW is starting late 2009 into 2010. The speeds have averaged 50-60mbps and it is rumored Apple has again approached VZE about the Iphone(VZW orginally turned them down do to Apple requirements about money from sales) for the LTE network.

[Solesk]

i've heard LTE and and non LTE thrown around alot, but i didnt know what each company was planning, and i didnt know how that ties in with plans abroad. that's good information, thanks. seems kinda stupid for sprint to be the lonely fat kid out though.

[Widge]

Depending on your plan you can get a phone after 1 calender year. You will get the 2year price and sign a new 2yr contract. You may also get $50 off the 2yr price if you are a vip.

Hmm. The site tells me:

"Eligible for New Every Two discount on 8/26/10. Eligible to upgrade with discounted pricing on 8/26/10. If you prefer, you can upgrade today at full retail price.Your contract end date is 12/26/10"

Is that the final word, or could I find that I can get a better deal if I go to a Verizon store?

[aazdazen]

Hmm. The site tells me:

"Eligible for New Every Two discount on 8/26/10. Eligible to upgrade with discounted pricing on 8/26/10. If you prefer, you can upgrade today at full retail price.Your contract end date is 12/26/10"

Is that the final word, or could I find that I can get a better deal if I go to a Verizon store?

The site will say that until you have had your phone for 1 calender year. You said you got your current phone in January 09 so in Jan 10 you can upgrade with the 2 year pricing but you need to wait to the exact day. Your best bet would be to go to a corporate store or call national cs to find out what the exact day is and to find out if you are a vip or not. Typicallly to be a vip you need to have 1 line that bills out over 80 a month, unless they have changed that in the last year.

If you are on a 40 a month plan then you wont be able to upgrade early, need to be 60 or higher. You can sometimes make deals with national cs to do it anyhow. They will need to comment the account that they are allowing it and then you will need to go to a corporate store, usually the 3rd party places cant do the early upgrades.

[Widge]

Ahh, gotcha. Will have to check up on that then. Would be a lot better than suffering with my sad little LG Decoy until August.

We have a shared plan, pretty sure it's $60 for my line and $9.99 for my wife's (+ data for her) so I should be okay on that front. Thanks for the info!