The Droid Review... IN REAL TIME

Battery

When i purchased the DROID last week i was told that an extended battery would be available soon but no word on a date, and as of Friday night when I talked to a √erizon store manager, there’s still no word on when an EXTENDED BATTERY will be available.

I went ahead and order an extra battery from the√erizon website because the stores had none in stock at the time i purchased my DROID, what i did then was looked and found an individual battery charger on the Internet at..... Motorola Droid A855 Accessories Store - Batteries, Bluetooth Car Kits, Cases, Chargers, Cradles, Headphones, Stylus, Vehicle Mounts, WiFi Networking- Fommy.com

I was looking for a separate battery charger because I didn’t want to depend on having to charge a battery in the phone only, switching batteries is much more convenient. Charging a second (dead) battery while the DROID is fully operational not needing to be attached to an outlet is convenient also. Just Lock n Load Man.

The photos below show the battery charging using the DROID’S USB cable that connects to the charger, the red light indicating charging and turning green when the battery is fully charged. The other side is for a different size battery, which I’m not familiar with, but I do know it’s not for an iPhone battery… lol





After searching the Internet I found FOMMY.COM... they had the CHARGER, so i ordered it (14.95) and had pleasant chat… LIVE on line (at website) with customer service that was very courteous.

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Screen Protectors & UPDATES

****To update the battery charger post above, it took approximately one and half hours to fully charge a NEW BATTERY out of the package, I don’t know how DRAIN the battery was when I started the charge***

As my search goes on about scratch protectors, not about which one is the best, are they needed, and will they affect the performance of the touch screen.

The video link below is a scratch test done by someone who posted it on You Tube. The test does a pretty good job showing the DROID’S screen not being affected by trying to scratch it with a key. Will the screen resist DIRT/SAND type of scratches if you happen to place the DROID down on it’s screen, that would be a good test (video)

I’m not trying to convince you one way or another about applying a screen protector, that’s your choice, right now; I’m not using one until I’m convince it doesn’t interfere with the sensitivity of the screen.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh2g7AIHdc8&feature=related]YouTube - Motorola Droid Scratch Test[/VIDEO]

Navigation On The DROID


What is a pretty cool is the App for CAR HOME SCREEN, if you don’t have a car dock (accessory), which would automatically send the DROID into car mode, you can force it into CAR MODE by touching the CAR HOME ICON in the Apps menu.

The video below gives you a visual on what the NAVIGATION OFFERS.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7WzO6cUFOw&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - Motorola Droid: Google Maps with Voice Navigation, Android 2.0[/VIDEO]

I would like to say something about the QWERTY on the DROID, but I don’t use it and never have. If I were to use it, it would not be comfortable, and I would never use it long enough to give it a fair review or compare it to any other QWERT board. So I’ll leave it alone with pleasure.

When go to your favorite web site… Cell Phone Forums - Your Cell Phone Source hit the STAR on the top right side, and you will have the option to mark it as a bookmark favorite, I found this pretty useful.

I’m using (made) FOLDERS on the two alternate home screens, they’re very useful as space savers to store contacts/apps. You can create a FOLDER (example) name business, and store your most called/needed businesses contacts, i.e. your plumber, electrician, your favorite delivery restaurants, or name a FOLDER relatives, and store your family members, create a FOLDER WORK, and store work associates, and so on.

My main home screens that are viewed upon waking up and unlocking my DROID, are my most used Apps & contacts, the other two screens have secondary go to FOLDERS and APPS.

The DROID does a lot, and offers a lot, you need to use this phone for a while before giving it a fair review.


STAY TUNE…

The more you use your DROID… the more it comes to life.

Droid Review…

The pre-suggest word *****ing during texting, if you use a word and the DROID *****s it out, and it appears RED, press and hold the word (in Red) and it will be saved in pre-suggesting *****ing.

Killing Apps with App Killer program (TITLED: Advance Task killer Free)… You DO NOT have to constantly kill apps in order to save the BATTERY. The App killer program is a great program to have; you can run it from the home screen (shortcut needed) to see what programs/Apps are running/open, and how much MEMORY is AVAILABLE ON YOUR PHONE, this is displayed on the title bar.

The important thing to remember here is… if your going to open a program/App that requires memory, you want to have as much memory as possible so the program/app runs smoothly. Did you ever try and run a GAME on your computer with NOT ENOUGH MEMORY, or with little memory to spare, it can run sluggish. So you may want to KILL APPS if your going to run a memory eater APP.

For Battery protection, when not in use… always kill Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, and Phone display (keep to minimum) and don’t forget to kill... the KILLER APP after you use it, do not keep that running either.

You may have notice that the DROID does not have AUDIO reminders to indicate… you have a message pending/unviewed. The indicator on the DROID is a green blinking light on the top right corner of the screen, which is fine for me, it saves the battery, especially if your away from your phone for hours, the constant vibrate/beep will kill or weaken battery life. Here is a App if you feel you really need a AUDIO reminder, as for myself, I have change my PHONE habits and visual check my phone just as if I was away from my phone for awhile (hours).
Missed Call v0.8.9 Application for Android | Tools


I LOVE THIS SONG....


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRIqIWxhTIQ]YouTube - Verizon Blue Christmas[/VIDEO]

Droid Battery Charging...

Some people are worrying about charging their battery in the DROID pertaining to, cycling, draining it, holding charges, over charging, under charging, and battery care. See the link below on the info on the battery your phone uses, then you decide.

DROID BATTERY.. Lithium Ion Polymer Battery, If possible, do not discharge lithium-based batteries too deeply, Instead... recharge more often.


Advantages...

Very low profile - batteries resembling the profile of a credit card are feasible.

Flexible form factor - manufacturers are not bound by standard cell formats. With high volume, any reasonable size can be produced economically.

Lightweight - gelled electrolytes enable simplified packaging by eliminating the metal shell.

Improved safety - more resistant to overcharge; less chance for electrolyte leakage.

************

Limitations...

Lower energy density and decreased cycle count compared to lithium-ion.

Expensive to manufacture.

No standard sizes. Most cells are produced for high volume consumer markets.

Higher cost-to-energy ratio than lithium-ion



How to charge - when to charge table

A COVERT OPERATION.... Motorola Droid camera autofocus fixed.



Motorola Droid camera autofocus fixed in secrecy?



While we were busy looking into external speaker problems on the Droid, it would seem Moto was itself hard at work remedying a separate issue with the device. A number of users on support forums have complained of the Droid's camera failing to focus and giving them "red corners" when attempting to take pictures, but now -- suddenly and without warning -- their ailment has gone away as if touched by the hand of an omnipotent being (or, alternatively, a silent firmware update).

This particular autofocus issue was mentioned in Verizon's 5-page treatise on known issues with the Droid, though the planned resolution was an official update by December 11. The fix seems to have been delivered early, as green corners are sprouting up all around, but this silent update conduit sounds a bit nefarious, no?

Update: Sure enough, we can confirm from testing one of our own Droids that the issue has been resolved. The endless quest for the green focus box is over, and you can now finally begin scanning all your discount cards into Key Ring.


YOU DECIDE

i purchase this earpiece (photo) at √erizon tonight, it sounds good, no background noise as i talked with the TV on, great connection, nothing FANCY, its just a good reliable handsfree earpiece with a solid connection.

It can be connected to the phone during conversation, if you're talking and decide you want to be handsfree, just plug it in and talk, or pull it out and talk, no interrupting calls. SIMPLICITY

Operating the phone functions has to be done by hand, the earpiece will not control calls or calling options.

The photo was taken with the DROID and the headset is the JABRA EAR WAVE BOOM

DROID Battery Gaggle




The more you add programs/Apps to the DROID, the more chances of something going wrong, not playing right, or just making your phone act funny.

Replacing programs, adding 3rd party Apps, and KILLING APPS can make the DROID do funny things or just not work right.

STOP KILLING APPS… repeat…STOP KILLING APPS; they’re supposed to run in the background. The only Apps you should kill or turn off are… GPS, BLUETOOTH, and Wi-Fi, they will drain a battery, so if your not using them, make sure they are turned off.

I had 15 Apps running one night on a NOT so fully charged battery, i left my DROID on over night to test the battery, when I woke up the battery was night drained, not even close to being drained.

The DROID has a LINUX operating system that uses a lot of services and supporting Apps that are always running in the background. They will not use power/CPU unless they are in use performing a service. If your DROID needs memory to operate an App, the operating system will close and open Apps as needed or not needed to maintain memory.

If you have a ton of Apps on your phone, there might be a App that sucks up power, if you find your battery draining fast, go to the settings on the DROID, go to… ABOUT… THE GO TO battery use above and check BATTERY USE and see what’s at the top of the list drawing all that power.


My phone right now (730 p.m.) reads, 61% IS DISPLAY…17% VOICE CALLS… 9% IS IDLE PHONE, and 8% is SYSTEM STAND BY.

There are millions of Apps hitting the market, many are written by inexperience people, so be aware what you're installing/downloading on your phone.

Droid Maps


I touch my (home) destination shortcut ICON on my home screen and MAPS gave me directions from my location to my house; and it worked great. Of course I knew where I was going and lived in the area for years, so i test making some wrong turns, and sure enough the DROID recalculated, but it did miss some turns to get me back on track taking me to the next street to make the turn I could of made a block before, no big deal.

I would advise getting a phone holder/dock station if you need your GPS constantly, I had the phone on the seat and cup holder draw, and taking your eyes off the road to look down can be dangerous, luckily I didn’t really need directions or depended on the GPS.






The virtual traffic display is like a video car game experience, I wasn’t crazy about the robotic voice announcing the directions, but it’s an android, what do expect… lol

I pulled my car over to checkout the options on GPS and touch LAYERS. I switch to satellite, traffic, and viewed the options for ATM, gas stations… that was pretty cool if I was in need of one.

When I turn down my street and the directions told me my destination was on the left, it also gave me a photo of my house, now that was cool, I’ve gotten to destinations and i would still be was looking for it (address), now I can have a photo if one exist in the system.

The application does a good job if your lost, I like it.

wow! this mobole look is amzing!! plz, i require more info this mob.

Originally Posted by nicknrm

Asurion (Through Verizon) Advanced Total Equipment Coverage is $7.99 and regular is $7.

It's more than with a basic phone simply because retail value is much higher with PDA/Smartphones.

Also, the deductible is at least $70 (as opposed to $50) for the droid with insurance.

Still cheaper than $560.

Didn't really like the phone.....

DROID Cases and MOUNTING

If you own a DROID or if you plan on getting one, you’ll hear the term MOUNT/MOUNTING your SD-card.

Its similar to using a scan disk adapter, you insert your SD-card into the adapter and plug it into you computer, a disk drive appears on the screen, (you can name it) click on it and it opens to drop files into appropriate folders, or you can create a folder (Mac users). By placing the SD-Card in the phone and having to remove the battery cover and battery to reach the SD-Card and remove it, it’s more applicable to use an external USB connection to connect your computer and phone to exchange info/files.

I prefer an external SD-Card (LG Dare) to remove by hand, stick it in a scan disk adapter, plug to my computer, exchange files, put the SD-Card back into the phone all… without interrupting the use of the phone.


What I did was connect my USB cable (phone to Comp) and a icon will appear in the top status bar of the DROID, I scrolled it down and touched the USB notification message, it the asked me if I wanted to mount (lingo: connect/open SD-card). I pressed MOUNT and the icon appears on my computer screen, I clicked on it, and opened the SD-card and dropped my files.

I ejected (closed) the SD-card on my screen and UNMOUNTED the SD-card by way of my phone by following the step notifications. Pretty easy…


I mentioned a VOICE RECORDER to record your notes/reminder/info or a audio message option, I found a good App called… VOICE RECORDER (FREE). Check it (link below) out and you decide. Voice record a message and send it, worked pretty good.
Android Market

Update On My Cases…

One good thing I’ll mention about the √erizon case I use (photos in Thread and below)… the clip makes it very easy to take off your belt… I then take the phone out to use instead of taking the phone out of the case while on my hip. I use this method because i found taking the phone out of the case while it’s on your belt/hip can cause a fumble. I’m starting to take the case off and laying it on a surface (table/desk/counter/) where I’m sitting with the phone remaining in the case for protection.

http://phones.verizonwireless.com/mo...h#/guided_tour

DROID Apps

Take a look at QiK on the DROID (market), its use for uploading videos for public/private, viewing and sending.

Qik | Share Live Video From Your Mobile Phone



Vixy AVS Converter… you can go to the website on your computer and convert Video files.

http://vixy.net/



I purchased a App called PicSay Pro; this is a photo-editing program, if you’re into editing photos, take a look at this App in (market).


I downloaded the above Apps to enhance the DROID’S photo/video abilities. Vixy may come in handy if i need to covert a Movie.

its a amazing mobile. i like this

Update

... go to market... search MAPS.. there's an update to replace the existing one. I just did mine.

If anyone is curious about the update (Maps) check it out at...

Release notes (version 3.2.x) - Mobile Help