Multimedia
Motorola's new Android-based smart phone is a viable iPhone alternative.
Most geeks have been curious about Motorola's Droid, the first phone to run the newest version of Google's mobile phone operating system, and the first Android phone on Verizon Wireless, the biggest mobile network in the United States. I took the Droid, which goes on sale Friday, for a test drive--literally, evaluating the phone on a Sunday morning road trip around Austin, TX.
Smart bar: The status bar always appears across the top of the Droid screen (except when videos are playing or the camera is active). It provides continual notice of new voice mails, e-mails and text messages, as well as information about remaining battery life and available connectivity.
Erika Jonietz
Instead of the soft curves and rounded edges brought into vogue by the iPhone, the Droid has a brick-like look and feel. It's angular and solid, with a flashing green LED on the front to notify you of waiting e-mails, text messages, or voice mails. The QWERTY keyboard slider has a nice, smooth action and locks easily into place. While the Droid matches the iPhone very closely on size, the slider does make the phone ever-so-slightly thicker. The Droid's heft (169 grams to the iPhone's 3GS's 135) also meant that, while I barely notice the iPhone in a jacket or jeans pocket any more, the Droid's weight was more appreciable, pulling the left side of my jacket down on my neck.
The Droid's screen resolution, at 9.3 centimeters diagonally and 480 by 854 pixels, is incredibly sharp and bright, noticeably more so than the iPhone (which has an 8.9-centimeter diagonal screen with 480-by-320-pixel resolution).
Setting up the Droid was dead simple. Using Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Talk was as easy as entering my Google account username and password once. The phone can support multiple Google accounts, and Android 2.0 adds support for Microsoft's Exchange e-mail server, used by many companies, allowing you to sync e-mails, contacts, and appointments from a corporate Outlook account as well. I did have trouble displaying some Outlook e-mails that displayed perfectly on my iPhone, but I encountered this with fewer than one in 50 messages or so--a minor annoyance.
Pairing Bluetooth devices was also very straightforward; my Plantronics headset was up and running in less than five minutes. One feature I could not get to work, however, was the Wi-Fi connection. I tried accessing four different Wi-Fi networks in three different locations and could never get the Droid to connect. My laptop and iPhone both joined all of these networks without any trouble.
Learning to navigate the Droid's touch screen is fairly intuitive, as well. The phone has three customizable "home" screens, on which you can add shortcuts to applications and file folders, as well as active widgets. Available widgets include a power manager that allows you to turn power-hungry features such as GPS, Bluetooth, and e-mail syncing on and off with a single touch; a Google search box; or live updates from various weather, news, or sports services.
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That's a great suggestion... but one that I already tried. Thanks, though!
Not getting the wifi to work is a showstopper. Did you discuss this Verzion? They've crippled wifi access in the past to force use of their network.
I emailed my press contacts at both Verizon and Motorola. The Motorola rep (at an outside PR firm, not within Motorola) said that she hadn't had any trouble connecting to the Wi-Fi in her office. Haven't heard back from Verizon yet, but I'll update when I do!
Verizon does NOT cripple WiFi access, and hasn't in the past. Any device that HAD WiFi has been able to use it to get on the internet. It's just that in the past, very few Verizon devices have actually HAD WiFi; they've been quite reluctant to include it in their phones. But that is becoming a thing of the past with their new devices.
What Verizon DOESN'T offer is UMA, where you can access the Verizon network via WiFi. You are either on VZW 3G or WiFi, but not both at the same time. IIRC, UMA is a feature that has to be enabled on the network, and VZW hasn't implemented it yet. Sort of silly, IMHO, as it would help take some load off of their 3G network. Perhaps as WiFi enabled devices become more prevalent.
Having grown up in Lampasas, I know how in the middle of nowhere you were 15 min north. That kind of coverage is important for all those people that live out of major metro areas. Maybe this is one market the Droid will dominate, a great smart-phone for the more rural user. Not as huge as the other markets but still important if you add it up.
If it has a manual qwerty keyboard rather than than using the touch screen qwerty keyboard on the Apple Iphone you have lost me.
As a senior citizen those dang manual keyboards are a pain in the butt.
Small buttons that are difficult to use, give the touch screen option any day!
It has both! But yes, the QWERTY keyboard gave me hand cramps.
ejonietz, I just invented a truly mobile keyboard that you can type with one hand. Would you be interested in seeing it?
Such a keyboard is ideal for a mobile device and overcomes the suckiness of being too small. The keyboard has a mouse and can work on a PC as well. I am writing a business plan to get funding and start a business.
doanwon@lycos.com
Am I dumb or just plain stupid,(don't answer that), why would you go to the trouble of designing two data input devices?
Surely it would be more practical to have the touch screen for input of information?
Yes, but the QWERTY is very useful if you are into console emulators, or playing Quake ports.
Nice article E. I really like the iPhone but coverage is my #1 concern, so I'm with Verizon for now. Being a Verizon customer, this unit is what I was waiting for when I read Motorola and Verizon were teaming to create a Gen2 Android smartphone. Your article has all but sold me. However, one comment you made regarding the sound quality was unclear to me. You stated that the handset, BT headset, and built-in speaker had a "metallic" quality when talking on the phone. This I can deal with as I've yet to hear a quality stereo BT setup that come close to my M-Audio in ear monitors. However, since I'm looking to reduce the number of gadgets I tote, quality of music playback (i.e. iPod-like) is paramount to me. I couldn't tell from your description of the sound quality if you meant that music playback was poor (metallic) also. Can you also comment on the music software UI the Droid uses?
Thanks in advance :)
Sound quality is superb. I got a droid when it came out and haven't set it down since. The playback thru head phones sounds the same as laptop and ipod both. The speaker that plays music through the droid sounds as good as laptop speakers, not amazing but great for a phone. The metallic sound is from talking to the network, not the phone. I read tech review everyday on my droid :)
Sprint and Verizon both offer MiFi, credit-card-size devices connecting to their more extensive networks and linking by WiFi to iPods, iPhones, etc.
After just a few days of Droid ownership, only one clear problem. The Droid cannot voice dial through a Bluetooth headset. Both the Motorola and Google Android forums are full of comments from people who either have already or are planning to return the phone because of this obvious feature lack. Otherwise, the keyboard takes some practice, but is OK after some experience, and everything else is really well done and works fine.
I have the iPhone but am intrigued with the Droid. I like the openness of the development in the long term and think it will evolve into something more, maybe not bigger but not much farther back.
It is less costly for sure, so that helps.
We have actually chosen to develop on Android over the iPhone, at least for now. See www.warrantylife.com
Thanks!
Richard
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
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nagapradeep
1 Comment
solving wifi jinx
I face this issue when I try to connect a new device to WiFi. Try switching-off bluetooth radio (which one might use to pair with headset - plantronix in your case) and you might get lucky.
As Bluetooth and WiFi operate at the same frequency, there is high chance of interruption (especially with new devices)
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chrisjmiller
64 Comments
Re: solving wifi jinx
Bluetooth and WiFi both operate at around 2.5GHz (as do many other devices - it's unlicensed spectrum), but don't use the same channels and frequency hop to avoid interference. Bluetooth operates at a tiny fraction of WiFi power (it's designed to operate over a few metres rather than hundreds of metres), so if there were any problems, I would expect the Bluetooth device to be the one to suffer.
If turning off Bluetooth fixes your WiFi problem, there's something wrong with your device configuration.
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Dave12308
3 Comments
Re: solving wifi jinx
Actually, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with a misconfiguration amongst devices, my Moto Droid does the same thing. I will get a poor quality WiFi connection at best with Bluetooth enabled. Turn off Bluetooth, and it's back up to full signal. It's probably a limitation in the Droid's radio chipset, radio driver code, or antenna system. My guess would be the two signals are close enough in frequency and suffer from crosstalk. Note, my Droid's bluetooth doesn't affect other WiFi devices in my home.
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