Android Phones

[Belasco]

Here's to hoping this won't be a cricket-worthy thread - The Motorola Droid.

http://www.sweetfeatheryjesus.net/images/droid.png

I'm rolling with one of these now since my job is paying for half of it. Didn't want the iPhone because AT&T sucks around here and all of our friends/family are on Verizon too.

Anybody else using it? Likes? Dislikes?

The screen is gorgeous. 2x the resolution of the iPhone and it multi-tasks. Using Google Nav services has made it my default go-to GPS system too. Native integration with Google is a big plus, since most of my life is on Google at this point. The app store is limited because it's so new, but it's catching up. This is where iPhone is king. There are so many apps that I have on my iPod Touch that I'd like to have on this, but they're just not available yet.

This is the first "smartphone" I've ever used and I'm really diggin' it.

[TheWagesofSin]

I got my girlie the Motorola Droid for her birthday and I think we got a bad phone. It froze and crashed at a rapidly increasing rate until it was completely unusable, at which time we took it back.


Long story short: she ended up getting the HTC Droid for less money, and loves it. It doesn't have a built-in keyboard, which she says she doesn't like anyway. It's good for web surfing, which is great, so she can stay on Facebook like a baby with a pacifier and leave me the hell alone. Seriously, though, I've used it and it's a great little phone. B's right, though: iphone has billions of aps and there don't seem to be a great many for this platform quite yet.










lol (almost forgot that)

[Belasco]

My first one was bad too. It crashed about every 10 minutes when it was in use. Called Verizon about it and they sent me a replacement that has been rock-solid ever since.

[Dr. P]

This thread:
http://i46.tinypic.com/2cnxouc.jpg

[Dr. P]

I kid, my fuckin' phone is so old and shitty, I'd gladly trade it in on an Icob.

[TheWagesofSin]

You're right, Russ - this thread is supercute.


lol




Belasco - you know what the bitch of the whole situation was? I didn't realize that there are Verizon STORES and Verizon DEALERS. We bought a phone from a Verizon DEALER, which means we had to return the shit phone to the location where we impulsively bought it...2 hours from home. That was fun.




lol

[Dr. P]

You're right, Russ - this thread is supercute.


lol



That's my Mom's pitbull pup. I googled sleeping animals, but didn't find one superb enough to save and upload. Jesus, I have so many images saved just for this place, you wouldn't believe how I often see shit I already have in a folder when I do an image search for some phrase.

[Spooner]

I got my life partner the Motorola Droid for his birthday and I think we got a bad phone. It froze and crashed at a rapidly increasing rate until it was completely unusable, at which time we took it back.

lol ... <--- I think prior to today, you still had the most lol's in your responses bar none.



:sld:

[Franks n Beans]

Motorola's last breath with this software.

[The Sav]

lol ... <--- I think prior to today, you still had the most lol's in your responses bar none.



:sld:

lmao lmao lmao

The quote edit of "life partner" almost slipped right by me. lmao lmao

[The Sav]

Motorola's last breath with this software.

You're right, Beans. You should make another snuff film about it.

[Spooner]

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:








Oh, wait ... in honor of Wedge's drunken spam bonanza ... "lol"

[The Sav]

Rumor has it that Beans fries a new victim everytime Wedge types "lol" in his posts... That's a lot of fuckin' dead people, man.

[Boyd]

I got my girlie the Motorola Droid for her birthday and I think we got a bad phone. It froze and crashed at a rapidly increasing rate until it was completely unusable, at which time we took it back.



My first one was bad too. It crashed about every 10 minutes when it was in use. Called Verizon about it and they sent me a replacement that has been rock-solid ever since.

I read about this in Consumer Reports, apparently there was batch of dodgy ones that got shipped from the factory before anyone realized what was going on.

All of the dodgy ones had a serial number on the inspection sticker that looked like this:

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/429/droidphonemotorola.jpg

J/K Beansie.

[Verno]

^ Lovin' the keyboard lmao

But seriously, is the keyboard on that thing even usable? And I hate the location of the D-Pad on that thing. If I ever start having coverage issues with AT&T I'll have to shoot myself. I've only spent like $300 on apps for this thing.

[Belasco]

Yeah, it's usable. I don't use it as frequently as I use the soft keyboard, but it works well. I couldn't figure out why the D-Pad was even there at first and then I started using it to scroll through links on webpages and it all made sense. The Droid supports multi-touch, but the default browser does not. Scrolling through the links is actually faster than hitting the zoom buttons. There is another browser available called Dolphin that supports pinch/stretch zoom and gestures.

The one limitation I don't like is the default 3-page home screen. On the Touch I can organize my apps across as many pages as I want - I like that. The Droid gives me only 3 pages, and a "drawer" for all apps that is accessible on all pages. There are Home Screen replacement apps that eliminate the three page limitation, but they tend to use to many resources and slow down the response time.

[TheWagesofLOL]

I know you don't believe it's me. No matter. I will be dropping in from time to time to make sure no one is sullying or otherwise wiping with my posts or pristine reputation. You see, I've heard things. People saying I'm a poser, that I've lost my way creatively, that I drink Chard, that I read wikipedia.

All of these assertions are lies, lies that only a fat blowhard with a 600WPM typing speed would utter, and I'll see them in hell.


If you don't believe it's me, I've already messaged Belasco....in the coming days you will realize.....



TheWagesofLOL Is Here....

[Belasco]

But what do you think about the Droid?

[Verno]

I bought a Nexus One from Google and should have it tomorrow. For the Android users out there: what are the must have apps?

[Belasco]

Normally, I'd recommend the Dolphin Browser since it has pinch/zoom support. Since your getting the Nexus One with firmware 2.1.0 you'll probably already have pinch/zoom support in the default browser.

Here's a few I can recommend:

Google Goggles - take a pic of something and it will be looked up on the web for you.
Gentle Alarm - a nice, gradually increasing volume alarm clock that I use everyday.
Handcent SMS - a better text messaging app than the default Android one.
Slacker Radio - I like it more than Pandora due to actual people working on the knowledge engine.
Swift - for twitterin'.
Wifi Analyzer - to find nearby networks and analyze signal strengths.
Transdroid - control your bittorrent client (Vuze, uTorrent, etc.) on your home machine through your phone (torrent searching also supported).
Shop Savvy - see something you like in a store? Scan the barcode and find it at a better price online.
Aldiko Premium - best Android eBook reader so far.
Act 1 Video Player - better video player than the default.
SleepTimer - Works great with nearly any other media app to fall asleep by (won't affect Alarm Clock settings).

If I think of more, I'll post them here.

[Verno]

Woah. Thanks Tabasco! Nice inclusive list. I'll definitely give those a whirl.

I gotta admit, the Nexus being Google's baby made my decision easier. Weeks after they introduced the phone they added the pinch to zoom because of the incessant whining. Flash is coming to it soon, presumably before the other Android devices.

Is there a bash terminal for it or am I gonna have to void my warranty to get that?

[Spooner]

Verno, Diddy, ...

I thought both a yuz were iPhone cats. Do both your jobs pay for your shit, but make get these things? Just curious if you had yer druthers what ya'd roll with.

[Verno]

Verno, Diddy, ...

I thought both a yuz were iPhone cats. Do both your jobs pay for your shit, but make get these things? Just curious if you had yer druthers what ya'd roll with.
I'll let ya know after I've had my hands on it for a few days.

Long story short, I get my choice of phone but work pays the bill. The features this phone has were a necessity for my job (well, makes it a lot easier) so that's why I'm gonna try it out.

[Belasco]

I've been with Verizon a long time and AT&T sucks around here. Work pays for half of it. I've got an iPod Touch so I think I can compare both. I'd stick with Android. The app store, though smaller, is not restricted by Apple telling me what is and is not allowed on my phone. Also, multitasking is great. It's really nice to be able to listen to Internet radio and post on SFJ at the same time. I use a ton of Google services too and the integration is better, naturally.

Vernon, I think it has to be rooted to get a shell, but I haven't tried.

[Dr. P]

Go dam I feel like a Luddite after reading these posts.

[The Sav]

Also, multitasking is great. It's really nice to be able to listen to Internet radio and post on SFJ at the same time.

That's the BIG thing that's really turned the tide for me regarding my Blackberry. It doesn't multitask worth a shit. It's dead to me now.... DEAD!

[moneymaker]

The multi-tasking is my main complaint with my iCob. You can "jailbreak" your phone to do it, but I am leery of doing that while it's still under warranty. I've been very happy with AT&T but once their exclusive rights to it end, I see Apple freeing up a lot of current restrictions.

[Verno]

Well this damn thing is sweet. My buddies and I have been using Google Talk and its like text messaging, but free. Take your 10 cent 1 kilobyte data packets and suck it off, AT&T.

Only con: no screenshot feature like iPhone had. That's it so far.

[moneymaker]

With the Iphone, you pay $30 per month for unlimited internet. No per minute.

[Spooner]

Maker, I can't imagine how a guy like you could *ever* have need to "multitask" on a cell phone. I mean, I know you need to look up where the next corn maze is gonna show up on the prairie, and maybe use Red Laser to get a sweet deal on saltwater taffy & marzipan at the local general stores, but shit, daddy ... you puttin' me on w/that?

[The Sav]

Come on dude! There's lots of multitaskin' tuh do with that them there iCob. Ya'll can set it tuh vibrate while you ride the threshing machine AND call 9-1-1 whens li'l Jeb throws fido into it. Also, it's good for warshin' ya'll clothes AND fer hangin' them up on the clothesline on a nice summer day. Ya'll can even stir yer lemonaide jar with it, then throw it at a possum just befur dinnertime.

[Verno]

With the Iphone, you pay $30 per month for unlimited internet. No per minute.

I was referring to overpriced text messaging rates. All of these smart phones have that same $30 data plan.

[Belasco]

The one app I still think is missing is a IM aggregator. I've tried the services like Fring, but I can't find anything that works as well as BeeJive on the iPod touch. Still, I mainly use Google Talk anyway, so it's not that much of a loss.

I'd like to see some better games too, but they're on the way.


P.S. - I changed the name of the thread from just "Droid" to Android Phones.

[moneymaker]

Come on dude! There's lots of multitaskin' tuh do with that them there iCob. Ya'll can set it tuh vibrate while you ride the threshing machine AND call 9-1-1 whens li'l Jeb throws fido into it. Also, it's good for warshin' ya'll clothes AND fer hangin' them up on the clothesline on a nice summer day. Ya'll can even stir yer lemonaide jar with it, then throw it at a possum just befur dinnertime.

Why are you bothering me? Don't you have a folk song to sing or a peace rally to attend?

[The Sav]

Why are you bothering me? Don't you have a folk song to sing or a peace rally to attend?

Nah... I accidentally left my Birkenstocks upstairs and the doctor says that it's not good for me to travel up there more than once a day.

[djb]

Here's a few I can recommend:


I also use and like Handcent SMS, Google Goggles, Wifi Analyzer, and Shop Savvy. I'll have to try the Act 1 video player but I generally don't watch video on my Android phone, I use the Zune HD.

[Verno]

Beautiful widget pack comes with a nice little "all-in-one" home screen widget that has the time, weather, calendar, and links to each (alarm when you touch time, etc.) Ringdroid is awesome for making your own ringtones. It has a simple UI yet gets the job done.

Listen is the best app on the whole device. Blows mobile iTunes away (as far as getting and managing podcasts).

[djb]

FAVORITE NEW ANDROID FEATURE.
http://www.eweek.com/thumb/thumbnail.php?w=234&h=134&src=/images/stories/TopTop/company/google/android/234x134androidphones.jpg

With the newly released Skype Mobile App for Android I can now call my friends, family and customers in Perth, Bangcock, Dueseldorf, Berlin, Bbudapest, Tokyo and Hong Kong using Skype to Skype from my Android Phone. For free. We've been international text messaging for the past 3 months but
this is even cooler.

these new I-Puds look great. I sure wish they had current functionality. I 'm surprised people are buying the WiFi only versions. The 3G is going to be worth the added wait and $$$.

[The Sav]

You said bang cock, lol.

Man, I hope Dr. P thanks me for this post.

[Verno]

Well, it was fun while it lasted. But I switched back to the iPhone.

I guess after using it for 2 years I just got used to its keyboard. Among other things.

[Spooner]

Well, it was fun while it lasted. But I switched back to the iPhone.

I guess after using it for 2 years I just got used to its keyboard. Among other things.



... uh ... ya mean like ... fappin'?









/quack

[The Sav]

Just got the Samsung Movement android phone today. I got the one with all the touch screen features but it also has the slide out keyboard. I'm very impressed so far.