I admit it. I really rushed my first post on the Droid. I did that on purpose because I think it honestly did show the things that are likely for people to struggle with at first if they are a little slow like I am. Now that I have taken a breath, read extensively, discussed on forums and played with it I am ready for another post. This one I hope will not be edited as many times as I did the first. The first post had to be changed many times as I uncovered sometimes false solutions which I outed and ultimately real ones. Something as feature rich as the Droid has to engender some sort of learning curve. I am just hoping to shorten that curve for others just a bit.
In this post I hope to provide just a few tips that would have been nice if I had them when I first played with it. Next I will give you a list of apps I particularly like and finally my decision on whether or not I am keeping it.
The first tip I will repeat from the first post is that in order to view the Notifications you must drag them down with your finger. I am repeating this because several people told me they appreciated the tip and didn’t know about it previously. I want to make sure everyone who reads this knows about it. The second tip is regarding your home screens. You have three of them (I believe there is an app to extend that but I am not covering that here). Your main screen is what you see when you unlock your phone. (Mine is shown above). You have a screen to the left (drag the home screen to the right) and a screen to the right (drag your home screen left). The first thing that took me a while to discover is how to organize these screens. If you “pull up” your main applications screen all you need do is touch and hold an application to place it on the screen that is showing. For example, If you want to put an application on your “left” screen, drag your home screen right, pull up your applications screen, touch and hold the app and you will be able to drag it to whatever spot you want on the left screen. It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of room, so that’s why they have those apps that extend them. When I fill up what I have and need more I will figure out how to use that.
Adding Shortcuts
One of the handiest shortcuts you can have is a Navigations shortcut that will get you back home from wherever you are. From any home screen touch and hold a blank area. Click “Shortcuts”, then “Directions”. Type in your address, choose the other options and click Save. You can move it around the screen by touching and holding the icon. To delete the shortcut, drag the icon to the applications folder arrow at the bottom — when you do that it will turn into a Trash icon. To add shortcuts to web sites, do the same thing as before but instead of choosing “Directions” choose “Bookmarks”.
I know these are fairly basic things but we all need to learn them at some point. If you are seeking something more specific and/or more advanced, feel free to ask in the comments and I ‘ll see what I can do to help.
The Menu Key
I just read the manual (Hey – there’s a manual!) and discovered the name of the key with all the lines going across it at the bottom of the phone. It’s called the Menu key. Not knowing what that key was for gave me all kinds of grief at first. If you are stuck in an app and don’t know what to do hit that button – it will give you lots more options.
Ok I believe these are the basic tips that you need to start being productive. Now for the apps.
Guess what I got for Christmas? Yep – the Droid. Like many things it prompted a blog post, so if you are thinking about getting one, I hope this helps you.
I must preface this “review” with a few caveats. I don’t pretend to be an expert on anything, or a professional reviewer, but from a user’s point of view I think I have a lot to offer, especially since I am a computer nerd and can handle technical things. I also have noticed that part of my decision revolved around reading other reviews, and many of them were influenced by personal allegiances. Many people who buy one or the other (iPhone or Droid) don’t want to admit they made a mistake. I will do my best to be as objective as possible, especially since I have till tomorrow to take it back without penalty. Update 01/02/10: Read this but keep in mind had I read the “Getting Started” pamphlet in full before I let myself loose on my phone I would have had fewer bumps along the way. I highly suggest that if you have a new Droid that you be a tad more patient than I was. :)
Why I Chose Droid
When I first looked at the iPhone I LOVED it! It is sleek, pretty and the interface is wonderful. However, when I tried to use the keyboard that was an absolute show stopper for me. My fat fingers were constantly looking for the backspace key. It has no other keyboard so that was it – no iPhone for me. It also didn’t help that I was already with Verizon and would have to pay to get out of my contract. But that is up in April and I am a patient person. If the iPhone was right for me I would have waited. I even went back a few months later to see if my fingers got any “slimmer”. Nope – I was still having the same problems. I had also heard from many iPhone users how bad AT&T was. “I hate the dropped calls” many people told me. This to me is not just a knock against the iPhone. It is a huge reason not to get it. It’s like saying, “I got this new car today — the leather seats are beautiful and the stereo system is unmatched. Unfortunately it stalls out on me a lot.” This reason alone would prevent me from buying one until they fixed this issue. Remember that this is a phone and if the phone part doesn’t work then I don’t see much sense in getting it.
Then I heard about the Droid. It was supposedly the first real competition to the iPhone that Verizon had. That interested me because I am happy with Verizon’s network. I did a bunch of reading when it first came out. It had all kinds of glitches — the largest one seemed to be in the camera. Due to some very strange bug the auto-focus wouldn’t work on certain days of the month. Then all of a sudden the issue would clear itself up. I waited and watched and then heard about the patch that was sent out to fix this issue. So maybe the phone was ready for me, or I for it. And besides, it has a navigation appliucation that gives turn-by-turn directions and it’s free.
The Purchase
I went to two places to test it out. I was pleased to learn that I could use the keyboard right out of the gate with no problems. The second time I went I knew I was going to buy it. Neither salesman knew about the camera glitch which was scary to me. Either they are uninformed about their own product or are hiding that among other things. The first salesman showed me the things he liked about it which were OK I guess. He liked the video and that did seem to be pretty good. I realized that the device had so many features I had to take it home and try it myself to see if it was worth it or not. Oh and by the way. If a Droid salesperson tries to sell you a plastic film screen protector for ten bucks, show him this:
The Experience
So from here on I am going to tell you my impressions, both good and bad, about the device, reminding you that I am not a technical device reviewer. As a matter of fact this is my first touch screen smart phone, so some of my missteps might have been due to lack of experience. Hopefully that will give you a better snapshot (sorry for the pun) for yourself.
My overall impression of the Droid so far is that it is a bit kludgy and is still so new that all the bugs haven’t been worked out yet. There are a lot of neat things about it, and will probably be an excellent choice in a year from now. Whether or not I put up with its idiosyncracies and lack of app support remains to be seen. Here are my impressions of the things I have worked with so far:
5 Comments to Read 
Guess what I got for Christmas? Yep – the Droid. Like many things it prompted a blog post, so if you are thinking about getting one, I hope this helps you.
