Motorola DROID Review
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Sure the Motorola DROID has a physical QWERTY keyboard you can use to dish out a quick text message, but the on-screen ones seemed just as capable of accomplishing the same feats. We're quite astounded with how responsive it has become with little or no mistakes made during the typing process and the predictive text will aid in figuring out what you're trying to type. There are several suggestions that the phone will generate to best guess what you're saying – even better it will automatically enter the correct word after you press the space bar. In the past, we've sometimes seen the on-screen QWERTY lag and cause you to slow down – you won't even miss a beat with this one luckily. One minor problem that we noticed when speed typing is the tendency to accidentally activate one of the four touch-sensitive buttons. We've experienced hitting the home screen button a few times, which resulted in some minor frustrations. Overall, we're thoroughly impressed with the usability of both the portrait and landscape keyboards and the phone's ability to predict text. If neither of the on-screen keyboards float your boat, you can always rely on using the hardware QWERTY which provides a more accurate input method.
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The on-screen keyboard of Motorola DROID seemed just as capable as the physical QWERTY | |
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Messaging |
GMail is obviously the default email provider on the Motorola DROID, but fortunately you can add POP, IMAP and Microsoft Exchange accounts. Eclair now places all your messages to one single inbox and color codes them so you know exactly which one is from which account. When viewing the inbox, the color is displayed on the outer left side of the message – we would've preferred having the entire message highlighted in the particular color to make it a bit easier to differentiate. If you can't stand having to see all your messages displayed in a single inbox, you can simply select a specific mail account by pressing the menu key.
Setting up most email accounts a simple process requiring your email address and password. From there, it will look up the specific settings for each provider and automatically start retrieving your messages. If it can’t automatically configure, it will ask you for the detailed settings, such as POP3/SMTP/IMAP servers and Port numbers. One odd thing that did frustrate us was the phone's inability to setup Yahoo! – it just kept on giving us a message that the email address and password were incorrect. You'll have to manually set up the account which is the process users will have to deal with when setting proprietary accounts.
The only instant messaging client to be found installed is Google Talk. With the Android Market in full swing, we were able to download a variety of clients that were free, such as AIM,so we weren't too upset with only Google Talk being offered initially.
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Google Talk | |
Connectivity:
It's almost hard to believe that Android has branched out from T-Mobile and is now in the hands of the largest wireless provider in the US. The Motorola DROID is a dual-band CDMA (800/1900 MHz) handset with high speed data connectivity through 3G EVDO Rev A or Wi-Fi. It would have been nice if it were a world phone, working on GSM networks alongside CDMA, but maybe we can hope for this next time.
With the HTC Hero already sporting multi-touch and Flash integration in its web browser, we knew that those were not to be expected on the DROID and just hoped to have a decent web experience. If it weren't for the Hero's release, we would say that the DROID's browsing experience to be tops in the Android market. The Motorola site states that the current browser supports the HTML5 standard, and that Flash 10 is expected the first half of 2010. As far as improvements go with the DROID, pages loaded fairly quick, with a zoomed out view at first, but most text is obviously too tiny to view, but the high resolution screen still enables them to be distinguishable. Pages render correctly with both text and images loading properly as they would on a desktop counterpart. Zooming in can be done by double tapping a specific area and conversely zoom out by doing the same, or by using the on-screen zoom icons – there's a transition effect to give it a nice look. For the most part, the browser is much snappier than the one on the Hero – you can really see it when you scroll throughout the web page. To our enjoyment, the phone was almost instantaneous when switching from portrait to landscape view. We suspect the slightly faster processor and Android 2.0 to be behind the great experience we had with the web browser.
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The browser of Motorola DROID | ||
You're going to place your trust in the hands of Google when you use the Motorola DROID. Almost all your information will be entrusted to them because you'll have support through either Microsoft Exchange Server and Google.
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75 Comments
1. jmill75 posted on 20 Oct 2010, 01:55 0 0
Seemed like a pretty unbiased review for the most part, but how in the hell are you going to knock the score down so low because of the battery, you mean running multiple apps at once all day affects battery...... really really......and compare it to phones that dont even offer multi-tasking,strange. You had me till that point.
36. vmatikov posted on 05 Nov 2009, 21:57 0 0
ya phone arena's scoring is horseshit. like seriously... because the droid seems like an awesome phone. sure it has flaws... but what doesn't? i rly dislike what they base their criteria on. it makes no sense at all.
62. Dadler22 posted on 10 Nov 2009, 15:02 0 1
It was a good idea, but motorola made it, and honestly if there was a phone that was a 9.5 and it was made my motorola, i would knock of a point just because i knew that it was american crap.
2. seebeatty posted on 31 Oct 2009, 08:21 0 0
Yeah, I don't get this score at all!! The scores for the Storm2, Imagio, and TP2 all rank 9 or above and you come forward with this? Hmmm,... I think I smell bias even if you didn't write it into the review.
38. Phoney posted on 06 Nov 2009, 11:07 0 0
IMO I think the others were too high. I tried out my friend's DROID this morning... I had such high expectations and desires for this phone, but the first impression didn't meet them :(. I agree with the PA ranks.
3. idiotwind13 posted on 31 Oct 2009, 11:27 1 0
Does anybody read the "How we rate" section of the page? The numbers aren't really meant to be put up against each other for phones that are in different classes, but rather what they are saying is "How squarely did this manufacturer hit the nail on the head with respect to what they were trying to do?". The newest iPhone is rated lower than the enV Touch, do you really think that they are saying the Touch is a better phone? the Storm2, Imagio and TP2 are not the same type of phone as the Droid, even though they are all smart phones, they are trying to accomplish very different things. Not saying that there is not some bias in the reviews, but just because a certain phone gets a slightly lower score doesnt mean that was the case here. This seems to me to be a very fair review, and accurate, I've had my hands on one and I think everything PhoneArena had to say is quite accurate in this case. Though I do agree that a dig on battery life is not really fair, especially considering it "lasts only a day", that is pretty standard for the type of phone it is.
37. vmatikov posted on 05 Nov 2009, 21:58 0 1
tbh.. if you read their reviews... you wouldn't want ANY phone. nothing is ever good... and the comparison and scoring criteria is bullshit.
42. sgtslayer321 posted on 08 Nov 2009, 02:53 0 0
I can say that this phone is great! I own it. I also owned the Imagio before this and took it back. The Imagio had horrible battery life much worse than the Droid and the Imagio got a better score. That just goes to show that they favor HTC phones. I'm not saying they are that bad but this phone is in a hole other ball park than the Imagio. I know I tried the 2 of them out. P.S. They did the same thing with the omnia2
5. JASON666 posted on 31 Oct 2009, 15:24 0 0
Maybe I'll get an unlocked. 2yrs.+Data plan services still dont add up that well does it.....just my thought.
72. haste_the_day posted on 27 Dec 2009, 06:19 0 1
because people are sick of complaints about data plans? get over it already. you pay for what you get. Now if you want to spend 29.99 a mo. w/ Att, then you get less haha. But honestly, i work for VZW and every day people call in and complain about data plans being a requirement for a phone like this.... like VZW is suppost to put BILLIONS back into the network, set up plans for LTE, and not charge you to use it? a dollar a day for most reliable 3G dosnt seem like alot to me at all... So to answer you question as to why -6 (soon to be -7 after i vote) its bc of the ranting about plans.....GET OVER IT.
6. luisandres58 posted on 31 Oct 2009, 15:32 0 0
In all of the reviews so far, be it PA, Engadget, etc..I see a lot of nickpicking...ugly, KB cramped, you could say the same things about all of the phones...I think that is a matter of choice....I loved the Glyde with the small KB, the only thing was the problems with the touchscreen...I have the Dare now....KB is also cramped...I have the iTouch and I still make mistakes while typing....I think that I'm getting the Droid....it sure looks promising.....was hoping for the HTC Passion, but it looks that is gonna take a while before it shows up. People there isn't the perfect phone.....
73. haste_the_day posted on 27 Dec 2009, 06:21 0 0
to be honest,i though the same thing about the keypad (physical) until i tried it. It take a bit of getting used to, and, as i have huge thumbs, is still a bit clumbsy, but overall alot better than just a touch screen.
7. vzw fanman posted on 31 Oct 2009, 17:51 0 0
i'm totally getting this phone. it looks like it has endless possibilities!!!! good bye crapple iphone and my crappberry storm!
43. sgtslayer321 posted on 08 Nov 2009, 02:58 0 0
ya I had the storm before and this blows it away but I can say the storm did have good email
8. Miacol posted on 01 Nov 2009, 08:37 0 0
This would be a great phone if it was on the GSM networks, the CDMA single use network is a killer. I want to be able to surf and talk on the phone at the same time. Does anyone if a US GSM/3G will become available?
54. Fair&Balanced posted on 08 Nov 2009, 13:11 0 0
Just to be safe you might want to wait until its equivalent is produced by a reputable manufacturer.
9. lennydude posted on 01 Nov 2009, 09:49 0 0
QUOTE: "but how in the hell are you going to knock the score down so low because of the battery, you mean running multiple apps at once all day affects battery...... really really......and compare it to phones that dont even offer multi-tasking,strange. You had me till that point." END QUOTE. Exactly ! This type of "comparison" review is really BS. Phone Arena could have easily rated the battery on 2 levels, normal use and multitasking use. Why rate a phone so low based on something that is a very positive feature of the phone? Phone Arena really should change the review..........of course they will not..............being iPhone lovers.
