Comments on: Droid By Motorola: Official Pics, Fact Sheet and Specs

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:15:14 +0000

I’m a Linux developer, and while I haven’t tried developing for Android yet, it seems to me that there are ways around the 256MB limit. You keep your app core small and tight, just the executable code and a minimal UI. You keep the heavy stuff, e.g. the 3D meshes, textures, sounds, and video in an app-specific directory on the SD card, downloaded by the app core on initial run. It would be some extra work, true, but far from impossible. Our predecessors in this industry managed to make all sorts of cutting-edge things work on far weaker platforms for decades, substituting cleverness for hardware. Why can’t we? IMHO the only people really hurt are the shovelware operators who want to release crappy bloated apps every week on a shoestring budget without hiring talented developers. Do we really care if those guys prefer the iPhone? Buh-bye!

By: Talton "Phases" Pettigrew

Talton "Phases" Pettigrew — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:05:24 +0000

Asia: That sounds quiet defective. Ask for a swap. I promise you the Droid is WAY nicer than the EnV. Either way, good luck.

By: Asia Mason

Asia Mason — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:48:42 +0000

I just bought the Droid and I HATE IT…. keeps turing off and back on and will not press the keys when i touch them. I am not impressed at all. going on monday to get the EnV

By: Schneider

Schneider — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:11:54 +0000

Agree with @James. I’m a developer and Android is becoming a mess. Now we have to worry about 2.8″ screens when developing. Yes Google rolled that into the latest SDK. But really!! 2.8″ Are we going forward or backwards. When Android moves to dumb phones we are going to see a huge mess.

And don’t get me started on the 256mb limit for app storage. Google, Motorola, and Verizon dropped the ball big time on this Droid fiasco. It could have been great but they botched it large.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:30:21 +0000

@James
Yes Apple has one point of software distro.. and one manufacturer of handsets, and one carrier.. Google is not fragmented.. they have standards.. If you want their standards, then you get a Google branded phone.. If you want to go outside that then you get HTC Sense. I have a Google branded phone, I have to take what comes with that. If I bought a Sense UI phone, then how can I complain about not being in step with a Google branded phone ? that would not be what I bought… I don’t understand why people can’t (refuse) to understand.. Google and Android are not interchangeable.. Android is a platform developed by Google, Google makes apps and markets them in a Google standard.. HTC does both.. they sell Google phones, and they make apps and market them to their own “Sense” standard.. It’s similar to the way Linux has been forever, but more controlled.. It offers both interoperability and choice.. There is nothing wrong, the system is not broken, it’s not chaos, it makes sense to people who don’t eat 3 meals a day at the same McDonalds..

By: Mitchel

Mitchel — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:02:20 +0000

Agree with James. Worst thing Google could have done was give up control of Android to manufacturers and carriers. Google should be telling device manufacturers as part of the Google Experience, they are required to have x amount of onboard storage.

256mb for apps??? Please come on already. Did we just warp back to the late 1990s?

By: Trent

Trent — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:35:46 +0000

I’m an Android developer and I can tell you that developing with file size restrictions is like telling your favorite band – “Hey, you got 4 minutes and 10 seconds for this song. Make it fit.” Annoying for sure!

By: James

James — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:33:15 +0000

Android OS is being fragmented too much. If you’re following twitter updates on Android this week, you will see a bunch of really mad Sprint Hero owners who wonder “when am I getting Android 2.0 update”. Because HTC chose to skin Android 1.5, they now have to go back and re-engineer it to work with Android 1.6 and 2.0. @HTC had to issue a statement to Hero owners that they do plan to update to 2.0 but they need time to re-engineer the Sense UI. Plus add to the fact that Sprint just told the world that they do not have a way to push updates to Android customers yet! Yikes!

So now Google has to deal with multiple devices on multiple networks, running multiple OS versions… None of the networks have a unified way to upgrade user’s OS’s. Google should have learned a lesson from Windows Mobile who took this same path and failed miserably. Microsoft is now backtracking and partnering with a select few device manufacturers to avoid segmentation with Windows Mobile 7 – when it rears its ugly head.

Now look at Apple. 1 distribution channel – iTunes – completely controlled by the OS and device maker. A new version comes out, fire up iTunes and away you go. Simple! It puts all the power in one company’s hands, yes. But it lends itself to stupidly simple customer usability.

Google needs to take back ownership of Android if they want to avoid a cluster you-know-what moving forward.

And fix the freaking 256mb of storage!!! You’re killing your developer community Google.

By: James

James — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:27:06 +0000

@Dennis One of the big concerns is that if Motorola wanted to take iPhone straight on as a gaming platform, now they simply can’t do it. Nor can they compete with other heavy apps that take up alot of space (i.e Navigation apps that store local maps for when you do not have a data signal, 3D graphic-heavy or animation apps). The fact that Marketplace doesn’t have alot of large file size apps, 256mb might be enough for now. But…it hinders developers who were hoping to push the envelope with Android. We simply won’t be able to do that – especially in the area of gaming – like iPhone developers can. It will delay Android from being mass adopted when you can walk across the street and pick up an iPhone – which will be perceived as a more powerful platform. Simply because it allows developers to develop without worrying so much about file size.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:47:13 +0000

I am perhaps not typical of your average phandroid user, but perhaps my usage might help put some perspective on the worry over memory space.. Beyond what came with my phone, I have permanently installed 49 apps in about a 2 and a half month period. For the most part, I am not what you would call a “collector”.. that is, I don’t install things I probably won’t use. I have been guilty of installing duplicate function apps, but I pick the ones I like and remove the others. (with the exception that I have 2 language translation apps, and 2 web browsers).. I still have 209MB of available space.. using “fuzzy math” if I was to install another 50 typical apps I would still have over 160MB and not enough time to functionally use all these apps. If all the apps I have, and the theoretical 50 others were to all double in size, I would still have some 60MB left.. As I said, I am probably not typical.. and of course “more is better”

By: rich

rich — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:15:04 +0000

I still wish I could get a Droid. And I still like my g1 better yhan iphone, I just want android to put apple in its place already.

By: rich

rich — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:03:09 +0000

Even with the graphics enhancements in 2.0, I don’t think we will be seeing the great games and apps that iphone has, I’m no dev., but it seems like a lot of the good apps we are missing out on are all in the area of 1Gb. I know there’s talk of devs just putting the exe. File on internal memory and the rest on the sdcard, but then you run in to a bunch of other issues don’t you? I just wish all of the phone mfg’s would start putting phones out that could handle bigger apps. I hope I’m missing something but I don’t think well be getting e.a. sports games or any others real games till the mfg’s figure it out.

By: pavilioncrew

pavilioncrew — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:38:50 +0000

Rob must be making love to his droid this morning.

By: spence

spence — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:17:21 +0000

What’s the processor? Multitouch pinch zooming support? Anything from blur? Apps to SD?

By: Jerry

Jerry — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:52:52 +0000

@RICH … Android apps are not that big because Android di not support it. With Android 2.0 .. graphics have been enhanced.. so you’ll see more graphically pleasing apps.