Moto Droid’s 2.1 Update Coming Soon
| by Anthony Perez on February 8th, 2010 |
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I, just like any other Droid owner out there, have been envying Android 2.1 since the release of the Nexus One. Well, we’ve got news for you – Engadget reports that the 2.1 update is making its way through Verizon’s testing department! Here’s what the update is reported to include:
- Current build is 2.1 Version 1.
- Google Goggles pre-installed.
- Multitouch enabled browser.
- Home screen of 2.0.1 with no rotating 3D grid menu, maintains drawer tab.
- No live wallpapers. NoOoOoOoOoo!
- The news and weather widgets introduced on the Nexus One are included.
Although the release date of the update is unknown, hopefully the testing is a sign that it will be available, or leaked, soon! Check up soon as we will keep you updated as we get more info on the update. Any features that are lacking in the rumored update that you would of liked to see? I know they are just aesthetic but I would of loved the live wallpapers.
[via Engadget]
1. noobs wrote on February 8, 2010
Not live wall papers, that sucks
2. Integgroll wrote on February 8, 2010
Oh come on, no Live Wallpapers, not that I personally care about them, but really, Android people love options, or else they would go with something else.
3. Chris wrote on February 8, 2010
I am more upset about the 3D app drawer. I was really excited for that animation and the ability to switch through the (hopefully) 5 screens by tapping the tiny squares on the bottom. Poor Droid owners (including myself) not even owning their devices 4 months and getting screwed over and over. Hopefully the update proves otherwise.
4. andrew wrote on February 8, 2010
i don’t know how it couldn’t have live wallpapers…it’s in the 2.1 framework APIs http://developer.android.com/intl/de/sdk/android-2.1.html
maybe it doesn’t come with the same wallpapers as the nexus would, but couldn’t those be downloaded from somewhere? funny i don’t find anything on the nexus launcher in the 2.1 changelogs.
5. Pedro wrote on February 8, 2010
What about the gallery and the clock of the Nexus One ? Voice recognition ?
Does no new homescreen means no more than 3 screens ? That’s kinda disappointing.
6. Terrell wrote on February 8, 2010
Root if you want them that bad. Chances are that a good percentage of regular consumers aren’t going to know what Live Wallpapers are enough to care so this update is just going to a 1 up for them no matter what. We as Android owners do love options and we have them
7. Me wrote on February 8, 2010
I don’t buy it…there’s no reason why DROID couldn’t handle those features.
8. l2ock5tar wrote on February 8, 2010
So “2.1″ without all of 2.1. Why in the world would they do this??? Can someone explain?
9. tristan wrote on February 8, 2010
No included live wallpaper packages or no API functionality?
If they take live wallpapers API out, they might as well make a new SDK version because the developer docs for 2.1 will be invalid.
10. Grant wrote on February 8, 2010
-no live wallpapers
-no new app menu/tab
+multitouch
+widgets
Eh not as excited as I was anymore. Missing two key features for me.
11. StingRay wrote on February 8, 2010
I’m calling B.S. on this one…
as others have stated, the live wallpapers and 3D app drawer are supposedly apart of the 2.1 framework…
I’m not that confident that Engadget is that great of a source for this type of information….
However, on the chance that this is correct….this would be a clear sign that Google IS going to save the best of the best for its Nexus One and give the Droid and other Android phones only what Google cares to hand down….would not be a good sign for the future of Android IMHO….
12. ryan wrote on February 8, 2010
The app drawer might be due to landscape layout issues. Not that any of this really matters as we will get custom roms with it installed reguardless. I am rooted and have the 2.0.1 style launcher with 5 pages. Live wallpapers are buggy at stock speeds. Overclocked not so bad…
13. thegreen wrote on February 8, 2010
My theory- The Droid has a landscape homescreen when the keyboard is open. The N1 has no keyboard or landscape home so they probably did not write 2.1 with the ability to flip, therefore they can’t include 3d app drawer or live walls because they won’t work in landscape. Hopefully, they’ll add these later as there are rumors of future nexus phones with keyboards.
But yeah, kinda sucks. Multitouch browser and stuff I can already get on the market is a pretty minor update.
14. su2lly wrote on February 8, 2010
If VZW is doing the testing instead of Moto then we can expect this update sometime around spring of 2013.
15. John wrote on February 8, 2010
OT…but only a little…any news about an Eris update?
16. Risky wrote on February 8, 2010
So wait wait, they had us waiting for months… and this update cmes with half the meat? That’s…. just not right ):
17. Jordan wrote on February 8, 2010
Still hoping for news on Eris
18. dave wrote on February 8, 2010
Droid can have more home screens and horizontal home flip – with a home replacement available through the app store, so the Droid should be able to handle the new Nexus style home. …So who’s deciding to leave this out? Verizon, Motorola, Google, or did Google lean on Verizon, who then told Motorola to disable those features until after Verizon’s version of the Nexus is available. In any case, unless you want to root (and potentially brick) your Droid, you’re screwed.
19. Kiteless wrote on February 8, 2010
Honestly I am happy with the set of updates for the Droid. I have seen the Nexus One in action and I kept thinking, all that extra 3D and wallpaper animations just looks like a battery suck.
The extra widgets look nice, but I like the app shelf thing just fine on the Droid. More excited about the added stability (and hopefully speed) of 2.1 but what I want more than anything is a freaking teather plan. Come on VZW!
Anyway just my 2 cents.
- KD
20. Hugh Briss wrote on February 8, 2010
I’m with the rest of the commenters and let me add my ho hum. Basically the only thing we’ll be getting is a multi touch browser and those already exist if you want one bad enough, get Dolphin.
21. Chris wrote on February 8, 2010
Despite the purely aesthetic nature of live wallpapers and the app launcher, I will be extremely disappointed if they are not included in the update. Does anyone have a rooted Droid with 2.1? Can you shed some light on the possibility of the app launcher and live wallpapers being excluded due to landscape mode as mentioned by @thegreen?
22. schwiz wrote on February 8, 2010
Odd,I think andrew is right if it is 2.1 then it would have to have the live wallpaper API built in meaning that they can download wallpapers off the market.
23. Evan M wrote on February 8, 2010
Wow, droid owners are getting screwed left and right, this is BS and better not be accurate. Anyone know about the state of custom 2.1 roms for droid? Last I checked they weren’t fully functional.
24. Firelight wrote on February 8, 2010
What about speech-to-text?
25. PhaseBurn wrote on February 8, 2010
I’ve heard on good faith from Google Android devs that 2.1 for the Droid will not feature live wallpapers, or the 3D launcher2 application that is found in the Nexus One. I can also say that the Fro-Yo release will bring live wallpapers to the droid (and other platforms) but for the time being, the Nexus One is the only Android 2.1 phone with that feature.
26. Bella wrote on February 8, 2010
Definitely incremental. Still no improvement to email, or searchable calendar ? If using email other than gmail, there is no ability to clear out trash. After a while, it gets very tedious clicking on each one then hitting delete button. Other apps have a clear all. Why not email. Also, Google known as search engine cant see to make their own android calendar searchable ? What’s with that ? But enough of my rant and rave. Love the Droid.
27. thelee wrote on February 8, 2010
Has anyone stopped to consider whether live wallpapers or a 3D app drawer wouldn’t be a drag on a Droid? Nexus One, by any account, has a far snappier processor. Live Wallpapers/3D app drawer may just result in a droid with crappy home screen framerates.
28. Gunner wrote on February 8, 2010
I could care less about Live wallpapers or the 3D app drawer. The Live papers would just be a batt drain. I’ve already used the 3D app drawer, and I didn’t like it. The current app drawer is faster.
I do want:
2.1 Home w/ 5 screens
BT Voice Dialing (I know…never going to happen)
29. Farch wrote on February 8, 2010
From what I hear the live wallpaper hasn’t worked on rooted Droids with 2.1 installed.
Having two releases of 2.1 with different UIs would just be stupid.
This release to Verizon may just be to test major 2.1 upgrades (like the performance to the Java VM) while Motorola works on the UI fixes.
Remember there were 55 builds of 2.0.1 before it was released :)
30. sw1storm wrote on February 8, 2010
Don’t trip folks. If I’m not mistaken there are 2 updates bound for Droid. This may just be the first one.
31. james wrote on February 8, 2010
some people just annoy me with their comments. first of all it is not googles fault that it takes forever for you to get your updates its your carriers. people think oh since the nexus is their phone they are going to put more attention towards it and update it first no thats not the case the reason why the nexus one will get software updates before any other android phone is because google has complete control over the nexus and does not have to go through a carrier to push out their updates. second the app drawer people its not a 2.1 thing its a nexus thing google and htc made the app drawer like that for the nexus just like other companys have skinned and changed up the android app drawer. please stop being so stupid!
32. Bobby wrote on February 8, 2010
Has anyone got this update yet?
33. Jamie Davis wrote on February 8, 2010
I’m really hoping for the 5 home screens. What about speech-to-text in all text entry fields? I use the voice search all the time and I think I would really did that feature.
34. Aaron wrote on February 8, 2010
There’s a video on YouTube of a rooted Droid running Androind 2.1 and it *flies.* Part of my frustration with my Droid is the lagginess (at least, it became a problem after I saw 2.1 on the Nexus One); if 2.1 lands on a Droid in the way the rooted version did, the speed and performance is going to be impressive.
35. schwiz wrote on February 8, 2010
thelee, I have those features running on my G1 with lag hardly noticeable, I am sure the droid can handle it ;)
36. DroidFan wrote on February 8, 2010
the 3d app launcher runs like ASS on stock droid. Very unresponsive unless overclocked to at least 800mhz. my droid had 3d app launcher for about 30 seconds and i said wow that looks cool but fails for functionality..DELETE!!!
if you root your droid and flash new rom you can have pinchzoom browser.
37. Bryan wrote on February 8, 2010
I’m with Jamie. Love my Droid. Use it mostly to stay up with school. Even write papers and discussion threads in Blackboard. Live wallpapers? Cool, but who cares. Tried the 2.1 launcher .apk, buggy and slowed down Droid. I’d be much more impressed to see speech-to-text in any field. Love it with Handcent. Also, I would love to see day/night browser. Thrilled with that addition in maps. Why not every viewable page??
38. ray111 wrote on February 9, 2010
What about FLASH? Wasn’t flash support supposed to be part of the update so we could stream video (i.e. hulu)? Or is that going to be a seperate update? Oh yeah, the additional home pages, 5 instead of 3, any news on that?
39. David wrote on February 9, 2010
What about memory storage for apps? One of the drawbacks of the current build is that apps are stored on the limited 1G memory chip, not the 16G card – and there is no way to change that. Really slows down the Droid the way it is configured now.
40. Sue wrote on February 9, 2010
I am running 2.0.1 on my Droid and downloaded the Launcher2 app (2.1 Home w the new Gallery, the new music app, & the Genie news & weather widget from one of the forums a while back.
41. eric wrote on February 9, 2010
what about the exchange sync issues, will that be fixed?
42. kenneth wrote on February 11, 2010
now for those of you that want speech to text theres “handcent sms” (free) on the market and it can do so much more than the stock sms on the droid. for more than 3 screens theres “panda home” with up to 11 and “open home lite” with up to 7 both are free but a lil glitchy but paid version of open home should be a bit better but havent invested into it. make sure you always check out the comments on the apps you want to install though cause some can crash the phone ive had to replace mine already cause of some “nifty” apps that are very unstable
43. Rafael wrote on February 15, 2010
So far the Moto Droid has been the best phone I’ve owned and I’ve owned almost every smartphone from every carrier. Still, as this upcoming update shows, you can’t get everything you want. Flash would have been nice. C’mon, the year is 2010.
Hey, did you know you could have upto 11 screens on the Droid NOW? Just go to the marketplace and download PandaHome. This app lets you do a whole lot of cool stuff and the themes are phenomenal. AND you can add 6 dockbars for quick access to any app from any screen!
44. Data10 wrote on February 18, 2010
I know it’s not actually 2.1, but here is a link on how to install several of the app’s from the 2.1 release on your droid.
http://androidhd.blogspot.com/search/label/Android%202.1
I installed all of them and then choose to have my phone boot up into the Launcher by default (versus home or GDE) and now I get the 3D app drawer, multi touch maps, desktop screen thumbnails, 5 desktops and the best is the new image gallery.
Watch the video, it shows exactly what you’ll get and you can make the call if you think it’s worth it or not.
The only thing I wish they would address is the email client, not being able to open HTML emails or forward emails with attachments is simply a not acceptable for a released product in this day and age.
45. devin wrote on February 22, 2010
This update is also going to have the 3d gallery and media and its going to have speech to text for anywhere the virtual keyboard comes up you just swipe your finger across the blank spot and it will come up
46. devin wrote on February 22, 2010
And also a different style music navigation
47. Casey wrote on February 23, 2010
Root you droid and have almost everything now. Everyone I know with the droid (including myself) has done it and I’ve yet to know anyone who bricked their phone. You then can have all of the feature that won’t be included with the update to 2.1 as well.
48. ben wrote on February 25, 2010
when is it comin out?
49. ben wrote on February 25, 2010
and how will u know when its out will they send a email to your phone
50. leo wrote on March 13, 2010
as long as droid gets adobe flash player, i can forgive them on the live wallpaper and 3d app drawer. multi touch web browser is good and multi touch image gallery is good.
51. Tom wrote on March 14, 2010
what is a rooted Droid? What is a teather plan? Will the Droid 2.1 be a world phonewhat is a bricked droid? I currently have 8830 BB world phone.
52. bsems wrote on March 18, 2010
The update will be automatically sent to your phone. a pop up will say something like “update for 2.1″ u must have more than 30%battery i believe.
You dont have to do anything extra. Just sit back and wait. If you want to check yourself. go to settings-about phone-system updates. That wont trigger your update, that just shows your current system software.
the update will be sent in waves of 250k phones.. which means once the first droid gets the update, you will recieve it in no longer than 4 days.