By The day I got the Motorola Droid I promised loads and loads of videos, reviews, input, infos and lots more over the coming days. You’ve waited with bated breath in hopes we would dump an unfathomable content load on your doorstep. I’ve posted some… but I’ve been getting comments, emails and communication on every medium asking – where are all the goods you promised? Allow me to explain:
I don’t want to provide the first review. I want to provide the BEST review and the most THOROUGH review which can only be done by exploring the ins-and-outs of the DROID and Android 2.0 for an extended period of time. And then of course writing and compiling all the goods into an enjoyable article. You’ll have your review on Monday or Tuesday.
It’s tough to balance the work load needed to do a FULL review while simultaneously pleasing the masses with the Android news overflow that continues to grow on a daily basis. While we’ve made an effort to recruit some Phandroid writers – and even narrowed down our selection – we have yet to put these people at their posts. I’ll be finalizing things this weekend and hopefully next week you’ll start to see articles from new writers mixed in with my own.
My inability to “keep up” is awesome – it is due to the intense growth of interest in Android. You rely on Phandroid and AndroidForums and let me tell you: things are only going to get better. Following a Motorola Droid Review of epic proportions, you’ll be getting more consistent Android coverage on daily news/rumor topics, applications, editorials, developer interviews and much, much more.
Apologies I can’t respond to each of you individually… I just want to let you guys know that I’m on top of it. We’ve already got an awesome team of people on Android Forums (Thanks Talton, Dave, Anthony, Jim and all the new mods!) and Phandroid will soon get an injection of fresh faces as well. If things are a bit slow this weekend… apologies… but get your rest because you’re going to need a lot of energy to keep up with the level of awesomeness to which Phandroid is about to rise!
Nice! Can’t wait Rob. And yes, I think everyone would be more pleased with a “put-through-the-paces” review over a rushed review any day. Anything for it to be awesome.
So just when we need news the most, you decide to have a reshuffle?! droiddog here I come.
Well, how do you like the phone so far?
@toots: lol this isn’t reshuffle. everything is remaining the same as its been only we’re adding new writers. if you want to jump ship be my guest… i can only do my best and I’m trying! BTW, John Walton at DroidDog is a great guy, good alternative since you now hate me for some reason lol.
@A man: I love the Droid. Has some hardware and software kinks but still… super dopaliscious.
While making your review, could you answer this simple question:
Is the rumored Motorola Phone Portal software included? If so, how well does it work? Does it remove the need to connect your USB to a computer for data transfer altogether?
@toots:
I’m sure you will be sorely missed.
Where’s my UK Droid???????? I want one!!!!!!!!!!
@Rob: I think what you have provided so far is wonderful ! All the ‘reviews’ I have seen out there on other sites have been very superficial anyway and I look forward to a more in-depth review !
Thanks for the update! I was beginning to wonder where the review was…
@Rob
lol. I don’t hate you Rob, in fact Phandroid is the first place I come to satisfy my android needs, and I think your you’re one the fairest, most unbiased writers out there. I look forward to more articles from you and your new team. I guess my yearning for any news on the upcoming snapdragon based handsets is causing unnecessary impoliteness.
My Apologies.
Hey Rob, glad to see that you’re passionate about this. Keep up the good work! Oh, and trust me, it’s impossible to please all your readers, so don’t even try. ;)
Btw, I know you’re busy and all, but if you could somehow get your hands on an Eris early and give us a brief official spec rundown, that would be awesome too! For instance, it appears that the Eris still has the top 3.5 mm headphone jack, but a confirmation would be nice. Also, I’d like to hear if you think the rumors about it being even faster than Sprint’s Hero are true or not. If you can’t, then don’t worry about it, but if you could, I’m sure there are those that would love a side-by-side comparison before they make their decision.
I’m definitely looking forward to the thorough review, but I think the reason people were getting frustrated (myself included, though I never voiced it) was because you said you would have the info up that night/morning. Setting expectations is key :) I will go check out Droid Dog (hadn’t heard of it before), but I’ll keep checking back and am eager to hear more from you once you get those reviews done!
Does the browser now support Google Docs?
Awesome. I’d prefer a review of a phone from the perspective of somebody who used it for more than 24 hours. Every review out there is just initial perceptions, not really a user’s review.
Been an avid follower for a couple months now mainly due to Droid. Keep up the great work and I agree with Laura’s comments on expectations. I also appreciate you being open about any delays like in this post, no biggie… this world is constantly changing, that is one of the things I like :)
Could you say something about that little green led / light? Is it going to blink when getting an email? As far as I know yes, saw that in some movies.. But is it also working with getting textmessages / agendatasks or missed calls? Thanks in advance!
Rob —
Yeah, man, you’re doing a great job — don’t worry about the rush … People get a little too frantic sometimes …. Phandroid does a great job at providing a wide range of info on the new Droid phone and other Android topics.
And it’s SO true — a considered review, after you’ve spent some “quality time” with a device — is much more useful than quickie here-are-the-cool features type reviews. The latter are very useful in whetting our appetite, but the more thorough review, which will require lots more time on your part, are what is most useful for us in the coming weeks!
Keep up the great work.
@Laura & Wes – I appreciate your honesty. You know the whole “My eyes were bigger than my stomach” thing? I think that applies here. Just… transitioned from foods to writing/reviewing amount!
One question, sorry it it has been answered. Does the Droid hve TV-out?
Basically he just wants to play with the phone and ignore the site. J/K
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I would love to see a deep review. We are getting so flooded with Android phone choices and personally I don’t feel I’m always getting good intel on these phones to make decisions. Nor do you always get a good feel for a phone by just playing in the store for a few minutes. I know my G1 isn’t always the same a few days later after a reboot. So a really in depth reviews are appreciated.
Take your time Rob. None of us want a rushed review like those other sites.
I know you’re super absorbed into the Droid at the moment, but don’t forget about all the other Android happenings. The Moment launches Sunday (and sprint has the support site up for it already – which includes the full user manual), Engadget is talking about the LG GW620 getting through the FCC, a new teaser vid came out fro the Sony Ericsson Rachel, and I’m sure there are a few things missing.
Keep up the good work though!
Rob,
I’ve been learning about Android and the Droid from your website. Thank you for all the info here.
I am very interested in the Droid. I have two suggestions for testing out functions of the phone that would require more in-depth use.
1) Break Google Navigation
When does Google Navigation break? My suggestion:
a) Ask Google Navigation to take you somewhere that clearly will have bad Verizon data service.
b) Drive there. Then ask Google Navigation to get you home again. Can it do that without the data connection? Then ask Google Navigation to take you somewhere that the Droid has never navigated to. What happens?
c) If you’re driving along a route without data service and you deviate from the plan, how quickly do you run out of cached map data? What does Google Navigation do then?
There are clearly some concerns when you don’t have locally-stored map data. I’d like to know how Google handles this.
2) How good is the Camera? Can you post some raw images taken with the camera in a variety of situations and lighting (daylight, dark room w/ flash, narrow focal length (such as a quarter or a flower), wide focal length, etc.)
How good is the image stabilization?
How much of a lag is there between asking for a picture and the Droid actually taking the picture? I’m not expecting the Droid’s camera to be great, but I would be very impressed if they solved that problem. (By comparison, how laggy is the iPhone camera?)
Thanks! Looking forward to your reviews.
I’m hoping you direct the attention of your review more towards the phone itself and less towards the marketing, other phones, hype, google, etc… Most of the reviews that have been coming out are very rushed in my opinion. They really don’t give too much insight into the phone itself, rather how it compares to everything else. Comparison’s are great, but I’m still left without know what my options are when I get an incoming call, what my options are while in a call, what the threaded texting looks like, what the emails look like, etc.. Just seems like most of these rushed reviews are catering to the hype of the fans. I respect that you’re waiting to publish yours so you can give the Droid the necessary attention it deserves. Can’t wait to read it!
Perhaps you could do some specialized coverage about individual features instead of trying to pile it in to one. for example, focused video on the Camera, or Navigation, or Email, or other features, much like you did with the settings. Great video!
Does the Droid come with a build in Office viewer?
Tuesday? We’ll give you till Monday 7 AM. Ok, I’m just kiddin’ but the next week is going to be tuff. Friday can’t get here soon enough.
Take your time, dont rush it!
Looking forward to the review. Probably a lot on your plate, but a couple things I wouldn’t mind getting cleared up:
Is the Droid capable of running multitouch down the line with a firmware update or is is just not happening with this phone?
Can you address the 256mb app storage issue. Is it just the .exe that needs to be stored there, making the 256 irrelevant?
Not sure what good another full review of the Droid would be at this point. All of the other tech sites (yes all) already have full reviews out. The idea that taking extra time to have the most thorough review is a good idea sort of assumes others are getting thorough reviews out before you. Kind of silly.