By Man oh man, every other article I see and/or write is about the Motorola Droid! Droid this Droid that.. but you know what? Fine with me. Not just because I own the phone. Not just because it’s my first Android device. It’s not because it’s TIMES #1 gadget of the year, or because its (arguably) Motorola’s last big push to survive in the mobile industry and I’m rootin’ for ’em.
It’s because this phone is downright awesome. Yeah, I said it. Awesome.
So you can probably expect news to continue on this phone for a bit longer. As long as it’s newsworthy news, it’ll be posted. As for right now? Well, here’s a couple little things to hold you over until the next Droid article publishes across 10 different sites.
Update your phone manually
Do this at your own risk fellas. BGR posted instructions last night and we have a couple different sets of instructions posted in our forums. Here. (Thanks iamkewl!)
I personally am waiting for the over the air. Not really one of those guys that care to risk it when it’s coming anyway but there are plenty out there who want to and as you can see on the thread, they are.
Second update rumored for January
The same guys also posted news that they hear – the following: “One of our connects has informed us that while the current OTA has only gone out to around 10,000 devices, there is already another one waiting in the wings and it’s tentatively scheduled for late January. Could this be for an Android OS 2.1 update? We’ll see…”
…So there you have it folks. This morning’s Droid post.
;)
DROID DOES!
The second post sounds very confused. Yes, the current update only went out to 10,000 phones, but at least as far as we know, it’s going out to all the rest starting tonight.
Also, wth is with BGR’s comment color scheme? Gray text on blue? Arrrrrrggggg!
I want a Moto Droid but, I am not paying $299 + activation at the local VZW store only to get a $100 gift card. My new every two has been up now for 8 months and still I wait. I will not buy untill they get the voice recognition bluetooth headset problem solved. I live in an area where it is illegal to use the phone or text while driving. This is a HARDWARE problem. Not something to be solved with aps. How Motorola forgot this is beyond me. Moto makes and sells bluetooth headsets and many auto manufacturers are adding bluetooth to the car audio system.
No word if the first update has solved this issue.
Dean: You CAN take the card in to vzw when you get it and have it credited directly to your bill. Just FYI.
I very, very, very highly doubt it’s 2.1. You guys here at Phandroid have posted this:
http://phandroid.com/2009/11/09/motorola-droid-and-htc-droid-eris-ota-updates-coming-december-11th/
Within the text, there’s fixes that have a target date of January 22nd. Items for both the December 11th target date and January 22nd target date both have the same verbiage for their planned resolution; “A fix for this issue will be included in a maintenance release of software for this device…” Since the Dec 11th release turned it into 2.0.1, I think it’s safe to assume that the potential Jan 22nd release will turn it into 2.0.2.
When the ‘my’ Bravo comes out I can’t wait to stop hearing about the droid.
Rob, why are you choosing to wait for the update. What are the cons that out weigh the pros?
I recently manually updated my droid to 2.01 with the update zip file and it works like a charm! Much faster, camera seems to autofocus better. No problem whatsoever if you know what you are doing!
I don’t usually use the word awesome either.
But it is.
Awesome.
In response to the bluetooth issue. It isn’t hardware it is the bluetooth API is very immature. So really it is Google’s decision to get on the ball about getting all the bluetooth profiles programmed for the phone.
Dean, get it at Best Buy, instant rebate, and they’ll price match. I got mine for $150 because that’s what Sears had it priced at.
Hey…anyone else have e-mail force closing on you? I have the Droid and as of today, when I click on any of my e-mail (other than Gmail) I get an error message telling me the e-mail application has quit and to force close. Called Verizon and of course they have never seen this. They are calling me back in 35 minutes with Motorola on the phone. This is SO frustrating.
Dean
All I have to say is it’s your loss not to own a droid I have never had any bluetooth problem Paired with my 300c audio or jawbone. I had an Iphone and this kicks it’s butt. Any decent smartphone is going to cost you 200 bucks. Look at the Iphone at 200 bucks and doesn’t ring half the time and at the time I dropped ATT there still was no MMS.
Dean, you can also cash the gift card (it’s a regular Visa pre-paid card) at any bank for $100 cash. After rebate I got my Droid for $99 with New Every Two at a Verizon store. No activation or any other fees so I don’t know where you are getting the $299 from.
I just did the manual update that BGR suggested (what can I say, I’m impatient). Worked like a charm and was very easy. Phone definitely seems quicker already. I’ll update if I have any problems, but so far so good.
I did the update as well with no problems. Actually I did it while in my car, and it only took about 3-4 minutes.
You guys need to shop around a bit more. Here’s the Droid for $120 after an instant discount: https://mobility.dell.com/specialoffer.aspx?cid=35693_8809706c96f64cbfa8d774937c9b11a0.
In case you have something against Dell, you can get it at Sears for the same price: http://searswireless.com/specialoffer.aspx?cid=35480_de4cbb7a6221487e95b33c8208b94460.
I forgot to mention it also comes with free activation and free shipping.
Dean, my car uses the Hands-Free Profile (HFP) and can make calls on the Droid just fine. The difference is that the car keeps its own phone book and dials the number instead of using the phone directly. In my truck I use a Jabra SP700 Bluetooth Car Kit (clips on visor) and with it I leave the Droid in CarHome and all I have to do is hold the voice search button and then talk to the bluetooth speaker phone.
Still waiting for the Droid GSM (Milestone) to come down in price and hopefully make its way to ATT. I can’t stand Verizon, so if I can get an unlocked GSM Droid, I’m all in. The thing rocks. Definitely a great choice for a first Android phone.
UPDATE: DO NOT DO THE MANUAL UPDATE! It’s started to cause some major problems with my phone. Most notably, my entire homepage keeps disappearing. By that I mean all the icons/shortcuts/widgets that I have set up disappear, and all I have is the background. When I reboot the phone they come back, but then they disappear again after a few minutes. This is a MAJOR problem. Also, people are noticing that something is off with the Verizon icon, which is leading me to believe that it’s a Google ROM and not the Verizon ROM.
I’m currently searching for a way to UNDO this “update”, and I’m not finding anything. I may have to reset my phone which I’m really not looking forward to. If anyone knows how to undo an update, I’d really appreciate that info.
In the meantime, don’t do the manual update!!!
Waiting for Bravo…, still like Droid 2
enough of the droid already. motorolla stars as the titanic the droid stars as the band that played on. this ship is taking water faster than they can bail it out. don’t get me wrong motorolla knows how to build a radio comunications device. but fail everytime with mobile phones. times #1 gadget of the year is a joke it’s ussually the last big ticket item of the year before they close the presses for the year. can’t remember the last time a gadget lived up to the name after a year.
Dean, you say you don’t have the phone yet you Re certain there are blutooth hardware problems? I for one got my blutooth connected in two seconds with no problems. I am aware of a software problem where they did not program in all typrs of blu tooth but the ota update adresses this issue and it is now a non-issue. Just foot the damn money and be happy if you want it, if you don’t want it then don’t complain
I think the bluetooth problem he’s talking about is the lack of the ability to push a button on your bluetooth headset to activate the voice dialing and make a call without touching the phone. That is possible on most phones which support bluetooth, but not on the Droid yet. What I don’t understand is what makes people think this is a hardware issue?! If the device connects to the Droid and pairs as a usable device… the hardware is working and it’s fine. Anything beyond that should be software which should be fixable in the future. I’m almost positive this will be solved sometime next year.
Hey, i just bought the Motorola Mildstone aka Droid.. but for GSM from Myworldphone.com If you are an Att or Tmobile customer and want the Droid.. Check them out.. The only thing is the 3G dont work in US. Everything else is perfect the nice thing this phone has the Droid dont is Multi-touch which I am loving it! Hello pinch and zoom….
DROIIIIIIIIIID DOES!!!
Give me the MILESTONE
Update works great noticeably faster
@Johnny Boy
is it the german milestone ? or the u.k ? the german one has qwertz keyboard instead of qwerty
I was one of those impatient ones and updated my droid to 2.0.1 and so far so better than b4. I prefered thhe original slide to unlock but I will accept what has been given to me. Make sure you know what your doing if you plan to manually update your droid, if you don’t then Just wait till the OTA.
I just got the ota update. New unlock slider, Google widget moved a little, phone seems to be running a bit smoother, autofocus a bit better. Good job Google/Verizon/motorola: ) I love my droid
Did the manual update yesterday. I’m not a fan of the new unlock screen. Only problem I’ve found is I had to uncheck and re-check the checkboxes for syncing my gmail and facebook accounts. Other than that, I’d like to think it’s a little faster but I can’t say definitively.
I manually did the update yesterday along with rooting it and everything is working just fine. Don’t care about the unlock screen myself as I use a different one anyways. IMO the who device runs better and much smoother now.
I also feel that the bluetooth problem (not being able to be completely hands free) is frustrating. Hopefully this will be fixed soon. The Autofocus is also a problem, however, I love my phone. My wife is jealous…, not of me, but of my phone because it gets way too much of my attention. Times Gadget of the year…gotta love it.
I had a rooted G1, so I know how to do the update, but I’m in no huge hurry, so I’m going to wait for the OTA update. It should arrive sometime in the next few days.
I really liked the G1, the very first Android phone, but the Droid is light years advanced from the G1 — just light years quicker than the G1 was. What a pleasure to own and use the Droid is.
I hate the new unlock screen, anyone know a way to get rid of it? Or how I can get it to vibrate less when I unlock it, it’s already so loud