Hello.
This may seem completely stupid and irrational,
One hour to get a phone and ask questions...
But my parents want new phones before a trip!
Anyways.
Here they are.
I have recently decided, along with my parents, that we want to purchase droid phones. For my parents, the droid 2, and for me, the droid 2 global.
I am not new to the android community, I had the T-mobile G1 for a while, then ditched it for the Motorla Cliq, (ha.) and now I want to go to Verizon and get the D2G.
I am also an avid android fan, keeping up on many android news websites, so android as a whole is not something I am inexperienced with. (Sure, I am not a developer, or coder, but I know the basics)
I just have a few questions about the D2G.
I know that the battery of the D2G can fluctuate, depending on how much the phone is used. In my case, I use my phone a bunch, online, emails, texting, etc. So I know my battery life probably won't be amazing.
I am however, worried about my parents, who are totally new to the smart phone experience. So, on a quick tangent, how is battery life for the D2?
And for the D2G, how can I improve battery life, other than in the settings, brightness, and not using many apps at once?
I hear there is something called an extended battery, that helps, but makes the back of the phone "weird" (For lack of a better word).
Is this true?
If there is an extended battery, where can I purchase one?
Now, onto the second question.
Overseas calling.
I know that because this is a global phone, I can use it overseas, but I have heard that the sim card needs to be "unlocked".
What does this mean?
Can I not just travel and make calls?
Do I need to do something more?
And lastly, what are you D2G users final CONS?
Not Pros, because I know that the Pros are large in number, but CONS?
(Besides battery life)
Is this a good phone to get?
Get your parents the LG Accolade, they will be much happier with that. I have both my parents using the Accolade, battery literally lasts up to a week for them lol! If that's your major concern. Depending on the usage, will your parents actually use the features such as data email web social apps etc or will they strictly use it for calls? Actually you stated that your parents will be leaving for a trip? if so, then global will definitely be a plus depending on where your planning to take a trip to. You can use the phone globally, however I highly recommend on using the sim card provided through verizon. If price isnt a concern for you, verizon is charging over $2.00 per minute used abroad for me since I often travel to Asia maybe once or twice a year if I'm lucky.
As for you, battery life is a major difference between the d2 and the d2g. Verizon even claims a major difference in battery life on their website as well. I am thinking this is due to the processor upgrade however I am totally satisfied with the d2g. I use it mainly for work and personal needs and the phone literally needs to be charged by mid day, this is with heavy usage managing company information as well as personal such as facebook, etc..
On weekends it can last a long time since I have all the features off. It totally depends on what you use it for. Since I am not having fetch and push enabled (meaning the phone is constantly looking for new mail), it helps the phone survive the whole day. I can still have the option to fetch the new mail manually once in awhile.
I have the phone running on conservative mode and it really makes no difference. There are three levels and keeping at the lowest doesnt bother me because even with the settings at lowest, my moto widgets updates constantly with posts and there are sometimes 100 even 200 posts from friends users on facebook twitter aim, and myspace. Im posting to all those social apps constantly.I also have background data disabled which I cant notice a difference either. Only when I dl apps from marketplace its enabled but goes back to disabled once the dl is finished. bluetooth gps and wifi are off unless I really need to use it ie searching for nearest bank and/or receiving a call while driving for which I know I will be talking a lot.
I still will be using the phone for apps such as paypal, ebay, wellsfargo, amazon, etc as I do a lot of shopping through my phone at time is very important to me. With the tweaking above, I can easily manage a full days use however since I work m-f and it's a totally different story then since I am having every helpful feature on. I mean come on, thats what the phone was made for battery isnt big of an issue as I have a charger at work home and car. Ive managed to drain the juice all day 24/7 with two charges keep in mind I am on the phone constantly as well as my computer.
As for the bigger battery, if you like the phone being bulkier than go for it. THe phone is already very heavy out of the box. So heavy that I have the sim card removed just to shave off that little how many 10ths of an ounce? Im sure it will make a dramatic improvement, but buy the phone first and goes through several battery cycles (really improves battery life after several full charge/discharges). Also when the charge is complete I leave the charger on longer rather than removing it immediately. Then if you feel the need for a bigger battery then go for it. I'd rather keep the phone slim and charge it multiple times and/or buy the high capacity regular sized battery.
I dont even use a case for the phone I love that its small though fits in pocket easy, the droid x feels like a tank in my slim fit slacks actually been tried at the verizon store. The grip helps when handling calls on the droid x but for me the keyboard was a major plus since my asian hands can utilize the small keys effectively (lol?).
There are no cons other than the battery life. The d2g is same as the d2 except for the 1.2, slimmer middle part of the back of the phone (leaves a bump for the camera though), global technologies and colors.
You can just make calls with the d2g globally as it comes preinstalled with a verizon branded sim card however keep in the mind the charges from verizon are ridiculus. All you need to do is dial *228 and activate sim or something. Before you go abroad call 611 to activate the sim card already on phone it also comes with sim card instructions so if you know how to read you can follow the easy steps to activate the global sim card. If money is an issue get it unlocked by verizon and just buy a prepaid wherever you go.
The tmobile g series is a good phone (g1&g2) however verizon has much better service and I have yet to experience a dropped call yes I been into situations where voice cuts in and out however it never dropped. I would never be able to say the same from tmobile and/or at&t. I am a previous iphone user and this is my first android phone. My colleagues use g2 and even with that bs hsfafdstchphs 4g wanna be most of the times they are connected to EDGE that is where I shine with my constant 3g connection.
I was planning to stay with iphone and upgrade to iphone 4 however the service sucks completely and I truly believe that android will take over apple in terms of sales just like windows and mac. The capabilities are endless with android comparing to ios. Same goes for windows to mac. Don't get me wrong, I love the iphone and mac software however in my current position the android and pc wins favorable due to the endless capabilities. I still kept my iphone for ipod player in car and I do have a nano with camera for the gym and strictly keep my d2g for phone usage (music player is horrible). I would also love to own an ipad (praying for christmas), but I just wont pay for it because I simply have a more advanced device. I'm still paying someone has got me an ipad (dont care if its used or what not) its just cool to own one and I would definitely put it to use even though my highpowered dell laptop is far superior.
I hope his personal review helped.
BTW im using the d2g and have used it less than one month coming from iphone. I had absolutely no idea of what android was capable of until now.
