I'm starting to dislike my Droid.

[mrshickadance9]

yeah. I'm thinking im just going to root. I'm honestly a bit worried about bricking it though. If i do root, and then I decide i want to go back, there is a way to do that, correct?

It was easy when i knew everything about the iphone. I know nothing about hacking into a droid lol

 

[hookbill]

yeah. I'm thinking im just going to root. I'm honestly a bit worried about bricking it though. If i do root, and then I decide i want to go back, there is a way to do that, correct?

It was easy when i knew everything about the iphone. I know nothing about hacking into a droid lol

That's why I say use Droidmod. Droidmod will allow you to easily return from root to stock. It's as simple as pushing a button.

And please try the instructions I gave you to improve phone quality if you haven't already.

 

[mrdroid]

Just upgrade to one of the ROMs. BuglessBeast, UltimateDroid or CyanogenMod. There are several ways to root and it's very hard to brick your phone. Running 2.1 overclocked really makes the Droid a new and better device. I still think a stock Droid is waaay better than an iPhone though.

 

[nphil]

Rooting isn't that complicated, it's quite idiot proof with DroidMod like hookbill stated.

Heck, you can't really brick your phone flashing any of the android ROM's or recoveries thanks to RSD Lite. You have access to motorola's bootloader no matter what happens, so even if everything else is messed up you can still restore your phone to stock with the sbf.

In short, there's currently no easy way to brick your phone unless you somehow manage to overwrite moto's bootloader, which is again impossible since none of these custom ROM's touch that area of flash.

 

[c0Ld]

I didn't read through this entire thread, but, honestly, after rooting my phone and throwing on bugless beast, within 5 minutes I'd wished I'd done so sooner. My droid's running at almost twice the stock clock speed, and even if it weren't, everything is just lagless and bug-free. I actually did a wifi side by side comparison of browsers with a friend's ipod touch, and my droid was superior in every single way. Even apple's pinch to zoom sucked in comparison to my rooted droid's. Before you give up, give rooting it a try. Yes, it does suck that you have to "void" your warranty to get what you thought you were paying for to begin with. But it's oh so very much worth it. Besides, going back to stock is extremely simple and verizon reps will never be able to tell your warranty was voided to begin with.

 

[mjs31]

Voice quality - excellent (everyone says I sound like land line and by far the best quality of all my smart phones. i.e. Iphone, Blackberries, MotoQ, Palms)
Speed excellent - Running Cyanogen ROM at 1100 for now
Battery life - Fair (even better running oc with setcpu profiles in place. Somewhere around 16 hours with good amount of use). That is still twice as much as my Iphone 3GS got.
Internet browser - Excellent ( I only use Xscope and not the stock browser)
Build quality - Excellent (no creaks or loose items here)
Virtual keyboard - Excellent (I go between using the HTC keyboard and Smart Keyboard Pro)

** This is the first phone I am still in love with after a few months. My wife cannot believe it. Now, I only use the slide out keyboard if doing anything in recovery mode so I would probably be willing to get another Android to eliminate this. It would have to match everything else on the Droid though.

** IMHO, everyone should root if they are having issues. It opens up a new world beyond what you can imagine ( I know, kind of lame and out there, but really kind of true). I was not nervous about doing it the first time, but I was lost. Luckily there is enough help in the mods section to get you through it. Now that I have been rooted for a while and jumping between roms, I am pretty smooth at doing things. I even jump between Clockwork and Sprecovery at times.

 

[mrgarrison]

just root it and play around with roms and you'll love it

 

[mjs31]

Just upgrade to one of the ROMs. BuglessBeast, UltimateDroid or CyanogenMod. There are several ways to root and it's very hard to brick your phone. Running 2.1 overclocked really makes the Droid a new and better device. I still think a stock Droid is waaay better than an iPhone though.

Just be aware of one huge danger!!!! You will become addicted to Rom's and jump around trying new ones quite often. You will probably never settle on one because what fun would that be.

Also note...You probably will be wiping your phone a few times here and there. Not an issue at all. You will create nandroid backups that can easily put your phone back to the exact way it was at any time.

I also recommend getting Titanium pro for your backup purposes. It only works with rooted phones, but I find it priceless for backing up ALL of you apps, App data and system data and then restoring them after a wipe and new fresh install. It also links all your apps back to the market so that you will be made aware of updates etc. Of course you can always reinstall purchased apps from the market, but that is a bit slower and you may lose your original data.

 

[jrl9851]

I know this might sound like a typical droid fanboy reply, but here it goes...

I owned both an iphone 3g and 3gs. I switched to the droid back in december, and it amazes me how much better the droid is than the iphone. EVERYTHING on it is better than the iphone.

If you are having call quality issues, there is something wrong with your phone. Honestly. The call quality (and speaker volume) on the droid absolutely destroy the iphone i every way possible. Your phone is broken if it doesn't.

As for the laggy UI and web browsing, yes, that is somewhat true. Until you overclock. Remember, this phone is pushing 854x480 pixels compared to iphones 480x320. HUGE difference. Obviously less pixels = smoother scrolling. Also, this is a multitasking phone and uses widgets. Of course it's not going to be as smooth as a phone that only has one program open at a time and doesn't have widgets. Here, do this: download "backgrounder" from cydia (iphone), open up at least 3 different programs, and then let me know how smooth the iphone moves through everything. It doesn't.

As for the battery...once again, there is something wrong with your phone. ANY phone has a better battery than iphone. That's a FACT. If your droid battery is worse than the iphones, then there is something wrong.

Take your phone back and exchange it for another droid (just tell them your call quality is bad), root and overclock your new droid, and thank me later.

 

[bd1212]

Hmm, I understand your feelings, but mine are completely different. I mean, I use dolphin and have been having a blast navigating aorund. No one has ever said my call quality it bad, in fact they have told me it is very clear. The UI for me is great cause I am running UD8 with 1.2ghz overclocking. No issues, only speed. (if you dont wanna root and are waiting for 2.1 i am sorry, but hey, it will be out... just won't be better than rooting).

I agree about the battery. It dies too quick. I hardly ever have GPS or wifi on, and I keep my screen dim... I would love to see a better battery for this of the same size, but still it has been working for me fine cause I charge it in my car when I commute places.

well do you think there's something wrong with my phone then? a friend and I both went to the bbc.co.uk website on our droids and both of us had incredibly laggy scrolling and browsing issues. We were both using dolphin browser as well. I just think it's absurd that it's so jumpy and glitchy when it's more powerful than the iPhone.

Root your phone, overclock it, and install a custom ROM (Ultimate Droid is great) and your phone will literally never lag again.

 

[hookbill]

I know this might sound like a typical droid fanboy reply, but here it goes...

I owned both an iphone 3g and 3gs. I switched to the droid back in december, and it amazes me how much better the droid is than the iphone. EVERYTHING on it is better than the iphone.

If you are having call quality issues, there is something wrong with your phone. Honestly. The call quality (and speaker volume) on the droid absolutely destroy the iphone i every way possible. Your phone is broken if it doesn't.

As for the laggy UI and web browsing, yes, that is somewhat true. Until you overclock. Remember, this phone is pushing 854x480 pixels compared to iphones 480x320. HUGE difference. Obviously less pixels = smoother scrolling. Also, this is a multitasking phone and uses widgets. Of course it's not going to be as smooth as a phone that only has one program open at a time and doesn't have widgets. Here, do this: download "backgrounder" from cydia (iphone), open up at least 3 different programs, and then let me know how smooth the iphone moves through everything. It doesn't.

As for the battery...once again, there is something wrong with your phone. ANY phone has a better battery than iphone. That's a FACT. If your droid battery is worse than the iphones, then there is something wrong.

Take your phone back and exchange it for another droid (just tell them your call quality is bad), root and overclock your new droid, and thank me later.

I don't know if I agree with you.

The phone quality can be improved. It may just need what I suggested in my post on page 1.

The OP may be running something that is sucking up her battery. She doesn't mention what her battery usage says so who's to say she has a bad battery. No sense sending something back if an app is causing an issue.

 

[funkdoctor]

The internet browser is pathetic (whether it's the default one, dolphin, etc). If it's not a mobile website, scrolling around is nearly impossible. Incredibly laggy and jumpy and overall the opposite of the iphone browsing experience. Why, when the droid is so much more powerful, does it lag MILES behind the iphone in browsing the internet?
[/QUOTE]

Both the Iphone and the default Android browser use the open source Webkit rendering engine. Besides pinch-to-zoom, the browsing on each device is going to be almost identical.

 

[iPirate]

The internet browser is pathetic (whether it's the default one, dolphin, etc). If it's not a mobile website, scrolling around is nearly impossible. Incredibly laggy and jumpy and overall the opposite of the iphone browsing experience. Why, when the droid is so much more powerful, does it lag MILES behind the iphone in browsing the internet?

Both the Iphone and the default Android browser use the open source Webkit rendering engine. Besides pinch-to-zoom, the browsing on each device is going to be almost identical.[/QUOTE]
the resolution on the droid is better

 

[natediddy1120]

I have to say that I totally agree with your frustration about the browser lagging and being slow.

But right now, I have close to iPhone quality browsing. I promise you that. And I've used an iPhone a lot in my day. And my browser right now DOES compare. NO lagging whatsoever.

It's simple, the only way to get the most out of your Droid, is to root, and overclock. That's it

 

[RW-1]

Sucks for you, sounds like a user error. My phone calls are clear, the phone is fast, great browser, great battery life, great build quality.

I disagree. If the OP has an actual issue with his Droid concerning call quality, that is nothing he caused ... at the very least the OP should go back to VZ with it to investigate that end of it. There are confirmed units that have had issues.

As for the rest, it's a matter of perception.

I like mine, and there are times I hate it. But overall ...

2.1 2.1 2.1 ...

I see some fixes for a lot of people if it ever arrives.