Intro/My first smart phone

[abensky]

I live in a place where Verizon is the only reliable service and have been waiting years for a decent smart phone. Finally the Droid is here and I am loving it! However there are certainly some issues with it that I hope will be addressed. I will follow-up with separate threads, but my current open issues are

1. Why are there 2 incompatible connectors called "micro-usb"? I have a micro-usb charge cable for a bluetooth headset and it is very close, but not the same as, the on on the Droid. I haven't found different names for these connectors yet. Why isn't usb providing the compatibility it promised?

2. I purchased a Droid micro-usb data sync cable from BargainCell (Amazon.com: GTMax Sync Transfer USB Data Cable for Verizon Motorola Droid A855 Cell Phone: Cell Phones & Service) and found that it doesn't charge the phone! It does provide usb connectivity and the connectors obviously fit the Droid and standard USB ports, but somehow the power connections are not done right. BargainCell says it is a sync cable only and not a charge cable. Why should there ever be a difference? Isn't it just a matter of making sure the wires inside are connected to the right pins in the connector? Why make a cable and not connect all the wires? Why isn't this detail noted in product descriptions?

3. Simple phone functions like redial, voice dialing through bluetooth, locating a contact and calling them, are currently too difficult (or impossible in the case of bluetooth voice dialing). These basic phone functions need to be improved so that fewer button presses are required. My old LG VX8300 dump clamshell phone was easier to dial from the contact list than the Droid! If you can open the keyboard and do a search then the Droid clearly provides more functionality, but for a quick number lookup and dial it is too cumbersome, making it dangerous to use in the car even with a hands-free headset.

4. I have a wired Headset with a standard phone 2.5mm headset/mic plug but I can't figure out how I can use it with the Droid. Is there an adapter that will allow one of these previously standard headsets to work with the Droid 3.5mm connector? I haven't been able to find one yet (although I've found a few that go the other way). Seems like something that should come standard.

thanks all,
ab

 

[Prodigy4]

Don't know about number 1

however for 2, you have to remember that the phone is brand new and will have some kinks until the update comes out, and that it's running on android 2.0 which is a new system. For 3, there are adaptors for your headset to work, however the connection won't be as good, so I suggest purchasing a 3.5mm headset such as Auvio or *gulp* the IPhone headphones, which work suprisingly well. I work at RadioShack and see people come in with these problems all the time, but there are solutions!

Hope this helped