Questions from a potenial Droid (Milestone, acutally) owner..

[Zzbog]

Hello people,

I am thinking of buying a first ever smartphone in my life... I was actually deciding between Iphone, Nokia E72 and Droid... Since all of those represent different ideologies in smartphone industry...

I am a Mac User, but I am really thinking, that hardware keyboard is a nice thing, and I am really thinking, that I should give a touchscreen a shot..

So I am left with Droid!

Now please happy (or otherwise) Droid owners, can you answer a couple of questions??

1) I may be mostly using Droid as a cellphone with some occasional Wi-fi and Office apps.. How long will the battery last, if I use Droid in Cell-phone mode only (only calls)...

2) I am aware, that Droid has some nice music players... So as an owner of $300 headphones (IEMs - Triple-fi's) I wonder - How long will Droid last as a player + cellphone? Can I expect somewhere around 2 days of use?

3) Can it be charged from computer? It has a micro-USB port for connection, right? How long does it take to charge Droid fully from notebook??

4) I am new to smartphones and battery issue is really worrying me.. I really want to just get Droid to use as ultimate digital companion... without having to end up with an extra cheap cellphone for just calling. Is it actually possible to use Droid on a daily basis and not get frustrated from getting "battery low" before I get home? I may be out, working for some 18-20 hours in the field, without any chance to charge the thing...

5) I have to type a lot.. Is Droid's hardware keyboard really comfortable for making long notes on the go? Say, 200 words notes? On my notebook I can type pretty fast, with my eyes closed...

6) I presume, that when Android 3.0 comes out it will be possible to install it on Droid, right? Or all that openness is not that open after all?

7) Droid's camera really sucks that much?? Can it be improved with some firmware updates?

8) Is the interface really smooth (compared to Iphones?) Like, really smooth and fast? I tried Nokia N900 and I don't think it's smooth at all..

9) I am a Mac guy.. Is it easy to get Droid synced with OSX??



10) Thank you very much for reading all this and thank you twice as much, if you decide to answer the questions... Sorry for the number of them, but 9 is angel's number and it's really the first time I ever thought of buying a smartphone.. Maybe it's the time?

Thanks!!

Zzbg


P.S. (#11) I think of getting 1 spare battery for Droid.. Is it possible to get a charger, which will charge battery only? So I don't have to swap batteries for charging??

 

[deputc26]

Hello people,

I am thinking of buying a first ever smartphone in my life... I was actually deciding between Iphone, Nokia E72 and Droid... Since all of those represent different ideologies in smartphone industry...

I am a Mac User, but I am really thinking, that hardware keyboard is a nice thing, and I am really thinking, that I should give a touchscreen a shot..

So I am left with Droid!

Now please happy (or otherwise) Droid owners, can you answer a couple of questions??

1) I may be mostly using Droid as a cellphone with some occasional Wi-fi and Office apps.. How long will the battery last, if I use Droid in Cell-phone mode only (only calls)...

2) I am aware, that Droid has some nice music players... So as an owner of $300 headphones (IEMs - Triple-fi's) I wonder - How long will Droid last as a player + cellphone? Can I expect somewhere around 2 days of use?

3) Can it be charged from computer? It has a micro-USB port for connection, right? How long does it take to charge Droid fully from notebook??

4) I am new to smartphones and battery issue is really worrying me.. I really want to just get Droid to use as ultimate digital companion... without having to end up with an extra cheap cellphone for just calling. Is it actually possible to use Droid on a daily basis and not get frustrated from getting "battery low" before I get home? I may be out, working for some 18-20 hours in the field, without any chance to charge the thing...

5) I have to type a lot.. Is Droid's hardware keyboard really comfortable for making long notes on the go? Say, 200 words notes? On my notebook I can type pretty fast, with my eyes closed...

6) I presume, that when Android 3.0 comes out it will be possible to install it on Droid, right? Or all that openness is not that open after all?

7) Droid's camera really sucks that much?? Can it be improved with some firmware updates?

8) Is the interface really smooth (compared to Iphones?) Like, really smooth and fast? I tried Nokia N900 and I don't think it's smooth at all..

9) I am a Mac guy.. Is it easy to get Droid synced with OSX??



10) Thank you very much for reading all this and thank you twice as much, if you decide to answer the questions... Sorry for the number of them, but 9 is angel's number and it's really the first time I ever thought of buying a smartphone.. Maybe it's the time?

Thanks!!

Zzbg

1 and 2.Cell-phone only mode will only have better battery life only if you specifically turn off wi-fi/3g.

in this mode it should last 2 days easy, if you are playing music the whole time it will last for 2 days as well, playing music only draws a tiny bit of power and the screen draws by far the most so if your always messing with it it will cut your bat life in half.
by the way droid will have FLAC support soon.

3. Yes, twice as long from notebook as from wall ~3 hours.

4. OK if this is a huge issue you should get the Seidio extended battery for it. Double bat life.

5. Comfortable yes, but expect it to take 2 weeks of heavy use to get really comfortable with the keyboard.

6. Yes

7. I take mainly close up pictures (I'm documenting my frostbite) and frankly the pictures are awesome, now in low light situations it sucks. The autofocus bug has been fixed.

8. Yes especially if you OC, though personally I do not think it is as visually fluid as the iPhone is, just as fast but not as pretty looking.

9. Not as easy as iPhone, but if you have snow leopard it does, otherwise you have to use an app called double twist (and there are other apps too). Not a mac user so haven't tried this though.

 

[natediddy1120]

Hey man I'm glad you're thinking of giving the Droid a shot........for what you're talking about doing and using it for, I would say yes you would definitely have to buy an extra battery or 2....for some reason the battery doesn't last that long, at least for me anyway. Mine doesn't charge fast at all on my HP netbook....but could be different on a Macbook, I don't know. As far as performing smoothly, no, not as fluid as the iPhone.....mine is overclocked to 950MHz and is VERY smooth, compared to what it was, but will still never compare to an iPhone.....they're just built differently. Honestly, the physical keyboard takes a lot of getting used too. All in all, it is an extremely powerful and functional phone, way beyond an iPhone in that sense....but as far as "polishedness" you could say, or fluidity, the iPhone wins....because the iPhone performs so smoothly and clean...but the Droid has a BEAUTIFUL HD screen that will blow you away when you look at it, seriously....it's almost perfect, so crisp and clear...

But I gotta say.....and I hate to say this, being an avid Android addict....that you would probably more satisfied with the iPhone.....just from reading your post, and seeing that you're already accustomed to Apple products...I think either one would blow you away, but just where your used to Apple already you will expect things that aren't there with Android....but I do encourage you to take the plunge into Android, especially if you want freedom, customization, and the ability to tinker with the OS and software....not to mention all the nice productive apps that are FREE or at least VERY CHEAP in the Android Market, as opposed to Apple's App Store...

 

[Enter]

I can answer 3 for you perfectly as I charged today from a dead battery. It took roughly 6 hours.

 

[Zzbog]

1 and 2.Cell-phone only mode will only have better battery life only if you specifically turn off wi-fi/3g.

in this mode it should last 2 days easy, if you are playing music the whole time it will last for 2 days as well, playing music only draws a tiny bit of power and the screen draws by far the most so if your always messing with it it will cut your bat life in half.
by the way droid will have FLAC support soon.

3. Yes, twice as long from notebook as from wall ~3 hours.

4. OK if this is a huge issue you should get the Seidio extended battery for it. Double bat life.

5. Comfortable yes, but expect it to take 2 weeks of heavy use to get really comfortable with the keyboard.

6. Yes

7. I take mainly close up pictures (I'm documenting my frostbite) and frankly the pictures are awesome, now in low light situations it sucks. The autofocus bug has been fixed.

8. Yes especially if you OC, though personally I do not think it is as visually fluid as the iPhone is, just as fast but not as pretty looking.

9. Not as easy as iPhone, but if you have snow leopard it does, otherwise you have to use an app called double twist (and there are other apps too). Not a mac user so haven't tried this though.[/QUOTE]

Wow!

You almost sold me!! Switching off Wi-fi/3g is the thing I would definitely have no problems with.. So 2 days?? Can anybody else confirm that? Just to make sure.. Battery lie is really important to me..


And thank you very much! for the answers!! I am practically rushing to the store now..

 

[Enter]

I am going to tell you what my Battery Life app currently says on a 100% battery. I would like to add that Battery Life is about 80% accurate and that I am running with medium brightness at 800 mhz.
Idle Time: 256:59 (that's hours)
Talk time: 5:25
Video Playback: 3:44
Audio Playback: 7:32
Web surfing: 4:20.
But like I said it is not 100% accurate, sometimes I will talk an hour more and still have 10-20% battery, or watching a movie and still have 40% left.