[*]Ok, when on a call and the screen goes blank, how am I supposed to hang up the call? Once I say goodbye, the screen is still blank. I don't know if it's hung up or not, which leads to my next grip;
The screen automatically comes back on when you take the phone away from your face. When it's in phone mode, the proximity sensor shuts off the screen if you're holding the phone up to your ear to prevent you from accidentally hitting buttons with your cheek.
When you take the phone away from your face, the screen comes back on in a second or so and you can hit the "end call" button on the screen. This is exactly the same as my old Palm 750 did.
[*]The one/off switch on the top of the phone. Why? Once pressed, the phone is still locked so that switch could be much more easily accessible and if pressed accidently, no problem, as the screen is still locked until you slide you finger across the screen.
Yes, but the screen uses a lot of battery power and once the screen is on, the phone won't go back to sleep if it keeps getting touch signals on the screen. That's why the power button is positioned such that you have to hit it intentionally.
[*]When in a call, there is no memo or note option. Hopefully an update will fix that but I will likely return the phone by then.
There are several free notepad applications in the app store. Install one and then, while on a call, you can access it by going into the home screen and launching the notepad application. The call will not hang up just because you go back to the home screen.
[*]Screen sensitivity is erratic and the four icons are often hard to active or activated accidentally. I always find myself in a screen I was not trying to open, clueless how I got there.
This is a problem that I haven't noticed and would seem to indicate a defective unit if other people can replicate the issue that you're having. I've found the sensitivity on mine to be quite predictable.
It's different from the screen on my old Treo 750 (which used a resistive touch screen instead of the capacitive screen on the Droid and iPhone), but the Droid's screen does not seem to require calibration like the Treo's did and once I got used to the sensitivity differences inherent in the two technologies (took a day or so) I never had to look back.
The Treos use a screen that senses pressure while the Droid's screen, like the iPhone's, senses the electrical properties of human skin. The way the two technologies respond to touch is different, with a capacitance screen like the Droid's needing a far lighter touch as well as being more sensitive to a build-up of oil or dirt.
[*]Some commands exist but I can't figure out how to active them (manual reading time). I know they exist because they show up when I'm not looking for them, yet I can reproduce them once closed.
Can you list the specific commands you're thinking of? Maybe someone here can help you as well.
[*]No native Outlook sync. I tried using CompanionLink and although it worked initially, the next day all my contacts were gone from Outlook but still on the Droid and on Google. Although not the Droids fault, it was the last straw for me. I immediately went back to my trusty Treo 700wx which really does all I need and does it very well. I just wanted something more modern; however, I use it for business so I have to be able to enter and retrieve info very quickly, and often one handed. The Treo is great for that. The Droid, well we will see. So far, its been very stressful.
Not sure what you mean by "Outlook sync". Outlook is a program that can access several different types of accounts, but it is not an account in itself. "Outlook" accounts could be IMAP, POP, Exchange, etc.
That said, my Droid synced effortlessly with my Exchange account and did not remove any contacts from the server side. It required no third-party applications either. I just entered the information for my Exchange server and everything synced in a matter of minutes. No muss, no fuss, no extra apps necessary.
[*]Copy and Paste. I still have not figured out how to select just the text I want to copy and not all or nothing. Hopefully that's in the manual.
Agreed. The copy and paste functionality is significantly below par.
[*]The Keyboards. Although the onscreen keyboards are better than the iPhone, I'm still nowhere near as accurate as I am with the keyboard on my Treo 700wx. Not even the physical landscape keyboard is as comfortable, but maybe with time...
After my Treo 750, I have to agree that the Droid's hardware keyboard takes some getting used to. However, after a couple of days I'm no longer having any difficulties with it.
[*]Oh, how about this...on the iphone you can hold your finger down on the virtual keyboard and slide it over if necessary to get the key you are after. If you do that with the Droid, this accent? menu jumps up which is not what I need. Just another annoyance. I notice it doesn’t do that while texting though.
I can drag my finger over the virtual keyboard on my Droid and go from one letter to the next with it not entering a letter until I remove my finger. The alt menu you describe only comes up if I keep my finger held down on certain letters that have alternate characters for non-English languages. I can see an argument that the system recognizes a "hold" too soon and that the delay should be configurable, but the functionality you describe does exist.
It does do it while texting too. The issue is that only certain letters (E, Y, U, I, O, A, S, C, and N) have the pop-up alt text so it doesn't always trigger a pop-up menu so if a person doesn't notice this, it can seem random.
[*]Oh, I just trying typing and email, got mad and just kept typing even though I was making tons of mistakes. I see it tried to figure out what i was typing once I entered a period. I never knew that feature existed. It would be nice if it would make the correction when I hit the space bar. I least I would have known it was there.
I agree here. The auto-correct for the virtual keyboard can be over-zealous entirely too often.
[*]When composing an email, why doesn't the virtual keyboard popup automatically? I have to use my finger to highlight the "To:" box, which incidentally is already highlighted, to get the keyboard to come up so I can start typing. Geezzz....
I rather like this feature since sometimes I want to read over the message first, but I can understand someone wanting it to operate as you describe as well. I'd suggest that this be a mode that can be switched on or off.
[*]When the phone rings, I have to unlock it before i can answer it. I got use to my Treo doing that automatically. Maybe that's a setting somewhere, but I can find it.
Interesting. Mine doesn't do that. When the phone is locked and I receive a call, the normal call answer screen comes up and I just have to drag the green button to the right like when answering a normal call. I definitely don't have to enter the little connect-the-dots code to answer the call.
[*]When receiving a text msg, the screen stays black even though I get an audible alert. Be nice it the screen would light up, even just for a few seconds. I have to reach to the top of the phone to unlock it, then slide my finger across the screen to unlock it again, then slide the notification bar down, just to see who text me. Boy....
I agree. At the very least there should be an option to allow this. My old Treo 750p would display the text message even if the phone was locked, though you would have to unlock the phone to respond. I miss that.
[*]Some text is ridiculously small. Look at the time stamp on the text messages. But my eyes are almost 50 so maybe it’s just me.
Agreed. Though if you hold your finger on a specific text message a menu comes up. If you select "View message details" it will show you the date and time of the message in a much more legible font size. Still, this is kind of a kludgy work-around. Being only 27 I don't mind the small size, but I can see where other people might have difficulties.
I think this ties in with someone else's suggestion of being able to change font sizes. There should be at least an option of "Small", "Medium", or "Large" text sizes for the phone overall to suit varying levels of eyesight. The BB I had before my Treo had that feature and it was a good one.
I hope that these responses help you a little bit, even if they don't tip the scales in favor of the Droid in the end. I do hope that you find a phone that you're happy with regardless of which one you finally choose.