The only design flaw on this phone...

[jsh1120]

I would like longer battery life, but then again, I think that is true of every battery-powered device I've ever owned. Oh, and include my car and motorcycles in that statement.

Good point. My auto battery generally lasts for years with little or no attention. My motorcycle batteries, however, require almost constant attention over the winter if I want to start them in the spring. What's the difference? The auto battery is several times heavier and larger than my motorcycle batteries. Do I want to carry around an auto battery on my bike? Nope.

 

[nerdbox08]

I would like longer battery life, but then again, I think that is true of every battery-powered device I've ever owned. Oh, and include my car and motorcycles in that statement.

Good point. My auto battery generally lasts for years with little or no attention. My motorcycle batteries, however, require almost constant attention over the winter if I want to start them in the spring. What's the difference? The auto battery is several times heavier and larger than my motorcycle batteries. Do I want to carry around an auto battery on my bike? Nope.

No. You are using your car battery constantly so the cells are recharging themselves. If you let your car sit all winter it wouldn't start come spring either.

 

[jsh1120]

I would like longer battery life, but then again, I think that is true of every battery-powered device I've ever owned. Oh, and include my car and motorcycles in that statement.

Good point. My auto battery generally lasts for years with little or no attention. My motorcycle batteries, however, require almost constant attention over the winter if I want to start them in the spring. What's the difference? The auto battery is several times heavier and larger than my motorcycle batteries. Do I want to carry around an auto battery on my bike? Nope.

No. You are using your car battery constantly so the cells are recharging themselves. If you let your car sit all winter it wouldn't start come spring either.

Actually it does. You're correct, of course, that the batteries in my vehicles recharge when the vehicle is used. (And in that sense the analogy is flawed.) But my auto batteries will hold a charge much, much longer than my motorcycles'. And it's solely a function of size and weight.

As we used to say about engines, there's no substitute for cubic inches. That's especially true of batteries.

 

[nerdbox08]

Good point. My auto battery generally lasts for years with little or no attention. My motorcycle batteries, however, require almost constant attention over the winter if I want to start them in the spring. What's the difference? The auto battery is several times heavier and larger than my motorcycle batteries. Do I want to carry around an auto battery on my bike? Nope.

No. You are using your car battery constantly so the cells are recharging themselves. If you let your car sit all winter it wouldn't start come spring either.

Actually it does. You're correct, of course, that the batteries in my vehicles recharge when the vehicle is used. (And in that sense the analogy is flawed.) But my auto batteries will hold a charge much, much longer than my motorcycles'. And it's solely a function of size and weight.

As we used to say about engines, there's no substitute for cubic inches. That's especially true of batteries.

Imagine if someone put a car sized battery on the droid lol

 

[allikanbe]

No. You are using your car battery constantly so the cells are recharging themselves. If you let your car sit all winter it wouldn't start come spring either.

Actually it does. You're correct, of course, that the batteries in my vehicles recharge when the vehicle is used. (And in that sense the analogy is flawed.) But my auto batteries will hold a charge much, much longer than my motorcycles'. And it's solely a function of size and weight.

As we used to say about engines, there's no substitute for cubic inches. That's especially true of batteries.

Imagine if someone put a car sized battery on the droid lol

Maybe that's what is taking the 2.1 update so long.

 

[mattygabe]

Is the USB port. I hate how it sticks out and its like exactly where my fingers should be when texting in portrait view. Does it bug anyone else?

Agreed. I dislike the placement, but because its off center. Either put it at the bottom, the top, or the sides, but put it in the center of any of those, but don't put it off-center. For some reason it just doesn't sit right with me.

The battery life also sucks. Agreed.

I've noticed that on these boards there tends to be a "stick my head in the sand" approach to criticism of the Droid. In all aspects of life, this is a mistake. There is no such thing as a constructive "It doesn't bother me, so it shouldn't bother anyone else" approach. That's selfish and in all honesty, pretty ignorant.

Its the same way in debates about politics and religion. Just because something doesn't bother YOU, doesn't mean there isn't something wrong with it. I've always approached things like this with an open mind, unfortunately I think most people in the world do not.

So, enough of that rant. Yes, the USB port placement isn't ideal. Yes, the battery life on the phone is questionable, at best. Agreed. Still love this damn thing though.


-Wil

Thank you. Everyone else will defend this phone's flaws till death.

With anything, especially like the Droid, which is usually the topic of flamewars (Apple vs Moto), you'll get some of what you could call "fanboyism" where someone defends it to the death because they love theirs. And it's admirable, but can also be frustrating. Wil, I too would have to agree with you that some common sense here would be fine - while some people may have great battery performance, the vast majority of users that I've read about (and someone I know personally) say the battery performance is sub-par. Take the good with the bad. The moment you start flaunting the device as the be-all, end-all is the moment everyone stops taking you seriously (or should, at least).

 

[bluewonder]

i have my droid since yesterday and love it so far, but there is one thing which makes me wonder.
very often when i have a phone call i hold the droid to my ear and then accidentally mute the call with my ears. because the is just this mute function on the touch screen very near to the ear loudspeakes...
do all you boys and girls hold the droid away from your head or do you never use it for having phone calls?
help

 

[wil318466]

i have my droid since yesterday and love it so far, but there is one thing which makes me wonder.
very often when i have a phone call i hold the droid to my ear and then accidentally mute the call with my ears. because the is just this mute function on the touch screen very near to the ear loudspeakes...
do all you boys and girls hold the droid away from your head or do you never use it for having phone calls?
help

You need smaller ears.

-Wil

 

[wil318466]

Agreed. I dislike the placement, but because its off center. Either put it at the bottom, the top, or the sides, but put it in the center of any of those, but don't put it off-center. For some reason it just doesn't sit right with me.

The battery life also sucks. Agreed.

I've noticed that on these boards there tends to be a "stick my head in the sand" approach to criticism of the Droid. In all aspects of life, this is a mistake. There is no such thing as a constructive "It doesn't bother me, so it shouldn't bother anyone else" approach. That's selfish and in all honesty, pretty ignorant.

Its the same way in debates about politics and religion. Just because something doesn't bother YOU, doesn't mean there isn't something wrong with it. I've always approached things like this with an open mind, unfortunately I think most people in the world do not.

So, enough of that rant. Yes, the USB port placement isn't ideal. Yes, the battery life on the phone is questionable, at best. Agreed. Still love this damn thing though.


-Wil

Thank you. Everyone else will defend this phone's flaws till death.

With anything, especially like the Droid, which is usually the topic of flamewars (Apple vs Moto), you'll get some of what you could call "fanboyism" where someone defends it to the death because they love theirs. And it's admirable, but can also be frustrating. Wil, I too would have to agree with you that some common sense here would be fine - while some people may have great battery performance, the vast majority of users that I've read about (and someone I know personally) say the battery performance is sub-par. Take the good with the bad. The moment you start flaunting the device as the be-all, end-all is the moment everyone stops taking you seriously (or should, at least).

You can't call other people fanboys then act like one yourself. Agreed.

-Wil

 

[Grey Hawk]

i have my droid since yesterday and love it so far, but there is one thing which makes me wonder.
very often when i have a phone call i hold the droid to my ear and then accidentally mute the call with my ears. because the is just this mute function on the touch screen very near to the ear loudspeakes...
do all you boys and girls hold the droid away from your head or do you never use it for having phone calls?
help

The screen should shut off when next to your head, but I know sometimes it doesn't. I never keep it right on my face. I hold it about a half an inch away, and have done so with all touch phones I have owned.

 

[bluewonder]

The screen should shut off when next to your head, but I know sometimes it doesn't. I never keep it right on my face. I hold it about a half an inch away, and have done so with all touch phones I have owned.

Thanks, i will check it out

 

[rican408]

I agree with the guy saying its the limits of technology.... the phone is big enough. Moto made the right choice choosing this battery size. This phone is a beast in a somewhat small pakage. It is hungry for power. So stop *****ing and feed it or get another phone! The thing i dont like is the d pad.... who the hell needs that on a touch screen phone? Coulda made the keyboard bigger right?

 

[bluewonder]

You need smaller ears.

-Wil

Great tip!
Where do i get them. Ebay?

 

[asmallchild]

Too much whining

Yeah the battery life isn't as good as a blackberry but I have yet to drain the battery completely in a normal workday

It would require long navigation without a car charger or virtually constant web surfing all day long

Just way too much whining: dislike the phone that much? Allow me to introduce you do a blackberry storm

 

[cuskit]

Frankly, the complaints about battery life strike me as equivalent to complaining about gravity. It's physics, folks.

The Droid has the largest, brightest display of any device on the market. It has a built-in navigation system that constantly seeks satellite-based location information for any application that utilizes it. It has a multi-tasking operating system that can literally balance the demands of dozens of applications simultaneously. It incorporates "push" email from multiple sources and it supports unlimited on demand texting.

All of this is being supported on a phone with a 1400 mAh battery. Could Motorola have chosen a battery with more capacity? Sure. And if they had, the Droid would have been significantly more expensive, bigger and heavier, or both. Could Motorola have extended battery life by putting a smaller, dimmer screen on the Droid? Sure. Could they have extended battery life by eliminating full GPS functionality? Yup. No problem.

Should Motorola have designed the Droid to support 500 text messages a day without draining the battery significantly? It would have been easy to do. Just increase battery capacity two or three fold and eliminate the big bright screen that isn't needed for texting. Is that a capability I'm looking for? Nope. I have a life and don't need to send/receive 30 text messages an hour for 16 hours a day.

In short, the Droid provides nearly the same computing capabilities as my laptop computer and exceeds those capabilities in some areas. The battery life on my laptop is about 5-6 hours. Period. And its battery is nearly a foot long and weighs nearly 2 lbs.

Face it. All of the capabilities that make the Droid so compelling take power. Don't like it? Put a bigger battery on the phone, carry an extra battery, or a rapid standalone recharger. Physics is a stern mistress.

As for me, I want a minimum of a 5"x8" display, a near full-size keyboard, and at least 24 hours of battery power in a phone that weighs six ounces and fits in my pocket. The fact that I can't buy one is NOT a "design flaw." It's the limitations of technology.

Well spoken! You've nailed it. Now, when is the Droid getting a viewing screen that doubles as a solar powered cell? :rockon: mike