This is NO iphone May 4, 2010

Reviewer:  chicago 

I am really surprised by all the good reviews, to be honest. My husband's office bought them for everyone, I got one too - they are now looking to change to the iphone once they are not tied to AT &T (fall?), everyone hates this phone. Two people went back to their Blackberries. Since most of the reviews focus on the good things, I'll be the one complaining - here's the bad:

The email:
~it will pull up a certain amt of emails from your other account (yahoo, gmail, whatever you tell it), but it lists them all as unread - and makes a noise each time which you can deactivate but you would actually want this when you have legitimate new emails. So it is continuously telling you you have new emails. It's to the point I never believe it when it is telling me i have new mail.

~it will bring up emails you have deleted over and over and over if you have deleted them on your droid but not from your actual email account (yahoo or whatever), and you have to delete them from both, one does not cover the other. They have an option that should fix this but it does not.

~it does not have a spam filter, and so every spam email that would be diverted there on your reg email shows up in your inbox on the droid.

~there is no search function in the email

~ it will only go so far back in the email and starts over repopulating the email queue every time you restart the phone. And again will list all the old emails as unread, so you have tons of "new" mail. There are a certain # of emails it will pull up and if you delete some email it can then fit in more of your old email (does this make sense?) in that list, again listing them as unread. My phone will ding all damn day if I don't stop it.

~ the past week or two it will go for hours and even days w/o getting new email so I have to power it down to get it to get the new emails to show up.

The phone part of the phone:

~ It uses the same provider we had yet seems much worse, drops calls all the time - which NEVER happened before.
~ The speaker is not very good, people have a hard time hearing me and on my end it cuts out all the time. Need this for when I am on hold, navigating automated answer lines, etc.
~ where your ear hits on the phone will sometimes hang it up
~ The screen time-out function to save on battery life is irritating when you are using the phone and need to push a button but the screen is blacked out, you have to get it started back up again and I have missed the window more than once for whatever I was supposed to be pushing a button for. (For example, if I am on hold in the voicemail queue and they say press 1 for whatever, and the screen has blacked out, by the time I get the screen back and get the numbers to show up on the phone, I have missed the question and have to start over.)
~ If you don't lock the screen it is extremely easy to dial someone when it's in your pocket, etc.

The rest of the phone:

~ battery life is not wonderful, I often see it getting towards the yellow "warning" sign late afternoon.
~ The keypad takes some getting used to, but that is something you'd have to deal with no matter what phone you get. The auto-fill is both good and bad, have sent emails with words I did not intend if I don't really pay attention.
~ have had some issues with it not "feeling" my fingers on it - will miss calls, etc when I am trying to answer - super irritating
~ Does have the ability to zoom in (but not out?!) by moving your fingers to "open up" the document, web page, etc - but it is touch and go on this, usually just gives a bar that has a +/- and you have to click on it, then go back to the area you were want to zoom in on, click again, find the area you wanted to zoom again - it only zooms a little bit each time and keeps moving the part of the page you wanted to see bigger. This option does not exist at all in email - so some emails are impossible to read on the droid. This I HATE.
~ It continuously turns the screen to the side when I did not move the phone - so goes from portrait to landscape, over and over. I have to bang on the top or the bottom of the phone to get it to recognize I want it in the portrait mode.

The good thing is the ability to use the browser easily, and when it works right, to put a bunch of info into everyone's contact list easily - will automatically add addresses, etc if it has them from somewhere else. By saying "when it works right", I am referring to the fact that my phone combined the contact info for my Mother-in-Law and a woman I am friends with but often avoid her calls - she is a talker and I rarely have the energy/time to take her calls, prefer to answer her by email. Well I am now tricked into taking her calls! Fixing that now.

The Phantom Phone December 23, 2009

Reviewer:  Jeffrey W. Zentner  (Rialto, Ca.) -

This phone is the most amazing phone out there right now... Great sound quality with Verizon's network in most areas, an amazing screen that is great with youtube (blows away the iphone in picture and sound while watching HQ videos), can multitask in style, and so much more. However, it does have one glaring deficiency at this time, and not one of the reviews here mentioned it. When you are asleep at night, your phone will be crank calling your friends and co-workers at 330am... Yes, you read me right, and no, I'm not kidding. I bought two Droid phones, one for myself, the other for my wife. My wife's Droid was calling my cell sometimes without her even being near the phone. When we checked the outgoing calls log, the call wasn't on the list.. But it happened a few times... And it was WEIRD!!! She exchanged the Droid for another one, and so far this one isn't phantom calling... My guess is because she hasn't loaded many apps. I have a sneaking suspicion that some apps have malware that steals your contacts and will randomly call people. Last night my Droid returned the favor and called my wife's without either of us being near the phones. If you people think I'm sounding nuts, please do me a favor and google "phantom calls" and "droid" and read all of the problems other people are having with this phone. It's a very real phenomenon, and I'd like to see it fixed asap because I do like the phone.... I just can't have it dialing people on my contact list at random.... Now remember, you can't see it on your outgoing call log. I was with my wife when it happened, otherwise I wouldn't have ever known. But if you google the words that I gave earlier, you will read HORROR stories about bosses calling back saying, "why in the hell did you call me at 3am last night?!" Not a good thing... The Droid is pretty much a mini-computer in my estimation, and I think what we're seeing here is a virus on a pretty big level. My virus detection that I installed says everything is A-OK, but the Phantom Menace is on the prowl. Be forewarned.

Slow, erratic, unpredictable, terrible. October 20, 2010

Reviewer:  GrafZeppelin127 "GrafZeppelin127"  (Brooklyn. NY) -

I hate this phone. I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate this phone. I liked it when I first got it but I have grown to despise it with a passion and intensity bordering on irrationality. The design is great, but the execution is so incredibly poor that I've come perilously close to smashing it with a hammer or hurling it against a wall.

The interface is sluggish and the touch screen often nonresponsive. Apps and browser windows crash and freeze with regularity. It can take up to 40 seconds for the icons to reappear on the home screen when closing an app window.

Web browsing is slow, erratic, unpredictable and massively frustrating. It can take several minutes to load a web page, even with a 3G connection and 4 bars. Tap a link by mistake and it can take 15 minutes to get back to where you were, because when you tap "stop" it wipes the screen blank and you have to go back and reload the page you were looking at to begin with, which can take a few minutes. Leave the browser momentarily to check email or skip to the next song, and you're back to square one; sometimes it just wipes the screen blank and starts to reload the page (again, which can take several minutes), and sometimes you lose your open web page(s) altogether and it resets to Google; all this is impossible to predict or control. There are days when I only manage to reach and read one web page during an entire hour-long commute. Web pages often freeze and become nonresponsive to taps and scrolling.

Native email client also needs to be shut down and reset regularly, because for no reason it will simply stop getting new messages and hang when you try to do it manually.

Streaming apps like iHeartRadio and SlingPlayer crash constantly and are rife with annoying glitches. 3G signal may change to 1x during streaming, but not the other way around; you have to close everything down and wait for the phone to reconnect at 3G. And of course, when a streaming app fails, you have to choose between restarting it and keeping the web page you're reading, because if you leave the browser to deal with the streaming app (or the music app, or the email app, or any other app), as described above, it can take forever to get that page back.

The device also does a poor job with photos and especially video. It plays a lot fewer video file types than advertised; almost as bad as the iPhone in that regard. 5-year-old Creative Zen does a better job than this playing multiple formats.

GPS often fails as well; recently drove all the way from Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY to Nassau County, Long Island without the device picking up a satellite signal, and when it did it had me in Pennsylvania somewhere.

Does a bad job handling Bluetooth; headset has to be shut off & reset every time a different audio app is started.

In short, this phone is well-designed and conceived but does a dreadful job of all the things I mainly got it for. Android is supposed to be an OS that multitasks, but it is terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE at it. This is a great phone in theory, and an absolutely G-d-awful phone in practice.

The best phone out there! May 8, 2010

Reviewer:  Carlos Velazquez 

This phone is awesome! you can literally do everything with it..
I love its apps

VERY poor audio - otherwise AMAZING. SAD but true... April 10, 2010

Reviewer:  Discriminating Buyer in Colorado "Picky Picky Picky"  (Southwestern Colorado) -

I purchased a new Verizon Droid from a Verizon store 8 days ago. It is AMAZING! However the most basic requirement is not met. People are constantly telling me that I sound muffled and unclear. One person refuses to speak to me if I'm calling from the Droid. I Googled Droid and bad audio and came up with over 1,100 hits!!! They KNOW they have a problem but are unwilling to fix it. I must drive 3 hours to exchange this phone for another and hope it works. The Motorola technician tried a cure and it worked for one day then failed. On speakerphone it sounds GREAT, but with the normal phone it is not acceptable. If the second one does not work then I'll go back to a normal phone. It is VERY difficult to reach a person at Verizon or Motorola that TRULY wants to help out. I'm always told "send it back for a refurbished one"!! Right, I spent a fortune on this phone and I'm going to accept a used one? I don't think so. All true.

The phone is fine with 2 major flaws February 17, 2010

Reviewer:  TAB  (The Beautiful Pacific Northwest) -

I've had an iphone and the Env2. I like the various features of this model, and at the time I purchased the iphone I thought it was simply too much phone so I sold it. I appreciate that there's a host of free applications available for the Droid and I like that I can have most of my music collection on this model. I've found a way to connect my phone to the stereo system in my Jeep which allows me to listen to my music library.

Pretty good so far, eh?

Flaw 1: the screen is way too sensitive. I've found other people who have the same experience and when I encounter people who are using this phone, I like to engage them in conversation and we usually have the same experience. I tried using various screen protectors and still wasn't satisfied. I find that I'll be in conversation and my cheek will touch the screen or my finger will graze the screen which sets off a number of apps.

Flaw 2: The battery life is less than impressive. I have a sense that various smart phones have the same problem. I'm thankful that Verizon actually acknowledged this issue and let me know that they will be releasing an update or an extended battery to address this problem.

I don't have a problem with the call quality and I like that the technology is state-of-the-art at the moment. Before I bought the Droid I contemplated getting another Iphone as I like the GUI, however, there's been so much bad press about the service, reception, and other issues with using the phone that I couldn't wrap my brain around the idea of signing up with AT&T one more time. I never liked their customer service..I always felt like I needed high-blood pressure medication when ever I called in for help.

Good Phone, Great Network January 23, 2010

Reviewer:  Stephanie Hansen  (Franklin, TN United States) -

Chose this over the iPhone because of the VZW service and the 5 MP camera. Overall, I think I made the right choice based on the service alone but the Droid is not at the level of the iPhone yet. Very disappointed in camera which may have 5 MP but every shot is 2 seconds delayed from taking the actual pic. I am very technical and a quick adopter but after 2 months am still fat fingering the display keyboard and web links, I think the alignment is off. Also, phone calls by contact are listed individually, not grouped by person like most other phones, so if you call someone 5 times, there are 5 entries for them and clicking their name does not show you all the times you have called them or vice versa (which I often look at). Display is great and crystal clear and service is always top notch.

This is the DROID you were looking for December 30, 2009

Reviewer:  Thomas Johnson  (Baltimore, Maryland USA) -

I switched from the BB storm and am very happy. Not once in the two week as I have had the phone have I wanted to throw the phone at the wall and brake it up for acting STUPID. The phone really acts like a phone when you need it to work as a phone. It also has the clearest screen I have ever seen on a phone before. The BB cannot compete with it. I have an Ipod touch and it is better than that in terms of the screen brightness. A lot of the apps I had on my Ipod touch have moved to Android and have all of my favorite apps that I have on the ipod. I works really well. This phone is really fast nd when it is hooked to my wifi even faster. The processor is the same as he iphone so you are getting the best of both words a phone that is the closet to the iphone and on a better and faster network. I love it.
The video you can see on the phone is really outstanding. As far as I am concerned, this is a positive upgrade. I do still have the storm but will use it to transfer my number to my phone. This phone can also upload to you tube and works very well to use your google voice account. Dont have one? Get one to make free call over the internet and on your cell phone carrier as well.

con:
Some apps don't work well in the land scape mode. Have seen some minor crashes but for the most part very nice. I am a power user and use many apps though out the day. the battery life is very good

The keyboard is not very good very flat but i use the touch keyboard and it is very Iphone like. Very smooth. If you have used and Ipod touch or the Iphone you can use this keyboard.

I recommend the DROID.

Love it November 9, 2009

Reviewer:  Chris G. 

The best Verizon phone available as of 4-14-2010. Runs the Eris and all other models into the ground. The phone is heavy, and the original backs of the phones were problematic. That is about the only cons that come to mind. App development has made a LEAP since I originally purchased the phone on launch date. Gaming in particular has really come into it's own. A lot of developers have given their approval, and starting to duplicate if not migrate their apps from the Iphone. I have 0 regrets in purchasing this phone, and I'm really hard to please. I am a bit biased as I insist on having a physical keyboard. Blackberry is nice in the fact you don't have to slide to access the keyboard, but the resolution and functionality more then makes up for it. This thing does 100x the functions of my old Blackberry.

Can't love it yet. November 13, 2009

Reviewer:  Jeannie L  (Farmington, MI United States) -

I think I will love it, but can't say that yet. The touch screen goes black while talking (battery saving, I'm sure) and no amount of touching will revive it. The power button must be pushed to wake the screen, then you can end the call. If the other person does it first, that works, but talking to my husband who also has a Droid.... neither of us can do it quickly. If a call is coming in, you miss it.
My Voyager with verizon was much more responsive, but then, it's a phone! I liked it's keyboard better too, as it was easy to hit the right key. But it's data (including TV) could be frustrating. And my PDA's never measured up in the phone dept.
The Droid blows them away in other usage: navigation is great, though difficult to save an address as a favorite. Internet is a breeze compared to Verizon's 'data' phones, though it can be difficult to view pages with a lot of text as it doesn't zoom very much. Apps are easy to download and there are plenty to choose from.
But it eats batteries for breakfast and no extended battery was available. And the 'manual' that comes with it reminds me of the accordian recipe packets you get with a bag of flour at the holidays - it's pretty much worthless. If you lead a busy life, prepare to not get full usage until you have time to surf for answers others have found.
Bottom line is it's a great little device that will frustrate you until you have time to play - a lot. But if you're looking for an all purpose device with Verizon coverage (not the company, the coverage) - this is it.

High hope. Very disappointing after a while. March 11, 2010

Reviewer:  Phoebe Sam "Phoebe"  (NY, USA) -

Pros:
1. it's Verizon. Signal's strong everywhere I travel to.
2. very good GPS with Google Map.

Cons:
1. WARNING: NOT GOOD FOR EMAILS! It's been a very frustrating experience so far. I get Force Close error messages for almost all my email accts on this phone. First, it's the IMAP acct, then POP, now even my exchange account stopped working. It almost impossible to use this phone for business if you travel a lot because you CAN'T GET EMAILS. And when it worked, it doesn't recognize meeting invite, it sometimes confuses PDF attachment as video and won't open it, and it doesn't save attachment... Compare to this, my old Blackberry about 100 times better with emails. Anther thing: it doesn't work with Mac's Entourage very well, every email I SEND from this phone looks like an empty email when sync to my Entourage.
2. compare to iPhone, the UI is not as user friendly.
3. speaker sound quality is not as good as it claimed.
4. pictures taken from the 5 mp camera doesn't look as good as the ones taken from iPhone.

Overall, it's very disappointing. It's not worth the high price (i got it at $199 from Verizon store). There are so many important features don't function properly, it should be released to public after more testing.

Android OS is great, this phone not so great January 14, 2010

Reviewer:  G. Jones 

This is my first experience with Android OS and I love it. When this phone works right, it is an excellent experience. The marketplace is great because, unlike with the iPhone, most of the apps are free.

I've had too many problems with the Motorola Droid though and I'm seriously considering returning it. A few things I don't like, but aren't deal breakers:

1) The physical keyboard isn't the easiest to use. The keys are too similar and it's slide out design isn't all that great. I'm constantly accidentally turning the volume up or down or hitting the camera button when sliding it out.

2) No animated gif support. What is this 1988? Animated gifs have been a staple on the web for years but this phone doesn't support them anywhere (web browser, gallery, mms, etc.)

3) The battery life goes fast if you are doing anything that involves looking at the screen. It's a great display but it sure eats the battery up.

4) No pinch zoom in the browser. Double-tap is okay to zoom in, but pinching is more intuitive and would have been a nice addition.

5) Every video I have on my computer has needed to be converted before I could put it on the phone. This phone talks up how it supports so many video formats but I found it limiting to the file types it'll actually play.

6) Turning it on with the top button is a pain. That button needs to be relocated to a better location and be a little easier to push when holding the phone one handed.

7) The volume buttons are too easy to push. It seems like I'm constantly accidentally hitting them.

Those are just the minor problems that I could have lived with. The two major problems that are making me seriously consider a return:

A) After plugging and unplugging a cord to the aux input, you can no longer hear callers. They can hear you but it's like the phone doesn't realize headphones are no longer plugged in. The only way to fix it is to completely power off and restart the phone.

B) The phone has randomly rebooted on me a few times for no apparent reason. This wouldn't be as big of a deal if it didn't take about 2 minutes for the phone to boot up.

poor phone call quality July 9, 2010

Reviewer:  Timothy J. Mckenna "Bookman"  (Cincinnati,OH) -

This phone has all the bells and whistles and gadgets...but it is a terrible phone to actually make phone calls. Every call the person complains they cant hear me.....

Missing Critical Features February 14, 2010

Reviewer:  John J. Moylan "John M"  (Los Angeles CA USA) -

This phone does have some cool stuff. It surfs the web and the google maps are fun and useful, but ...

This phone does not work with a blue tooth headset for truly hands free operation. In my old phone I could press the headset button and say "call home". Not with the droid. Even when dialing a contact you have to push phone, the push contacts, then push the contact you want, then push "home or work" to dial. Then you push the blue tooth button. At 75 mph on a Los Angeles freeway this is not ideal.

Although the google maps is pretty cool, it is not as good as a garmin for hands free operation. The interface just takes more button pushing. Again at 75 mph, its a drawback.

Neither the email or gmail apps work very well. The email app allows you to use a custom "from" address but does not let you use a signature. The gmail app allows a signature, but does not allow you to customize a "from" address. I assumed it would work as well as gmail on a laptop, but it does not.

There might be work arounds or fixes to all these issues, but if so, they are far from intuitive. And the documentation is no help at all.

iPhone versus Droid final verdict: iPhone wins February 1, 2010

Reviewer:  Eric Monse "Eric"  (New York City) -

I got rid of my iPhone because AT&T is a horror show. Verizon is a dream. So I'm way happier with my Droid on Verizon than the iPhone on AT&T.

There are many pros and cons to the Droid vs the iPhone. All-in-all, the Droid does almost everything the iPhone does, but less elegantly. It's a bit more glitchy.

There is one big factor that would make me get an iPhone again if it came out on Verizon and get rid of the Droid:

The music audio quality on the iPhone is far superior to that of the Droid.

Using excellent headphones, I loaded a number of songs on both the iPhone and the Droid and compared them. The iPhone has a much cleaner and clearer sound across the entire audio spectrum while the Droid is lacking in the mids and lows.

The iPhone wins hands down when it comes to music audio quality.

Listening to music is incredibly important to me, second only to having a phone that actually works.

So for now, I stay with the Droid on Verizon.

Sound quality is a deal breaker March 10, 2010

Reviewer:  M. Weber "Disappointed" 

Here is the bottom line and the deal breaker; the sound quality is un-acceptable. You will be able to hear callers very clearly, but you will sound muffled and hard to understand. I suggest you go to a Verizon store, call your voice mail system and leave yourself a message, then listen to it, compare it with other Android phones. Have tried it with atleast 4 different Droid phones at 3 different stores, same result.

Too Good to be True March 3, 2010

Reviewer:  Aaron E. Elliott 

This phone is awesome, too bad I will have to purchase at Best Buy for a higher price. After placing my order through amazon, a week later my order gets canceled with no warning. I already have an existing account with Verizon so whats the problem Amazon !! Of course Amazon cannot do anything after that..

-Frustration-

not very good March 13, 2010

Reviewer:  ahaley "ahaley"  (Florida) -

Bought the Droid and used it for 3 weeks and I was not impressed. Just for the record, I have owned previously an iPhone 3g. Here is the breakdown

Pro's:

- After upgrading to the current Android OS version, the GPS application is STELLAR! Outperformed my Garmin Nuvi, and the voice input for addresses and for destinations is really cool. GPS data was very accurate (as long as you maintain a data connection with Verizon. If receiving a voice call, GPS doesn't work too well.

- Substantial feel (due to weight) of the device far outweighs the lightness of other "plastic" phones.

- Google Voice. Did I mention Google Voice? Really cool, really handy and works really well (as long as you have a data connection.

- The screen is just flat out gorgeous. Nice sharp, clear text. Brilliant colors, and wonderful brightness and contrast. Does get washed out somewhat in the sunlight.

- Contact list integration with social sites. Facebook contact information will automatically update, assuming that you have entered the person's name exactly as they have on Facebook. While this is really neat, you cannot edit the Facebook information on your device.

Con's:

- Phone construction is whacky. Keyboard slider won't stay closed while in your pocket. Power on button just floats. Volume up/down button is always in the wrong place and inadvertantly gets bumped, changed, etc. I found that my phone would go from full volume to mute without me knowing it through the course of doing different things on the phone.

- Touch screen glass is a fingerprint, face print magnet. This is a key point where Apple has gotten it with their special coatings to eliminate or to reduce smudges. The Droids glass front also has too much friction which makes swiping on the screen difficult or inaccurate at times.

- Ear piece. On mine, I could hear the static that you would typically hear in old radio broadcasts. Very annoying.

- Half of the calls I made or received, the other party only heard a mumble, not me.

- Apps. The Marketplace is a total and utter joke. Can't find what you need when you need it. Too much junk loaded in there. A good majority of the apps won't work properly or will crash the phone. Even verizon "recommended" apps crashed the phone.

- Applications running in the background. Nothing like having to force quit applications 3-4 times though out the day. If you don't, be prepared to charge your battery a couple times through out the day

- Sync. No good options here, unless you use GMAIL. Even that is limited. I was able, however, to get my calendar to sync natively with my Macbook Pro. Cool! There are some half baked options out there for sync, such as missing sync. I am sure they will get better over time.

- Android. The operating system is not intuitive and has the feel of being just slapped together, much like the Pontiac Azteck car. Tap here, swipe there, pull the shade somewhere else. It is customizable... sort of. The operating system is also laggy in spots, and fluid in others. This is where I truly miss the Apple iPhone experience, where everything worked as it should, and wasn't laggy in the least. Other issues are with screen elements disappearing (swipe to answer) at times, calls not able to be answered or hung up.

- Phone cases... at least the Droid case I had, it would interfere with using the slide out keyboard, interfered with the car windshield mount, and prohibited you from selecting items that were near the edge of the screen.

- Micro USB is not a good solution for power on a device that may need to be charged while in the car. you have to really pay attention to be able to plug it in. The car windshield mount doesn't power the unit, so you have to plug in the micro USB to the phone before docking it in the mount. It would be nice to have a powered dock to just snap the phone into, like most GPS units.

Overall, I feel this phone should never have left the drawing board, as it is painfully obvious to me that it is not complete. It has promise, but still has a long way to go for me to want to try again.

To be fair to Motorola, most of the big issues are not with the handset, but with the Android platform. With that said, the Droid is NOT a sexy design in the least, but that should not be the basis for a "bad" functional review. It isn't streamlined, it looks clunky with the sharp corners and the not quite the same size top slider as the bottom slider.

Great PDA - Lousy Phone December 16, 2009

Reviewer:  M. B. Kauffman "M. B. Kauffman"  (Chico, CA, US) -

Let's keep this simple. As a PDA/Google Appliance this phone is awesome. As a phone it sucks. None of my friends or family are able to hear me speak, I'm either muffled, shrill, or echoing. No, it's not because I have a cover over the phone mic. Yes, I've tried switching the encoding. I've got degrees in software engineering and electronics. I know how to troubleshoot and have made many test calls to different answering machines in attempts to characterize and correct the issue. Maybe Motorola had some good early builds of the phone, but the latest are lousy phones. I hope the correct the problems, at which point I would rate the phone a five.

Driod does...nothing June 1, 2012

Reviewer:  need a new phone 123 

The Driod that i recently got cannot call receive calls, text open apps or surf the web. I could get a better phone from Walmart for five dollars. the touch screen doesn't work the keybord is way to flat if I could give a product a zero or a negative one I would! It is confusing, slow, chunky, and full of errors. Don't ever get this phone.It is a waste of money