I bought my Droid the day it was released. I read a bunch of reviews prior to making my decision, and some friends asked me my thoughts on the phone after I made the purchase. As promised, the following are my observations (with some updates to my original review, highlighted in blue):
First, the screen is made of glass — metal keys do not scratch it (there are videos on youtube of people trying to scratch it, check them out). The slide-out keyboard is not as easy to use as a blackberry, but I like having the option of typing more precisely. The on-screen keyboard is really easy to use in landscape mode, a little tougher in portrait, but still manageable with the auto-correct. The auto-correct is nice, but obviously you do need to add Islamic terms to the dictionary. I am especially fond of the the new Swype, alternative keyboard.
The OS is completely integrated with your Google account. I logged in once, and instantly my gmails are automagically pushed to my phone literally as soon as they hit my inbox in the cloud (and in gmail I have access to all my labels, etc. — which I appreciate because I did not have that as easily on the blackberry); all my contacts are synced with my phone instantly (I make a change to a contact in gmail, it appears on my Droid instantly); I am already set up in the Google Talk app (which you can have run continuously in the background, although it can eat memory if you let it get out of hand); my calendar is my Google Calendar — down to the colors of the events based on the colors I had the different sub-calendars set up as within Google Calendar; of course Google Voice integrates nicely as well. You can have the option to select for each call whether you want to make a call with Google Voice or without, and your Google Voice inbox syncs automagically as well.
I am sure you have already seen the videos of the GPS navigator, and I just need to emphasize its awesomeness. There is absolutely NO need to buy a Garmin, Tomtom, or whatever else is out there. This gives you turn-by-turn voice directions, adds layers for satellite view (just like google maps), traffic (just like google maps), street view (BETTER than google maps), and an aerial 3-point perspective view (not even IN google maps). There are also layers for restaurants, gas stations, what-have-you. Directions can also be found using the dictated search, by the way. So I can tap and hold the magnifying glass button, and a voice search prompt pops up. I can say, “driving directions to In-N-Out” it gives me a list of the nearest In-N-Outs, I click on the top one, and boom: direction list. Click on Navigate, and I get voice directions. The dictated search will default to a google search if you do not give it specific instructions like “directions to…” or “call fulan ibn fulan on mobiyl.”
Facebook is BLAZING fast. There are a few issues that I think they need to tweak (based on a friend’s observations — I have not had any serious issues, personally). What is great is that it can sync and join/merge the contacts’ information to your Google Contacts — so there is one unified list (or if you prefer to keep them separated you can, it is rather robust). It automatically syncs the contacts’ information (or you can prevent that automatic sync).
I have not had a smart phone that did not have the ability to multi-task, so the thought of not being able to do so on the iPhone makes one shudder. Multi-tasking on the Droid is very good — although I do find myself relying on Task Panel — a task killer app — to free up memory now and again to speed the animations of the OS up. The task killer can be set up to automatically do this for you when memory gets below a certain amount.
Locale — by far my favorite utility! It senses where you are using the GPS, and you can set up profiles for it depending on the location, you can also make it dependent on time of day, as well as a few other options. So when I go into the masjid, my phone goes into silent mode. When I am at my office (during business hours), my phone is on vibrate mode. When I go to sleep at night, at my apartment, my phone turns off notifications except for the phone ringer.
Where’s My Droid? — if I ever lose my phone in my apartment, and the sound happens to be off, I can send myself a text from my computer with the message “Wheres my Droid” and my phone turns the sound all the way up and the alert goes off telling me where it is.
Handcent and SMS Popup (2 separate apps) — I rely on both of these for text messages. They each allow you to dictate (by voice) a text message — great for when you are driving. I have decided I like Handcent, and it works fine alone.
Qik — allows DVD-quality streaming video from your phone to your Qik site account.
Missed Call — allows you to completely customize notifications, down to the color of the LED that blinks to notify you of a missed call (as well as the rate at which it blinks). It supports the differentiation of notifications from Gmail, Twitter, SMS, phone, and a few others I think. The Droid (Android, really) is all about customization of the phone to your liking (not Apple’s). And it is definitely a contender in form and function.
Of course, there is iQuran — which is the same as it is on the iPhone. The free version lets you download all of the audio from just one reciter, as well as one version of the translation. There is a nifty mu`adhdhin program (Mouthen), but I think the qiblah compass has some issues; I am searching for an alternative. But what is great is that the prayer times are based on your GPS location — all you need to do in options is specify a fiqh and calculation method. I have since found my alternative: Islamic Compass. It has the GPS based prayer times, qiblah compass, and plays the adhan as well. It’s a terrific program — and I even got the developers to transliterate the text properly.
So there you have my Droid review.
