On March 30th it was announced on Phandroid that Motorola and Verizonwireless would be pushing out an OS update from the Motorola Droid, bring the OS from 2.0.1 to 2.1. I had the option to wait for the OTA (Over the Air) update or download the update and manually update the OS. I chose to wait for the update.
I read there are around 2 million Droid phones in the market and the update would be issued randomly. I figured I was not going to see the update until April 10th at the earliest. Yesterday around 10:45AM I was prompted to install the OTA update for my Droid.
The upgrade process completed within 7 minutes. I am amazed how fast the phone responds with this update, even though a small number of users stated the phone seem to run slower. I rebooted the phone and clock boot up at 40 seconds, a improvement from about 1 minute on my phone.
What’s included with the update:
- Live Wallpapers
- Pinch to zoom in native browser, Gallery, and Google Maps
- New Gallery application with 3D layout
- New Weather and News application with widget
- New Voice to Text
- Free Yahoo! Mail is supported
- Updates to Google Maps
- Improved pattern-lock
- Improved headset audio when disconnecting wired headset
I liked some of the Live Wallpaper but I think I will keep my picture of the Enterprise from the Star Trek movie for now. Most of the sounds I am using are Star Trek based. The pinch-to-zoom works very well in the native browser and the Gallery. For me it was already working in Google Maps before. I removed Dolphin Browser from my Home screen, but plan on keeping it installed if I ever need it again.
The new Gallery application is a huge upgrade. When it starts, you see all the different groups of pictures as messy stacks of photos. You can see other stacks by swiping your finger across the screen. If you tile the screen left and right, the the stacks will tilt a little too. Opening stack of photos will display them all side by side or you can restack them with a tap in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
I tried the voice to text feature and it was OK. I think I need to train the phone to recognized my voice. If I can get that to work, then I can dump the keyboard for all of my text messages.
I have not had the chance to try the other features with the new update such as improves pattern lock or the new weather and news apps. I keep forgetting to bring my Bluetooth headset to see if I can voice dial without using the screen.
ratedmaxpower 