Tag: Smartphone

On August 19th I received the OTA update from Verizonwireless which brought my Motorola Droid up to version 2.2.  This update includes the following features:

• Speed boost:  Any Android App will run 2 – 5 times faster thanks to JIT compiler.
• Install Android Apps to SD Card:  I would like to move all my apps from the internal phone memory and onto the card.  Guess i need to wait for the developers to update the apps.
• Flash:  Android 2.2 natively support Flash 10.1.
• Tethering / Portable Hotspot
• Cloud to Device Messaging.
• Android SDK 2.2
• More Enterprise support

I’ve also noticed a few things right from the start after my upgrade.

• I now have 5 home screens instead of three.
• There is a popup menu on the home screen – deleted the Phone and Browser icons.
• Apps menu will stay open after you close the app you were just in.
• Camera has new controls to adjust focus, exposure, scene mode, picture size and quality, and color.  Can also include location information, white balance, flash mode and zoom.
• Screen orientation adjusts to all four sides while in camera mode (although that may have been available before, but I don’t remember.)
• Allow automatic updating of any app.
• Update all apps when multiple apps require updates (currently updating 2 apps at once.)

However, I noticed all of my custom ring tone and notification sounds that I installed and assigned to contacts were removed and replaced with miscellaneous songs.  This was annoying because I had to reset about 30 contacts and add the sounds from the Star Trek Soundboard back into the database (scan bar code below.)   Also for some reason, Swype beta was not working as the virtual keyboard.  I had to remove Swype and reinstall to get it back.

While I was trying out the new OS, I installed Trillian beta for Droid.  I like the interface, but was expecting to hear sounds while I had a chat window open.  The only time it will play a sound when I receive an IM is when a new chat starts.  Hopefully they will fix that or allow additional controls through the settings menu.

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.

About a week ago I purchase my new Motorola Droid running the Android OS 2.01.  The phone came with a two prong wall outlet which allows you to connect the short USB cable to the phone for charging, and a 16GB microSD card.  I am disappointed I didn’t receive an owner’s manual, but I was able to download one easily enough.  I’ll try to remember to post it on Box.net plug-in on the right.

I went through the standard phone activation with the Verizonwireless rep.  I made a few test calls to verify the phone was working, now I needed to connect to my Gmail account.

Setting up Gmail was easy.  All my contacts from Gmail were downloaded to my phone, and that’s when I realized my contacts in Thunderbird didn’t match what I had in my contacts list on Gmail.  Using my Droid, I modified a few settings, but this was a little slow.  I need more practice with the keyboard.  Using a PC I modified my contacts to include birthdays, multiple phone numbers, home / work addresses, multiple e-mails, and pictures.  Within a few minutes, all the information was downloaded to my Droid.

Setting up Facebook and Twitter was pretty simple too.  I can check the post from my friends, post updates (I did several of them this weekend) and upload photos.  I normally don’t text too much, but the Messaging app makes it easy to read and track a conversation.

I was amazed of the number of apps in the Market place.  Several of my friends gave me a few “must have” apps.  I’ve installed so far:

• 3banana
• Advanced Task Killer
• AIM
• Airplane Mode Wi-Fi Tool (Easy way to turn off all signals or enable Wi-Fi only)
• Android Lightsaber (Several different Light Sabers to choose from, all sound the same)
• BatteryTime (Nice app to tell you your battery status, also places the notification in the task bar)
• Compass (Incase I ever get lost, can also use it for Cub Scouts Belt Loop)
• Daily Dilbert
• Dolphin Browser (Installed so I can use pinch to zoom)
• Explorer (File manager for your OS)
• Get Fuzzy
• Google Buzz (I have a Buzz account with a few friends)
• GPS Tracker (have not used it yet)
• Key Ring (scan in your supermarket or store bar codes from the key rings.  Works well, but I need to adjust the brightness – check the website and video)
• Light Racer 3D Basic (Because I always liked Tron)
• My Tracks (Just installed and have not had time to try it out)
• My Verizon
• Noble Fart (Plan on having some fun on game night with my friends)
• Star Trek Sounds (Save a sound file or two as ring tones.)
• Star Wars Sounds (Save a sound file or two as ring tones.)
• Tip Calculator
• Twidroid
• Where (Neat app that help you find local things based on your location)
• WikiMobile
• WordPress
• WorldWideTime (Just to see if it matched what I see when I have multiple time zones in Linux)
• XkcdViewer

The only issue to date I have with the Droid was the charger.  For some reason, the plug and the USB cable died on Sunday, six days after my purchase from Amazonwireless.com.  I called Verizonwiereless and spoke with Technical Support.  We determined that I should go to the local store and have a technician check the phone and charger.  Within 5 minutes they diagnosed the problem was with the charger and gave me a new store brand charger – no questions asked.  The new charger is one piece with a long cord.

This is the coolest phone I’ve ever had.  I bought a holster at the Verizonwireless store last week, and plan on getting an adapter for my I-Go car charger.