all hail the shag

About a month ago I got so fed up with AT&T’s crap network I decided to try a Verizon/Motorola Droid for 30 days. I knew it wouldn’t deliver the same experience as an iPhone, but I had never used Andriod or been on the Verizon network, and quite frankly poking yourself in the eye with a hot knife is more fun than using the AT&T network, so I was very curious.

I’ll skip all of the standard unboxing, first impressions stuff that’s been well covered by my friends at Engadget and the like. I’ll even save you the drama of reading this whole post if you just want the summary.

Bottom Line: Droid is an interesting, powerful smartphone that is probably the most powerful option on Verizon, but the hardware, software, and overall user experience is no where close to an iPhone. After 30 days of playing with it, my Droid is going back and I’m going to continue suffering like a dog on AT&T for the duration. I’m a “Mac” and the differences in the software UX between Android and iPhone OS are too significant for me to live with for the next 2 years.

I spent the last 30 days with my iPhone number forwarded to the Droid so I could make and receive calls like normal. I was on the road in several locations, and tried to use every ounce of its functionality during the time I had. I’m going to discuss the hardware and software separately because, well, I think there are probably other Android 2.0 phones that are better form-factors than the Droid.

Hardware: There are both serious pros and cons to this hardware platform, but in the end Motorola rushed this device to market, and it lacks refinement. Most notably, many of the things that are supposed to be advantages of the HW platform really work against the phone.

Camera: Its great that it has a 5mp camera with a flash, but the camera’s stills aren’t much better than my iPhone (not an “S”), and night time shots with the flash suck and are generally discolored. I found that the camera trigger button on the outside of the case was actually a problem because as you fumble to get the shot lined up if you move your hand it takes the picture. The camera is slow to save the image to memory (yeah, I can go get a fast card to speed that up, right?) so you mis-fire, then wait forever while your friends get annoyed. The flash was a tease, because I got all excited I could take night pix now, but really none of them were usable or facebook-worthy.

Battery: It has a removable battery, yay, right? The battery-cover plate actually slid of more than once in my trial. Once in the car while the Droid was on the center island in the car. I hit the brakes and the phone slid but the back-side battery cover stayed put. Another few times retrieving the phone from my pocket. As far as battery-life, about the same as an iPhone. Play with it all day and its dead before you know it. Leave it alone and its a champ. Ever since getting a Mophie JuicePack, the iPhone battery issue isn’t a show-stopper. I guess I could buy an extra battery for the Droid or use an external charging device, but that kills portability.

Audio: There was something very different about the Droid’s phone-call audio. I think the difference is that the iPhone does NOT loop the mic back thru the speaker, but the Droid does. I was hearing myself talk, and it was loud so it took some getting used to. Then I’d turn the speaker down but couldn’t hear the other party as well. Being on the BT headset got rid of this issue, so I am assuming its as I suspect but I was not a fan. Voice quality was generally excellent and even when the signal got choppy I could still make out what they were saying. Very different call-handling behavior on the Verizon network for “lost packets”.

Physical device: The Droid seems to have something in common with its Star-Wars ancestors. Its functional but rough around the edges. Having a real keyboard was supposed to be a nice addition, but Motorola make a huge mistake by not making the keyboard have separate, raised buttons like a Blackberry or even the Palm Pre. The buttons are hard to use and I could never get used to it. I gave up using the physical keyboard after a week. Its got a thumb -pad that I thought would be like a trackpad but its not. Android 2.0 supports multi-touch gestures, but this phone doesn’t. Double tap to zoom, etc. I bought a case for it, but that made the phone way to bulky for the pocket, and its a 2-piece cover to handle the sliding front. No one but Motorola makes covers yet it seemed from what I could tell. Too new? I also scratched the metal case surrounding the glass on the 2nd day I had it. Having painted aluminum that is not covered by the plastic screen protector means the front end is going to get pretty dinged up. Its heavier than the iPhone, something you notice but do get used to.

The virtual keyboard posed an additional learning curve. The screen is taller than the iPhone but a tad narrower, and thus the keys are closer together just enough to require some re-learning. Typing was slower and I made more mistakes. The auto-correct is more aggressive and I spent more time backing up and retyping.

The Droid has a nice fast processor, and jumping between apps and functions is almost instant. There is no lag like there is with the iPhone. I know the 3GS is faster than my 3G, and the # of apps probably has something to do with it but I could definitely tell a difference in speed of the device. I might end up buying a 3GS so I get the faster CPU and Video support as a result of all of this testing.

Software: This is the #1 reason the iPhone wins, and will continue to dominate the smartphone market for years to come. It’s all about the software. Ease-of-use, intuitiveness, less-is-more, etc. Oh, and the Apps. The apps ARE better, there are more of them. There is a certain reality to the apps now. App developers can make more money by focusing on the iPhone apps, and it shows. The Android apps seem comparatively thin and incomplete. Many Android apps are on their first generation, where iPhone apps have been getting refined for a few years now.

Android 2.0: The background -app support is huge. This does give the device a great advantage. Its most notable when you are in the middle of a drive and using the turn-by-turn Google navigation (works GREAT, audio voice is awkward and can’t be changed AFAIK) and you need to do something else and come back to the nav. The notification service is also nice and you have a quick way to jump into various services/apps that have new messages/events for you. Overall the OS and the apps feel very “beta” across the board. I often had apps crash, or the OS tell me the app was running slow and was suspended, etc. The apps lack polish in general and are not nearly as intuitive as iPhone apps. I found myself spending way more time going in circles looking for features that weren’t there or hoping to be able to change behavior to be more natural. I’m not going to review app-by-app, I’d be here for a week. One thing that really highlighted some of the challenges that come with an “open” platform is the fact that Visual Voicemail is a separate app from the Phone functionality. Its odd that way. Also, the VV won’t work with bluetooth headsets. Went into the Verizon store and everyone in there looked at me like I was speaking french and talking about my poodle. On the flip side, Andriod 2.0 has nice social network & content sharing integrations built-in. When you are taking pictures/video, sharing content, etc you get a pop-up to post the item to any of the installed 3rd party social networks.

Syncing: As long as you just have one Gmail account, and do everything in Google-land, you would be pretty happy. Mail/Calendar/Address sync is super easy on Andriod 2.0. Just add your account as a sync-service and bam, its all there. But if you have regular email and Gmail, you now have to open two apps. Same thing with corporate/Exchange calendars and google calendars, etc. However, what really killed my buzz with the Droid was the fact I had to USB-mount the SD card manually and drag files onto it to get music or images on the device. Not only is it more work, but then you have the added complexity of handpicking your data out of iTunes or iPhoto and moving it over, etc. The good news is that when you connect the device to a Mac, it thinks its a camera and helps you import pictures. One of the greatest things about the iPhone is the iTunes store, the super-easy syncing, and the ability to purchase content on either the mobile or the laptop and get it back and forth w/o really doing anything more than plugging the device in. I just couldn’t see myself downgrading to this manual file/folder compare process and realized I’d probably end up with the same songs and pictures on the phone for long periods of time. Also, I cannot properly sync my work calendars with the Droid through google because we don’t use google’s hosted mail service.

Verizon: Its true, Verizon seems way better of a network than AT&T. Apparently my house is a cell-coverage vortex, and even Verizon/Droid would have swings in coverage. The difference? Droid would get a tiny bit choppy for a few seconds, but hold the call. AT&T/iPhone would drop the call within a minute or two, even when it showed 5 bars. One good thing I’ve learned is that my house is a tough spot, but my wife’s on T-Mobile (jailbroken 1st G iPhone) that works GREAT at our house. Hmm. I was in the bay area for a week and managed to hold calls up and down 101 and 280 w/o dropping on the Droid. Only dropped one call while coming up Sand Hill Road at 280.

Google Navigation: Google has done a great job with this first pass at real turn-by-turn navigation. It works, its fast, and the automatic street-view when you arrive at the destination is very cool (and useful!). Google did a good job taking advantage of their strengths here. But…A few downsides hamper what would be the killer app of the Driod. One biggie is that Nav cannot start if you are on a call, because either Motorola, Droid, or Verizon don’t allow voice and data at the same time. This is pretty weak sauce, I thought the whole point of 3G was exactly this? I had to drop my call, get nav started, and call the person back. Things like route-recalualtion and street view pop-up won’t work if you are on a call. The other thing is the fidelity and quality of the voice commands are pretty bad, its sounds more like Mrs. Steven Hawking rather than Ms. Moneypenny. I kept looking for a way to upload some better voice but didn’t seen anything online about that. Still, its FREE with the Droid and the Nav platforms on the iPhone are going to be $100. Given that the Droid is only $120 now, its pretty compelling, Hawking-esque voice and all.

So, in the end the Droid goes back on Monday and I’ll likely pick up a 3GS to address the speed and lack of video support that are actual issues for me since I like to be able to grab pics and video of the kids in a flash. I may end up also trying a signal booster at the house to try to stabilize the AT&T signal. It wavers from 3G 5 bars to “no signal”, even when the phone is just sitting on the counter. I’m actually kind of disappointed I couldn’t fall in love with the Droid enough to switch. I’ve been a vocal complainer about AT&T lately and I wanted to put my $$ where my mouth is. Sadly, I feel like I’m giving up too much of the power and functionality I’ve come to rely on.

Thanks to Engadget for the images!

iphone, tech bits AT&T, Droid, iphone, review, Verizon