Well, I have finally broken down. Tomorrow morning, I am headed to VZW to end my 8 year (constantly renewed) Alltel contract 8 Months early, transfer my number, and buy the Moto Droid.

I had originally decided on the ERIS, but after multiple calls to other tech nerds alike, we have unanimously decided on the Moto Flavor of the droid. So, tomorrow morning when I set foot into VZW, I get the pleasure of shelling out $300 in cash up front, and I'll get a $100 dollar Mail-In Rebate. My Monthly Payment to them? $110. For One Line. Unlimited Text, Pic, Video, Email, Internet. 900 Minutes. Which is good for me.

Why one line? Well, we (mother and I) have figured out that if she stays on Alltel, and drops her plan down to a cheap plan, because she doesn't have a blackberry, it is cheaper to keep her on Alltel till may when her contract goes poof.

So, who has a droid? I know it is horribly lagged before the new "2.0.1" update, and after that I've seen an awesome phone. Any thoughts?

I don't think it's wise to have a phone that can kill you in your sleep.

One of my bowling team mates has the Droid. He is quite pleased with it. I have always said I just wanted a phone, but now I'm starting to rethink that, after fiddling around with it.

Posting this using my Droid right now. I've had it for about two weeks now. I think it's a great phone. Probably the best on verizon. Still getting used to the keyboard. Like Google listen, slacker radio, and NubiNews a lot. WeatherBug, SportsTap, and Places good too. Goggles, SkyMap, and Shazam for fun. Contacts synced solely through gmail. Decent battery life. Great screen. Verizon 3G super fast here though I tend to use WiFi at home. I hope you'll like it even though it's not apple.

Eh, I was a RAZR user before I fell inlove with the iPhone. But seeing how the droid is about 80x better, I think I'll live.

Umm... Wow.
I was just wondering if maybe you can still talk to some one on those newfangled robot "phones".

Hope it works out well for you. I am sticking with my RAZR until we get some clear direction from Mr. Jobs on the future of the iPhone and the MacTablet. I have looked at a Droid several times and it's ok, but I am unconvinced that it is better than an iPhone. The biggest issue I have with the Droid is syncing iCal and other files. Hopefully, we will have some direction shortly.

I never use iCal, I just use my phone's calendar. Because the phone is always with me, and the laptop isnt.

MG is just jealous because the rest of us check email, surf for pr0n, play Super Monkey Ball while using the Fart App all while making regular phone calls plus Google Voice at the same time.

Jealous I say!

Dan: You forgot to ask the Real question here... CAN YOUR PHONE AND YOUR NETWORK DO THAT

So, T-Minus 20 minutes to DROID. I'm considering recording the startup of it, because it is pretty hilarious.

Perhaps you could do the start up in front of the Web cam so we can all see it.

I plan to buy the Droid in the next few weeks Josh. I have been following it on blogs, Twitter et al and I think it is the way to go. My only REAL concern now is the 'rumor' that Google will be coming out with its own phone developed by HTC that will utilize Google Voice/Wave to basically be free...yup, FREE! Supposedly, the Google Phone will be out sometime in the first half of next year. Now there are also 'rumors' that Google will tether onto an existing phone company (I think I heard T-Mobile since they were the 1st to host an android phone). Regardless, these are all rumors and who knows what will come out. My take...if you continue to wait for the next best thing in technology (smartphones in this case) your wait will be endless since new tech comes out so often...so why wait. A Droid will be in my pocket before the end of the year I hope...now the true question is what apps to get and what accessories to get.

Can the Droid calendar app host multiple calendars?

The startup is very Cylon.

I've been following all those Google Phone rumors as well. Will be interested to see what actually becomes of them. I don't think it can be totally free. From what I've heard the cheapest you can go month-to-month is using just a data plan from T-Mobile and using Google Voice VOIP for calls. Unless you're around a WiFi access point 100% of the time you're going to have to use some cell carrier's towers at some point and you're going to have to pay them something to do it. Now if that is the case it will still be a deal as a $30 dollar data plan is much less than $100 voice + data plan. We'll see what happens.

See my post above for my favorite and most used apps.

It looks like it can do multiple calendars. Right now my phone has my gmail one as well as a US Holidays one. Although I couldn't figure out how to actually add another one.

Well, I have it. Dealing with Alltel on switching crap around first, then I'll post a few pics or something.

But can it get the webcam up and running?

Josh, I thought you said the webcam would be up and running by Dec. 1...Perhaps I am remembering it wrong, but that is what I recall at least...

I did say that, but it is out of my hands. I am currently waiting on Dean Hanvold so we can remount the camera. Everything is ready to go, but that one detail.

OK great Josh, thanks for the update on that...

I've used the droid all day now, and I have to say... It doesn't feel like a phone. All day I have been wondering "Where is my phone? Oh... Wait... It's right here playing pandora...." Yeah, It may take awhile for me to get used to it, but i like it. Extremely loud speaker, crystal clear at that. Beautiful screen, and Verizons perfect service.

Josh,

Can you go thru what your plan has to be like and any extra hidden costs. I know you HAVE to have a data plan...but is there anything else?

Well, here is my plan:

One Line, my mom is staying on Alltel till May when her contract finishes.

$79.99 A Month
900 Anytime Minutes
Unlimited Text, Pic, Video
Unlimited Night and Weekend Minutes, Starting at 9
5 "Friends and Family" Numbers

Extras:
Ringback Tones: .99c a month

REQUIRED: $29.99 Personal Data Plan

Total: $110.97 Without Taxes

After having the Motorola Droid for one day, here is my quick review.

Coming from a Blackberry, this phone has to be able to beat a pretty solid system... And it can, in most ways.

The Lock Screen:
Upon startup you are greeted with the Lock Screen, which for the average user it is very easy to understand, but some could be confused at this screen. The Lock Screen has the carrier, time, date, alarm clock time, the unlock slider and the mute all audio slider. To get into the phone, you grab the "lock" icon, and slide to the right of the phone. If you wish to just mute the audio for a meeting, you grab the "speaker" icon, and slide it to the left.

The Home Screen:
Once unlocked, you enter the extremely customizable homescreen. You can add widgets, folders, applications and shortcuts to these 3 home screens. To change between the screens, you swipe left and right. I, personally, prefer to use just one screen to keep the phone from being bogged down by icons...

The phone's default screen shows the "Search with Voice" widget, where you can just start typing and the phone searches itself, and the web. Or you can click the microphone and speak what you want. For example, "Call Joe's Pizza". The phone displays the audio waveform, and if it understood you, it will repeat back "CALL JOES PIZZA" and will dial it in 3 seconds, displaying a box for you to either click dial to dial now, or cancel if it got the incorrect number.
Also shown on the default screen are the basic functionality buttons. Phone, Messaging, Contacts, Visual Voicemail, Browser, Market and so on. You can move icons around on the screen by holding down on one, the phone vibrates, and then you are able to move it to an empty spot. If you hold down on a empty spot, you get a popup "Add to Home screen". Which allows you to add shortcuts, widgets, folders or change the wallpaper.

Overall, that is the jist of it. If you have questions, just ask.

So, how does it stack up against my Blackberry?

Call Quality:
Physical Keyboard:
Virtual Keyboard:
Overall ease of use:
Battery Life:
Battery depends on what you do, and Android even outlines that for you within the settings menu.

Overall one day review rating?



What would I rate my blackberry tour?



So, it was an extremely easy transition. Only one problem. If you come from a phone with "Send" and "End" keys, you may (like me) have issues trying to make a call and end one for awhile.

Can you load your own ring tones from your computer? I love it when the Husker Fight song goes off in Church.

Yep. Via Bluetooth or USB. When you plug the droid into your Mac or Windows computer, the notifications area tells you it has been plugged in, and you can choose to just charge it or allow it to mount the SD card. If I get enough requests from people here, I can make HD videos on how to do this stuff with the droid on the MilesCityFeed YouTube channel.

I busted my phone today and I'm really tempted to get one of these but the mandatory data plan is a real turnoff for me. Right now my cell phone costs me $36 a month. I live in the sticks and don't get much coverage and I know that the internet is not going to work at all so it would be doubling the cost of my cell phone for very little added value to me.

Well, did your current phone say "3g" or "EV" in the top bar? If not, then you don't get data. I personally love the phone, and will not part with it.

Christmas Eve I bought a Droid Eris. It is a pretty cool phone. The on-screen keyboard is much better than on my 1 gen iPhone. I really like the track-ball for scrolling around. I have some connectivity with my Mac through Google for Calendar and Contacts. It is nice to be back to a smart phone where I internet and email access.

Well, the Google Phone is official. $535 Unlocked.

http://www.google.com/phone

It looks almost identical to the Droid Eris, minus the call and end buttons at the bottom. I can't really see why you would want to pay $400 extra for it vs. just getting an Eris. It being unlocked is neat but I can't really see people flocking to buy this. It does appear to be available for $179 on T-Mobile right now and they say it is "coming soon" to Verizon.

That price for an unlocked Google Phone isn't too bad. An unlocked Motorola Droid seems to go for about $100 more than that. An an unlocked Eris goes for about $50 less.
So I think the $530 price is a bit decieving.
Most people will buy it from a cell phone company for the subsidized price of $179. That doesn't seem too bad for a phone that is faster than the Motorola Droid.

It may be faster, but if you are used to using a real, not virtual, keyboard... You will hate that phone. The only real difference between that phone and the droid is the snapdragon processor at 1ghz. So you ultimately get to choose... Slightly snappier phone (So they say, I am running a rooted version of 2.1 on my droid right now and it is snappier than 2.0.1) or a phone with more accessories IE Keyboard.

I choose droid, and I'll be sticking to it.

The HTC version of the Android virtual keyboard is truly awesome, much better than the iPhone. The physical keyboard on the Droid is hard to use, especially the top row, if you have bigger fingers. IMO, not worth the extra weight in your pocket. The physical keyboard mechanism will quit sliding over time if you work in anything less than a sterile environment. I looked for a very long time at both the droid and the eris. I bought the eris and am very happy with my purchase.

But then, that is probably why the make more than one phone model.