How would you change Motorola's Droid?

The anti-iPhone. The phone that "does." The first Motorola device that we've seen in years that's downright awe-inspiring. Naturally, we're referring to the Droid. VZW spent all kinds of money to hype up this Android 2.0 handset as the phone to get if AT&T's 3G coverage was just too weak for your liking, and it seems to have been at least decently effective. We know the phone had its fair share of quirks right off the bat, but we're happy to say that most of those nuisances were taken care of via firmware update. Still, we know geeks, and those suckers are never happy. If you were in charge of redesigning this thing, what aspects would you tweak? Is the slide-out QWERTY up to snuff? Is the display crisp enough? Are the transitions snappy enough? Do you wish it was impossible to turn off the "Droid" sound emission each time you received an email? Dish out your hot fury below.

[Evan Posted Dec 19th 2009 1:32AM]

Lower 2 year contract price.

[yulebellow Posted Dec 19th 2009 2:20AM]

@Evan

Make a 1 year contract the standard at the same price. At the rate Android (and the entire industry) is moving, our once modern Droids will be the equivalent of calculators in two years

[Badison Posted Dec 19th 2009 2:46AM]

@Evan

Also, Google should open their wallets and pay up whatever they need to (that other companies have), to throw some in some multi-touch in the US.

It's not the biggest deal, but I can think of a few key apps and oodles of games that benefit. Plus, don't they want people to explore the more progressive sides of UI (again, in the US)?

[daniel142005 Posted Dec 19th 2009 2:54AM]

@Badison
Multi-touch is available on the Droid (and most other Android devices, if the hardware supports it), it is just not available in Google's Native apps (maps/browser). If you want a multi-touch browser then get the Dolphin Browser (its free if I remember correctly).

[SaintAndrew Posted Dec 19th 2009 10:54AM]

@Evan

sprint please!

[werty1432k Posted Dec 19th 2009 2:26PM]

@Evan It's all about the money. The carriers don't really care about you, you need them, you have to have them. Ergo they can charge whatever they want. Unfair yes, but that's the way it is.

[theblockbuster Posted Dec 19th 2009 6:17PM]

@Evan
the price is fine. $200 for this awesome piece or hardware is nothing. What it needs is video out!!! and Android needs an upgrade. I want to be able to re-name icons and add my own pictures to folders. And, the Android market needs like a million more top developers.

[Charlik Posted Dec 19th 2009 10:16PM]

@SaintAndrew.I can bet that. Let's make locking a device to a single carrier illegal.

[Average White Boy Posted Dec 19th 2009 10:36PM]

@Evan

Lose the connection with Motorola. Motorola = FAIL.

[shadowj0 Posted Dec 19th 2009 11:14PM]

@Average White Boy

You don't know when to shut up, do ya?

Multitouch for us Americans. We been discriminated.

[gabedamien Posted Dec 20th 2009 12:47AM]

@werty1432k Well, Econ 101 and our Glorious Western Capitalism says that as long as there are competing carriers (and no trusts), they logically can only charge a certain amount... but you're right in that the demand curve doesn't help.

[Wodenborn Posted Dec 20th 2009 9:14AM]

@yulebellow you're not kidding, the droid will be a paperweight when Tegra 1&2 cell phones start dropping like mortar fire. Personally, mine's going to be hand-me down to someone else on my plan, but a one-year contract would be perfect for anyone without this option.

WE WANT TO BUY MORE PHONES! Why does Verizon hate us for this?

[deancollins Posted Dec 20th 2009 3:13PM]

@yulebellow you can buy the Droid on a 1 year contract, only costs $30 more.... and yes i did this.

[richardviled Posted Dec 21st 2009 2:32PM]

@Evan Please let it be in another carrier and hopefully be release on asia as well (I don't know how long it will take, just make it there :D ) A little bit redesign on the keyboard won't hurt also.*. http://bit.ly/motorola-droid-intro-and-caveats

[ByronGman Posted Dec 19th 2009 1:32AM]

Circular saw attachment.

[AlexPayne Posted Dec 20th 2009 2:22PM]

@ByronGman That would certainly be consistent with the U.S. Adverts...

[bighap Posted Dec 19th 2009 1:33AM]

Keyboard just plain sucks.

[m3nphls Posted Dec 19th 2009 1:41AM]

@bighap

I got used to the keyboard in 1 day.

[fuckoff Posted Dec 19th 2009 2:02AM]

@m3nphls good for you ...

[Grizz Posted Dec 19th 2009 2:20AM]

@bighap LG's V keyboard was the best one for my man-thumbs. Separated and raised keys FTW, heck Clamshell the droid and I will buy 2!

[Blackflag486 Posted Dec 19th 2009 2:29AM]

@Grizz

Your MAN-THUMBS!? WHAHAHAHHA !!! OMGWTFBBQHAXFTW!

[Chip Posted Dec 19th 2009 2:30AM]

@bighap It's better than the G1's keyboard, but not by much. I know HTC is capable of making a good KB - the XV6700 was excellent - but everything since then has been going down hill.

[MrPotK Posted Dec 19th 2009 2:54AM]

@Chip There's this new thing called the Touch Pro 2, try it.

[TheyDidItFirst Posted Dec 19th 2009 3:04AM]

@bighap

I've used a friend's, and the worst part is that thing on the right side of the keyboard - it means you have to reach awkwardly to access some of the keys.

[High Posted Dec 19th 2009 3:25AM]

@bighap

True, can I get one sans physical keyboard all together to make it look better and possibly thinner? Contrary to what iPhone haters want you to believe they're plenty of us out there that know how to use and prefer a virtual keyboard. One redesigned Droid sans physical keyboard and a multitouch virtual keyboard that's actually descent and maybe I'll think of buying one.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2009 3:35AM]

@ High

See: Sholes Tablet

[jasev01 Posted Dec 19th 2009 3:59AM]

@m3nphls me to not even that long its no BB but it more than adequate.

[theaussiepunk Posted Dec 19th 2009 4:02AM]

@MrPotK
+1 I gave my wife back her Droid and picked up my TP2 again because of the enterprise email and the keyboard

[Salmoncannon Posted Dec 19th 2009 4:03AM]

@m3nphls

Yeah the keyboard really isn't a problem. I've never owned a blackberry or any other smartphone until this for that matter, but I became much more natural with the Droid's keyboard after about a month of use. It took maybe like 2 days to get used to, but now i can type pretty fast with few mistakes and not constantly looking down. If the keys were more distinct it would be perfect, but I really don't think the keyboard is as bad as people make it out to be. Just takes some time like getting good at any new input method.

Personally, I much prefer it to the virtual keyboard- I can't type too fast on that or else the buttons don't register before I release one finger and the typing gets screwed up really fast. Plus call me crazy but I don't like how it guesses some of your words and assumes you want lol capitalized to LOL.

[Chip Posted Dec 19th 2009 4:58AM]

@MrPotK If I wanted to be stuck with WinMo, I'd still be using my old XV6700. The TP2 is still using the old, slow Qualcom chip that is in all the 1st-gen Android phones. It's a pig compared to the OMAP 3430 in the Droid.

[dansus Posted Dec 19th 2009 7:03AM]

@bighap Agreed, the keyboard doesnt work for me.

Replace d-pad with small opti-nav and centralize the keyboard with contoured keys for good separation.

Theres still nothing out there for me yet, waiting on the Trophy..

[heatgap Posted Dec 19th 2009 7:21AM]

@m3nphls Same, the keyboard is fine for me.

[Brownsound279 Posted Dec 19th 2009 9:51AM]

@m3nphls Me too,I love the keyboard on my droid, it works perfect.

[RupanIII Posted Dec 19th 2009 11:05AM]

@Grizz
I'm liking my Samsung Moment right now actually, and i'm actually not a Sammy fan.

[rj7855 Posted Dec 19th 2009 1:18PM]

@m3nphls

I have my Milestone for a week now and have absolutely no problem with the keyboard, I really like the feedback it gives.

...... What I would change about the droid/milestone?.... I guess more internal memory above everything else.

[MrPotK Posted Dec 19th 2009 2:37PM]

@Chip Which is exactly why I went from a Touch Pro to a Droid. I wish HTC would make a Passion with a Touch Pro keyboard. That would hands down be the best smartphone on the market. But HTC is playing nice with Microsoft, hoping WM7 will be a hit.

[mcfine Posted Dec 20th 2009 12:13AM]

@Chip I loved the keyboard on my old 6700 brick. I call it a brick now but back then it was real compact. Even the Touch Pro 2's keyboard that got rave reviews wasn't all that in comparison.

They need to bring that keyboard style back.

[Ryan P Posted Dec 20th 2009 9:30PM]

@bighap
I'm a BlackBerry Bold user, and one of the things that kept me from the Droid was the keyboard. I've been spoiled by RIM.

[geolemon Posted Feb 1st 2010 12:06AM]

@bighap
I agree about the keyboard...
Sure, you might get "used to it" in a day or three, but that's not even close to the problem:
1) it's flat, no tactile feel - might as well use the touchscreen!
2) typing speed is relatively slower than my old G1, because of it.
3) you have to look at it as you type, because of it.
4) typing on the on-screen keyboard is better not only because there's no tactile-feel advantage of the keyboard over the screen, but the on-screen keyboard auto-completes words that you are typing and corrects typing errors to the degree where you can flying-fingers approach it, typing approximately where the keys would be on the physical keyboard, and it does an unbelievably amazing (nearly 100%) job of figuring out what you *meant* to type. This feature is totally disabled when you use the physical keyboard (and that is a good thing in some cases, when you want to type in weird words, slang, product codes, etc).

[HaZaRd Posted Dec 19th 2009 1:33AM]

Bring it to Canada.

[shogunmaster Posted Dec 19th 2009 1:55AM]

@Chatboy 91

Yup. The good news is that Telus is supposed to get it sometime in January. The bad news is I'm stuck on Bell for another 2 years. Canada sucks for cell phone users...

[Craptorium Posted Dec 19th 2009 2:03AM]

@shogunmaster

Not anymore, WIND MOBILE BABY!!!!

[daniel142005 Posted Dec 19th 2009 2:51AM]

I thought Canadians still lived in igloos? where would you charge it...

[jaysfan Posted Dec 19th 2009 3:52AM]

@daniel142005 never heard that one before

[ToniCipriani Posted Dec 19th 2009 8:07AM]

@Craptorium
If only their coverage is better and you don't find yourself roaming on Robbers' network if you're a minute north of Highway 7 paying 25c a minute and 25c/10KB of data all the time...

[celebbbb Posted Dec 19th 2009 9:45AM]

@daniel142005
We love our Igloo's, Eh! Property tax on them is a bit high, but they get the job done. Our lower Ontario seal slaughter starts in a few minutes, so I gotta grab my sharpened hockey stick. I hope the seals survived the 20 degree (thats 68 to you Americans) weather we've had the past few days. Eh.
(joking.)
But no seriously, we get short changed on everything. That's when we make the 5 minute drive over the boarder to buy a phone and put our SIM in it.
When your dying in the gutter, come to Canada, we have free health care!

[Craptorium Posted Dec 19th 2009 10:10AM]

@ToniCipriani

Yeah right, except you pay huge long distance on telus, bell or rogers whenever you leave your home area anyway. Besides, Wind is expanding like crazy. Give em a year, and they will be a full national carrier, except for Quebec, but that's not Canada anyway.

[ovalsquare Posted Dec 19th 2009 4:00PM]

@Craptorium Except that Wind apparently won't have any smart phones. Or at least not anything I'd be interested in.

[HaZaRd Posted Dec 19th 2009 5:05PM]

@ovalsquare

They have the BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC Maple, Samsung Gravity and Huawei U7519.

Apart from the last one, I'd take any of 'em.

[iGo Posted Dec 19th 2009 1:33AM]

I'm anti-keypad. Get rid of it, for starters.
Should make it thinner, then.