Comments on: The Motorola Droid on Verizon Review

By: miranda

miranda — Sun, 16 May 2010 02:54:47 +0000

ok so i just got the droid.very first smartphone ever…very confused but ill figure it out but the phone prior to this one was a envy touch(loved it) and i could use my acrylic nails on the touch screen part.is there a way to do that with the droid?

By: HTC Incredible Review — The Gadgeteer

HTC Incredible Review — The Gadgeteer — Sat, 08 May 2010 16:00:17 +0000

[...] think of anything to beat the Incredible if you don’t care about a physical keyboard or the Droid if you want a keyboard. At the risk of sounding like I am sucking up to the folks at Verizon, who [...]

By: Zachary

Zachary — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:19:01 +0000

how in the world do you download ringback tones on this droid?why do they make things so complicated?!?!?

By: The Gadgeteer’s Top 25 Reviews of 2009 — The Gadgeteer

The Gadgeteer’s Top 25 Reviews of 2009 — The Gadgeteer — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:40:58 +0000

[...] The Motorola Droid on Verizon by Bryan Sherman (November, [...]

By: mariah

mariah — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:58:29 +0000

how in the world do you download ringback tones on this droid?why do they make things so complicated?

By: Renee

Renee — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:34:32 +0000

Just bought a Droid moments ago. Is there a way to use Audiobooks?

By: scot

scot — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:35:02 +0000

if you want to add a sig to your out going text download an app called handcent.it is free and it will let you add a sig to outgoing texts.my son started texting with it last night and says it is really good.

By: jessica

jessica — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:55:50 +0000

Ok I have downloaded ringtones from mobile9.com but I can’t find them to set them as a ringtone how do I do that thanks

By: Bryan Sherman

Bryan Sherman — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:08:08 +0000

@kelly
The Droid email application does not support adding signatures. You may want to check the market for other mail apps, that was never a big deal to me with those email accounts. You can set signatures in the gmail application. Actually I set that on the web.

By 3rd party, if you mean not Android Market, you need to go to your downloads and tap the “.apk” file, or just down load Apps Installer from the market and install it. I talk about it a little more in an upcoming review of Tiger Woods for Android.

By: kelly

kelly — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:00:14 +0000

Brian,

How do I add a signature to my emails and text messages? Also I have downloaded a third party application but cannot not find it on my phone. Do i need something other then to check the box that allows non market apps to do this?

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:17:44 +0000

Hi Bryan this was a great review. Not the most indepth but albeit helpful! After reading all the comments there seems to be a lot of compairison between the iPhone and the Droid. While both are great phones, they are not the same in a lot of ways. The iPhone has its uses, advantages, and disadvantages. So does the Droid. And these phone will apply to different groups of people. I had an iPod touch and loved it. However the novelty wore off quickly and most the apps avaliable for the IPhone are fart apps and such which are fun or about a day. Everyone that love the iPhone use the face that there are 100,000+ apps for it in the store. That may be true but look at how long it has been out. Android Market Place will catch up. TO me the Droid phone just seems faster and more responsive then the iPhone. I have used both. I also like the fact that the Droid is “Open-Source,” rather then the VERY closed iPhone. Removable battery and storage is nice to have on the droid, something the iPhone lacks. Also the pinch and zoom feature to me isnt all that cool, double tapping woks just as well for me. One other point I want to make is the onscreen keyboard is better then the one on the iPhone. The auto correction on the Droid leaves the iPhone’s in the dust.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:32:44 +0000

I got my Droid yesterday and yep, it will get my Roadrunner email, but it will not send it. Verizon does not have its own smtp server any more (discontinued in August) and Roadrunner does not allow off-service use of their SMTP server. I consolidated everything into the GMail account and use the Gmail app to do my email. It works!

This phone is everything I have ever wanted in a portable device…finally! I downloaded Docs To Go ($14.99 for the next few days), and now I have access to everything. It’s really like having my OQO back, just MUCH smaller and in my pocket with go-anywhere Internet, GPS and directions and phone capabilities.

By: aston

aston — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:06 +0000

Lucky we still have Cellswapper.com

By: Bryan Sherman

Bryan Sherman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:57:34 +0000

@scot
You can do it on the gmail account. I do not see a way to add it on the email accounts.

The Droid Eris has the option to add signatures in the non-gmail accounts (as well as gmail)

By: scot

scot — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:40:51 +0000

sorry on the motorola droid

By: scot

scot — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:39:48 +0000

is there a way to add a signature to outgoing text

By: Bryan Sherman

Bryan Sherman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:19:30 +0000

@Mike R
Thanks! That looks like an interesting tool, similar to evernote. Most of the notes issues brought up in the comments have been about syncing with the Outlook Notes feature, I don’t think 3Banana does that.

By: mike r

mike r — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:43:17 +0000

For notes that sync, check out 3Banana by Snaptic. It’s free too!

By: Rob Tillotson

Rob Tillotson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:17:57 +0000

Google’s sync services can be accessed as if they are an Exchange server; could you perhaps sync Outlook to that? I’m not sure, as I don’t use Outlook (or indeed any desktop PIM), but Google’s Exchange support seems to work fine with multiway sync between my phone, my iPod Touch, and Google Calendar/Contacts…

By: Bryan Sherman

Bryan Sherman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:07:26 +0000

I *think* CompanionLink will do everything you ask. See the link in this post. You may want to e-mail them and ask. It would simplify everything.

By: CraigC

CraigC — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:27:57 +0000

Thanks Bryan! define sync – syncronizing contacts, calendar (and preferable notes) that are in outlook – fed by my godaddy pop3 mail (not exchange).
I gotta be honest, HOLY STOVE-PIPE solutions. As plain and simple as they may be in comparison, I took for granted these seemingly tedious yet robust things that my blackberry does completely seemlessly and effortlessly.

It think it sounds fine to have gmail account where both my pop3 mail acct’s dump into and are in one message box on the droid. No problem.
Also syncing my outlook (again, not exchange, just the client) with my google contacts…not a problem (but how does this work after you sync the first time; does the google desktop app need to stay open on your desktop, with your computer on always on? In other words, I understand how the cloud works real-time but how does it pull from outlook client-only – manually do i need to do this to sync?
Calendar seems same, google cal to integrate with outlook calendar? Again, how this works?
No sync of notes?
OR, do I understand that there is ONE 3rd party app that will do this all collectively (even at a cost)?
It seems like so many stove-pipes.
And on top of it all…I think I just read in google account that these desktop sync apps do not work with windows XP/64 bit…guess what operating system I am running where my outlook resides….yup, you guessed it XP/64bit.
This seems like a lot of work. Perhaps I should wait a couple months with hopes that there are seamless, streamlined solutions for this soon? I imagine there are many people with similar needs.
Hmmm…………

By: Bryan Sherman

Bryan Sherman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:02:20 +0000

Vzn rep said “no, that’s just a blackberry thing, with the droid everything has a separate app.

Yes… and no.

Gmail app lets you integrate all your gmail accounts (if you have more than one).

email app lets you integrate all your email accounts. They can all appear in one inbox. In fact, you could set up POP access you your gmail account and have ALL your e-mail in the one app.

Text messages is another application.

By: Bryan Sherman

Bryan Sherman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:06 +0000

@CraigC

Good Questions
“I am told that some pop3 mail will not work, period, with the droid.”
I don’t know about this. My suspicion would be that there is some odd way you need to set up that POP3, I would check with Starpower to see what settings you need. They may use an odd port, or have an odd username configuration. I don’t know why Droid would not work with certain POP accounts.

Question #2 Do I HAVE to set up a gmail account (where my email – if even possible – dumps into gmail interface, but I can respond from it as the other domains?) in order to sync?

Define sync. Where is your contacts and calendar? You are much better off embracing the Google way, but you can access mail without a gmail account.

Question #3 – Is there a way I can sync my outlook calendar and contacts with the droid (again, using the pop3 email accounts I mentioned)? Or am I confusing emails with contacts/calendars (I think of them together as “outlook” today).

You need 3rd party to sync Outlook calendar and contacts that are not on Exchange. You may want to look at the Eris, it comes with Outlook sync program. Google has a free calendar sync program that syncs from your PC to your Google account, so you COULD import your contacts into gmail, than use calendar sync as a free solution, but it would not keep contacts synced back to Outlook (3rd party for that).

By: CraigC

CraigC — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:15:22 +0000

Bryan,
one other question – I forgot to ask? The vzn rep also told me that EVERYTHING is separate on the droid – each email address, txt messaging, etc….I thought you could set it us as a “catch-all” where you could receive multiple email accounts as well as your txt messages in one “message” applications (as Blackberry does). Vzn rep said “no, that’s just a blackberry thing, with the droid everything has a separate app.
So for me I’d have to open one app for my personal, another for my work email, another for my txt messaging, etc…
please say it isn’t so????

By: CraigC

CraigC — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:11:01 +0000

bryan,
Just came from the verizon store….a bit confused now – get different answers everywhere including vzn rep to rep. I am told that some pop3 mail will not work, period, with the droid. I use @starpower.net for my personal, and a godaddy pop3 which is @mydomainname.com. We tried to set up the starpower one and the droid would not accept. Vzn guy said “right now it only is compatable with the “main pop3′s” (yahoo, hotmail, etc.). True or is he wrong? Obviously if so I cannot have the droid since these are my personal (of 15 years) and work email addresses.

Question #2 then becomes about sync. Been alot of chat here and I apologize but I’m still confused. Do I HAVE to set up a gmail account (where my email – if even possible – dumps into gmail interface, but I can respond from it as the other domains?) in order to sync?

Question #3 – 3rd party app or not (mark/space??? – seems that this bypasses “the cloud” concept and actually sync’s your PC/outlook with the device?), is there a way I can sync my outlook calendar and contacts with the droid (again, using the pop3 email accounts I mentioned)? Or am I confusing emails with contacts/calendars (I think of them together as “outlook” today). These are critical to me as I run my business on my godaddy/outlook (not exchange) account and info. As far as the personal starpower email, nothing really to sync calendar/contacts are in outlook, not with this email address), just want to be able to have it come in/out of my device.
Thx-