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Home»BlackBerry News»SPE Round Robin

Droid Hands-On Video, Smartphone Round Robin

by Kevin Michaluk on 14 Dec 2009 01:40 PM
208
 
Smartphone Round Robin - CrackBerry Does Android

It's Smartphone Round Robin time and we're kicking off Round #1 with CrackBerry taking Android for a spin! I know a lot of you out there are wanting to hear my thoughts on the Verizon/Motorola Droid, since it's a device that many BlackBerry Storm 9530 owners have either been tempted by or even jumped ship to rather than making the organic upgrade to the BlackBerry Storm2. So instead of making you all wait, we figured it was best to tackle this alien baby right away. 

Below you'll find a hands-on video of me taking my initial walk through of both the Droid and Sprint Hero with our resident Android expert, Casey Chan of AndroidCentral.com. As part of the discussion, I've created a CrackBerry on Android thread over at the Android Central forums as well. Speaking of forum threads, you'll want to jump into our CrackBerry forums to help out Matt Miller (palmsolo) who is off his Nokia devices to give the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and Storm2 a go this week.

My full analysis and review will come on Friday, so stay tuned for that (teaser: there's things I like, things I really like and things I just can't stand). In the meantime, be sure to check out the video below and drop your thoughts in the comments. And don't forget - for your chance to win a device, you need to participate in the forum discussion (full details here).

 

 

Hands on Video: CrackBerry Goes Hands-On with Android

[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ]

 

Filed Under: SPE Round Robin; Tags: android, HTC Hero, Motorola Droid, round robin 2009
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208 Comments

Posted by jkpitcher Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

A couple friends have recently got the droid and I was not impressed. Really glad I got my Tour.

 
 
Posted by ahaz86 Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

Maybe you should give the BeDroid theme a try :) Its the closest youll get without actually grabbing a Droid.

http://software.crackberry.com/product.asp?id=41259&n=BeDroid

 
 
Posted by dixie dregs Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

I still beleive I will stay with my storm..;)

 
 
Posted by lions80 Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

i must admit i am a little interested in the droid. There are a few things that worry me though, its made by motorola (crap), and the keyboard looks cheap. I think im gonna have to go and check it out at verizon and see what i think.

 
 
Posted by Agent00J Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

I have to admit at times I'm tempted to ditch my 9530 for the Droid. But the fact that it's a Motorola has me concerned. That and the el cheapo keyboard. I saw a display model at Best Buy a few weeks ago (wasn't powered so I couldn't turn it on) and it was already worn and beat to hell and looked like something from 1989.

But besides it's cheap look, the phone does interest me still. But I think I'll hold onto my 9530 for a bit longer.

 
 
Posted by Duvi Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

Honestly... there isn't anything wrong with Motorola. They build solid devices. The razr was one of the toughest phones in it's class. I've known construction workers who have put those phones through hell and can say it's the toughest they've ever used.

 
 
Posted by kinggeoff Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

was also so problematic it makes the storm launch look like a paid vacation to hawaii.

 
 
Posted by AsiaLynnn Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

hmm.. someone sounds like they work for moto.. haha just saying.

 
 
Posted by zarzamora_hermosa Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

Hahaha, Yeah right, the Razr was such a cheap phone. I'm no construction worker, and I was able to break a few through moderate use. They were flimsy.

 
 
Posted by ltoynbee Saturday, Jan 16, 2010 757 days ago

I on the other hand AM a construction worker and a labourer of mine dropped his phone (the Razr2) and it got run over by two of our F-550 work trucks consecutively. The screens were both fucked however everything else on the phone still worked. He still used it for calls and that for the following week. The most sturdy phone I've ever had was the StarTAC and it stood up to water damage and all kinds of drops and throws. (I used to throw my phones when angry until I started into the smart phone scene.) But yeah, I've always found motorolas to be fantastic for toughness.

 
 
Posted by dylanmail Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

Most of the cell phones on display at BestBuy are crap shells of the phone so I wouldn't judge the actual build quality of the phone based on a dummy shell. If you disagree, take a look at the Storm2 or any other RIM device on display there. None of them would entice me to drop a dime on them.

 
 
Posted by jayhammy Wednesday, Dec 16, 2009 788 days ago

I gave it a whirl in my local verizon store. the keyboard was absolutely HORRIBLE! I made more mistakes than correct words. If the device came without the keyboard, I might actually consider getting it! The virtual typing was quite good, though.

 
 
Posted by cj100570 Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

I took the Drois and Storm2 for a spin when I was preparing to upgrade my original Storm and the Droid won handily.

 
 
Posted by mjbesen310 Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

glad I didnt buy the Driod, it sucks

 
 
Posted by milrtime83 Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

So many insightful comments like this one in this post...

 
 
Posted by Eric_Ruiz Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

so i was thinking about getting the droid once upon a time..im glad i didnt. its (motorola)(garbage) nothing compared to the Storm 2!

 
 
Posted by graymulligan Wednesday, Dec 16, 2009 788 days ago

The storm 2, that essentially runs the same OS blackberries have run since 1990, is a superior product?

I really liked my storm, and loved my tour, but until I picked up my droid, I didn't realize just how much I was missing, and settling for something that I thought was awesome.

The storm2 is a nice phone, but let's face it, RIM hasn't launched a product on VZW in what, 18 months that wasn't a disaster full of recalled devices. Let's not throw stones if we live in a big ol house of glass...mkay?

 
 
Posted by don_c11 Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

Was thinking about the droid since its launch... got the storm 2 and not looking back

 
 
Posted by klbbry Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

i played with it at verizon store and i wasnt really impressed by it

 
 
Posted by jmbladel Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

I wanted to play around with the Droid, and certainly didn't want to end up as de facto BB Tech Support, so I bought one for my wife. She absolutely loves it as her first smart phone.

One note: We were traveling this weekend, and she forgot her charger. After moderate use each day, I compare battery status. BB was always in the 25%-30% range, while Droid (with WiFi) was over 70%.

 
 
Posted by jimmyrees Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

I was at Verizon and almost switched from my Tour to a Droid, but then heard that the camera was terrible on the Droid. also, is the Droid a world phone?

 
 
Posted by nielsen345 Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

It isn't

 
 
Posted by alant40 Tuesday, Dec 15, 2009 789 days ago

Camera issues fixed with latest OTA update on 12/11...

 
 
Posted by nslasha Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

i switched from the tour to the droid and im definitely not looking back. they barely scratched the surface as far as the capabilities of this phone.

 
 
Posted by dylanmail Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

Have you noticed any difference in how long it takes for you to get your email on a Droid vs. the Tour (or any other RIM device for that matter)? I've heard that there's no competition between RIM and the Droid in terms of speed for receiving emails and other messaging.

 
 
Posted by elvin1983 Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

That's correct, although I hear that if you have Gmail, then the e-mail on the Droid is similar to push, albiet not nearly as fast as RIM push e-mail. Figure it like this, as good as the Droid is for Multimedia (web browsing) is how good RIM is at messaging. You can't compete with a BB for messaging capability.

 
 
Posted by CrackberryMike Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

I have a Tour and a Droid: on the Droid,the gmail comes through at almost exactly the same time as on the Tour. My yahoo email is approx 3-6 minutes behind and since I don't have a secretary sending me something urgent, that difference means nothing to me in comparison to all the other Droid features.

 
 
Posted by es_bih Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

ActiveSync protocol is superior to a bloated BES any day of the week. Albeit I still am sticking with my Bold2. Just don't get the fan boy bs.

 
 
Posted by graymulligan Wednesday, Dec 16, 2009 788 days ago

I have my droid synced with the same exchange server my curve/storm1/tour were synced to, and there's no noticeable difference in delivery time. If I'm sitting at my desk, the email hits the droid (or any of the berries) at about the same time my outlook beeps at me.

 
 
Posted by Ebscer Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

The HTC Eris is probably a better Android Device then the Motorola Droid...

 
 
Posted by Neotide87 Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

nah I played with both and I was more impressed with the Droid and the physical keyboard cane be nice once you get used to it. I went from the 9530 to the Droid and I really like it

 
 
Posted by ChuckH0308 Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

Nobody likes the same thing, so I'm going to say that I disagree with you. I like the Eris FAR better than the Droid. It's a smoother, more compact design, it's solid, and it works well. But, I'm not going to buy either one because there are more Android phones coming that will blow everything away...

 
 
Posted by jevalladares Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

Droid seems like a it can give serious competition to blackberry. Although I'm sticking with BB for at least one more year. I would like a serious upgrade on the OS and a more customer base approach instead of enterprise.

 
 
Posted by linkkoriri Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

I've seen SO MANY Motorola handsets always going in for repair, especially notorious for their crappy batteries. I just hope they put more time and quality into this Motorola. As This may be their last chance on really get back into the mobile phone game.

 
 
Posted by mrcmaher Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

I went to the Verizon store and tried the droid (and eventually decided on the Storm 2 which I am very happy with)...I like some of the features but have heard the the e-mail capabilities are no where near the BB unless you have google mail, but I wasn't prepared to change my e-mail addresses for my phone. Also, I would never buy the first version of any phone because generally they have problems that are fixed once the general public plays with it.

 
 
Posted by CrackberryMike Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

With the exception of my blackberry.net email, my addresses on my Droid are the same ones from my Tour and my Storm.

 
 
Posted by juicebox666 Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

I love my Tour, and currently the only swap I would consider would be the new Bold. I love BBM and the well integrated chat clients. And the keyboard is awesome. Don't think I could use a software keyboard at this point. There are some things I don't like, but no device is perfect.

I'm a bit curious about the new Google phone called the NexusOne. It has the first OS totally designed by Google and runs on the fast Snapdragon processor. (I think I have all those details right). But I'd also be interested in a phone that can be heavily customized and tweaked like crazy. Something that is very hard to do with the BBs...

 
 
Posted by J-Buck Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

The Droid OS is fully made by google. Verizon didn't touch it and motrola simply made the hardware...

 
 
Posted by i7guy Tuesday, Dec 15, 2009 789 days ago

Was interested in getting a Storm 2 as I want a bigger screen (was willing to pay retail). Spent an hour and a half playing with the Droid, Storm 2 and O2. Didn't really like any of them. Security of my device is a big concern and ultimately I decided to wait it out and see what new BBerys come down the pike.

 
 
Posted by graymulligan Wednesday, Dec 16, 2009 788 days ago

The "google phone", which may or not be real, and may or may not be a lot of other things, runs android 2.1, which would be the next step from the droid's 2.0. Which Google also wrote from the ground up. Like android 1.5.

 
 
Posted by Duvi Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

The Google phone will be the phone you'll have next year.

 
 
Posted by nielsen345 Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

Recently switched to the Droid and couldn't be happier...the slide out keyboard sux but the on-screen is pretty awesome so it don't bother me..screen is amazing too. Who cares if its a Motorola? I really liked my storm but this feels much sturdier than it ever did. My advice is check em both out for yourself. Don't go by reviews alone.

 
 
Posted by jorGeorge Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

Very nice review! I also liked the third-person perspective view!

 
 
Posted by olivagio1 Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

im still deciding, I went and gave both phones a whirl, but still like the storm 2 better but i feel its just cause im used to the 9530 and dont want to look into what the droid could offer. any help?

 
 
Posted by mrcmaher Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

I chose the Storm 2 because I heard that the e-mail capabilities on the Droid weren't up to par and I need access to my email for business. The Droid may address that in software updates but since they haven't yet it made the choice easy for me. Also, the physical keyboard didn't really impress me (keys were too flat and since they are close together the flatness makes it tricky to feel them)on the Droid although I have a feeling that will change in the next model.

 
 
Posted by newkirk02 Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

....well i have been a bad bad crackberrian i have gone to the dark side. I am now an android boy. After getting upset with spint not wanting/allowing me to activate a storm on there services i went and got a htc hero. I just had great desire for a touch screen phone and sprint/ blackberry could not provide. When i decided to leave i told myself i be back some day well now a week in i dont think so. This thing never freezes up, has a lot of great free apps, can run lots of apps at once and not slow down, have a smart but simple way of getting things done. I love it. Btw i had been a bb only guy for over 4 years and have "converted" many to bb. Now i am working up an appology letter to all of my "converts" I still have a warm spot in my heart for bb and maybe some day i'll be back but right now i dont see it.

 
 
Posted by Agent00J Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

That's another reason why I'm considering jumping ship. I'm pretty tired of my 9530's random episodes of frost bite. But I'm going to give it a year or less. That should be plenty of time for the Droid to have lots more support and/or any possible bugs worked out.

 
 
Posted by bacalao Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

I know what you mean, if the Storm3 is kick ass, I'll be back.

 
 
Posted by grundyman Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

i thought i would never see the day i would switch. i got the storm 2 , and loved it. the vibrate on it was a joke. i was missing all my phone calls calendar events text...

i have a few friend that made the switch to the droid. they kept telling to come to the darkside. i went to the store , and wasnt impressed . i had about 5 days left before being stuck with the storm 2. i said f-ck it. went and got the droid anyways.

the demo in the store , and kevin messing around in the video , does the droid no justice.

this phone is sick with the shit that it does, and how smooth it is . the emailing is nothing to write home about , nore copy and paste . everything else blows my storm out of the water. not to say i would never go back to bb. for now , their gonna have to do alot of work to compare to this phone

 
 
Posted by stoneworrior Monday, Dec 14, 2009 790 days ago

I was in the same boat and was close to chucking my Tour. Over the last few days I have been playing around with the hybrids and my Tour has started to look a little better to me. I am real close to signing up for VIP status on BBHybrids and sticking with Blackberry. But honestly if the "Official" Rim software OS was my only option I'd be holding an HTC with sprint right now.

 
 
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