Second thoughts about my Droid

If switching from anything other than an iPhone, I don’t doubt that I would love my Droid: it’s stylish, fast and full-featured.

But given a choice between a great brilliant device (iPhone) on a dodgy network (*ahem*) and a solid device (Droid) on pretty good network (Verizon), I’m a little torn.

Here’s why: Second thoughts about my Droid

Missing Functionality

  1. No multi-touch (pinch/pull to zoom)
    Simply put: navigating maps and the internet is significantly faster with multi-touch than without.
  2. Limited app selection
    No Yelp? No Urbanspoon? I have to pay for Midomi? No Shazzam? I’m sure this will get better as the device catches on, but right now most of my favorite apps aren’t available for Droid.
  3. No (built-in) Visual Voicemail
    Verizon offers its 3rd party Visual VM for $2.99 / month, but not seemless and slick like Apple’s integrated solution. The audio quality is poor. I have to go into options turn on the speakerphone (more annoying that it sounds). I can’t add contacts from the VM screen. Etc.
  4. No notifications on the “lock” screen
    I shouldn’t have to unlock my phone to see who called or the contents of a text message.
  5. No silent mode switch
    Switching to silent mode on my Droid makes the phone truly “silent”. And it’s easy to do accidentally.
  6. No Flash or QuickTime support
    For all of Droid’s marketing about what the iPhone doesn’t do, it’s a little ironic that Droid doesn’t have Flash support. (Flash support being, perhaps, the single biggest feature the iPhone lacks (well, that and a decent network)). Adobe indicates that Flash support for the Droid will be available in the first quarter of 2010.

General Disappointments

  1. Interface
    Not as intuitive as the iPhone … though probably just as functional. I have to figure out how to do things on the Droid. I knew how to use the iPhone before I ever picked it up. It’s just that intuitive.
  2. Coverage
    Coverage and call quality is definitely better than AT&T … but still not that great.
  3. Microphone quality
    Even when I have a good connection, my transmitted voice sounds muted and indistinct. It’s hard for the called party to understand what I’m saying.
  4. The Keyboard
    The physical keyboard is nice–but the reach across the navigation pad is awkward, and I’m not much faster with the physical keyboard than the iPhone on-screen keyboard. Of course, it makes a difference that I seldom text or send e-mail from my phone. I thought this was because of the keyboard–but I’m realizing that it’s simply an aesthetic preference. Written communication via a 4″ wide device just isn’t all that fun.
  5. Color and Polish
    The iPhone is colorful and polished. Droid feels drab–and has hard edges–physically, and figuratively.

Annoyances

  1. Random sounds
    I still haven’t figured out what all the random sounds it makes mean.
  2. Volume
    I still haven’t found a comfortable earpiece volume. It’s either slightly too loud for comfort, or slightly to quiet to hear well.

Things I like about the Droid (versus the iPhone)

  1. Free, built-in turn-by-turn navigation.
    Google’s free, turn by turn navigation works well. I find it more fun more than functional though–I still find it easier to navigate for myself, using Apple’s multi-touch maps interface.

Now, sure sure, I’m sure there are fixes, work-arounds, apps or replacements for all of the above complaints–but that’s the point: I have no desire (see: time) to have to “learn” my phone, to have to “tweak” and “customize” my phone. I just want it to work. And the iPhone does that. Out of the box.

Overall, I think the Droid is a competent and well-designed device–but using it makes me miss my iPhone.

About Mark Egge

Transportation planner-adjacent data scientist by day. YIMBY Shoupista on a bicycle by night. Bozeman, MT. All opinions expressed here are my own.
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