29 Apr 10 Charging Your Droid? – Read This!
The charger that comes with the Motorola Droid is a cool gadget. It has a wall plug on the end of a USB cable, so to transfer files to your computer from the Droid (and to charge from the computer too), one can simply remove the wall plug attachment, and you have the USB cable.
Only problem is, it’s only about 3 feet long.
Another problem. I have a whole bunch of USB to mini_USB cables. I used them for my Sansa MP3 player, and for my Blackberry Curve, and for charging my Motorola HT820 Bluetooth Headset.
The Driod uses the newer Micro-USB size
I decided I needed to get more cables, so I can at least have one on the main PC, and leave the original cable connected to the wall plug where it was, by the bed at night to charge.
It was rapidly becoming a pain in the butt having to keep moving the cable back and forth.
On Saturday, when I was out, I went to look in Staples for another cable. I found them ok, but a six-foot cable was $24.95. I decided to take a look online.
That’s when I found these in the top picture. They were $1.69 each and they’re branded Motorola. OK, the shipping was another six bucks, but at just over ten bucks for four, it’s way less expensive than the solution from Staples, and I can use some of the bunch of existing cables with the mini USB plugs.
Another reason I always take a look online first. Heck, if I’d bought four cables from Staples it would have set me back just shy of $100, instead of just over $10! Way to go!
Tags: 3 feet, blackberry, blackberry curve, bluetooth headset, droid, motorola, motorola ht820, motorola ht820 bluetooth, sansa mp3 player, shipping, staples, usb cables
26 Apr 10 Droid Update
I’ve had the Droid (affiliate link) for a week or so now, so I can write a bit more about this gadget now that the first flush of excitement of having something new has worn off, and I’ve had time to play around with it, and put it through its paces a little.
It has taken a little to get used to using a touch screen instead of keys and a trackball. I didn’t have any serious issues with the Blackberry trackball. It needed cleaning a few times, but that was probably my fault due to using the device when eating! I thought I had just about all the apps I need on the Blackberry, but I’ve certainly found more to add to the Droid
Using the Android Market I’ve found to be quicker and usually easier than the Blackberry App Store, but then again, on the Blackberry Curve 8330 I had no wi-fi so all data transfer was that much slower. I’ve installed Evernote, as that’s something I use a lot. I’ve also installed the Astro file viewer, as that makes for easy navigation around phone and the SD card. That is easier than the Blackberry, where I had to run the cumbersome slow Management suite on a PC to access the phone itself. I was also pleased to find a nice app to control my access to my Amazon S3 account, and also one for Dropbox, and one for Drop.io. These are all services I make use of, and to have easy phone access has to be a plus.
New for the Droid
The usual suspects line up for Geolocation apps. Foursquare and Brightkite work better on the Droid than they did on the Blackberry Curve. They’re faster and make use of the built in GPS, which the Curve didn’t do. There’s a Gowalla app for the Droid
The GPS works well with Google Maps, and will give you audio directions if you wish. This comes as part of your data package, unlike the Blackberry, where Verizon charged an extra $9.99 a month for the Navigator.
Locale is a very useful app. It’s not free, but costs $9.99. It allows you to set conditions based on your location. For example, you can tell it that everytime it finds your wireless network, to log in, turn off the ringer, and dim the screen. Between midnight and 7am you want the phone to be silent, but only when at home? That can be done too.
Skype mobile comes with the phone, and allows you to talk to other skype users via the Droid (affiliate link). You can’t do video calls (as the video camera is pointing the wrong way!), but you can do anything else you can do on your desktop or laptop Skype program.
There’s a few multi network messaging programs, such as Meebo, which allows simultaneous access to all the major IM networks, such as Yahoo, MSN, Google, AIM and so on. I also found a decent IRC client app!
Last.fm, Slacker, and Grooveshark allow me to listen to some of my favorite music, and DriodLive allows connection to Shoutcast Internet Radio stations (such as NAB Radio). There’s also a built in music app to play any music that you choose to download to the 16GB SD card that comes with the Droid
I’ve heard adverse comments about the camera, but it seems OK. I don’t expect a top class image from a cellphone however high the pixels. It does blow out on the flash somewhat though. It’s easy to share images with the other apps you’ve set up, such as Facebook or MySpace, or your blog if you’ve downloaded the free WordPress app software.
When recording video you can also upload it directly to YouTube if you wish.
Gmail, who I use exclusively for personal and business mail, works just fine.
Downsides?
No apps yet for Audible, or for Reqall. Wi-fi will stop working on occasions, and I have to disconnect and reconnect to get it to transfer data again.
The battery life is well, crap. I left home at 10.30am on Saturday. I took a few photos. I tweeted a lot. I used Foursquare and Brightkite as I moved around locations in town. I used the wi-fi in a coffee store. By a little after 2pm it was telling me I needed to connect to a charger as it was down to 15%. I think I’m going to have to get a second battery, and perhaps one of the larger capacity ones.
All in all though, I’m pleased with the Droid
Tags: accent, amazon s3, apps, audio directions, bar code scanner, blackberry curve, driod, droid, dropbox, excitement, gadget, google, google maps, management suite, sd card, touch screen, trackball, usual suspects, wi fi
18 Apr 10 New Tool or Toy?
Back in 2002 I got my first Smartphone. It was made by HTC, and labeled as the Orange SPV (Orange is a French telco).
It had a media player, a full size SD card slot (not SDHC compatible though – no such thing back then!). It also had WAP internet, Bluetooth, and MSN Messenger built in.
I thought it was pretty darn cool at the time.
It was a tri-band GSM phone, so in theory it would also work in the US. It did, but in very few places, as most of the US was then still very much analog. (I have never actually owned an analog only phone, as the way the cellular networks were set up in the UK, you either had an analog phone or a digital one, there were never, to my knowledge any hybrids).
Now late 2003 and I ended up with a very basic CMDA based Nokia on the Alltel network. I muttered about it, as I missed all the bells and whistles of the SPV, but Alltel gave me the very best coverage I’ve ever had anywhere – with no discernible holes anywhere that I went (or still go).
Move on a few years and a couple of upgrades, and I’m holding a Blackberry Curve 8330 in my paws. I had all my bells and whistles back at last, and more. I wasn’t at all interested in the iPhone, as it was quite lacking compared to my curve – no cut and paste, no video, and perhaps not so important but good on the go – no Stereo bluetooth. Main things against it were no multitasking, no keyboard, and I’d have to go to AT&T, who have, in my experience, too many service holes around here.
Until yesterday, the Blackberry, has been one of my mobile tools, more than a toy really, because at the end of the day, I didn’t use it a lot to play music, or watch videos. I didn’t use it as a phone a huge amount either, more for data communications, such as email and Twitter. I also like to make use of Geo-based tools such as maps, and GPS.
A camera and a video recorder is, at times, helpful, but not that essential. I usually carry my DSLR around with me in any case. It’s useful to have when you want to grab that funny moment in a bar perhaps, or a one off video clip. The 2MP cam didn’t do a bad job at all in decent light, or even indoors at close range.
So why did I change?
The contract was up for renewal, and as the technology moves so fast, and as the cellular companies don’t start the next two -year contract until you actually upgrade the phone, I did the research, and felt that much as I liked the Blackberry, it was time to try something else.
What does the Droid have that the Blackberry doesn’t?
- Bigger, brighter, higher resolution screen
- 5MP camera
- Wifi
- Better integration with Google
- Integrated GPS
That’s for starters.
I’ve had wi-fi at home for some years, and it’s good to have a phone that can take advantage of that, with much faster browsing if I’m laying in bed, or doing a little mobile surfing on the sofa.
I use Google for my mail needs. I also use Google’s Calender, Maps, Docs, and much of the other stuff they throw out. I’m not a Google fanboi – it just works for me.
The thing that did annoy me with the Blackberry was the GPS. When it was running it was very good, and accurate enough, but I had to switch on the Telenav app each time to get it to kick in, or else it was simply cellphone triangulation accuracy.
Right now, after almost 24 hours, I’ve got pretty much all the apps installed on the Droid that I think I need (most of the same ones I had on the Blackberry – or with similar functionality). I do miss some – now, I have to say that I preferred Ubertwitter to Twidroid, but I’ll give it time, as a lot of this could simply be me, getting used to new ways to boil the eggs, so as to speak.
All in all, I am pleased with the Droid, but ultimately I want it to be more of a tool than a toy, and only time will tell if I will truly find it so.
Tags: alltel, analog phone, bells and whistles, blackberry curve, cellular networks, cmda, cut and paste, data communications, droid, dslr, htc, hybrids, mobile tools, motorola, orange spv, sd card slot, teleco, tri band, video recorder
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