Comments on: Verizon Droid. Android 2.0 MIDPhone…with Google Maps Navigation Beta.

By: TareX

TareX — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:25:38 +0000

In addition to Battery life being crucial to the smartphone experience, let’s not forget that Android OS is power hungry, AND in addition to that, it allows multitasking unlike the iPhone… I mean look at the miserable battery life of webOS, which isn’t even as power hungry as Android.

By: TareX

TareX — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:20:08 +0000

Ok I know but even if 50% of NVIDIA’s claims are true, this is still an accomplishment worth the wait, wouldn’t you agree?

The importance of battery life cannot be underestimated with a smartphone…

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:10:12 +0000

TareX you really know how to make me laugh. Chill out with Tegra, one thing is PR mumbo jumbo & other thing is called REALITY.

By: TareX

TareX — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:09:44 +0000

Well Tegra would help battery life because, from what I understand, it shuts down certain parts of the CoC according to needs and usage. Even when comparing to the more power-optimized next-gen CPU of Snapdragon, the differences in power consumption are staggering… Not to mention smooth HD flash in the browser thanks to the Geforce GPU hardware accelerated flash content…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5sEIf5-FJs

Music playback:
Tegra: 25 days; Snapdragon: 2.5 days.

HD video
Tegra: 30 hrs; Snapdragon: FAIL.

Quake 3:
Tegra: 30 fps; Snapdragon: 5 fps.

Flash Acceleration:
Tegra: Present; Snapdragon: Absent.

By: Chippy

Chippy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:25:48 +0000

Yeah. Picked that up last night. Hadnt spotted the snapdragon tag here. Gone now. Thx!

By: Chippy

Chippy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:25:15 +0000

Why do you think Tegra will help battery life?
It’s going to be a A8 core just as in the OMAP 3 which also has 2D and 3D acceleration. With Wifi, screen and 3G taking the lions share of the battery, the differences between Tegra 2 and OMAP will be minimal.

Agree with the docking station thoughts. Agree with the looks thoughts. Agree with the navigation thoughts. That was a pleasant surprise!

I’m expecting this to be a device that you’ll need a spare battery with. Much like the Nokia N900.

By: TareX

TareX — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:14:46 +0000

If Android is PC-ish, then what about Windows Mobile?

I agree that they are NO WHERE near the polish and grace of webOS and OSX…. I had high hopes for Eclair, but it didn’t live up to them. It still looks much better than the totally non-professional Android 1.0-1.6, but it’s still rather ugly… If only a patch could change the fonts and replace the horrible greyish menus and keyboard…

By: Alexander_james

Alexander_james — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:11:09 +0000

No need for the Snapdragon tag here Steve, it’s OMAP3430 all the way.

By: Bagam

Bagam — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:08:13 +0000

i find this device very uninspiring, it may be popular right now but it will be quickly forgotten. between Android & the hardware makers they just dont “get it”. every aspect of the OS & hardware is very PC-ish. they all lack the polish that WebOS/iPhone both offer.

i have faith that someday Android will be acceptable, but they are a long way off. the hardware is even a LONGER way off, it still reeks of tacky PC maker design.

HTC HD2 is the only hardware coming from a non-Apple/Palm company that is truly influencial. too bad its stuck with WinMo.

By: TareX

TareX — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:44:19 +0000

I am loving Android 2.0 now… the quality of the Navigation app is something I NEVER expected…

About the phone, well here’s what I like:

1) The docking station converting it into a bedsite MID/frame/alarm while charging.
2) The car docking station converting into ONE HELL OF A NAVIGATION device. I didn’t expect them to actually best something expensive with a free service… crazy.

What I don’t like:

1) Processor will be outdated in weeks.
2) Keyboard looks ugly. The entire phone isn’t as good looking as I had hoped.
3) Battery life won’t be good… since Android is packing A LOT OF USABILITY with the Navigation software. Android 2.0 needs Tegra 2.

So basically, I’ll wait for the first Tegra 2 phone with a decent looking keyboard… Hopefully NVIDIA keeps their promise and chips Tegra 2 in phone by April 2010 (Tegra 1 arrived in the Zune HD exactly 18 months after it was announced, just like they said)…

By: zviera

zviera — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:52:49 +0000

Flame?

By: scoobie

scoobie — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:20:28 +0000

Like some features here but disappointed in processor and lack of on board memory
I am reading there is a limit of 256mb for apps. That isn’t enough. Most memory is on the micro sd card, which I gather you can’t use for apps.
Iphone wins I think

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:17:46 +0000

Engadget has a preview

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/28/motorola-droid-first-hands-on/

Hmm those .2 inches really make some difference, i wonder how will other manufacturers respond. HTC has a good contender with therir 4.3″ HD2/Dragon device esp. if they could pack a good keyboard punch into sub 14 mm thick device.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:05:30 +0000

If the keyboard would be a really usable one then i think i would become totally agnostic OS wise + i like some new features on Android 2.0 (contact integration, still Maemo has better integration 4 now).

By: Steve 'Chippy' Paine

Steve 'Chippy' Paine — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:18:12 +0000

New article: Verizon Droid. Android 2.0 MIDPhone…with Google Maps Navigation Beta. http://bit.ly/34dcsj