“The camera has an LED flash, which helps at close range at night, but the camera itself is balky and slow to focus and fire. You can record videos (at a high 720 by 480 resolution, although they don’t look any sharper) and upload them to YouTube, but you can’t trim the dead air off the ends first [as you can with Apple’s iPhone 3GS],” Pogue reports.
“The Droid doesn’t work outside the United States, as the iPhone does (for an added fee). There’s no iTunes-like auto-synching software for the Droid, either, so loading music, photos and videos is a drag-and-drop operation,” Pogue reports. “The Droid’s Web browser is good, but slower than the iPhone’s. And you have to zoom in and out by tapping +/- buttons or double-tapping the screen. That is, you can’t control how much to zoom, so you get far less control (and pleasure) than “pinching and spreading” with two fingers on the iPhone and Palm Pre. Ditto with maps and photos.”
“The real bummer, though, is the apps. The Android Market may offer 12,000 of them, but the iPhone store has 100,000 — and over all, they seem to be more useful and imaginative,” Pogue reports. “Shopping is more awkward on the Droid, too, because you have to do it all on the phone; you can’t use your computer, as you can for the iPhone. There’s not much room for the apps on the Droid, either. Although Verizon includes a 16-gigabyte memory card for your music and photos, apps have to be stored in a 560-megabyte chunk of built-in memory.”
MacDailyNews Note: Actually, Pogue is being far too generous: Only 256MB — that’s not a typo — of Droid’s built-in 512MB ROM is available for apps. That’s right, just 256MB. Our iPhones’ current average total for apps is 682MB and they’re not even close to being maxed out (112 apps average). Motorola Droid: “iDon’t have enough space for apps.” And, just like that, App-Lack™ gains a secondary meaning. Motorola Droid. Featuring App-Lack™ Squared: Not enough apps to choose from plus not enough space to store them! Those are some selling points, you’ve got there, Motorola and Verizon.
Pogue reports, “Droid-versus-iPhone deciders should also take into account the iPhone economy: that universe of docks, cases, chargers, Web sites and information that surround Apple’s hype monster.”
Full review here.
Mark Milian reports for The Los Angels Times, “After spending plenty of time with the iPhone and MyTouch, we realized just how much we don’t miss physical keyboards. Granted, the Droid’s isn’t as nice as most Blackberry keyboards. We spewed just as many typos on the Droid’s black-and-white-and-brown keyboard as we did on software keyboards. Only problem is that we’re not offered automatic corrections like we get on the touch-screen keyboard.”
MacDailyNews Take: John Gruber said it best: A hardware keyboard is a significant selling point for only one group of customers: those who already own a phone with a hardware keyboard, and that group is a niche. A nice niche, but a niche nonetheless. Here’s why. Most normal people have yet to buy their first smartphone. That’s why the stakes are so high — it’s a wide open market frontier, but it won’t remain that way for long. Normal people aren’t planning to do much typing on their new smartphones, and they’re probably right. Any smartphone QWERTY keyboard, software or hardware, is going to be better than what most people are used to, which is pecking things out on a phone with a 0-9 numeric keypad. I type far better on my iPhone than I expected I’d be able to, and that seems to be true for everyone I know who owns one. The only people who struggle with the iPhone keyboard are those who are already accustomed to a hardware smartphone keyboard.
Milian continues, “Google’s operating system has come, it remains several steps behind Apple’s iPhone in many respects. Even though we ripped on Apple for leaving out the copy-and-paste feature for so long, there’s something to be said about how it was finally implemented. It’s simple and works incredibly well.”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple takes the time to do things right.
Milian continues, “On the flip side, selecting text on the Droid drives us nuts. The option is hidden behind a menu screen; there’s no clever magnifying glass to help you grab the right section; and to copy, you have to again find the option somewhere in the menus. This design choice underlines a prevalent problem that still plagues Android. Some fairly common actions are hidden, including the basic ability to delete apps.”
MacDailyNews Take: How Microsoftian of Google.
Milian continues, “As a game system, Droid is severely lacking. As a media player, it’s even worse. The iPhone can sufficiently replace a standalone iPod. The Droid won’t. Getting songs onto the thing is a hassle. No media sync, no smart playlists, no TV shows or movies.”
“We love some of the features Motorola built exclusively for this handset… For example, the Droid phone book integrates with your Facebook contacts,” Milian reports. “But these little perks don’t make up for the intuitiveness and maturity of the iPhone’s operating system that Android has yet to match.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’d tag Droid with the title of “poor man’s iPhone,” except it’s more expensive ($2.99 a month for visual voicemail Verizon?!). Plus, that whole 1/10th the apps combined with 1/128th the app storage vs. iPhone 3GS is quite the deal breaker. Speaking of deal breakers: Don’t forget about Verizon’s brand spankin’ new $350 early termination fee, either, ya hear? And, so, the fruitless search for an “iPhone killer” continues (hint: it’s coming, around next June, from Apple). It’s no wonder that Verizon’s so interested in getting an Apple iPhone deal.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Edward W.” and “iSteve” for the heads up.]
682MB of applications MDN? What do you use your iPhone for–just calls? TomTom Western Europe is 1.45GB alone. A navigation app with built in maps is essential to avoid roaming charges when travelling through Europe. Add in a few city guides at upwards of 50MB and you’re talking. The Dreck’s Google navigation app just won’t cut unless you like handing your complete pay cheque to the phone company at the end of he trip. I’m currently loaded with 3.61GB of apps (not games). Lets hear from the seriously app loaded!
It can give you a turn-by-turn direction to the nearest Apple Store.
@Paul Johnson
“Just like the Intel-compatible version of Mac OS X.”
I believe I have that on my MBP right now…
This may be a moot point, but I wouldn’t expect most of the readers on macdailynews.com to buy a Droid, nor would I expect too many positives to be found in it.
I will say this – the iPhone is still king, but the market will slowly be chipped away in the Smart Phone market as the competition catches up. I don’t see any reason why the Droid doesn’t have “pinching”, but would be a big plus along with a simple memory upgrade as more apps are developed. 12,000 apps are still plenty to keep a simpleton entertained.
Also, the Droid does offer touch typing – I’m not sure why so many comments are bashing this. The auto-complete only works for touch typing only, not the keyboard (which was not clarified here). And the Droid has been reviewed as being quicker than the iPhone in terms of its processor.
It seems Verizon has done a good job (for those willing to shell out for it) keeping their customers for at least another 2 years. I’m an iPhone fan, but I don’t think it hurts to mention these few things. This isn’t Mac vs Motorola, this is Verizon vs AT&T;.
Let’s not get all comfy about the iPhone vs Droid here people.
Droid is open source and Google is putting in A LOT of money on the platform. Let’s see what the landscape looks like in one year from now. Most of the problems listed look like a simple OS upgrade away. No showstoppers there.
Remember, it is an OSS device. You, the user has full control. No jailbreak BS to stop you. The winner in this battle has not yet been announced!
BTW, I am an iPhone developer. I never even seen a Droid.
Sherman:
Paul Johnston was referring to the period between 2001-2005, when Apple was still selling only PPC Macs, and had a “Skunkworks”-type operation in the Cupertino campus where an Intel version of OS X was being developed in parallel. At the keynote where the Intel switch-over was announced, Jobs even talked about the operation as a top-secret location (showing a satellite image of the campus with the sniper scope-type crosshairs on the “secret” building).
Building a CDMA-compatible iPhone is most likely rather trivial (after all, EVERY single handset maker has been doing it so far), so I’m sure CDMA is not an obstacle at all. The actual, real obstacles have been discussed at length here.
Linuxaos:
There is a fundamental problem with the current Android phones. Not a single one of them can be upgraded to the newer versions of Android. Only “Droid” is running the most recent version; all others (G1, MyPhone, whatever) run the old version and CANNOT be upgraded through the carrier (or through the device manufacturer). I’m not sure if some tinkerer wouldn’t be able to figure out a way to install Android 2.0 on G1, but that obviously isn’t really relevant.
Original EDGE iPhone is already running iPhone OS 3, and people get to upgrade their OS as soon as it is released. Android phones (the ones released so far) are like all other cellphones — you’re stuck with the OS for the rest of your phone’s life.
Android is much like Windows 7; the best Windows yet, but still far from Snow Leopard. The only difference is, while Windows still dominates desktop market, Android has very little chance of gaining significant share.
@ specialslacks,
The “faster processor” you mention is hooked up to a clunky bolted together OS that is slower, harder to use phone with terrible text selection, poorly constructed hardware keyboard, worse virtual keyboard, poor selection of poorly made apps, small amount of room to put apps in. Hooked up to a customer hostile nasty nickel-and-diming rude company known affectionately as Verizon.
A faster processor does not make a better phone if its hooked up to poorly coded cruddy software. The Droid is not remotely in the same league as the iPhone. Verizon knows this but they want to sucker in as many sucke… I mean customers as possible and trap them with a sadistic 350 ETF prison.
Only a fool would buy a Droid.
I still don’t see Motorola being in the phone business in 5 years. Palm won’t make it past 2. I’m surprised they are still around actually.
Its still a dumb decision to dedicate only 256MB to the app storage area. However, the whole thing is kind of misleading.
An app designed for android will install its executable files in the app area, but store image, video, audio and game data on the storage side. There’s a couple of negatives of course:
One, you can’t keep people from hacking at your data on the storage card, it would need to be constantly verified. Two, rather than using Apple’s tremendous bandwidth to deliver your 200MB game as part of the 30% cut they get, instead that data has to be sideloaded from a server and bandwidth you are paying for.
Anyway, while it is worth noting and bitching about, for the average consumer it probably won’t be that big of a hassle.
@specialslacks
In addition to what twilightmoon said, we need to be clear about why jailbreaking is a serious question on cellphones. In a year or two, when smartphones are widely distributed, we may begin to experience a security crisis similar to the Windows disasters.
Jailbroken/unsecured phones, regardless of their manufacturer and carrier, will be as tempting a target for hackers/spammers/malware purveyors as unpatched Windows computers have been over the last decade. Apple is trying to find a position in this coming conflagration similar to what it has with Mac OS X. Why do you think that Apple just put out an ad for an iPhone OS security employee? Sandboxing and software signatures may not be enough to stop the onslaught.
“Let’s see what the landscape looks like in one year from now. Most of the problems listed look like a simple OS upgrade away. No showstoppers there.”
Yeah in 1 year it will look even more like the ever so elegant desktop linux on a small screen! Can’t wait.
Look, I love OS software, but it’s never going to make an elegant consumer experience. It never has. It never will. That’s just a fact.
@twilightmoon, @Predrag,
Are looking at fundamental flaws or growing pains. Let’s give it one year and see.
Droid might be OSS (and OSS does have issues) but this is Google OSS. I am not going to say that I am smarter than Google. They have all the money in the world and they are young and hungry.
What I will say is this: Competition at last. Let the games begin!
You know I actually see people using their iPhones and rarely see people actually using and other smart phone except to make a call or check email. The iPhone makes it so easy to do all those other things so it actually gets used. You really get your money’s worth with the iPhone.
All points taken… you boys know your stuff. Its true that with greater technology there will be more problems and Apple obviously takes more time to make their products at a greater cost..
I’d like to see how this pans out. Even if it took future versions of the Droid to be the showstopper, I agree with linuxaos’ comments – Let the games begin! Smartphone technology is catching up to the iPhone and things are starting to even out in the eyes of the average consumer (obviously not yet on fansites).
linuxaos,
Respectfully, no, not really. Obviously this depends heavily on how you define competition. But if you mean competition with the iPhone in the form of a heavily integrated, easy to sync, well thought out user friendly robust software platform in your pocket..
Then no, there really is no competition for the iPhone out there at all.
If you just mean “any old smartphone” well then that existed before the iPhone.
Now I will grant that the wanna be’s trailing behind Apple are slowly starting how to figure out how to badly copy what Apple created 2 years ago, then yes. In a very generous and broad sense, sorta maybe not really.. but ok. As long as you toss out the importance of elegant design, user friendly interface, consistency, ease of use, and efficiency of design.. sure.
But Apple is not sitting still waiting for the competition to catch up, they are pushing forward. They have a retail network, the most popular media distribution platform on the planet by far, the cache among youth, expertise in building software platforms, and integrated devices that sync with computers, I could go on and on.. There’s a reason the iPhone has such massively high user satisfaction ratings and no one else does.
There’s a reason RIM has gone from up and coming star to fading also ran nearly over night. There’s a reason Windows Mobile which has been in the market for over a decade is suddenly obsolete and considered dead and buried by everyone except Microsoft.
There’s a reason why Apple was able to “walk in” to an industry that was 20 years old with multiple entrenched players selling hundreds of millions of units per year and turn it upside down on its head overnight.
Hint: it wasn’t Android.
@twilightmoon
I never, even for one second, took Windows Mobile seriously. M$ just doesn’t get marketing when it comes to these devices. I mean, check the Zune. What a disaster. Actually, take Windows 7, same thing. They are losing market share. No way they can build an “iPhone”. They are on a death spiral.
Poor RIM. They have an entrenched user base and they do good by them. And they will continue to do so until the market dries up.
I am talking about the future here.
Apple is the winner with iPhone because they had a blank slate to start with. They could build anything. Steve Jobs had the vision to see what people wanted (3-5 years in the future) and he made the iPhone.
Make no mistake, Steve Jobs saw this and he built it. He’s a goddamn genius. Is he going to sit still and wait for the competition to catch up? Well, we know the answer to that!
Ok, then, who’s left?
Goggle Android. And I’ll tell you why. First of all, being OSS gives them a techno-cool visibility. The techies are the first ones to start using a gadget, way before it becomes mainstream.
Is that enough to guarantee success? No. But it starts there.
Does Google have the integration (online store, apps, etc) for a seamless product? Nope! But we are talking about Google here. They know a thing or two about advertising and the “internets”.
Why do I care? Simple: Competition is good. I saw none from M$, or RIM or anyone else. Apple swept the floor with them,
and that’s exactly what they deserved, because their products sucked!
Apple is now king. He will be a better King if Google is right behind him, howling and hungry.
We, the users, will be better off for it. Hell, I am a iPhone developer. I can’t wait for this market to get completely crazy all over the world. That’s my bread and butter.
there is a saying…”The tide raises all boats” I never had an iPhone because for me, AT&T;Sucks. The iPhone is the 800 pound gorilla, at the moment, and will reign for quite some time. I also think that Jobs is a genius. I am a verizon evangelist and am thrilled that they finally have *something* to offer, even if it is not the iPhone. Add to that that they finally have decided to *not* cripple this device like they have done so many times in the past. Did I mention LInux?
This site is clearly biased towards apple, and that’s ok. But thumbs up to all those who have seen that competition is good, and that having room for improvement is not reason for bashing.
I just got my droid, this morning, and it’s the best thing that Verizon has ever had. Is it an iPhone, no. Is is the next best thing, yes. And it’s on the Verizon network.
Competition is good…it makes us all strive to be better. I am glad I have the Droid.
funny enough, the term iphone killer has been overused.. what some people want out of a device is something not everyone can get from a device.. like reliable wireless service.. Motorola is really good at making ‘phones’ before you go off about the RAZR sure it was a piece of crap, but the number one selling piece of crap nonetheless. However, aside from all the problems with that particular phone, Motorloa overall quality on the phone end of the spectrum has done great things and provided great products with a great phone included.. this being said, Apple has lacked a little bit on that end, even on the iPhone 3GS i was a bit heartbroken that nothing had really been done to improve the call/sound quality on this outright $800 device.. especially when compared to the outright price of $560 for the droid.. its very obvious that macdailynew and its subscribers are heavily biased towards apple.
The iphone has yet to honestly impress me as a whole, mainly for the fact that they allowed Verizon to pass them on and went to one of the worst networks they could’ve chose.. I see a lot of people giving VZW crap on here and for what reason, how would any of you know if you do in fact have iPhones. Verizon is the number one network provider in the country for a reason, their customer support is the best and their network is the best. Sooner or later Google will develop the ability to store apps on your microSD just so ya know.. and that 256mb goes to 16+GB. I currently have a Blackberry Tour, which is a wonderful phone and multitasking smartphone that navigates the web quickly and accomplishes tasks efficiently. I also have 256 MB of space available on board, but also have the ability to save my apps to my microSD but who honestly needs a hundred apps on their iPhone? Really?
The android app store is growing as fast if not faster than the iPhone App store was when the EDGE powered iPhone first came out. Give it time. As for the guy who said you can’t upgrade OS’s.. umm, yes you can, in fact Android devices do it wirelessly.. right there, on your phone. It is true that you can’t put 2.0 on a G1 or a MyTouch 3G but that is like not being able to put Leopard on a PPC Mac.. there have been many software updates for Android 1.0 and there will be as well for Android 2.0. To the same person who said Palm will be gone in two years.. that made me LOL in my pants.. they were the smartphone innovators.. the pre is a piece of shit, but their bread and butter devices are what holds them together and are used by real users of real smartphones at work. I still don’t consider the iPhone to be a smartphone, it just isn’t. sorry guys.. the inability to do real multitasking is a killer in the business world. Yes I’m well aware that you can jailbreak the phone and do whatever you want blah blah blah yada yada yada.. but the point is you shouldn’t have to.. remember the old Apple saying, ” it just works.. ” Apparently not.
We at Motorola Android think the Motorola Droid is great!
Many good pros and cons have been identified. But there is one issue that overshadows all others by far: data control.
– iPhone leaves the user in complete control of his data – manage your own data without unreliable MobileMe “cloud computing” if you wish, buy apps to avoid ads.
– Android is intended first and foremost to feed Google’s databases so the end user can endure increased advertising.
From AppleInsider: “The company [Google] doesn’t make money selling phone hardware or even in licensing the core Android software (which is free and open source). Google makes money selling ads and tracking users’ preferences, which it does through its own Google-branded, bundled apps (which are not free nor open source).”
Why would anyone choose ‘droidware?