Stevis' Droid Blog

While I find the Droid camera to be a little weak compared to my standalone camera, it is more often handy…and, unlike my standalone camera, I can do some fun editing of the pictures I take.

Got the Android 2.1 update this morning…so far, nothing seems any different. More as time goes by, I’m sure.

I decided to stop being a cheap ass today and paid for a few apps:

DocumentsToGo
NewsRoom
Orbs.Knockoff
Twidroid Pro

I firmly believe that people should get paid for their work, but I also like free stuff…so, keep up the good work, Android developers!

I finally made the jump to a new home page app, mostly because I wanted more than 3 screens. I considered going with home++, but heard about a lot of issues with it. So, on a recommendation from eljase, I went with HelixLauncher instead. I’m liking it so far.

I also found an app I like called Key Ring from froogloid. It let’s me scan all of my frequent shopper/flyer cards and carry them electronically with me. I haven’t been able to use it in place of a physical card yet, but I love the concept and am excited to use it.

I ran into an incompatibility between Key Ring and a brightness toggle widget I had installed. In the end, the brightness widget lost. The devs at froogloid were great to work with.

Still loving my Droid. Figured out my volume control issues with navigation and even picked up an open box generic GPS mount that fits my Droid for $17 at Besy Buy. Now I really look like a geek while driving down the street!

So far, I’ve found free apps to do everything I want, but I intend to pay for a couple of them to support their development. I downloaded the Eclipse plug-in and SDK so I can try my hand at writing my own app. I am currently using a web-based app for tracking my workouts at the gym, and I would prefer a native app. Maybe during my paternity leave I will do some coding.

I used the Google Maps navigation feature for the first time this morning. Aside from the high volume of the voice, I found it to work quite well. I have decided that I need to buy a windshield mount if I intend to use it much. The handy part would be that I could take it with me when I travel and avoid having to pay extra to the rental car agencies to rent a GPS.

Ran into an annoyance today using the built in email app to manage my 1and1 imap mailbox. I accidentally deleted the wrong message and realized there is no undelete. Browsing for this, I found it listed as a medium priority enhancement request, which I find silly. So, I’m now using K-9 mail to see if it will meet my needs.

I don’t like that it doesn’t seem to easily let me select multiple messages to act upon, but I like it otherwise.

So far, I’ve found that I like aloqa, gesture search, advanced task killer, and twidroid. I’m still not sure how much I like the wordpress app, but I’m getting used to it.

A couple of annoyances so far:

1. The keyboard is not as easy to use as the one on my Blackberry Bold.
2. I can’t find an option to replicate the functionality of the “phone only” profile on my berry.

Aside from those things, I’m loving it!

I haven’t really taken it anywhere but home, as I’m still convalescing from my surgery, but next week I’ll get out more.

I am writing this post from my new Droid. I had my eye surgery this morning so I’ve been slow to get it set up. More later…

I ordered my new Droid from Verizon last night and am waiting impatiently for it to arrive. This blog will really get going when my phone shows up in a couple of days (I went with the free 2nd day delivery, instead of paying for overnight delivery, a move I’m starting to regret). My wife and I were both due for new phones, so we took advantage of the buy one get one deal and paid a total of $149.99 plus tax for 2 Droids.

One comment about the ordering process from Verizon:

It sucks that you can’t get the instant rebate when you buy from the physical store, but can when you buy online. Unless they are banking on the fact that people won’t be sending in the rebate form (unlikely when it’s $100) or they are wanting to hold that extra $100 in the bank for a month or two to earn interest (seems unlikely), I just don’t get it. The other annoyance is that you have to pay the extra sales tax since they charge you based on the full price of the device.

Oh well, I guess I just need to learn more patience…