Verizon Clarifies Android 2.1 Update for Droid
In response to reports that Verizon Wireless had suddenly delayed its planned roll-out of the Android 2.1 update for the Motorola Droid, Verizon reached out to Phone Scoop. Spokesperson Thomas Pica said in an email, “The Android 2.1 upgrade for the Droid by Motorola was deployed to a small number of Verizon Wireless test users as scheduled. It is expected the broader phased rollout to all Droid by Motorola users will take place, but not just yet. No date scheduled yet.” Users should not expect their devices to update today or at any time during the next several days.
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The Motorola Droid outsold the original Apple iPhone
The Motorola Droid outsold the original Apple iPhone in the first 74 days of sales, says research shop Flurry. The 74-day mark is a significant milepost because it took Apple that long to sell its first million iPhones back in 2007.
The Motorola Droid was the first Google Android-powered phone for Verizon and the flagship smartphone of Motorola’s turnaround effort. The Motorola Droid got off to a weak start at stores where little-to-no lines formed ahead of time and no sellouts were reported. But Verizon’s ongoing $100 million Droid advertising campaign has helped keep the phone in the public eye.
Source: The Street
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Verizon’s One-on-One Droid Training
Verizon has taken a page from Apple offering free 30-minute one-on-one training for the Droid phones it sells (the Motorola Droid and the HTC Eris Droid.) and Business Week has a review of the service. Here are some of the highlights:
Making the appointment for the training was frustrating. None of the automated phone prompts at Verizon mention the training, so you’re left guessing which number to press. These free sessions are offered at Verizon’s corporate stores, but not at their retail stores.
Upon arrival at the College Park store, I informed the greeter I was there to receive a one-on-one training. A few moments later the manager of the store told me I’d be receiving my training from one of their trainers, Jennifer, after she was finished with her current customer. That’s a good sign when the manager of a store is involved so directly with customer interactions.
I first asked how I could better manage battery life on my phone. My out-of-the box experience with my Motorola Droid (which I love) was very poor. The phone was not able to make it through a single day on a battery charge. One evening soon after I bought the phone, the battery was dead when I needed to make an important call.
It turns out that there are several very useful ways to extend battery life on the Droid. Jennifer showed me how to download a program (or app) from the Android Market that identifies what programs are currently running on your Droid. By quitting programs that are running in the background, you can extend your phone’s battery life. (In addition, before the training, I independently discovered a very useful widget called Power Control that has dramatically extended the battery life of my Droid. (See http://www.idg.com/www/rd.nsf/rd?readform&u=http://www.ehow.com/how_5596884_extend-battery-life-motorola-droid.html) I leave Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and synching turned off most of the time — and also make my screen a bit dimmer — so my Droid now lasts two full days (or more) before needing to be recharged.
…
As a final question, I asked Jennifer if she could recommend a Twitter client for the Droid. She told me she uses Facebook more than Twitter. Fair enough — we all choose the social networking tools that work best for us. Still, it would be good if Verizon trainers were aware of the most popular Twitter client for Android — Twidroid. I find Twidroid very helpful for following my Twitter stream when I’m on the go.
Seeing how busy this Verizon store is on a weekend, I began to understand why Verizon doesn’t want to schedule training sessions during this time. That being the case, Verizon needs to do better in scheduling trainings outside of Verizon stores. One possible location? Public libraries. I work as a public geek at a public library. All day long I answer people’s computer questions. Could I also be answering their Droid phone questions? I sure could. Would it be better if I were Verizon Android Certified? Yes, and even though such a certification does not yet exist, maybe it ought to.
Cell phone training classes in public libraries are a logical next step as cell phone become an ever more dominant part of our lives. I’m rather surprised public libraries have not begun offering this kind of training yet.
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Inventor of the cell phone gave up his iPhone for a Motorola Droid
As if Android needed yet another endorsement, it turns out that Martin Cooper — the inventor of the cellular telephone who pretty much is responsible for all of us being here at this fine Web site today — is the proud owner of a Motorola Droid.
Source: Android Central.
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Motorola Droid – Gadget of the Year
The Motorola Droid has received the Gadget of the Year award from both the readers and editors over at Engadget. The Droid went on to earn the smart phone of the year award from the readers as well. The Droid is Verizon’s flagship Android phone, comes with a physical QWERTY keyboard and was the first Android with 2.0+ OS on board.
Source: These are the Droids
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Get Your Motorola Droid on Verizon for $50
If you are new to Verizon Wireless and fancy owning the Motorola Droid smartphone you now have the opportunity to buy the Verizon Droid from WireFly for just $50 — click on the link below for more info.
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Verizon: Use your Motorola Droid or HTC Imagio as a FiOS TV remote
Verizon posted a note on its forums that says FiOS TV customers can use their Verizon Wireless Android powered Motorola DROID or the Windows Mobile powered HTC Imagio as a remote to control their FiOS set-top box. The software allows you to control channels, pause/rewind/face forward, set parental controls, record TV shows, and even transfer photos from your phone to your television. If a phone call comes through, your TV will be automatically muted.
Source: Mobile Burn
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Motorola Droid gets official multitouch support — in Google Maps
Not even a week after announcing the big multitouch update for its own Nexus One, Google has turned loose a new version of Google Maps that enables pinch-to-zoom support on the Droid. Of course, it was no secret that Android 2.0 had the framework in place to support this kind of stuff — Moto enabled it all by its lonesome on the Euro-spec Milestone — but it looks like this could be the watershed moment where multitouch finally becomes a must-have feature on Android devices across the board, as Moto CEO Sanjay Jha recently suggested would happen.
Source: Engadget.
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Motorola Devours Verizon’s Droid Brand With New Motoblur Phone
jk on the run writes about the Devour and the Verizon Droid brand. Here is a highlight:
I’m glad I’m not the only one that doesn’t quite get Verizon’s Droid branding for handsets. There’s nothing wrong with the name, but it’s confusing to have a single handset share the name as a line of handsets. Perhaps that’s why the next Droid in line is simply called the Motorola Devour. Or maybe we’ll see more Droids out of the robot factory — who knows? I do know that the Devour looks a little more modern and polished than the original Droid and that Motorola also included its custom Motoblur interface for fast access to social networking. The Devour is the first Verizon phone with Motoblur.
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- Verizon Devour Is a Baby Droid With Motoblur [Android] (gizmodo.com)
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Verizon Makes the Android OS-Based Motorola Devour Official
After weeks of rumors, Verizon has officially announced that it will begin offering the Motorola Devour next month. Like the popular Motorola Droid, this model will have Google’s Android OS and a physical keyboard. The Devour is expected to have a lower price, though.
he Devour will be a slider, with a 3.1-inch, HVGA (320 by 480 pixel) capacitive touchscreen that can slide aside to reveal a landscape-oriented QWERTY keyboard. Next to the display will be a trackpad.
Android Powered
This model will debut with Android OS 1.6, and have the standard suite of software for connecting to Google services, like Gmail and YouTube. User will also be able to pick from over 20,000 third-party apps.
In addition, the Devour will be the first Verizon model with MotoBlur, Motorola’s software that brings together messages from a range of social-networking services like Facebook and Twitter, text messages, as well as consumer and business e-mail accounts, into a universal inbox.
Source: Brighthand
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