I Miss My Droid

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Three or four months ago, my beloved Droid died. Since I don’t use my phone for actual phone calls, I decided to just not get a new phone, and stick with my work provided iPhone for my mobile computer needs. (I can’t use it for personal calls, but I have unlimited data and talkatone, so those rare times I have to make a personal call, I just use that) Anyway, it’s been a few months, and I can easily say:

I miss my Droid.

Really. I have nothing against Apple products. I use them all the time, and they usually “just work”, which I really appreciate. When it comes to a mobile device, however, it turns out I need more from a phone that the iPhone can offer. Heck, even jailbroken, the iPhone lacks customization that Android has by default. The big things that annoy me about the iPhone:

  • Lack of real integration with core services. If I want to use Google Voice, I should be able to do it without some weird hack.
  • App limitation. I need to use a WiFi scanner rather often, and a phone is perfect for such a thing. For some reason, however, Apple deems that an inappropriate use a phone.
  • Customization. iOS 4 gave us the earth shattering ability to set a background photo. Wow.
  • Did I mention app limitations? 🙂

Anyway, I’m up for a new device now, and I’m thinking about getting the Motorola Atrix. I don’t want the weird laptop thing that goes with it, but the battery life, CPU horsepower, and screen resolution look appealing. Anyone ever use one? If not, what’s your favorite Android phone?

10 thoughts on “I Miss My Droid”

  2. I sold my iPhone 4 just a couple weeks ago, and got a Nexus S. It’s my first Android device, and I am quite happy with it. I demoed friend’s Droid variants in the past, and it put a bad taste in my mouth for the entire Android platform. It felt chincy and too rough around the edges. The Nexus S is polished in all the ways the iPhone is, but has all the flexibility of the Android platform.

    Rumor has it there’s a new Nexus coming out pretty soon, though. The only negatives I have found so far are the battery life (although from what I understand, that is just the way it is with Android), and the fact that it doesn’t have expandable storage – all you get is 16GB.

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  3. Oh–one other thing about our Samsung phones–one of the first things we ordered for our phones were extra batteries–and we even have external chargers for them. Being able to switch out batteries when spending the day away from power (say, when you’re stuck at a hospital) is a marvelous marvelous thing, especially if you want to use data. No fear that you won’t have enough battery to make/take important calls.

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  4. My friend at work bought an Atrix and love it. He likes being able to unlock it using the built in fingerprint reader, and also being able to plug right into the laptop/dock and do his thing. Good pick I assume.

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  8. I have an Atrix, and I really like it. It feels very snappy. I am not sure how it compares to other Android phones, but I doubt it could be considered slow compared to anything out there. I really like the physical design, such has the flat back rather than the camera lens sticking out. The aforementioned fingerprint scanner for unlocking is a nice feature as well.

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  9. I love my I-Phone, and it has done everything you listed here for me. Google voice works great, it is always scanning for Wi-Fi, and thousands of apps. I’ve had smart phones for over ten years now, and would not trade the I-Phone for anything. Sure, the others look enticing, but they’re not for me at this point. I just don’t get it, I guess….

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  10. Hey Shawn,
    I am still loving my Nexus One. It is coming on two years old and still looks like new. Nice hardware. Maybe it is not as fast or sexy as the Samsungs, but it does everything I ask of it (including some cool hacks).
    If I had to but a new Android phone it would be an HTC of some kind or something with NFC.
    We need more videos, by the way!
    C ya!

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