Archive for the ‘droid’ Category

How-to: hack your own DROID dock with magnets and cardboard

You know what’s magical? Magnets. They’re so magical, in fact, that Motorola decided to use them in its new DROID car and “multimedia station” docks. Based on the positioning of a couple of magnets, the phone auto-loads the pertinent application — the multimedia station at least offers a charging plug, but the car dock is all stand. Lucky for us it’s not hard to figure out where to place a couple of magnets (we used some nerd-approved “Buckyballs“) and spoof the phone into acting like it’s docked. We’re sure with some additional craftmanship we could have a dock that actually holds the DROID upright, but we won’t get ahead of ourselves. For now check out our very own multipurpose homebrew DROID dock after the break.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals

How-to: hack your own DROID dock with magnets and cardboard originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola’s Droid is Memorable, But Won’t Make You Forget the iPhone

Like it or not, Motorola’s new Google-powered Droid smartphone will be compared to the iPhone.

The good news is that this feature-rich handset, running version 2.0 of Google’s Android OS, compares very favorably to the Goliath of the smartphone world as a utility mobile computing device — and, oh yeah, a phone.

The bad news is that there may be too many good things going on to make using this device the quick, intuitive, out-of-the-box experience it should be. That’s a problem, given that the iPhone has set the usability bar so high.

An embarrassment of riches shouldn’t be a negative, and it really isn’t overall on the Droid, which goes on sale Nov. 6 to Verizon customers only. The tight integration of all things Google — maps overlayed on GPS, voice input all over the place, search that does not ask you to decide whether you are looking for something locally or on the net — are now more fully realized in this major upgrade to the mobile operating system the search giant first released on a single handset, the T-1.

This is very good thing for that segment of the population who have become Google citizens and are already used to entrusting their contacts, documents and discovery needs to that cloud.

On the down side, you will need a Gmail, Facebook or Microsoft exchange account to use the e-mail app. And, there is no provision for syncing to an address book (or calendar) on your desktop. Everything is in the Google cloud which, given the recent Sidekick data-loss debacle, may not be the greatest selling point just now.

Like the iPhone and many other handsets this is a primarily a touchscreen device whose face is almost 100% screen — and a bright, crisp screen it is. Rather than take sides in the virtual vs. hardware keyboard debate, the Droid provides both. The hardware keyboard slides out in a familiar landscape mechanism, and it includes a 5-way directional-pad, the better to allow you to keep your hands on the keyboard once you have them there.

The virtual keyboard appears when appropriate, landscape or portrait. And while the software keys appear to be narrower than those on the iPhone they seem at least as easy to use. Another familiar feature is the “reality check” of a small pop-up displaying the key being pressed. And there is a type-ahead function which displays possible words, potentially saving you keystrokes.

On-board music purchase is from Amazon (at least), but when the Droid is connected to a computer it’s read as an SD card, and dragging any tracks onto it makes them playable within the music app. The Droid also sports a 5 MP camera with autofocus, on-demand flash and video.

The Droid goes beyond the iPhone in two key areas: Like the Palm Pre, applications can run in the background, and switching among them is a smooth process. And as a robust GPS device it accepts and gives turn-by-turn verbal instructions, making it the closest approximation yet to a total GPS solution that obviates the need for a dedicated vehicle device. One caveat: it’s necessary to be connected to the 3G data service for course-correction and other dynamic route features to work (and to even plot a course), so this is not a replacement for a GPS device in locales where Verizon 3G coverage is nonexistent or spotty.

Available apps? Android only offers about 1/10th of the nearly 100,000 Apple has available, but that should change as Android handsets become more common. The first app I downloaded was Google Voice which, strangely, is not pre-installed — but then again, it isn’t available at all on the iPhone. On the Droid, you can set your Google Voice number to be the one that everyone sees when you call or text them, so you can switch to Verizon without worrying about giving everyone a new number or waiting for your old number to port over. That’s assuming you’re already using the phone-number-for-life that Google provides.

Navigation is not a touch-screen experience: Unlike the left-right/swipe metaphor there is hard “undo” button which takes you back step by step. In fact there are four hardware buttons to the iPhone’s one: back, menu (which does not activate from any given screen), home and search (which does).

There are three customizable screens that can contain dozens of shortcuts — to contacts, bookmarks, anything — but there are only three of these screens: the “home” screen plus one to the left and one to the right, accessible by swiping. Think of these as a speed dial, with your entire collection of app icons in a sliding drawer. But these icons can be moved anywhere using touch/hold, and there is the gentlest of vibrating feedback to confirm your gesture. (This “haptic feedback” is the default and activates in too many contexts, including for every number you hit when manually entering a phone number. Fortunately, it can be turned off in the settings).

There’s one “feature” that is is sure to draw fire: on certain events, the entire array of which I have yet to determine (although connecting to a power source is one), a computerized voice announces: “Droid.”

On version 2.1 please remove that, Google.

Continue reading for more photos of the Droid.

Photos: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com

Google Navigation video hands-on: you want this

We apologize for being fanish, but Google has pulled off something with its new Navigation elements in Google Maps (or is it Google Maps in a Navigation app? It’s hard to tell) that has serious ramifications for a navigation device industry used to charging money for functionality. The introduction of satellite view, a tasteful touch of street view (peep a still of your next turn, or see your destination), and of course regular stuff like spoken directions and street names, and Google’s voice recognition applied to search (anywhere on the device just tap voice search and start your phrase with “navigate to”) make this a pretty astonishing offering for what’s essentially a free app with the purchase of an Android 2.0 device. The biggest worry here is that if you lose signal you won’t be able to pull maps, but while there’s no whole-map caching, it does cache a route when you enter it in, so as long as you don’t stray too far from the beaten path you should be fine with a dropped signal here or there. But enough of our blather, check out a video walkthrough after the break.

Continue reading Google Navigation video hands-on: you want this

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

Google Navigation video hands-on: you want this originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola DROID first hands-on!

We’ve got the DROID in our hands… and it is sweet. Moto claims that this is the thinnest full QWERTY on the market, and we’re apt to believe it. The phone is incredibly slick and solid, and we’re definitely looking forward to putting it through its paces. We’ll have more photos, video, and a full review coming, so stay tuned!

Update: We’ve added a new gallery, and video is on the way!

Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola DROID first hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola DROID official on Verizon: $199 on contract, coming November 6th (video)

We knew good and well this thing was coming sometime in November, and now Verizon Wireless has made it official: the Motorola DROID will hit Big Red on November 6th for $199 on contract (after a $100 mail-in rebate). Naturally, the DROID itself is just the first of what could be many Android-laced phones coming to the carrier, and Verizon Wireless CMO John Stratton even stated that the phone “is wide open” — pretty big words from a company like VZW. Android 2.0 will be front and center, along with Visual Voicemail, a 3.7-inch display (854 x 480 resolution), 5 megapixel camera (with dual-LED flash), a bundled 16GB memory card and a beta version of Google Maps Navigation(!). For those wondering, yeah — the DROID is the first phone to offer that, which transforms Google Maps into a turn-by-turn routing system that’ll have your dedicated TomTom / Garmin trembling in fear. There’s also a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 3G, WiFi, voice-activated search and over-the-air Amazon MP3 downloads. With all that, who needs the iPhone, right Ivan?

Continue reading Motorola DROID official on Verizon: $199 on contract, coming November 6th (video)

Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola DROID official on Verizon: $199 on contract, coming November 6th (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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