Recently in Droid Category

The Droid by Motorola has been well-reviewed but reviews of the camera were not so clearly positive.  Why we ask?  It may be because  the reviewers were taking photos  with a dirty lens.

There have been several camera rumors circulating about the Droid. One rumor propounds that a camera update was secretly uploaded (but not by aliens) that fixed the camera.  Another rumor contends that if you wipe off the lens which shipped with a oily protective film on it, the photos will get better. Then there's an autofocus on a cycle glitch.
 
The easiest rumor to check was the dirty lens theory. Since, we have a review unit of a Droid by Motorola and a cloth, we tested the dirty lens fix.

Attention football fans, before you head out for Thanksgiving you must be sure that your can get the latest football news on your BlackBerry (Pearl, Curve, Storm, Bold), iPhone, or Android/Droid. National Football Post (NFP) will drop-kick you through the holidays with their new free NFP Mobile app for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. NFP Mobile that delivers instant, real-time access to NFP sports content, news and information.

NFP Mobile for Android, BlackBerry and iPhone features all of NFP's popular online content with easy-to-navigate tabs, including:

• Hot News and Rumors.
• Columns from NFP Experts (Matt Bowen, Jack Bechta, Robert Boland and Andrew Brandt).
• Notes from Lombardi.
• Fantasy Football News.
• Scouting Department.
• Daily Jolt.
• Team News - featuring a customizable tab that lets users get up-to-the-minute news on all their favorite teams.

Mobile analytics firm, Flurry, has tracked Droid sales to be 250,000 in its first week which they calll a  strong result for Motorola and Verizon. Although it was not as spectacular as the iPhone 3G, it showed the Droid is the fastest-selling Android phone to date.

Compared to the myTouch 3G on T-Mobile, Droid outsold it by more than four times. Verizon has nearly 90 million subscribers to T-Mobile's 34 million. Verizon has a $100 million campaign.  Motorola forecastsits own Droid sales at one million through the end of the year or an ad cost of $100 per handset sold.

Flurry notes that Verizon's aggressive campaign adn 3G network advantage in key, populous regions of the country like the Northeast, position the Droid as a legitimate challenger to the iPhone.

We told you that there was a Droid invasion starting on November 6.  Now there's a map for that. WHERE, a location-based app that is being used on Droid smartphones has setup a website that shows locations where Droid has landed.  WHERE is a location-based mobile application which provides information about places around you.

The top Droid cities are: New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA, Washington, DC, San Francisco, CA, Philadelphia, PA, Baltimore, MD, Boston, MA, Chicago, IL, Riverside, CA, and Phoenix, AZ. 12 percent of Droids are located in New York, 6 percent are in Los Angeles  and Washington, DC has 5 percent.

WHERE offers a video of the Droid invasion over the first few days. Currently it looks like Droids have been landed in most of the major cities in the United States. Previously WHERE reported that 25% of Android users had downloaded WHERE.

Some reviewers noticed that the native Android 2.0 operating system on Droid by Motorola didn't sync media.  Many makers of Android phones, including Motorola, have made their own syncing software. Earlier today, we published an article on how to copy music, files and photos to and from Droid and your computer.  If you are a media user, we highly recommend that you download Motorola's free media syncing app Motorola Media Link.

Motorola Media Link for Droid makes copying, syncing and transferring files from your Droid and computer much easier. Motorola Media Link is a PC app that connects your Droid phone with any PC and the web so you can manage, secure, share and explore content from the desktop.

Motorola Media Link, powered by Nero allows you to move and manipulate pictures, videos, music, and more. You can transfer files such as photos and videos and organize them into albums; sync playlists and music from iTunes and Windows Media Player. For photo-takers, you can crop, rotate and edit images on your PC and then transfer them back to your mobile device, automatically reformat video for optimum playback on your phone.

You can also download content like media, ringtones, and wallpaper from integrated stores and third-party sites.

Media Link by Motorola is socially-networked and has functions to upload photos and videos to sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. 

If you Droidites are new to the Droid universe of open source smartphones, you may be befuddled by the process of getting your photos onto your computer or copying music files onto Droid.  Although, reviewers raved over the Droid by Motorola, they were not pleased with its native syncing capabilities, because an "it ain't no iPod."

We had a little frustration in our meager attempt to copy a photo from Droid onto a PC computer.  Then we realized we could actually read the manual, which was a little confusing but we figured out how to copy music files to Droid, as well as copy photos from the Droid to a computer. Then after we completed the process below, we found out a much easier way to sync files on Droid by Motorola. If you are planning on doing a lot of music and photo transfer we suggest you download and use Motorola Media Link.

There isn't automatic recognition by Windows or Mac of the Droid, as a USB drive.  It has to be mounted.

• First, make sure that your memory card is in your Droid.
  
• Connect your Droid  to your computer using the USB data cable that came with the Droid. (You'll have to disconnect from the charging plug.)
• Go to Notifications (by touching the status bar at the top of the screen and dragging it down). A list will drop down where there is connected icon. On the update's list you will also see email notifications, as well as update notifications.
  
• Touch the "USB connected" notification.

Droid has landed and Droidites are flocking to the web while Droid dukes it out with iPhone (which may or may not put a scratch in iPhone sales).  The Droid, however, doesn't scratch easily when hit by foreign invading keys.

Droid is a iPhone contender, in CNET's prize fight between the iPhone 3GS and the Droid by Motorola, there was no winner, they deadlocked in a tie.  Droid received great reviews for its brilliant screen and great features such as turn-by-turn GPS. The list price for Droid is $199, however, we recently discovered that the cheapest price for the Droid is through Wirefly.

Clicky is tracking Droid mobile browser market share among all browser enabled phones and the Droid already has reached 1.59%. Every thirty minutes they show the daily web browsing marketshare for mobile phones of interest, which is calculated from all mobile traffic across the 150,000+ sites that are tracked by Clicky.

That equates to a lot of web browsing on the new Droid phone. Some suggest it has to do with the excellent voice search and QWERTY Keyboard on the Droid.

As of this publishing time:

Wed Nov 11 2009

	Web browser Marketshare (US)	Web browser Marketshare (non-US)
iPhone	53.83%	64.95%
Android	6.81%	3.41%
Droid	1.59%	0.00%
Everything else	39.36%	31.64%

That's a whole lot of Droid web browsing going on and equates to 23% of Android-powered browsing.

New Droid owners don't have to worry about their Droids being scratched by keys in their pockets or purses. A Droid-owner has tried to scratch his Droid with keys and left the display free of scratches, the paint on the metal rim did scratch, a little.  A video follows.

Droid  has landed, sales are brisk and Verizon will  fix any problems Droid owners experience with future updates.

Both the Droid by Motorola and Droid Eris by HTC are expected to get over-the-air (OTA) updates on December 11. Leaked Verizon documents indicate additional features and fixes to bugs and glitches.

The Droid Update Should:

• Add nesting folders in MS Exchange.
• Add a new notification icon while sending email.
• Fix a lock when large invite lists are edited.
• Allow users to be able to update calendar requests via email.

Expected Giltch Fixes of Droid OS Update

• GMail glitch which only shows picture attached when synced.
• Delayed notification of a new Visual Voice Mail.
  
• Wrong date and/or time stamps when sending videos over Bluetooth.
• Glitch in camera auto focus.
  
• The counter for the number of characters in a message.
  
• Delays of incoming calls or messages after activation.
  

According to Mark McKechnie an analyst at Broadpoint AmTech, Motorola sold around 100,000 Droid units in the first weekend of its release. He estimated that stores had 200,000 in stock. Online sales figures have not been released.

"I see the first few days as encouraging. There seems to be pretty good demand -- they've taken the right steps and picked a good partner with Google on the Android side," said McKechnie who thinks that Motorola and Verizon Wireless will sell up to one million Droids by the end of the year.

While reviews of the Droid Eris are starting to appear, reviewers raved over the Droid by Motorola. We recently discovered that the cheapest price for the Droid is through Wirefly.

As our readers know, Wirefly often has great deals and coupons for new customers.  They have now gotten in the Verizon Droid invasion and appear to have the best cheapest deal for Verizon renewals and new customers, purchasing an Android Droid by Motorola from Wirefly. They are offering special  Wirefly: Droid by Motorola from Verizon Wireless deals which appear to be changing but are less expensive and cheaper than buying directly from Verizon.

Instead of a rebate, when you buy from Wirefly you get an instant credit. It makes sense because Best Buy is also giving an instant credit in lieu of a rebate. Usually, the best offers are for new customers but this time Wirefly also includes contract renewals.

There were previous reports that you could get a Droid from Wirefly for $99 with a high-priced plan.  They also said that you can also get that offer with only a $39.99 voice plan.

When we checked online it showed $149.99 for the a Droid either for new customers and or contract renewal. Wirefly is advertising price "too low to show" ads for Verizon Droid by Motorola.  They are also offering exclusive Android tutorial videos. If you click around the Verizon website, it shows the Droid Eris by HTC at $49.99 with free shipping and an instant discount for new contracts and contract extensions.

Droid is still getting good reviews and is packed with features.

Droid momentum is growing and news story abound.  Sales appear to brisk, tethering is coming as well as an increase in the Early Termination Fee from Verizon.

Droid is still getting good reviews and is packed with features.

In Droid news, although the first day didn't see very long lines, several reports confirm that in Saturday Verizon outlets were downright crowded.

In Palo Alto, customers had to wait in line to touch demo units. In Chicago, late at night people were waiting for their Droids. Let's think about it, only iPhone-aholics who get a hit offer the sleeping in line experience are crazy enough to sleep in the cold outside a store while Verizon customers, realized that they could order online, or they may have been working on Friday and went to the store on their day off, Saturday.

The free Slacker Radio app is available for Android phones. Music lovers can now listen to their favorite Slacker stations anywhere they happen to be on their Android-powered smartphones.

Owners of Android smartphones can now enjoy the Slacker music discovery experience, including creating a nearly unlimited number of custom stations, over 100 expert-programmed Slacker genre, seasonal and spotlight stations, or over 10,000 artist stations.

Slacker also gives listeners the ultimate music resource by providing artist biographies, album reviews, station fine tuning, “peek ahead” song previews and song lyrics. In addition to marking songs as favorites, listeners can also ban songs and artists to create perfect custom radio stations on their phones.

The free Slacker Radio application for Android is available immediately in the Android Market or by visiting Slacker.com on any Android smartphone. DROID by Motorola owners can find Slacker quickly in the Verizon channel of the Android Market. The Slacker Radio app works with the free Slacker Basic Radio service, Slacker Radio Plus and Slacker Premium Radio subscription offerings.

Verizon customers using the new DROID by Motorola can locate the free Slacker Radio application quickly by visiting the Verizon channel of the Android Market on that phone.

The Slacker application has been optimized for the new DROID by Motorola, DROID ERIS by HTC and the HTC G1 and HTC MyTouch Android handsets. For more information please visit http://www.Slacker.com/everywhere.

Droid has landed at Verizon and he's a quick view of the news and reviews. Through Twitter reports there have been lines at Verizon stores, today, but nothing that major. There were 100 people in line in New York City for a special midnight store opening for invited customers.

"Lots of white males btw 25-40 in the Verizon Wireless Droid line this morning. A little Star Trek-" noted one Twitter user.

Verizon sent out an email this morning, for future Droidites, suggesting you can beat the lines by by buying online.  If you buy a Droid online don't forget to use If you use the Wireless and Mobile News' online purchase coupon-link for Instant Phone Rebate Only Available with Online Purchase then you don't have to wait for the rebate. 
 
There are two Droid models available today, the Droid by Motorola and the the Droid Eris by HTC. 

The Droid by Motorola has already received good reviews and is built for  the Android 2.0 operating system that is power-packed with features that made the super-high-pixel Touchscreen explode. Features can be started with the touchscreen or the slide out QWERTY keyboard. The top features of this Droid include turn-by-turn directions and voice search. It is priced at $199 after rebates.

The Droid Eris by HTC is a touchscreen only smartphone that runs Android 1.5 and The  has a customizable a seven-panel wide home screen to fill with  different widgets and shortcuts. We uploaded a video of the Droid Eris, yesterday which gives a good overview of the Droid Eris by HTC.

Even industry analysts have gotten Droid Fever, iSuppli analysts suggest Droid could be the "Comeback Kid" for struggling Motorola. Their news release states, " Droid promises to reverse Motorola's fortunes in the cell-phone business."

Droid uses Google's Android Operating System (OS). Android is expected to account for only 2.4 percent of the total smart OS market in 2009. However, Android is expected to enjoy the fastest growth in usage of any of the smar-phone OSs, with shipments in 2013 rising at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 118 percent from 2008. This will give Android a 9.1 percent share of the global smart-phone OS market in 2013, boosting it the No.-4 ranking, up from a last-place seventh ranking in 2008 and 2009.

There are many things contributing to Android's success. Android is licensed by seven key handset OEMs, including No.-2 Samsung, No.-3 LG, No.-4 Motorola and No.-5 Sony Ericsson. The OS also enjoys support from eight global wireless operators, the most among all the seven major operating systems vying for a share of the smart-phone market. In addition to Verizon, Android is supported by Sprint and T-Mobile in the United States, as well as by China Mobile in China.

A popular new feature in Android 2.0 is free turn-by-turn navigation, which is available on Motorola's Droid. This will make the device more compelling in the smartphone market and poses a major challenge to the Portable Navigation Device (PND) industry.

Reviewers  are raving over the Droid's touchscreen display, which uses capacitive touch technology following in the footsteps of Apple's iPhone. Shipments of capacitive touch-screen displays are expected to nearly quadruple from 2008 to 2013.

"Droid is potentially a game changer for Motorola," said Tina Teng, senior analyst, wireless communications for iSuppli. "Motorola now is no longer just emphasizing slick form factors, such as it did with its RAZR handset. The company now has focused on the hottest segment of the global mobile handset market--providing compelling smartphone products that are usable and expandable through third-party applications. Droid also has capitalized on the trend toward smart-phone widgets, which allow users to customize products according to their own personality."

Today, Verizon officially announced the Droid Eris, an Android powered touchscreen smartphone from HTC. It's a lot like the HTC Hero and uses Android 1.5. It has been rumored that will be upgradable to Android 2.0 at a later date. The major differences between Eris and Droid is that Droid has Android 2.0 and a QWERTY keyboard.

The Droid Eris by HTC comes with 8 GB MicroSD card, Bluetooth, 5 megapixel camera.

The HTC Droid Eris has a 528MHz Qualcomm process, a 320x480 screen.  This touchscreen-only smartphone also has HTC enhanced Touch Sense UI, visual voicemail, Wi-Fi, MS Exchange Sync, Media Uploader (for Facebook, Flickr, Picassa, Gmail,) Google services, news widgets, and Footpritns Geo-tagging for photos. The HTML Browser supports Flash Lite.

The Droid Eris by HTC  has a customizable a seven-panel wide home screen to fill with  different widgets and shortcuts.For social networkers, DROID ERIS by HTC also organizes interactions by person, which makes it possible to access text messages, e-mails, phone calls and even Flickr streams and Facebook updates from a single contact card.

Ceaser Da Costa, the marketing-guy has uploaded a video of the Verizon Droid Eris that shows the customizable scenes and widget which looks very useful on the video. All the apps are backed up through Google and can be restored if you loose your phone. You can open multiple windows and applications which Ceaser demos in the video.  

If you would like a live demo of Droid before it is released on Friday as early as 6:00 am. Verizon has uploaded a YouTube video that demonstrates some of the best aspects of the Verizon Droid by Motorola. You can view the video at the end of this article after you continue reading. The Droid has received good reviews and has some neat cool features, some of which you can see in this introductory video.

Marketing consultant Ceaser Da Costa reveals the physical aspects of the phone including the 3.5 mm headset jack and keyboard. He shows how easy it is to tap and drag a widget.  It's easy to hold drag and drop icons.

He also demonstrates how use Android Market and the download folder so that you can download your apps again if you change phones. The voice search on Google Maps finds pizza places by just tapping and saying Droid.

YouTube viewing is fast.  The alert plays "droid" and let you know when you get messages or updates. Mutli-tasking is shown from toggling from a browser, not losing your place while you are browsing. The Google Latitude app lets you know when your friends are in the area.

The Verizon Droid is landing on earth November 6 as early as 6:00 am and the momentum is growing. We've been using the Droid and discovered the best top most likable features of the this new Android smartphone which we call neat, cool and damn right amazing. The reviews have been good for the Droid by Motorola, but they didn't delve into delight that come from using the features of Droid.

Voice Search  - this feature is amazing, instead of typing a long url or several words, we just tapped the microphone and said, "Wireless and Mobile News" it Googled our words in seconds to show The Wireless and Mobile News website URL almost instantly.  This feature worked for almost all major common news sites and words.  The only place where it fell short is when we tried to find the popular feel-good app, "Feel-Goodies" which is a unique name and Googled up food places. The voice search also works for Google Maps which will show you where to go. To demostrate how well the voice commands work on Droid, Verizon, is letting people call an toll-free number to tell Times Square signs what to do.

Screen - this high resolution screen has been called stunning, gorgeous and brilliant. It's a 3.7″ WVGA 854×480 capacitive toucscreen with haptic feedback. It has excellent responsiveness and unmatched clarity. Verizon and Moto say it has DVD play-back quality and no matter how you phrase it is "lookin' good." The Verizon pr blurb notes that the screen "width of 854 pixels to reduce the need for side-to-side panning and more than 400,000 pixels total, DROID has more than twice that of the leading competitor."

New Google Maps - the turn-by-turn directions, layers of maps, turn Droid into a super GPS navigation unit. This Goggle mapping app comes with everything you'd expect to find in a GPS navigation system, like 3D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance and automatic rerouting. But unlike most navigation systems, Google Maps Navigation was built from the ground up to take advantage of your phone's Internet connection. It includes popular Google Maps features including street and satellite views.

Web Browser - Google is about the web and so is Android. Reviewers raved about the super fast HTML 5 browser which you can also search by voice. You can even have multiple browser windows open at the same time.

Zagg will be offering an invisibleSHIELD for the Motorola Droid. It's a clear shield that uses a Scratch-proof. The ultra-thin film is precision cut and won't bulk up the Droid while adding increased grip.

ZAGG obtained a working model of the Droid and has already created an invisibleSHIELD design for it. The Company began accepting orders for invisibleSHIELDor the  for the Motorola Droid today, November 2^nd, and expect to start shipping to key retailers prior to the advertised availability date for the device on Friday, November 6^th.

The InvisibleSHIELD is ZAGG's military-grade, virtually invisible and indestructible film that protects smartphones and other gadgets from bumps, scratches and dings with a lifetime guarantee.

"ZAGG continues to lead our industry by creating the world's finest protection and enhancement for all of the hottest new devices," said Robert G. Pedersen II, President and CEO of ZAGG. "We are excited about the combination of the Motorola Droid and the invisibleSHIELD, and we are certain customers will see it as a perfect fit."

Most Verizon executives have stayed quiet about the Droid invasion coming to Verizon on November 6.  All those Moto Droids landing with their beautiful dazzling screens that have wowed reviewers and HTML browsers could jam traffic on the "There's a Map for that" network. IDC Senior Analyst Ramon Lllamas commented on Friday, that Droid is helping fuel a positive wireless Q4 in 2009.

AT&T's image has suffered greatly because of network problems due to the deluge of iPhone data usage. Verizon Director of data services for the Illinois-Wisconsin region Arvin Singh tried to allay network deluge fears, he told Telephony, "We're anticipating the Droid will be a blockbuster, but we're not adding any new backhaul or new EV-DO carriers for the launch. We're not anticipating the network will take a hit on this."

We're wondering what do you think?  Will Verizon's network take a hit or is it ready for the Droid invasion on November 6? Will all the people following the Verizon guy still be smiling?

We were warned about not only the Verizon Droid invasion but also the Droid marketing invasion. Droidites can now be given game pieces from the Droid Street Team to  the Droid Nation Instant Win Game with promised perks such as free tickets to concerts which they call "Droid Sessions."

Today, we can only find a promotion in San Francisco.  Verizon Wireless Droid Street Team members are giving out game pieces throughout San Francisco, between October 28 and November 5, 2009 while supplies last. Approximately 5,000 Game Pieces are available on a first‐come, first‐served basis.

The contest officially ends the on 11:59:59 p.m. PT November 5, 2009. 300 Instant Win Prizes: admission for two (2) to the Verizon Droid Nation Concert, featuring Silversun Pickups
and Metric at 8:00 p.m. PT November 6, 2009 at Bimbos in San Francisco. You must be 21 years-old to win.

The Verizon Droid received good reviews and is expected help fuel a positive wireless outlook in Q4.

Whoa, Verizon's Droid Invasion continues with sneak peak leaks at the Droid Eris by HTC. The Droid Eris by HTC has similar specs to the HTC Hero that is going to sell for the rock bottom price of $99 after rebates according to leaked documents.

The HTC Eris has a 528MHz Qualcomm, a 320x480 screen, and Android 1.5.  This touchscreen-only smartphone will also have HTC enhanced Touch Sense UI, visual voicemail, Wi-Fi, MS Exchange Sync, Media Uploader(for Facebook, Flickr, Picas, Gmail,) Google services, news widgets, and Footpritns Geo-tagging for photos. The HTML Browser supports Flash Lite.

The Droid Eris by HTC comes with 8 GB MicroSD card, Bluetooth, 5 megapixel camera. 

Meanwhile, Verizon has added new promotions for the first Motorola Droid with a QWERTY Keyboard.