Droid

[cowboyjwc]

Thanks Rex, still looking at the iPhone and the Clique.

Our son in Denver bought a Droid and was telling us all the things it does and I said "I use mine to make phone calls.":grin:

 

[electricalperson]

i had the problem of my blackberry battery dying before the day was up.. like ken said the battery will have a longer life after you charge and discharge it a few times..the battery lasts about 24 hours or so

 

[sfav8r]

Got a new smart phone. A Droid. Battery lasts almost a whole day. Any one else having the problem?

Seems to work okay otherwise.

Turned in my old Omnia (Windows Mobile ) for a Droid and feel like I died and went to heaven. The phone is great.

One sure way to kill the battery, is to go to a web browser or some other data application, then open your phone application to make a call or whatever and forget to close the browser. If you do that, the nice multi-tasking ability of the Droid will keep using power for the application you are no longer using.

As a practical solution for any of the smart phones, just keep an extra charged battery in the van. It will reduce your stress level when you're trying to see if the 49ers are ahead and your battery is low.

Has anyone seen any good practical applications for electrical contractors for smart phones? Maybe scheduling, estimating, job tracking...

 

[ptonsparky]

Using more as just a phone the battery lasts a couple days.

I am using timecatcher_droid@intuit.com . Works pretty good. Simple time sheet program that can capture your phone call times if you want to charge for them to.

I have a spreadsheet of all my inventory items. Search speed is just as good as my desktops. Input for the query is not quick but maybe with a little practice I will improve.

 

[cschmid]

I have been looking but am still skeptical because I use the phone and only the word processor stuff. Do you have to pay for the apps once, monthly are some free or how does that work? is it really worth the extra cash per month for the privilege of having a cool toy in your pocket to break or keep track of. just curious because I have been checking out the droid.

 

[rexowner]

I have been looking but am still skeptical because I use the phone and only the word processor stuff. Do you have to pay for the apps once, monthly are some free or how does that work? is it really worth the extra cash per month for the privilege of having a cool toy in your pocket to break or keep track of. just curious because I have been checking out the droid.

Generally, you have to pay once, and you are done.
Many free apps. Some free apps are advertising-supported,
which I'm not a fan of. Generally the phone apps are a lot
cheaper than PC apps. Your phone bill will probably be a lot
bigger than your app bill. I personally find it incredibly
useful to be able to look up addresses, maps, old emails
and even random facts on manufacturer websites, sports
news or whatever. I have
even read this forum on my droid when I am
somewhere with wait time on my hands -- not as good as
the PC, but something to do to fill in while I am waiting for
someone or whatever.

 

[quogueelectric]

there should be a bunch of stuff you can turn off to increase battery life. For example if wifi is enabled, the thing will constantly be looking for a wifi signal and eating battery.

This is the first thing I thought of but some unscrupulous carriers also carry a higher capacity battery they would love to sell you. I would call your carrier customer service and ask them why.

 

[cschmid]

I like the GPS features and wonder if it has lake map apps and stuff like that. now it is very useful if you can use it for hiking and fishing and other stuff I am not even sure it does. Yet time will tell.

 

[rexowner]

I like the GPS features and wonder if it has lake map apps and stuff like that. now it is very useful if you can use it for hiking and fishing and other stuff I am not even sure it does. Yet time will tell.

Big Caveat. GPS on Droid is great when you are in cell/data
coverage. But if you are out of the coverage area,
you won't have access to maps because the maps are on
the network, not on the phone. Was driving in the mountains
last week -- no maps . Could be an issue.

 

[TOOL_5150]

Big Caveat. GPS on Droid is great when you are in cell/data
coverage. But if you are out of the coverage area,
you won't have access to maps because the maps are on
the network, not on the phone. Was driving in the mountains
last week -- no maps . Could be an issue.

So are you saying the iphone has the maps on the phone, so this would not be an issue?


~Matt

 

[ptonsparky]

Map is Google and real handy with detail fdromsky view. I haven't tried fin dxin g coordinates yet. Not sure ikf it does. Kewyboard is szmall and hard to use. Screen display keyboard is a lot nicer and gives suggested words has you enter. Speeds up the process plus a lot more accurate as you can tell.

 

[George Stolz]

So are you saying the iphone has the maps on the phone, so this would not be an issue?


~Matt

No, the iPhone uses google maps, so without a cell connection I imagine it wouldn't work. You can load the instructions before you head out of town, though.

I just bought a "road trip" ($70) for my iPhone, it charges the battery, serves as a stand, and transmits music from the phone over FM; that would negate any battery problems there, but before I had it mine last all day without a problem. One exception being the time I took 100+ pictures of a house after using the Internet quite a bit, it almost died before I got home that day.

 

[rexowner]

So are you saying the iphone has the maps on the phone, so this would not be an issue?


~Matt

No. Phones including iPhone don't have maps onboard.

Theoretically, one of these GPS apps could work around this by caching data if asked, but AFAIK
none of the applications actually do all the overhead to do this. It would be a nice value-added
feature, but the free GPS apps I've used don't have it, so it's no coverage, no maps.

 

[cschmid]

so can you buy the map chips and use them like that? I am happy someone actually started this thread. I have questions and phones are so new no one has all the answers.

 

[zog]

I got a Droid last week, the HTC version and have not had any battery issues, much better than by BB.

This thing is amazing, I am convinced it was made by Aliens and sent here to earth.

 

[cschmid]

I got a Droid last week, the HTC version and have not had any battery issues, much better than by BB.

This thing is amazing, I am convinced it was made by Aliens and sent here to earth.

An alien invasion LMAO

 

[rexowner]

so can you buy the map chips and use them like that? I am happy someone actually started this thread. I have questions and phones are so new no one has all the answers.

No, you can't buy the map chips.

Would be a good feature, but it doesn't exist.

I like my Droid, it's just not going to replace GPS,
except near the city, for now.

 

[cschmid]

So is it worth the extra expense?

 

[George Stolz]

Theoretically, one of these GPS apps could work around this by caching data if asked, but AFAIK
none of the applications actually do all the overhead to do this.

I just peeked at the App Store for iPhone, and there are map apps that store info. They cost a few bucks, and I don't have a use for them, so that's all I got for that.

 

[cowboyjwc]

Well got my new phone on Saturday. I knew I wouldn't use all that stuff so I just got the Samsung Behold. Makes phone calls and has some web features. I mostly just got tired of people texting me and it taking me a half hour to text back so I wanted some sort of key board. My son got the Behold II even though we offered him the Clique, at 15 even he figured out that he wouldn't use all the apps.

Mine does have a nice camera with a zoom on it.