Official Motorola DROID A855 Release Thread - Keep all phone discussion here

**FAUguy** · 11-05-2009, 10:43 PM

Use this thread to talk about the Motorola DROID A855.
Keep all major discussion about the phone here.

Verizon link for purchase:
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/s...edPhoneId=5069

http://cache.vzw.com/multimedia/360_demos/mot_droid/

Motorola's Droid page:
http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US...la-DROID-US-EN

User Manual (PDF)
http://home.comcast.net/~fauguy/droi...ser_Manual.pdf

Before asking a question, please look in the Pre-Release thread, as it may have already been answered.
http://www.howardforums.com/showthre...9&page=1&pp=15

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Other useful threads:

Motorola Droid Accessories Discussion
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1582867

Motorola Droid FAQ & Tips-and-Tricks
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1586942

Motorola Droid Picture-of-the-Day, Camera Reviews & Issues
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1585750

Motorola Droid Hardware and Software versions tracking thread
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1587028

**CallerHoller** · 11-05-2009, 10:48 PM

Ban threat lifted?

**ChocoTaco369** · 11-05-2009, 10:49 PM

Totally psyched that the release is finally here. For all you guys that have gotten your Droids early from Walmart, feel free to post a few live pictures of the phone here for reference

Originally Posted by CallerHoller

Ban threat lifted?

Now that the pre-release is over and the phone is open for purchase, we'll lose a lot of the people just making accounts spamming the threads with the same questions over and over again. Most of those people will migrate away from HoFo until the time comes for them to buy another phone. This thread should be cleaner, at least in theory - but don't tempt fate! This could be a release thread of epic fail proportions just like the pre-release(s). That crap is usually confined to pre-release and release threads are much cleaner for reasons outlined above, but things change...

**Nelson5693** · 11-05-2009, 10:49 PM

Even though I already have my Droid, I'm still watching these threads like my life depends on it!

Hope everything goes down well for people at midnight...I'll be lurking.

**strongpimphand** · 11-05-2009, 10:49 PM

I'm sorry, but the keyboard = deal breaker

Anyone have anything good to report about it? After today, I lost all steam in the Droid. It felt good in my hand, it looked beautiful...but I never realized how crappy that design was until I tried it. Two Alt keys?!?! I don't use my keys on my keyboard! And let's not talk about the blank keys...

When you look at the pictures, you think "oh, well it looks flat, but it probably ain't that bad"

It was bad. I'm a big guy, and while the virtual keyboard is nice...the physical is for the youngins

But maybe I"m in the minority when it comes to the keypad....

**beatmiester** · 11-05-2009, 10:49 PM

10 minutes till midnight EST

**Chaldo** · 11-05-2009, 10:50 PM

at midnight I can see the verizon website getting overloaded haha.

**mankman** · 11-05-2009, 10:51 PM

Well I've had the phone for about 6 hours now. This isn't a comprehensive review obviously because I probably haven't scratched the surface of what this thing is capable of. But here's what I think of it so far:

Build: Build quality is great. The phone feels solid...but it's not too heavy for me. It has a very sturdy feel to it, and everything moves nice and tight right out of the box.

Size: It's a bit longer and heavier than my Blackberry Curve I've been using. I expected that. What I didn't expedct is it is thin, very thin for a QWERTY phone. In fact, I'm looking at it side by side laying on my coffee table...the DROID is actually thinner than my Curve. Wow! Considering how solid the phone feels, you won't mind the weight. It's definitely not nearly as much of a brick as the Touch Pro 2 that I had.

Setup: Setup at Walmart was painless. The phone activated...I put my GMAIL password in, and it was all set to go. Took a grand total of 5 minutes from the time the clerk put the battery in, until it was in my pocket.

Screen: This is the biggest 'Wow' factor for me so far. So bright...so crisp. Very gorgeous screen to look at. Touch screen, all I can say is it's amazing...very sensitive and very easy to use

Sound: Sound quality is great. Very clear, undistorted sound out of both the earpiece as well as the external speaker. The speakerphone is very, very loud...it's honestly the first phone I've had where I had to turn the volume down on the speakerphone to use it comfortably. Yet, the sound is very clear despite being so loud. Ringers and Notifications are nice and loud as well.

Keyboard: It's really, really not as bad as people are making it out to be. Yeah..the keys are a little tight. I would have preferred to see a keyboard like the Touch Pro 2 has....but oh well. I find it definitely usable and once people get used to it this will be a non issue for most. To me...the D-Pad is just useless. I don't even see the point of it...but hey...I can live with it being there.

Home Screen: Some people playing with 'demo' units are complaining of lag on the home screens...I just don't see any noticeable lag. Navigation between screens is very snappy.

Web Browser: Ok..so I said the screen was the biggest 'wow' factor...well the Web Browser gives it a run for it's money as far as wowing me. I've used Opera Mini & Mobile, IE Mobile, Skyfire, Blackberry browser and Fennec (granted, this was alpha software) on several Smartphones over the past few years (BB and WinMo based phones). The Webkit browser that is on the DROID whips all of the mobile phone browsers I've ever used...hands down. It renders pages very, very fast. Clicking links is pretty accurate although I've had a few misses (nothing like the fiasco with Opera Mobil 9.5 on the TP2).

Google Navigation: I tried this on the way home (about a 15 mile trip) from Walmart...I was anxious to try it because this was one of the big draws for me to this phone. My first question...is this seriously Beta software? It's very, very good. Navigation was spot on...and it speaks clear directions and it got most of the street names correct. Google created a nice app here. I'm curious to see how accurate the mapping is as I use it more as it's hard to judge based on one trip...but I like what I see so far.

Haven't tried alot of this phones features yet...I'm curious how the music player works for example but I just don't have time to try that tonight anymore, as well as some other things...but this was just a quick opinion of the phone. So far...it looks like Motorola just totally knocked it out of the park with this phone. I'm thoroughly impressed so far...I'm going to spend some time learning a bit more about all the features now.

To those who haven't gotten it yet...you're in for a treat

I've been using my Curve for almost 2 years, upgraded to the TP2 and didn't care for the size or the sluggishness so I returned it within 30 days and went back to the Curve. I had originally planned to get the Storm 2 because I really liked the Curve and the Blackberry OS...but the more I heard about the Sholed/Tao/Droid the more I was willing to wait it out, because I just find Android very intriguing. After 6 hours with the phone...I'm glad I did and I can say that so far it lives up to the hype...and was well worth the wait.

**factory81** · 11-05-2009, 10:52 PM

Verizon also functions as an ISP. I hope they have bandwidth.....I mean if they don't then I just can't buy this phone haha

**Moderator HF 9** · 11-05-2009, 10:52 PM

Originally Posted by CallerHoller

Ban threat lifted?

Nope issuing your ban right now.

Just kidding. Ban threat is lifted however any obvious/intentional rule violations or trolling will still result in a warning/ban.

**panerai7** · 11-05-2009, 10:53 PM

Can't sleep, going to pick it up in the morning, but still wanna wait for it to be available online

, already unboxed all the accessories.

**jordn613** · 11-05-2009, 10:53 PM

It's up guys...

**factory81** · 11-05-2009, 10:55 PM

Well Verizon....this beers for you for releasing the first.....real smartphone. I will have to take a sleeping pill to get to bed tonight. It is like Christmas....I have to wonder, how early should I show up to VZW.....