Motorola Droid & CompanionLink

Quick update:

I evaluated CompanionLink for Google, and it seemed unstable after a couple of hours of use. I am not sure if it was just the system it was installed on but we noticed it was extremely slow (even after playing with the settings) mainly with "Reading Outlook File" and eventually would often crash after taking a long time. It would usually freeze up Outlook. Now I am not sure if the program is just buggy or our install is just bad, anyway, I uninstalled it and continued using the Google Calender Sync alone (which works fine) and currently manually updating contacts until further notice.

Motorola Droid, Outlook Sync & Brief Review

Friday I got the, "let's get our net admin an hour before he leaves" approach. Seriously, don't you ever notice that? Usually problems will be minimal and easy throughout most of the day until about 1 hour before you leave, and usually the issue takes a little more than just an hour? Maybe it's just me, but at this time I wasn't too bothered by it considering I had the chance to play with the new Motorola Droid.

I had time to configure it and set it up, but quickly realized it wasn't without its flaws. Let is first though cover a few of the things I really found attractive.

First of all, it looks good. You cannot tell from the pictures though, but it has a nice finish, a very smooth screen a decent keypad and it is thin. The first thing I noticed, compared to the iPhone, (oh yes we are going to compare them) is that the screen is a bit taller. This is probably due to the fact that Google/Motorola saw the complete uselessness of Apple's big fat round button that does just about as much as the Any Key. The width of the screens are pretty much the same width, which is good because it keeps it small and comparable to the iPhone. However, even though it does have a taller screen than the iPhone, it is still the same size on the outer dimensions.

So does this mean that the Droid has no "home key"? Absolutely not! It in fact has FOUR different buttons on the face screen, FOUR buttons. A "Return," "Menu," "Home" (for you Apple fanboys), and a "Search" key. Sure an iPhone user could argue, "these aren't real buttons they aren't depressible in case the phone freezes up!" Oh but of course, as has been already noted in another post, this wouldn't be needed if there was a detachable battery--none of the hold-down-for-5-seconds-crap here. It comes with a battery that can be removed, like any real manly phone should have. What is more, the back slide-out cover is metal! Yes, metal, not some crappy plastic like the MotoQ had on the back, but a solid, sturdy metal cover. Underneath the battery hidden, is the microSD chip, this one came with a 16GB one (pre-installed) and expandable up to 32GB--but technically, infinite, as many as these mini cards you can fill up. One thing I forgot to mention with the face "buttons" were that they each make the phone give off a short, sharp-burst vibration, almost like a "shock" which at first I wondered: "wtf was that?" Until a few minutes later I realized it was the phone doing it. While this may be more of an "experience" feature, it was nice and satisfying to know when I hit the button I got a response from it. It's cool, if you get your hands on one, try it, it can become addicting, BZZ!

On the outside edges of the phone exists a USB port (not some proprietary connection), Volume Control, Quick Camera, and the usual Power/Lock button. Also included is a standard audio jack, (normal sized 3.5mm) unlike the MotoQ which had a smaller port--very annoying.

The camera comes with a Dual-LED flash lamp (can alternatively be used as a flashlight, no App needed for that) and a 5MP lens with auto-focus and 4x Zoom. See that Apple? All built-in, all standard. Additionally it also comes with built-in photo editing software, (also built-in is the bar-code reader). There are a ton of specs that are listed here, but I will not cover them all, for specs are specs, I am here to cover most on what I actually liked from the phone or didn't.



Another thing I did enjoy was the fact that they got rid of the big bulky bump on the right hand side of the phone that made the previous Google phone look ugly and almost made the keyboard useless. They also made it much slimmer and flat, again unlike the previous version that was thick and also had an angle (wtf?).

The speakers are nice and loud as well, which I appreciated even from the previous version, you can hear anything on it, again unlike the iPhone which in my opinion was only really loud with stock ringtones--everything else was meh.

There are plenty of things I really liked about the phone that could take me the rest of the day to cover but let me now discuss some of the things I found annoying.

The Droid's keyboard is a nicer feature now since it is even more slimmer, it can hide or slide out when you need it. However the buttons look a bit small and close together that it almost felt as if I had to be more careful on the keyboard than on the touch screen, imagine that. It also did not look as sturdy as the rest of the phone, it looked more plastic than plastic, but it worked fine.

I also didn't like the location of the microSD card, where on one hand it is nicely protected under the battery, swapping cards will take an extra couple of steps instead of just popping out the old and putting in the new. Small annoyance.

The screen wasn't as smudge proof as other phones I've used, it is very smudge prone--but maybe it was just my fingers? Either way, it is nothing a nice screen protection cover can't remedy, which also provide anti smudge protection.

However I think the biggest problem I had with Droid was the fact that it does not support (or come with any software to do so) Syncing with Outlook! Seriously? Why the heck not? Most PDAs and Smart phones have this as a standard. Granted, the Droid is new and has its own unique OS, so it cannot use ActiveSync but a solution should have been made available just for this. There are many Outlook users that don't use a Gmail account. The only way to sync your Outlook data is by having an Exchange server, 2003+. If you don't have Exchange your only option is to import all your contacts into Gmail and import all your calender events the same way. Interestingly there is an application that will sync your Outlook calender to Gmail Calender by Google, but not one for your contacts. It is free and it is here.

I came up with a theory though to why this is so at this time, Google wants all your base, I'm going with that. They probably want to encourage consumers to use Gmail if they aren't already, which will then encourage them to use Google Docs, calender, contacts etc nearly making a standard Microsoft Office install useless--cloud computing anyone? However this has a neat trick up its sleeve. Theoretically, Droid doesn't need to "sync."  Sure even Google calls it "syncing" and so do a bunch of other people, but if you look at it in practice, it isn't syncing in the sense that most people are used to with their Windows Mobile, Palms and iPhone solutions. What I mean is, Droid doesn't need to connect to your computer physically nor through a network to "sync." Let us say all  your data (contacts, events, email etc) is in Gmail, Droid simply pulls that data in real time (or damn near) and updates your phone seamlessly without ever having to hit "sync" or connect it to any computer. So in that sense, completely using Gmail for your basic Outlook needs is actually a much cooler solution; it's completely wireless, real time and accessible from any device that has access to the Internet! Alas though, people do use Outlook and my user here needs to use it--therefore having to manually update both Outlook and Gmail of contact changes is pretty freakin' stupid. Even if you're using the Google Calender sync which I mentioned earlier, it still leaves out the Contacts and other Notes that you may want synced. So if  you don't want to make around 40$ for a third party application, you are currently stuck import/exporting contacts between Outlook and Gmail if you need to update them. Fortunately, 40$ isn't a lot of money in my opinion and I am currently evaluating a solution for this problem, if it works out I'll purchase it for this particular user.

Basically all the program does (and by extension Droid too) is the data is "synced" between Outlook and Gmail through the Internet, but all that Droid is doing is actively pulling data from the Gmail account that is setup and configured on the phone already. On the surface it looks like magic, but underneath it is doing nothing more than pulling data. Simple yes, but I don't know anyone else doing this. If you really want it broken down, all the Droid is doing is in theory, accessing the Google website and viewing the data through your phone. That's why it's "real time" and "wireless" but it is all routed to the appropriate applications: contacts, gmail, docs, calender.

Here is the application for syncing both Contacts and Calender: Outlook to Gmail to Droid. CompanionLink

So far that is the only real downside to the Droid, anything else was implemented well, of course this is only a few days into its usage and I will definitely post any further annoyances regarding Google's new Droid.

UPDATE: I eventually configured it to work with out new Exchange Server. That works great. Management features are a little on the low side though.

MotoQ Update

Nothing big--but not sure yet, I have found the MotoQ has been giving me a couple problems. One with reception. With a regular phone you usually get good reception, also with the previous PDA I had I had excellent reception. Though on this MotoQ I've been noticing the reception is usually poor, very rarely I get more than 3 bars. It is usually at 0, 1, 2. I've also had several dropped called inside the building--where as with others I have never had one.

Finally, it happens randomly, I get a lot of, "excuse me , sir? I cant hear you." Or, "hello? Hello?!, hellloooo?!" while I am saying, "Hi!, Yes? Its me! Can you hear me?!" Then all of a sudden they hear me clear, wtf?! Not sure what this is about, gonna play with the sound configurations a bit.

MotoQ -- rocks

So yeah after deciding I hated the Audiovox xv6700 I moved to the Motorola Q CDMA Windows Mobile based smart phone. So far I like it. It has far less features and abilities than the xv6700, but many of them I did not use enough for me to miss them now. Eitherway, the MotoQ makes up for it with its easy of use, easy access to buttons and extremely ease of navigation! Yep, I can now be another addition to the "dangerous driver" category by using my phone while driving, woot!

The resolution is also higher and sharper which makes it very attractive. The slim look also is a cause for joy, where as the bulky fat 6700 made it look horrible.

The keys are well placed, along with the scrolling wheel on the side, very convenient. It can also be used for turning up or down the volume, and works great. It is very easy to get to know the key's functions and ALT options--these are all pluses!

Sound quality is great, even the quality of your ringer is clear. This of course was nothing new in the old phone, which too had good sound quality. It does come packed with a nice bundle of ringtones, and you can tell they tried to appeal to the trendy crowd with hip-hop/r&b type beats and tunes. They also included a couple rock clips, which sounded like a mixture of Static-X and maybe some Rob Zombie? Whatever.

Along with that, I do like some of the packed "themes" for your main menu, they have some nice ones.

The internet browser also works slightly better than the one from my old phone, I like it because it almost displays the page in near full size--but with the scroll wheel, its simple to navigate.

I don't like the battery cover. Its very very thin and very very cheap plastic, if you are not careful, it will break. Also, I dropped it once, not far up, but it fell on carpet and the battery flew out--shows how cheap the cover is.

Also, the casing itself could have been made of better plastic in my opinion--but whatever, its still a nice looking phone.

Of course it has a slot for MiniSD--though one small thing to complain about, the small plastic cover for the opening could have been designed easier to open, and maybe hard plastic rather than soft plastic which makes it much more difficult to get it open.

The speakphone feature in regards to volume works excellent, you can hear the person loud and clear and you can adjust the volume to your liking. Though one thing I did notice--was that I am told more than not, "excuse me sir? I can't hear you very well." It seems they are either deaf, or the phone loses amplification when used in speakerphone--because they can not hear me well unless i speak very closely and clearly into the small hole.

I do like the fact that you can actually turn the damn thing OFF! With the xv6700--you could not do so unless you took out the battery. You COULD tap the "power button" and it would turn off the screen along with the functions of the keys, but the phone was still on, (and no this is not just turning off the backlight, to do that you HOLD the power key).

Finally, one of the coolest features I like about this phone is that when the phone detects appointments or meetings in your calenders marked as "busy," you can set the phone to "Automatic Mode" and it will automatically silence itself during that time period marked in your schedule. Once the time is over, it turns itself back to "normal" mode. You can also edit the modes to your liking, for example--instead of it turning to Silent, you can set it to vibrate instead--whatever you wish.

The voice recognizer works ok. I dont use it much, but when I did, it was able to tell which contact I wanted--or at least a few contacts close to what I said :P.

Overall, I preferr this phone much more over the previous one, easy to use, stable and it looks sexy.

Oh wait--one problem that still seems to not have been fixed. I also saw it on the xv6700, so I think its more of a software specific problem rather than the phone itself. If you plan to use the "Wireless Sync" it seems to cause keys to lock up, malfunction or act sporadically--even dialing numbers at times! Once I uninstalled it, everything worked normal. Yes, the Wireless Sync was awesome, it works great, but after the first day of use and a few syncs, you begin to see problems, it seems more like a buggy Wireless Sync software--who knows. But other than that, the phone rocks.

PS. The speed of switching between menus or applications could be faster IMO. Its not a big deal really, but you do notice it lag every once in a while.

Also, the "memory leak" problem still exists, programs get left in memory causing you to repeatedly kill applications in the task manager (which you have to dig for).