Here's my review of the phone so far. For CONS that have a workaround, I inserted a *. I'll cover them in a future post on software for the DROID. Potential deal-breakers in red.
PROS:
- Beautiful high resolution screen
- Smooth scrolling
- Good implementation of virtual keyboard
- Browser does zoom well (though no pinch)
- Good selection of free apps
- Good video recorder w/ easy upload to YouTube
- Vibrating feedback works well
- Free Google turn by turn Navigation
- Fast processor, very responsive
- Bigger screen, small form factor – same width as iPhone, not much longer, same thickness.
CONS:
- Too few screens for icons (WORKAROUND – Open Home)
- Keyboard too flat, not that great for typing
- No pinch/zoom
- Wireless demands WPA2 (won't work with WPA)
- Keyboard opens the wrong way for right-handed use
- No assignable physical buttons
- No physical call, mute or hang-up buttons for phone use
- NO support for initiating calls w/ Bluetooth! (For legal reasons, Motorola has to fix this – it's ILLEGAL in many states to be using your handset while driving) (for discussion, see Bluetooth voice dialing?)
- Music player is sub-par
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- No "Browse by Genre"
- No way to auto-sync with desktop or iTunes playlist (WORKAROUND – Manual Copy)
- No way to speed up podcasts
- Can't control it with headset (I have Motorola S9-HD) (WORKAROUND – TuneWiki)
- Have to push top power button and then swipe to awake from sleep
- Some widgets take a LONG time to boot up (>5 min, but phone is usable while waiting)
- All apps start on reboot?
- Vibrate isn't very strong, can miss calls if phone in pocket.
- YouTube videos often give error when attempting to play on a web page or even in the YouTube player.
- Significant camera lag
Check out My initial thoughts on the droid for some more cogent criticisms and newbie comments about the DROID.