I use the task manager Remember The Milk on all of my devices, computers and phones alike, and the Verizon Droid I am evaluating is no exception. RTM has been available on Android phones for a while, and it is a nice application for those handsets. Android supports widgets on the home screens, and RTM has a widget in addition to the application. It sits on the home screen showing your task list, and the full app is just a screen tap away. Android has a Quick Search feature that is powerful, and this new version of RTM integrates your tasks with the search feature so your task list can now be searched universally.

The RTM folks were ready for the launch of the Droid last week, and updated the Android app to support the handset’s high-resolution screen. I am using it and it works fine, so those of you with RTM Pro accounts should get the update if you are using an Android phone. This new Android version also supports the lower resolution of the HTC Tattoo.

In a side-by-side comparison, one could argue that pics from the iPhone 3GS look better than those from a Droid. That doesn’t mean you can’t make the Droid photos a little better. Adobe released a mobile Photoshop app for the iPhone a few weeks back, and the same title hits the Android Market today. The free software is limiting in terms of what picture qualities you can change, but I find myself using it on most of my pics. In fact, just yesterday I tweaked this little number using Photoshop for iPhone.

Harvesting the feed corn

What I like about the app is how simple it is. You just choose what function you want and then slide your finger left to right for the adjustment. You can save the photo locally or save and upload to Photoshop.com where you have 2 GB of free storage.

Image Credit: mobile.163.com

If you had any doubts about Dell’s Mini 3iX coming to AT&T in 2010, the FCC is here to dispel them. Unwired View says the FCC has tested the device with the typical confidentiality clauses in place, so there are no new device pics to peep unless you like looking at profiles and labels. The confidentiality on photos and the user manual expires on April 21, 2010, however that doesn’t mean the device might be available before then. In fact, I’d expect we see it as a working prototype at January’s Consumer Electronics Show. Probably the most interesting tidbit in what’s publicly available are the tested frequencies, which do jive with AT&T’s network for both voice and HDPA data.

I still think my Dell Axim was a great PDA back in the day — I found it well-designed and built solidly. I’m expecting the same from a Dell Android device. Word on the street is that the Mini 3iX will be the same as the Mini 3i found in China (shown above), but with the addition of Wi-Fi and 3G.

The Verizon Droid has only been in my hands for a few hours, so I can only share very general impressions so far. I have snapped a few pics to let you see the Droid in action, as well as alongside the iPhone 3G and the Palm Pre. Read on to see my likes and dislikes after a brief affair with the Droid.

Continue reading »

Potential Motorola Droid owners have some good news and some bad news this morning. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first — Verizon will be charging $30 a month for tethering, which is double what the previously expected charge was. That’s about the most I’d pay for any phone tethering. But according to Engadget, the good news is that you get double your monthly bandwidth. The Droid requires a data plan just for the non-phone usage and that data plan is capped at 5 GB per month. The additional $30 fee gains you five more gigabytes specifically for the tethering. So it’s not all bad, considering I’m paying $60 a month for 5 GB right now on a USB adapter with Verizon. In fact, if I could get another 5 GB for tethering at this price on my iPhone 3GS or Palm Pre, I’d likely do it.

The one thing I’m not yet clear on is if the extra $30 a month is a plan feature or not. If it’s a feature, you should be able to add and remove it at any point during your contract. I used to do just that with my old XV6700 on Verizon back in the day. My expectation — hope, really — is that this is how it will work. I’m not sure I’d want to commit to the extra $30 for the length of my contract, but that’s just me. Oh and no truth to the rumor about the keyboard blanks — they’re not used to start and stop the tethering.

Sure the Motorola Droid has a 5 megapixel camera over the 3 megapixel sensor used by the iPhone 3GS. But as most all of us know, size doesn’t matter. Put another way: more megapixels doesn’t necessarily mean a better still picture. Andy Ihnatko took aim at the Droid with his review and comparison at the Sun Times, but he also has a Flickr photo set to compare output from the two cameras.

After looking at his test set, most of the iPhone photos look better to me in most cases. Of course, that’s subjective, so you should peep with your own eyes to see the difference. It looks like the advanced software camera features of the iPhone are helping to take better shots thanks to focus and exposure functions. Of course, the Droid could gain similar functionality through a software update in the future. If video is more your thing, then I’d say the Droid wins by a hair. Based on video output I’ve seen, the 720 x 480 output looks a tad better to my four eyes.

You’d almost have to have been sleeping under a rock to not have caught word of the other Droid handset coming to Verizon, the HTC Droid Eris. Everybody outside of Verizon, HTC and Google has been talking up the Eris for a few weeks. The three companies are coming out today with the official announcement of the Droid Eris phone coming to Verizon on Nov. 6, as we already knew.

The Droid Eris is Verizon’s second phone in the Droid line, thus the name, and it is basically a more budget-oriented Android phone for Big Red. There may be some confusion with both the Droid (or is that the Droid Droid?) and the Droid Eris launching on the same day, and no doubt some customers will find the Droid Eris’ lower price makes it the preferred phone to buy.

The Eris appears to be an updated HTC Hero, and it packs the HTC Sense interface like the Hero. While the Droid comes stocked with Android 2.0, the Droid Eris (this is getting confusing, isn’t it?) runs on Android 1.5. HTC has stated that it will update the Droid Eris to 2.0 when the Sense interface is compatible with the latest OS version.

The Droid Eris will cost Verizon customers $99 after a $100 rebate, with a 2-year contract.

Dear Google Android People,

I would like to thank you for lighting a fire under the butt of smartphone makers by releasing Android into the mix. The smartphone world had been languishing for quite some time, unusual for such a young market. The major players prior to the launch of Android were Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian and the iPhone. Each of these platforms have its own strengths, but none of them were imaginative enough to catch the eyes of both consumers and industry players.

Windows Mobile had been basically unchanged for so, so long that it was embarrassing. Symbian was trying valiantly to slap a smartphone veneer over a feature phone interface, but many weren’t buying it. Research In Motion was trying to make a major move with the keyboard-less Storm, and while it was a major innovation for them, it turned out to be largely ho-hum for the market.

Apple continued to sell truckloads of iPhones, but the excitement factor was beginning to wane. Each iteration of the phone began to resemble “more of the same”, primarily because they were. The smartphone space was looking for something, anything to ignite passion into a staid scene, and along you came with Android.

It can’t be argued that Android hasn’t turned up the excitement factor a notch or two. There is almost continual buzz about this Android phone, or that one. It seems as if everyone and his smartphone making brother is working on getting an Android phone to market. Even the non-techie consumer space is getting invaded, with major advertising for Android phones invading consumer’s awareness.

Google, you have single-handedly done for the smartphone segment what no one had been able to do except Apple. While the buzz around Android is not as big as that surrounding the original iPhone, it is growing every day. You have our attention, and I thank you for that. Keep innovating, like you’ve done most recently with Google Maps Navigation, and you’ll be everywhere. And we all know you want to be everywhere.

Arne Hess got his hands on the Acer Liquid Android handset and likes what he sees. Liquid runs Android 1.6 on a 1 GHz Snapdragon, but Acer has under-clocked it down to 768 MHz. That should help the 1,350 mAh battery get through the day, pending usage. For the most part, Acer stuck to the standard Google Android build, but adds a few nice bits here and there:

“While keeping the Android flavor, Acer did a good job in enhancing Google’s Android platform wherever necessary. Sure, it’s not yet perfect, I would like to see an improved soft-keyboard as well as a kind of smart-dialing application for faster contacts access, but the multimedia and social networking integration makes the Acer Liquid a real fun device, which stays connected to your social networks. Now, all it needs is a Twitter client/integration also and it would be my perfect social media phone.”

Arne points out that Liquid comes with DataViz’s RoadSync to provide Microsoft Exchange support. Acer also supplemented the basic Android music player with nemoPlayer for a little extra audio enjoyment.

The overall look and feel of the device appears a little bland to me, but sometimes a minimalist design can go a long way. Arne’s preview is definitely worth the look if you’re pining for a Snapdragon-powered Android unit — I just wish he had done a video of the device responsiveness and performance. I’m sure one will turn up soon.

Verizon really does want to differentiate itself from the pack, doesn’t it? Aside from getting sued for allegedly comparing its 3G network coverage and allowing free GPS navigation on a smartphone, it’s treading where Sprint has decided not to walk — smartphone tethering. The Motorola Droid will indeed support Internet tethering, Sascha Segan at Gearlog reports, allowing customers to use their Android handset as a 3G modem. Sascha expects this to be a $15 monthly fee, which sounds about right based on Verizon’s current offerings. The Broadband Access Connect plan should hit the Droid in early 2010.

About four years ago, I used a phone as a wireless broadband modem all day long. It worked perfectly well over USB or over Bluetooth. But I was in a relatively fixed location, and I had access to an electrical outlet for my computer, which in turn charged my phone over USB. These days, the only times my mobile devices see outlets is overnight, so I’m not so sure I’d rely on phone tethering for all of my 3G needs. For occasional use it would work just fine for me. And I do have Internet tethering on my iPhone as a backup, which really saved the day once before. I’m curious — would you consider using the Droid or another tethered phone for a primary 3G connection?