This entry is not a comprehensive review nor technical dissertation. It’s simply a few points discovered while using the Droid.
After a week of kicking Verizon’s Droid around it is clear it loves electricity. This disturbs a number of people in smart phone land. Yet even though the phone is fuel happy, the satisfactions are gargantuan compared to those dissatisfied.
There are two things that need addressing about the power-hungry Droid. First, TURN OFF GPS. It makes complete sense to have it on out-of-the-box so as to let the customer get familiar with the functionality. Verizon should stick a posty on the package that states “use GPS only when necessary.” Turn that GPS on and watch the battery bar slide at 100 mph. I don’t need GPS to surf the TV anyway.
Second, there is a “location” feature that uses the position of the cell towers, GPS (I think) and Internet databases. It’s not known how much this feature contributes to the battery-juice hunger though. The service continuously updates as you move about St Louis. It is cool for applications that provide you local content such as movies, store sales, etc. Some advocates have issues with this and classify it as a privacy issue. No sleep lost here. If privacy isn’t breached this way, it is probably breached a half-dozen other ways. You may turn this functionality off to conserve on battery juice.
One off topic point worth noting is the interface. Icons are accessible but in disarray. It reminds me of a shotgun blast. Pull the trigger and watch the icons plop. For example, it is easy to create a folder on the desktop. The default name is “folder.” I still have yet to figure how to rename a folder. In fact, why do I need to rename a folder? You’d think you’d give it a name while creating it. Maybe it is just me. This is not a high priority. Surely there is an answer to this. I’ll get to it whenever.
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