And we finally had a minute to break away from all of the Android 2.1 update for the Motorola Droid chaos and bring you a quick video review.  Hopefully this little piece gives you fence-sitters and scaredy-cats an idea of what you can expect to see if you should choose to go this route and apply the update.

Video action: (Give it time to process, we got HD here people.)

Overall impressions:

• Expectations? It is exactly what I expected.  There were no surprises at all.  We knew we were getting multi-touch and live wallpapers and those are definitely included.
• Speed? Is it super-duper fast now?  It’s as fast as it’s always been.  There is still minor lag when flipping between screens and using the launcher so it’s not faster by any means.   It’s definitely still smooth though.
• Will it satisfy everyone? It will likely more than satisfy your average Droid user.  You know, the user who doesn’t even know what a custom ROM or kernel is.  Can you imagine some guy/gal waking up today with live wallpapers and having never seen them before?  They’d probably go nuts!  On the flip side, to those of you who consider yourself a little more advanced, you might come away with a simple shoulder shrug.  It’s not like this has been a downgrade, but we have all played with the new apps and seen live wallpapers and pushed the speed of the device to the max.
• Best part? The best part is that the update is finally here with fully working 2.1 apps.  The stock 2.0.1 was such a bland build compared to this one that it brings a little smile to my face to know that it is now here.  No more force closes or random reboots, just a whole ton of stability.
• What’s next? Who wants to start the “Where is 2.2?!?!?!” thread.  :)

Now I know you have been commenting all day with your thoughts on the update, but why don’t you just give me your single favorite thing about the new build.  Keep it short.  Just one sentence.

Everyone remember the beautifulness that is TAT Home?  Everyone also remember the bad news we heard about it never coming to the Android Market?  Well at least we got further confirmation this week that a preview of it will still be released to users some time in April.  One of the issues holding the release back was probably due to the fact that the Droid was not on 2.1 yet.  Well, TAT peeps, we’re on it now!

Show me some TAT Home!

We’ll attempt to use this post as a spot for people to drop tips, news, tricks and/or anything related to their 2.1 update.  If you had a bad experience, tell us how you fixed it.  If had download issues like I did, let us know.  If there is anything out of the ordinary that you experienced during the process, please drop it in the comments so we can share with everyone else and I’ll be sure to add as much of the important stuff as I can…

1.  First off, here are the manual instructions to update including the update.zip file.

2.  If you are still rooted and running a custom ROM, here are the manual instructions for returning to stock.

3.  When renaming the file to update.zip, make sure it does not get renamed to update.zip.zip or the update process will be aborted.

4.  If you get the following messages during install, it could mean you have not placed the file in your root:

E:Can’t open/cache/recovery/command
–Install from sdcard…
Finding update package…
Opening update package..
Verifying update package…
E:signature verification failed
Installation aborted.

5.  If you receive a cache error, try booting back into recovery and “wipe cache partition.”

6.  You can perform this update without a computer.  Download the file from your phone browser, open Astro File Manager, find the file in your “downloads” folder, move it to your root or /sdcard and perform update instructions.

7.  If you want a great alternate launcher, download HelixLauncher from the market.  Just do not attempt to use HelixLauncher2 or you will run into force close issues.

8.  The process can take some time.  BE PATIENT.  Mine sat at the Droid Eye for almost 2 minutes. If you follow these steps exactly, the process should work flawlessly.

9.  Many experienced initial 3G Market download and Gmail issues.  I fixed this by enabling wifi for at least 30 minutes before disabling again.  3G issues seem fine now.

10.  When you are finished, you should be on 2.1 Update 1.

11.  If you think you are stuck at either the M or Droid eye boot screens, be patient.  The update definitely takes time to complete.

12.  If you ran into an issue with Swype, uninstall your version and install the version we have at our downloads page.

13.  Right now there is no root for this official build.  However, if you are still rooted and using a custom ROM, there are versions of ESE81 already floating around.  (More on those later tonight.)

14.  Once you update using this method, you will not get the OTA notification.  This is the official update so you are good.

15.  There is no FLASH included in this update.  We’ll hopefully see that in the next month or 2.

16.  Verizon is tweeting that the update will void your warranty.  They have to say this since the broader rollout of the update does not start until tonight.  You are fine if you’ve gone through the manual process.

More coming!

While I know that many of you are still waiting to receive the update and have not gone through the manual process, you can still answer this poll when you do finally get it.  This should also give those of you who are still rooted a chance to see the overall impression and help you decide whether or not to unroot.  So for those of you that have updated to the official ESE81 2.1, what are your feelings?

I’m reserving comment at this time as I’ll have a full write up later in the day. 

Sure I attempt to get 5 hours of sleep and almost miss out on all the phone fun…

*Note 1* – If you need to return to stock from a custom ROM, follow these instructions.

Instructions to manually install 2.1 on your Motorola Droid:

1.  Download this file:   update.zip (alt link)  (alt link 2)  (alt link3)

2.  Place file on the root of your sdcard (not in any folder)

Make sure it is named UPDATE.ZIP!  Alt Link2 needs to be renamed!

3.  Turn your phone off.

4.  Boot into recovery (Power + X)

5.  Wait for a triangle with exclamation point to appear.

6.  Hit the volume up and camera button (half-way down) at the same time.

7.  Using the D-Pad select “apply update.zip” and press in the gold button on the D-Pad.

8.  Reboot

9.  Bam!  2.1 goodness!

Update 10:01AM 3/31: Added a News and Note section to help those with any issues.

*Note 2* – By the way, if any of the download links drop, please contact me!

Full review coming later today for those still on the fence about unrooting.

Alright people, I know you are all having issues using ROM Manager to return to stock.  At this time, we just have a manual method for completing this task, but the steps I’m about to layout definitely work. In fact, I just went through this to make sure it works and everything was as smooth as a baby’s you-know-what (Sorry no video this time).  Please follow these steps to a T and you should be fine.

And don’t forget that if you receive your 2.1 OTA update notification, to follow these steps so that we can capture the update.zip!

Update: This is for those of you running into both issues with ROM Manager and DM Updater.

Instructions:

1.  First, if you have an update.zip on you SD card please remove it from your root.

2.  If you have update-stock.zip already on your SD card, great.  You can skip step 3.

3.  If you don’t have update-stock.zip you can download it through ROM Manager or from here:

Download ROM>Stock Images>Verizon Droid 2.0.1 Stock.  When it finishes downloading, DO NOT “wipe data and cache” or make a backup, simply cancel out of everything.  The file should now be downloaded to your SD card in the folder:

/sdcard/clockworkmod/download/koush.romraid.com/motorola/sholes

4.  Place update-stock.zip in the root of your SD card and rename it to update.zip.

5.  Open ROM Manager and flash the “alternate recovery” aka SPRecovery.

6.  When finished, boot into recovery (Power + X).

7.  Choose the option to “allow sd card installation.”

8.  Then choose the option to “install” and then “Install /sdcard/update.zip”.

9.  Assuming it finishes, hit the power button once to return to the previous screen and reboot.

10.  When it boots, go into Settings>About and make sure you are now on 2.0.1.

(IF YOU ARE NOT BACK TO 2.0.1 DO NOT GO ON TO THE NEXT STEP.)

11.  If you are back to 2.0.1 boot back into recovery (Power + X) and choose “wipe data/factory reset.”  Scroll down and choose “Yes.”

12.  You are now done.

*Note 1* - If you cannot flash SPRecovery in ROM Manager, please follow these instructions for manual installation.  When it asks you to download the newest SPRecovery, use this version.  (alt link)

*Note 2* – If you cannot get ROM Manager to download update-stock.zip you can download it here.

*Note 3* – DO NOT PERFORM A FACTORY RESET AT ANYTIME UNLESS I TELL YOU TO!  :)

Have fun!

I’m about to admit something incredibly embarrassing…please don’t destroy me too much.

Monday nights are what my wife likes to call “Gossip Girl Night,” meaning she puts absolutely nothing on her schedule so she can make sure to watch one of the silliest girlie-teenie-uppity shows on the planet.  And last night, I walked into the living room to find her oohing and awwing away at one of the girls in the show who was completely smashed out of her mind and about to get taken advantage of by some random dude.  Then, out of no where, her dude-friend calls her to find out where she is so he can come save the day.  Fun right?

While I’m trying my best to avoid the show completely, I see this part and seriously say out loud, “If she had my Droid, he could totally find her” just before walking away.

And today, I see on Engadget, that the dude in the show actually had a Droid!  He even busted out Google Latitude to find her!  If I would have stayed and suffered for another 30 seconds, I would have witnessed television magic.  OK, I’m not really that excited about it, but just had to share.  Here is a link to the video.  Classic.

(Engadget)