Droid

#TBT: Verizon Teases DROID With “iDon’t” TV Commercial, Piques Much Curiosity

Tim-o-tato
by Tim-o-tato on News

When I first saw the above “iDon’t” commercial on TV, if memory serves me right, I was rocking a LG Voyager. At that time, I knew I didn’t care for iPhones, not necessarily because I didn’t like the phones or couldn’t afford one, but there was something about the iPhone culture I did not personally align with. It seemed fake, shallow, and plastic. So, when I kept hearing “DROOOID” in my head, curious as ever as to what it even meant, I ended up doing a bit of research.

The commercial I saw was for the Motorola DROID that was to launch on Verizon. It ran Android, had a full keyboard, and wasn’t an iPhone. Needless to say, I fell in love without ever laying an eye on the thing. Once I finally bought the phone, I wanted to learn as much as I could about Android, Motorola, and smartphone apps, so I did more research. That additional research led me to the early days of Droid Life, which at the time was just Kellen writing up posts about his DROID as often as he could, while still working a 9-5 day job.

Some of you know how my story played out from there, but I’m curious to hear if any of you share a similar Android beginning. Before this commercial ever aired, I was completely oblivious to the existence of Android. Were you, too?

DROOOID!

#TBT: When PenTile Displays Were King.

Kellex
by Kellex on News

Take yourself back to 2011 for a moment and answer me this – remember PenTile displays? If you do, I’m sure you already have a headache just thinking about the years upon years of companies like Motorola using the technology in their phones, likely in an attempt to cut costs while upping resolution. From jagged lines and blurred scrolling with ghosting to greens showing as browns and web pages not even being able to render text properly, it was hard out here for a phone with a PenTile panel, especially the original Atrix, DROID X2, Bionic, RAZR, Galaxy Nexus, and Galaxy S3.  (more…)

DROID Turbo 2 Marshmallow Update Starts Tomorrow, We Think for Real This Time

droid turbo 2
Kellex
by Kellex on News

On February 12, Verizon posted information to its DROID Turbo 2 support pages suggesting that the phone was set to receive the update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Within a couple of hours, they pulled that info as if someone had pulled the trigger on that information a bit early. Then on Friday, a number of our readers notified us that they were taking part in a soak test for the update through Motorola’s Feedback Network, which is typically a sign that we are actually close to an update rollout. Today, Verizon has once again posted details of the update, along with a March 1 date of availability.  (more…)

Yikes: DROID Ultra, Maxx, and Mini Won’t Even Get Lollipop Now

droid ultra
Kellex
by Kellex on News

In July of 2013, days before Motorola was set to announce the original Moto X, the company was somehow persuaded by Verizon to announce a brand new DROID line. That line of phones included the DROID Ultra, MAXX, and Mini, all of which were very similar to the Moto X, only they came with the typical DROID experience of over-the-top branding and marketing. They were, by all means, flagship phones for their time that most figured would see the typical two years worth of updates. For the most part, that happened.

Motorola and Verizon issued update after update to each for a solid year before Google released Android 5.0 Lollipop. Shortly after Google made Lollipop official, Motorola was quick to announce which of its phones would be updated to it. That list, as you can imagine, included the Ultra, MAXX, and Mini and was posted in October 2014. Months went by and Motorola failed to release the 5.0 update to its DROID line, but said in January of 2015 that it was all happening “soon.”

Fast forward to today and owners of those DROID phones from 2013 still do not have Lollipop. According to Motorola’s David Schuster, they’ll never see it.  (more…)

#TBT: Hands-on Overview of Android 2.2 on the “OG” DROID

Tim-o-tato
by Tim-o-tato on News

#TBT allows us to dive into old content, reflecting on our roots as Android enthusiasts. Looking through our old videos, we must re-share the two videos below. These were our first hands-on videos with Android 2.2 “Froyo” on the original Motorola DROID on Verizon.

Words like “overclocked” and “ROM” are tossed around, which is somewhat comical considering we don’t exactly discuss that type of Android hackery anymore. Thanks to SetCPU (which used to be all the rage back in the day), this “OG” DROID was clocked at a whopping 900MHz, and even with that, you can still see how stuttery and jankified the OS was.

We sure have come a long way.

Please, share any fond memories you might have with overclocking and custom ROMs below in the comments. (more…)

DEALS: Nexus 5 32GB for $140, DROID Turbo for $170

nexus 5 deal
Kellex
by Kellex on Deals News

Need a phone at the moment, maybe one that is a temporary placeholder as we wait for phones like the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7 to arrive? Today, there are two phone deals worth looking at.

The first is for the Nexus 5 with 32GB storage that can be had for just $140 over at eBay. The second is for Verizon’s DROID Turbo that can be had for as little as $170 over at Groupon. Each phone is refurbished, so they aren’t new. But again, they could be great placeholders for someone in-between phones or who may have broken their current phone and can’t fork out another $500-$600 at the moment for a new one.

The Nexus 5 is the original and will work on T-Mobile and AT&T here in the US. The DROID Turbo will work on Verizon (of course), but should also see GSM HSPA+ support on AT&T. If you want the full LTE experience, though, you really will want to stick to Verizon.  (more…)