The Droid has been performing very well in the last couple of weeks. Only once has it locked up on me, and I suspect there were some little issues with several apps I had running interfering with each other. Calls are clear and most of the apps (I only use FREE ones) actually do what they say. There are lots of choices for apps, so if I don't like one I can pick another.

Battery Life
I have been getting 12-15h battery life, that's actually using the device. A couple short phone calls, bluetooth pairing in the car and the house, sending tweets, getting email, playing music for a few songs worth, light browsing, etc. This is quite adequate for most normal uses I think. Most people will have a charger in the car and the house, and probably a USB cable in the office anyway so this capacity seems useful. I don't use the WiFi since I have 3G internet, but I suspect the WiFi will eat the battery faster. I also use a battery management program that dims the display pretty quickly, and I turn off bluetooth unless I am in the car or at home.

Good Music News
My new Ford F150 has Sync and will actually stream my music from the phone over bluetooth through the sound system. This is a sweet seamless transition. I don't have to do anything or plug anything. While listening to my playlist at the gym, I walk out with my headphones on and the tunes cranked. When I get in the truck, I remove the headphones from the jack (which pauses the music) and as soon as I turn on the engine, the phone bonds with the stereo and when I select streaming media, the song continues right where it left off, now through the sound system. THIS people, is AS IT SHOULD BE. Amen.

Bugs
The exchange client on the device works fine, but has one small bug (IMHO). It does not have a concept of folder hierarchy. Many of us use folders and sub folders, and it lists all of them as if they were off the root, and in alphabetical order - mixing up the hierarchy. Also if there are subfolders with the same name, I have no idea which is which since they are disconnected with the tree structure. There are other exchange client apps I haven't tried which may be able to handle this correctly.

The biggest problem for me was the SD card not being mounted as a drive when I connected it to the computer. So I use an app to do this, and just have the app mount it when I am ready to sync to it or access the card. However, even after unplugging it from the USB cable, it still thinks it's connected. Not sure if this is a bug with the app or the O/S, but it seems minor and doesn't affect functionality - it only leaves a notification up on the screen.

Wishlist
It is cotton-pickin hard to type numbers on the little keyboard. I need an app that puts a small number bar across the bottom of the screen when the keyboard has slid out so i can touch those instead of having to ALT- each tiny key. Try typing in a 6-digit bonding code for bluetooth before it times out in 20 seconds...

Keyboard
**FREE MONEY MAKING IDEA HERE*** I aint gonna do it, but somebody needs to... We need a bunch of tiny little plastic sticky dots about 1mm in diameter that go on each key so that my fat fingers can know which one they are touching. They can't tell the transition between one key and the next since they are all flat. I just need a little texture that tells them when they are on the center of a key. Please let me know when you produce this product, I'll buy one right away.

Latest rumor on the street is that Verizon/Motorola will be releasing a new update for the OS firmware in about 10 days... we'll see what happens when they push it out...

stick around super-glue fans...

DROID is Motorola's new handset, powered by Google software, on Verizon's network. It was released to the public on Nov. 6, and it took me a few days to track mine down. I have had it for four days now, and can give it a solid review. So far it's a nice device, and everything seems to be pretty stable. Cutting to the chase:

Pros:

• Apps, apps, apps. There's one, two, or sixteen for everything. A few are good and critical to have, see the Apps section below.
• User Interface is great. I have never used an iPhone, and probably never will, but my sense is that it is just as simple and elegant as the UI on the Droid. The design is intuitive and was fairly easy to figure out without reading the manual, in just a few minutes.
• Screen is bright, crystal clear.
  
• Haven't made many calls or received them, but the quality seemed good for those I did.
• Haptic Feedback - the little vibration it gives you as feedback when pressing a key, etc. It's really great.
• Simultaneous apps - run up to 6 apps at the same time. This beats the iPhone's purported *ONE*.
• Accelerometer, tilt gauges are very cool. they allow for lots of possibilities. (WiiMote app anyone???)
• Seamless interface with both my GMail account (you'll need one) and my Exchange server for work. Exchange client has a bug regarding nested folders, but oh well.
  

Cons:

• Cell Network Reception. Not so great. On my little E815 (old phone with an actual antenna) I always get full signal here at the house. With the Droid, best is 3 out of 4, and a lot of time on 1 bar. Still have 3G connection with data though, and can make and receive calls. The reception diminishes when either WiFi or Bluetooth is on.
• Bluetooth and WiFi interfere with each other and with the phone reception. I guess that is to be expected, since they are almost the same frequency. It's going to be hard to design a compact device that uses two near frequency radios without interference. I just use one at a time.
  
• Keyboard isn't the greatest. It's OK. I have never used a device with such a small keyboard before, and am still getting used to it. It probably should have been designed with the keys convex instead of concave, to give my fat fingers a better idea of what they are pressing.
  
• Battery life isn't so great. But it does a lot of stuff, it just uses a lot of juice. I am always near a USB port, car lighter plug, or power outlet, so this shouldn't really be a big issue. I figure it goes for about 6H in NOT power-saver mode (e.g. with services running, and checking for new mail).
• It gets a little warm with use. On a cold day this is a plus.
• Let's end things. Apps don't really have a "close and go away" concept most of the time, unless the developer specifically wrote in code to do this.
• Camera sucks. This is widely acknowledged. It takes almost a full second to record the image after it seems like it should have taken the picture. Resolution, images, and flash are fine, but unless you have a cooperative subject or unchanging landscape, you probably aren't going to get the shot. I kept putting my thumb in the way holding the thing, and have a few shots with flash reflecting off thumb. Auto-focus... does it? haven't yet figured that one out.
  

Apps you will need

These are the free applications you will want to make sure to download and install from Market.

• TasKiller (or one of the other task management apps that all do the same thing)
  
• MountUSB - Mounts the SD card so it shows up in the removable storage drive bay on the computer
• I will just say that Verizon - YOU SUCK BIGTIME for not including this feature out of the box.
  
• AndroZip and/or FileDroid - file managers to manage files on the device. AndroZip supports zip/tar/tgz etc.
  
• WhatIsMyIp is a good utility to show the IP on all the interfaces.
  
• AK Notepad or some other notepad for taking notes, writing text files
  
• SambaExplorer (maybe) - syncs files on a Windows Share to SD card over WiFi (instead of USB). Not really ready for prime time yet, but give it a few months.
• Power Manager (or one of the other ones) - Manage your power settings to preserve your battery

Widgets

Widgets are little applications that don't have a full interface, they are meant to be dropped on the desktop as an icon.

• One-Click (settings: brightness, GPS, vibrate mode, WiFi)
• Droid Bluetooth Toggle - toggles Bluetooth radio system on and off instead of hunting through menus for it)
  

Apps you will want.

Hi MSN or Hi Yahoo, etc. - for IM client
Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn (if you use these)
Twidroid - Twitter client
Pandora - Streaming music radio
Weather Channel - local weather and warnings, updated automatically.

So all in all it's a nice device, had it only a few days now so am still getting my bearings with it. I will post more later

Customer Service Experience

Bad. Lets just start there. First, I got a kernel level error message on the computer when I plugged in the device to Windows Server 2008, as Windows attempted to mount the SD card in the device on the removable storage bay, just as the device is making it UN-available... Windows guys: this is a bug in your code... Verizon guys: leave the card mounted (DUH). So, I got on the phone with Motorola technical support, had them expedite escalation to tier 2, and 90 minutes later, the tech says "yeah, well sounds like it's broken, go take it to the store for replacement." <sigh>. OK, it's NEW... I get it. BUT, there is NO way this tech had even ever seen one of these devices, just the emulator.

So I went to the VZ store. Stood in line. Finally when I got to talk with a sales guy, he had to go to the back room to talk with the uber-nerds. After a while, he came back and says "uh yeah, it isn't supposed to do that [mount the SD card to copy files to/from it]." Apparently they disabled it ON PURPOSE. Dolts. For me, this is a total deal-breaker. So like I am going to have to turn off the device, take the back off, take the battery out, remove the card, put it in a SD adapter, and plug it in to my computer to transfer files??? I don't THINK so.

Anyway, I finally found an actual solution to this problem despite the cluelessness at Verizon and Motorola - see Apps You Need above. Motorola Technical Support: FAIL. Verizon giving me the features I need that are already there [again]: FAIL.

How to sync Music to Droid SD card with Windows Media Player

I use WMP to manage my music on my devices. It's not the greatest thing around, but it works. You can use these techniques to use the player/manager of your choice to manage your content. I am on Windows, so this will be WMP on Windows but the same should apply no matter what your OS/player.

1. Download and install the free MountUSB app. It will make the card actually available once it is activated.
2. Organize your music with WMP into playlists (you probably did this already).
3. Plug Droid into USB, and mount the card with the MountUSB widget. The SD card now shows up in the drive letter for the Droid.
4. WMP will ask if we want to manage this device - we do.
5. Choose playlists to sync, and synchronize. WMP will copy the mp3's to a folder on the card called Music, organized by artist/album folders under it.
6. Now you got music on the Droid. BUT... ZERO playlists...
7. Find your .WPL playlist files on your hard drive and copy them to the Music folder on Droid's SD card.
8. These are XML text files. Open them all in a decent text editor (like Notepad++ or EditPlus), and do one thing - a global search and replace to fix the path for each media src entry so it starts with "\Music". Then, Droid can find the files on your card, and you are set.
   

Example:

original on PC:
    <body>
        <seq>
            <media src="\\Server\Shared\Music\Various Artists\Jazz After Dark (2 of 3)\01 - Sophisticated Lady.mp3"/>

...

edited version on Droid:
    <body>
        <seq>
            <media src="\Music\Various Artists\Jazz After Dark (2 of 3)\01 - Sophisticated Lady.mp3"/>

...

Part I

I have trees. Lots of trees. Very tall. They tend to litter up the roof with a fairly heavy leaf load, and it all ends up in the rain gutters. So, along comes iRobot and provides me a gizmo that *claims* to be the ticket to clean gutters...
And of course (being the Gizmodo Dragon) I plunk down a wad of dough and say "ship it." iRobot Looj PS do NOT pay $130. find them on eBay brand new for $60 (including shipping)

Bottom line: Looj gets a C-. Passing but barely. Also keep in mind that my place is this thing's worst case scenario... My gutters are also 30' up mostly, so *VERY* hard to clean, even with a really tall ladder.

Pros:

• gutter is clean
• probably cleaner than if I would have scooped it out.

Cons:

• Pine cones are its nemesis. It won't really flip them out of the gutter and it gets stuck on them.
  
• It took twice as long as if I would have scooped it.
• Track came off mid-way, and i had to manually retrieve it.
  
• flipped over in the gutter several times. the torque of the rotating flapper is enough to flip it, fairly easily.
  
• antenna gets stuck on gutter, and in fact in the track. antenna needs to be a lot shorter, and prb integrated.
  
• Gets high centered on pine cones, and debris in general. Make sure you let it really clear the debris before moving forward.
  
• flapper gets stuck, makes a horrible whining sound... so i backed off a bit and then went forward an inch at a time.
  

I had to watch the thing and control it from the top of the ladder (read: sprayed with gutter crap). Control from the ground at a safe distance failed miserably as it flipped and stopped several times. Clear a 4' section and then cautiously advance only a small bit at at time.

I had to move the ladder 5 times. if this had been more than a 30' gutter only 10' up, it would have been a severe pain in the butt. I am a great fan of automation, and robotics, and this little device is sort of neither. I am probably going to keep it but modify the flappers so they are a bit smaller (less flip-over torque) and probably remove the (mostly useless) brushes. BTW don't drop it from over 5'. (it fell off the ladder) it will survive but mine bent the flapper spindle, and i had to correct it (bend it back) or else it would have been off-center.

For those of you who have the Roomba, I still think it l ROCKS btw. Looj not so much...

iRobot folks if you are reading this, here are some suggestions:
brushes suck. get rid of them or make them stiffer.
flappers have too much surface area and contribute too much torque.
stuff falls on top of the device, and it just carries that stuff for the length of its ride.
when going backward, it needs a "cow-catcher" kind of thing to move debris away from the center and the tracks.

Part II

After Modifications

So I decided to try it again, this time with some mods. I wound up the antenna a bit so it doesn't get stuck going under the nails holding up the gutter. You can see in the picture that it's wound up behind the unit. Doesn't hurt reception too much, but farther away it might. The antenna actually acts a bit like the "cow catcher" that I wish they'd had. I might still make one out of a piece of wood or something and bolt it to the back end.

I made two modifications to the front end. I chopped about 1/2" off each of the ends of the rubber flappers so that it would have a bit less friction and a bit less torque. Then, I used ty-wraps to bunch and tilt forward the brushes so they don't get caught in the tread.

I tried a second gutter, (admittedly not quite as densely populated) and had success with the device. It got the flappers stuck a lot less (only a couple times actually). It didn't flip over, and it didn't loose traction. I went back and forth an inch at a time or so, just to let it flip the stuff out. There weren't any pine cones, so I don't know if it's a fair comparison to the first gutter...

What ended up happening actually is that the rotation of the flappers (rotating toward the roof) was flipping the stuff back up on the roof, where it would roll back down and get flipped again. only a small part of the leaves and needles actually got flipped OUT of the gutter and onto the ground. Not sure what one would do about this, but it seems like sort of a design flaw... If I turned the auger the other way (rotating away from the roof), it wouldn't flip anything out, because the shingles reached down actually into the gutter, and they blocked the thing throwing the leaves out. I actually had to break off a couple of the shingles over the near part of the gutter, just to get the device into the gutter at all.

So, I would recommend these small modifications to your device, as they seemed to help a bit. Good luck with your gutters...

Garmin in their infinite wisdom decided that it probably would be better not to send me a replacement unit that might also brick itself so they sent me the 885T which is a much better unit I think. More expensive too I imagine. So I gave them my credit card so they could cross-ship. I had sent the old unit back after I got the new one, only to have them send the old one back "repaired" a few weeks later. So I guess it's merry Christmas for me then... I get the new unit AND the old one back too. Good work Garmin. At least they get a good customer service score.

The one nice feature that the 885T has which the 765T doesn't is a removable battery. If the 765 had a removable battery, I could have taken it out and rebooted the unit (maybe).

The one great feature about the 885T is that it comes with the MSN Direct traffic receiver (in the 12V power cord). Well, since I don't feel like paying for MSN Direct service, AND I already seemed to have a GTM 20 FM traffic receiver... I plugged the GTM20 into the 885T and Voila! Traffic alerts. Now, with NO ADVERTISING!!! The 885T doesn't expect to be coupled with the GTM 20, but when it is, it still works fine. So I am a happy camper again - free lifetime traffic with NO ADS.

The GPS itself seems to function fine. Sometimes the voice seems to halt or stutter as the GPS's CPU tries to keep up with whatever it's doing in the background. Not a big deal, as the voice guidance is still understandable. Lane assist and the other features are nice. The one difference is this unit takes only a Micro-SD card rather than a full SD card. So I had to order another 2G card for $6 so I could have some tunes on a removable card. No biggie. The music player is the same as the other Nuvi versions (sucky UI) but it works.

The 885T "claims" to be able to render video on the unit from an analog input from a backup camera, but am not sure about this, or if it was meant for the US market. Boy that would be nice though to be able to use it as a little video display. Maybe someone will figure it out some day and let me know...

while driving, the new 765T decided that it would be a good time for it to "update its firmware." So, it says "updating firmware 1%" ... it says this a few times. I turned it off (I'm DRIVING and I need it to navigate...) and it seemed to be back to normal. A while later it happens again, and then I get the
"Update Complete - OK" dialog. clicked OK, and it turns itself off. Never to be heard from again. Dark. Nothing. Lifeless BRICK. I can't believe it BRICKED ITSELF WHILE DRIVING and ON THE ROAD. Spent 55 minutes on the phone (mostly waiting for a human) for them to tell me "uh, yeah its one of many reports we started receiving today." So Joy.

Garmin in their infinite wisdom decided it might *NOT* be a good idea to ship me another identical unit... so it looks like I will be getting an upgrade to a 800 series. Will see how well THIS brick works when it arrives next week...

Garmin Firmware Programmers: You're FIRED.

Got up at 7AM and fished off the shore of the lake for a bit, had as much luck as yesterday. It was quiet until about 8am. Sheesh don’t people got stuff to do on a Sunday morning. Got out the soldering iron and melted all up and down the seam of the leaking shower head, sealing it nicely. Ugly as sin, but it now doesn’t spray all over when it gets used… Went on an excursion today to visit Camano island state park, just for a day trip. Nice drive through farmland, wetlands, mudflats and the like. Perfect weather for yet a third day yields 73 degrees and sunny. *ALL* of the snow-capped peaks of the Puget Sound area mountains are visible today through the hazey air. Quite a treat. Nice little summer preview today, without the heat (thank GOD). Fished off the dock for a few minutes at the park as I obtained a new overdose of vitamin D. I was chased down by a large and lovely, yet heavily armed, member of the state wildlife enforcement division, who requested to see a “license.” Fortunately I had remembered to put it in my tackle box and I showed it to her, but that seemed to satisfy her as she left to pursue other perps. Repeated requests to cuff me went unfulfilled… Child One and Mommy are off to play at the park while I construct a new waste dump hose assembly. Cheap crappy hose we bought last year sprung leaks already, that’s only 9 months. Ugh. Where’s that beer..

Plumbing seems to have held up (more or less). Shower head leaks from the seam when the water pressure is on. Cheap Chinese plastic crap. Went fishing in the morning for an hour, didn’t catch anything except lake weed. Might have been too late, the guy that was there had a whole string of fish. Plus its so dang shallow that its probably only 9’ deep out 100 feet anyway and I bet the lake weed is 6 feet high. Makes fishing from shore a pain in the butt anyway. Next time I am bringing my inflatable boat. Whilst trying to hook up the laptop to the VGA port on the TV, and I knocked the laptop off the TV stand and it crashed to the floor, injuring the front right plastic piece. It was still playing Mythbusters for my son as I picked it up. I snapped the speaker grille plastic back in place, and with a little super glue, it should be fine. I tried like hell to light a camp fire, but it just would NOT catch. Even under the blue flame of a propane torch.

Campfire: FAIL.

Need more beer. Fell fast asleep on the couch in about 17 seconds.