I want to buy a new cellphone and like a friend’s old droid phone. I am so out of the phone loop that I don’t really know much about 'em - just that I’d like a droid phone.
So what are the good ones? Any good internet price deals?
Oh, I thought your question was about Druid phones!
I was confused, because the OS is Android, and the high end Motorola phone is the Droid, which I have and like.
The Droid has a slide out keyboard, which I like if I’m typing anything major, and is a bit bigger and heavier than the next one down. That’s fine for me. It has a 32G data card, which was important to me since I wanted to put all my music on it, and was frustrated by my 2G Sony MP3 player. Its screen is a bit bigger also.
The thing I’ve used most so far, besides the MP3 player, is Google Maps, since it shows me traffic on the way home without me having to log back into a computer. Also good for directions when walking in an unfamiliar place.
It cost me $149, after a $50 credit for reupping my Verizon plan and a $100 rebate.
It does suck up power, but you can download a free app killer app, which helps clean up the left overs. Best bet is to go to a store and see which one appeals to you.
I have read the Dope on it, but I’m not that much of a junkie to do it often.
the newest Android-based phone that I know of is the HTC-Magic (or HTC-03A, I forget what it’s called in America). Anyway, it’s a pretty good phone.
The touch screen is almost as sensitive as the iPhone’s, which is pretty damn good as the iPhone still has the best touch screen in the business. Also you can download new keyboards if you don’t like the standard one, which is a pretty good feature
The battery life is something like 7 hours of talk time which is ridiculously good.
It’s a bit smaller than the iPhone, but about the same thickness. It has 4 buttons on the front as well as a scrolling nub thing, everything else is handled by touch.
All in all I don’t like it as much as the iPhone, but it has a much better app market and a better battery life than the iPhone. MY buddy just picked one up on Docomo (a Japanese voice carrier) but he got it for free as part of a contract signing, so I dunno what it costs. You can find a great many reviews online that’ll tell you much more than I know about it
The Droid and the Nexus One both came out after the Magic. The Nexus One seems to be widely considered to be the best Android phone right now. Right now you can only get it through T-Mobile (or unlocked for a lot more), but it should be available for Verizon and Sprint sometime soon. The HTC Desire was just announce a few days ago and has pretty much the same hardware as the Nexus with just a slightly different design and the HTC interface over it.
Ah, my bad. I was confused about the droid/android thing. For clarification I want an ANDROID phone. If a mod could fix it that’d be awesome.
So the HTC Magic is the best thing on the market? I’ll have to give it a look
hmm, interesting. Hear the HTC-Magic is the latest one, and the only carrier that has android phones is Docomo. But Japan is significantly behind on cell phone tech these days
I’ve been on a phone choosing roller coaster for the past week or so; I even posted about it here. I love the Android phones! I had the Droid for a few days and loved it. The looks suck (I don’t like the squared off candybar look) but that’s a personal thing. It was great.
I finally decided to get a Motorola Cliq. I know it isn’t as powerful, or fast, or highly rated as the Droid, but we settled on T-Mobile for our carrier and I didn’t want to spend all the money, both initial cost and additional plan cost, on the Nexus One.
I paid $150 for my Cliq at a T-Mo store, and not an hour after I bought it I was in Wal Mart where it was $78. I am returning mine to the T-Mo store and going back to WM and get the cheaper one. The T-Mo store also had the Samsung Highlight for $79, Wal Mart’s price was $18.88.
Do any android software phones do the GPS real time driving instructions? Or was that just an internet rumor?
The Motorola Droid does, for one, and probably other recent Android phones too. You can see the videos at sites like Engadget. They even sell a docking station which you attach to the dash. Plug the phone in and it launches the sat-nav app automatically.
Not sure whether it still works if you lose your 3G signal, though.
I have a G1 (HTC Dream) - the first Android phone - have had it for nearly a year now. I really like it, but had to get an oversized battery to be able to use the music/media player and to stream audio/video without using the up battery in 2 hours. With the oversized battery I get a full days use before having to charge.
A physical KB is a requirement for me, so I’m waiting to upgrade to a faster, higher RAM phone until something more powerful than the Cliq is available on TMO.
One nice thing about them is that the do position based on both GPS and the mobile signal. I have my GPS turned off usually to save power.
I bought the docking station for my son-in-laws Droid for a Christmas present, and I didn’t realize it could do that. I may have to get one for myself now before I take a trip.
I going to back off slightly from that part about it automatically launching the navigation app. That is how I remembered the video test I saw, which I can’t seem to find now, but I think in fact what the dock does is automatically switch the phone to “car mode”, a simplified UI from which you can easily start the navigation app.
You saved me some money. 
I know about car mode. In my Prius, there is a charging port inside the storage area between the front seats, so that is a good place for it. I have a GPS holder that might fit the Droid.