After patiently waiting for the newest release of the Android OS for my Moto DROID (lets not forget the many rumored and canceled releases for 2.1) I just had to track down the udpate vs. wait for the 47MB OTA update to come at some unknown time starting on or after August 3. A quick Google search brought me to a familiar place, androidforums.com.

I snapped up the download, which is the legitimate release from Google for STOCK, non-rooted devices. Sure I’m antsy, but I didn’t see the need to root my phone and lose some features to gain others, plus, I don’t need the upgrade to the ‘Brick’ feature in case something went south.

The update process is cake, as noted in the link above, I rebooted and after a few minutes the first round it was up and running. I had to do some digging to find the Flash 10.1 app as well since it’s not listed in the Market yet. I found you’ll need to reboot your device after you install Flash to make it play nice with the browser.

Here is what I found after a night of playing.

1. FASTER – Hella faster than 2.1 in terms of app and screen switching, and just overall a much quicker build.
2. The new look to the Launcher is nice, especially the app listings, however I did install Launcher Pro due to some really cool add ons like mini-docks at the bottom for contacts, shortcuts etc.
3. The new clock app is great. Extra features such as also displaying the temp, and news if you wish, along with shortcuts to music, photos etc, and a dimming feature. It’s intent is to be used with the dock, however until I find a dock that fits my case, it just sits on the bedstand.
4. Flash works! – Now I can more easily monitor my weather information at home. This will be a great added bonus to the phone for a number of reasons for me.
5. Did I mention it’s much faster?
6. Camera support – Updated interface for accessing all the features in the camera/video camera, along with LED ON feature for video camera for low light video.
7. Has better support for corporate calendars (since I had the DROID to begin with, it had native support for Exchange calendars.
8. The default Mail app appears to have support for Signatures now. I had been using K9 mail, which was great for the signature support, however it had difficulty parsing a few emails from various web-apps I maintain, which makes mobile upkeep a pita.
9. USB Tethering – I haven’t tried this, and I’m not sure I will. I’ve been using PDA-net, which has worked flawlessly for me.
10. – DOWNSIDE – Still no support that I can find for connecting to an Untangle VPN server.

Overall, I’m quite happy I tracked this down last night and set it up. I’ll probably hook up the GF’s DROID as well later this week if mine is performing well.

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the switch to the DROID coming at the end of March, however Friday morning I woke up to an ailing Crackberry. Having the TAC insurance plan, and pointing out my New every Two plan was due for renewal in two weeks, I asked about just pushing that date to Friday, vs. getting another new Curve on VZW’s dime. The agreed to this after a little back and forth, and by dinnertime on Friday, I had myself a shiny new Motorola DROID.

Since I had spent some time with in at the store, I was familiar with the basic operations and capacity of the device, however the more I’ve been using it this weekend, the more I am blown away by the abilities of it. While I can’t pass judgement on the battery yet, as it needs a few cycles to get fully up to capacity, It’s been holding it’s own so far, unless I have Meebo open for IM. – UPDATE: 3/10/10 – Battery is getting me thru a day, and I’m not carrying along my USB charging cable anymore. With ‘average’ use, it’s quite adequate when you’re in a metro area and not constantly looking for towers.

The interface is pretty slick and easy to use. While I did have to google the basic methods to get apps to the main screen, and other random functions, but overall, it’s been a pretty easy learning curve!

What has impressed me most, is the accuracy of the touch pad. While I’m really enthused to have a full QWERTY on the device, I haven’t used it as much as I thought I would. I’ve been able to easily add my IM, social media, weather and other basic apps to get me back up and running. I’ve also found Gmote, would enables you to control your music library on your computer via the DROID. Also, I’ve located a pretty decent VNC program, all available from the Android Market (short of Gmote). Short of being able to completely setup my VPN connection to my Untangle Firewall, the DROID pretty much removes the need for me to drag a laptop places with me and tether up to the Internet.

There are a few items missing from it that I’m hoping are resolved quickly are: No easy copy/paste in the interface I found if you longtap the content in question, you can copy it, moreso, you can longtap just about anything, anywhere for a host of options. No ability to add signatures on outgoing emails. Seeing as I use this for businesses, It’s critical that this feature be implemented soon. Maybe in 2.1.

Otherwise, the speed, usability, stability and overall performance of the DROID is pretty impressive. I opted for a slightly overbearing case on the phone, because I admit I’m a bit hard on stuff, and wanted to give myself the best chances to now destroy it. The one phone call I’ve made with it, I found to be exceptionally clear and crisp. The speaker actually had decent quality sound, not tinny or choppy like I’ve experienced with other phones.

Overall, I’m going to give the phone a 9 out of 10 review, only discounting it for the copy/paste and email signatures, two a pretty basic features on all other platforms of phones.