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Best Android Phone – The Droids You’re Looking For

August 27, 2010 By NotLost Leave a Comment

Best Android Phone

With so many different Android phones on the market now, picking the best of them can be a bit of a challenge.

I’m throwing this little guide together to help you determine the best Android phone and I’ll even separate it by carrier so if you would like to remain with your current cell phone provider, I’ll give you the best Android powered phone they’ve got.

Best Android Phone For Verizon

Winner:  Droid X

Runner Ups: Droid 2 / Droid Incredible

Deciding on a winner for Verizon Wireless was the hardest of all the cell phone providers in this list.  Quite simply, they have the strongest lineup of Android phones on the market right now.

We ultimately settled on the gigantic Droid X as the winner in this showdown.  Sporting a 1GHZ processor, 24GB of memory (expandable to 40GB), and a huge 4.3” screen, it exudes power an excess.   The phone has been out for over a month and Verizon is still having trouble keeping these things in stock (last I checked there was a two week waiting period to get one).

If you’d like something a little smaller, the Droid Incredible is a great phone itself and the Droid 2 is the phone you want if you’re want a dedicated slide out qwerty keyboard (all of these phones feature 1GHZ processors and at least 16GB of memory).

Best Android Phone For Sprint

Winner: Samsung Epic 4G (overall winner)

Runner Up: HTC EVO 4G

This was an extremely tight race as both phones seem to have taken the “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to building a phone.

These two phones are currently the only two 4G phones you can get so if 4G is important to you, the Epic 4G and EVO 4G are what you’ll be choosing between.  We gave the nod to the Epic 4G as our winner in this race since it features better battery life, a Super AMOLED screen (though at 4” it’s smaller the the EVO’s 4.3”), and twice as much memory.   The Epic 4G will set you back $50 more than the EVO so if you’re on a budget get the EVO but otherwise we think most people will be better served by Samsung’s Epic.   If I had to pick an overall winner, the Epic 4G would be my choice.

Best Android Phone For AT&T

Winner: Samsung Captivate

Runner Up: HTC Aria

The AT&T lineup of Android powered phones is the weakest among the four major carriers and it makes sense since AT&T is still the exclusive provider of the iPhone.   Fortunately, with the Samsung Captivate, AT&T users finally have a phone that I’d label as acceptable.  If the Captivate is out of your price range, the diminutive HTC Aria is a decent choice as well.

Best Android Phone For T-Mobile

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant

Runner Up: Garminfone

You may remember that T-mobile was the provider chosen to sell the Google Nexus One.  While it was a great phone (and is enjoying it’s life as the official Android Developers phone), it’s no longer available for purchase from T-Mobile or through Google (unless you’re a developer).

Fortunately, the Samsung Vibrant is a good alternative (part of the Galaxy S series of smartphones).   It has a beautiful  4” Super AMOLED screen, 16GB of built in memory, and a fast 1GHZ processor.

If you’re really into GPS (we love GPS), then the T-Mobile Garminfone is a rather unique smartphone as it offers the best GPS navigation of any phone on the market though specs are a little weaker than most current generation Android phones.

Filed Under: Android Tagged With: at&t, best android phone, best smartphone, droid 2, droid incredible, droid x, garminfone, htc aria, htc evo 4g, samsung captivate, samsung epic 4g, samsung vibrant, sprint, tmobile, verizon

Motorola Droid 2 Release Date – R2D2 Version Announced

August 10, 2010 By NotLost Leave a Comment

The fact that the Motorola Droid 2 hadn’t actually been officially been announced was getting to the point of ridiculous.  Heck, I wrote about the Droid 2 over a month ago!

But today Verizon officially announced the only thing we didn’t actually know – the release date (all the specs are here).   You can start preordering tomorrow (August 11th) and you should be able to find one in Verizon stores starting August 12th.

Other than that, the only piece of news was that in September, they’ll be releasing an R2D2 version of the Droid 2 which will come with Star Wars content and a color scheme designed to look like the iconic Droid from the Star Wars films.  As soon as a picture of the Droid’s new R2D2 paint scheme surfaces, I’ll post one for you.

Motorola Droid 2

Filed Under: Android Tagged With: android 2.2, droid 2, froyo, motorola, r2d2, verizon

5 Good Reasons To Root Your Android Phone

July 12, 2010 By NotLost 1 Comment

While Android is an open source operating system, that doesn’t mean the phone will let you do whatever the heck you want.  While it’s not nearly as locked down as the iPhone and iOS it’s not quite as open as some of us would like either.

So in this post, I’ll give you several good reasons to root your phone, one reason not to, and six tutorials for popular Android phones (the tutorials are at the bottom).

  1. Better Performance – Let’s face it, having true multi-tasking is great but sometimes the phone gets pretty bogged down.  Rooted users often find much improved memory management and performance.
  2. The Latest Updates – Even if your phone is on the fast track for the latest OS updates (Nexus One, Motorola Droid), it can still be months from the release of the newest Android OS and the time it gets pushed to your phone.  If you root your phone, you can often get the latest updates in less than a week and get all the enhancements that come with it.
  3. 3. Overclocking – In addition to getting better performance, you can also get apps that will allow you to overclock the processor on your phone which will help speed up your phone.  And the cool part is that popular overclocking apps will actually underclock your processor when it’s not being used in order to conserve the batter and then overclock it when it needs the performance boost so the result is a faster phone when you need it and a battery that lasts longer – best of both worlds.
  4. Wi-Fi Tethering – While this option is available on most current Android powered phones (running Android Froyo 2.2), it costs quite a bit extra a month to use – not only that, but original Motorola Droid users can’t do wi-fi tethering at all without rooting.    The cool thin about wi-fi tethering is that if you’re in an area with no open Wi-Fi and don’t happen to have your USB cable with you, you can still use the internet connection on your phone to power your laptop (or anything else that needs an internet connection).
  5. 5. More Apps – Using a rooted phone doesn’t mean you have to forgo using the Android Market for apps – you can still use all of them.   But there are some apps that are built only for rooted users and you’ll be able to download and use them.   

Rooting Your Android Phone

A good reason NOT to root your phone? It voids your phone’s warranty and there is always a small chance you could “brick” the phone (i.e. the phone won’t work at all).  I know many people who have rooted their phones without any problems whatsoever, but just keep the dangers in mind.

Here are the specific instructions for many of the most popular Android Phones (just about every Android based phone has been unlocked, though I can’t find one for Garminfone which due to low popularity and a very heavily customized version of Android has proven very difficult to unlock at this point).

How To Root the Droid X [tutorial]

http://gizmodo.com/5598894/droid-x-gets-one+click-rooting-app

How To Root The Droid 2 [tutorial]

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=764950

How To Root The Samsung Epic 4G [tutorial]

http://www.gadgetsdna.com/how-to-root-samsung-epic-4g-android-phone/5730/

How To Root The HTC EVO 4G [tutorial]

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=690762

How To Root The Motorolad Droid (the original one) [tutorial]

http://theunlockr.com/2010/06/04/how-to-root-the-motorola-droid-android-2-1/

How To Root The Droid Incredible [tutorial]

http://www.droid-life.com/2010/06/14/how-to-root-and-unroot-the-droid-incredible/

How To Root The Nexus One [tutorial]

http://androidandme.com/2010/01/hacks/video-how-to-unlock-and-root-a-nexus-one/

How To Root The Samsung Vibrant & Captivate [tutorial]

http://theandroidsite.com/2010/07/18/how-to-root-your-samsung-vibrant-or-captivate/

How To Root The Droid Eris [tutorial]

http://www.solidblogger.com/root-droid-eris-android-1-5-2-1-download-droid-eris-root-image-file/

Filed Under: Android Tagged With: Android, captivate, droid 2, droid incredible, droid x, epic 4g, good reasons to root your phone, how to root your phone, motorola droid, root android phone, root droid, samsung vibrant, tutorial

Motorola Droid 2 Review

June 28, 2010 By NotLost 1 Comment

While the Droid X has been billed by some as the successor to the original Motorola Droid, the real successor is the Droid 2 which is expected to be released this summer.

In a lot of ways this phone is just a slight upgrade over the first Droid.

It features a dual LED flash 5MP camera.

It has a faster 1 GHz processor (TI OMAP).

It has 16GB of memory (same as before) and can be upgraded to 40GB.

It also has 512 MB of RAM which is a welcome addition as the original could get bogged down rather easily if you like to run a lot of apps at once.

The keyboard no longer has the thumbpad and now features slightly raised keys which makes typing via the keyboard easier and faster – a big improvement over the old keyboard though I’ve found as have many others that the physical keyboard isn’t nearly as necessary as you might think – I rarely use mine now and I’m one of those people who initially refused to buy a smarthphone without a physical keyboard.

This phone is expected to ship with Android 2.2 Froyo which brings a whole lot of awesomeness to the table.

The screen size remains the same at 3.7″.

Is it worth the upgrade if you already have a Motorola Droid – I don’t so.  It’s an incremental step forward, but not a giant leap.  If you’re going to upgrade, get a Droid X unless the size of the phone makes it difficult for you to hold in your hand.  If you don’t have a smartphone yet, then by all means get it as you’ll probably love this phone.

Motorola Droid 2 - Photo Courtesy DroidLife

Filed Under: Android Tagged With: android 2.2, droid 2, droid 2 review, froyo, keyboard, motorola, motorola droid 2 review, physical keyboard, ti omap

Droid 2 Vs Droid X – How To Decide Which Phone To Get

June 28, 2010 By NotLost Leave a Comment

With so many different flavors of Android phones to choose from even from the same carrier, picking just the right phone can be downright tough.

In this post I’ll compare two soon to be released Motorola phones (both Verizon Wireless exclusives), The Droid X and Droid 2.

Droid X Vs Droid 2

Processors

I was a little disappointed to see that the Droid 2 only has a 750mhz processor (TI OMAP) since the defacto standard has become at least 1GHZ for top of the line smartphones.  The Droid X features the expected 1GHZ processor (TI OMAP).

Keyboard

This is one of the biggest differences between the two phones.  The Droid X uses only it’s touchscreen and virtual keyboards while the Droid 2 features an improved slide out hardware keyboard.   Whether you need the keyboard or not really is mostly a matter of preference.  Personally, I like having a keyboard on my phone, but rarely use it.

OS

While it is expected that the Droid X will ship with Android 2.1 initially, it’s expected that it will be upgraded to 2.2 Froyo in August of 2010.  The Droid 2 is expected to ship with Android 2.2 installed, but keep in mind that it’s being released a month later (mid August).

Camera

The Droid X has an 8MP camera while the Droid X has a mere 5MP camera.  Both have dual LED flash cameras.

Memory

The Droid X ships with 24GB of memory (upgradeable to 40GB) while the Droid 2 ships with 16 GB of memory (upgradeable to 40GB).

For those who want to compare these two phones to other popular smartphones like the Apple iPhone 4 and HTC EVO 4G, here are the highlights:

How do they stack up to the iPhone 4?

The Droid X is a veritable giant compared to the iPhone 4, sporting a 4.3” screen vs the 3.5” screen the iPhone 4 has.

Both the Droid X and iPhone 4 have 1GHZ processors (the Droid X features a TI OMAP 1GHZ while the iPhone 4 features an Apple A4 1GHZ processor.

The Droid 2 is a little slower checking in with a TI OMAP 750mhz processor.

Neither the Droid X or Droid 2 have a front facing camera for video chat.

The Droid X has HDMI outputs and a bigger (some would say better) 8MP camera with dual LED flash while the iPhone 4 has no such outputs and a mere 5MP camera with single LED flash though image quality in the real world is very similar.

The Droid 2 has that elusive slide out hardware keyboard for those who don’t like to be forced to use touchscreens all the time.

Neither phone has a gyroscope while the iPhone 4 does.

How do they stack up to the HTC EVO 4G?

The Droid X has the same 4.3” screen as the EVO 4G, but lacks the 4G antenna and front facing camera for video chat – other than that it’s nearly the same as the other differences are minor – the EVO 4G is a Sprint phone, the Droid X is a Verizon phone.

The Droid 2 is quite a bit smaller than the EVO 4G, and lacks the HDMI output, has a slower processor but as I’ve mentioned, has a dedicated hardware keyboard.

Conclusion

While it’s tough to say which phone is really better since they’re both so new, for my money I’d buy the Droid X unless you really want a dedicated keyboard or the Droid X is too big for you to comfortably hold in your hand.

Filed Under: Android Tagged With: Android, droid 2, droid x, droid x vs droid 2, keyboard, motorola, verizon

Best Cell Phones Available For Each Carrier

June 12, 2010 By NotLost Leave a Comment

Updated 6/28/10

While some would like to crown one phone as the king, it’s really tough to do when you consider that phones will be judged based not only on the quality of the phone, but also on the phone carrier who provides service.

So in this short post, I’ll cover what I think are the best phones for the four major carriers in the U.S.   Keep in mind this list will probably be totally out of date in 6 months so keep in mind the post date when you’re reading this article.

Best Phone on Verizon Wireless

While the Motorola Droid was the gold standard on Verizon Wireless, the next round of Droid phones has blown it out of the water.  The Droid X, in my opinion is the best Verizon phone and the Droid 2 is a good second choice and your best choice if you still want a dedicated hardware keyboard (honestly, you probably won’t use it much as the on screen keyboad is really cool especially since you can run Swype).  Android 2.2 will be coming to both soon (should ship standard on the Droid 2) which will make your phone faster and add a few cool new features.

AT&T

No surprise here – the winner by a long shot on AT&T is the iPhone 4.   It’s better in just about every way over it’s predecessor and if you can tolerate AT&T as your cell phone carrier, you’ll want to make the iPhone 4 your phone – don’t bother with the 3GS – it’s obsolete.   No Android phone on AT&T is worth your money at this point.

Best Phone On Sprint

evo 4g, iphone 4, droid incredible, nexus oneIn years past, picking Sprint as your carrier meant cheaper service than you’d get with AT&T or Verizon Wireless but their phone selection was inferior to that of their competition.  That’s no longer the case.   The HTC EVO 4G is one of the best smartphones on the market right now and boasts and absolutely enormous screen, and HD video camera, and screaming fast 1GHZ Snapdragon processor, you no longer have to get an inferior phone to get service with Sprint (and their $69.99 unlimited everything plan is a great deal though the EVO 4G does require an additional $10/month to be added to your plan).

Best Phone on T-Mobile

Even though the new Garminfone is kinda cool especially for GPS-centric people like me, the Google Nexus One still slaps its ass and calls it Sally.  It’s the phone Google built to feature it’s Android OS and it’s fast, and always the first phone to get the latest Android OS updates .

Conclusion

So there you have it – one website’s opinion on the best smartphones available for each carrier.  As usual, expect this list to change frequently as new phones are being released all the time.

Think I omitted a worthy contender to the throne?  Want to put in your two cents?  Post in the comments below and let me hear it.

Filed Under: Android, Smartphones, iPhone Tagged With: at&t, best phone, droid 2, droid incredible, droid x, htc evo 4g, iphone 4, motorola droid, nexus one, sprint, tmobile, verizon