Just upgraded from the Droid1 to the Galaxy Nexus.. Update: Got the Droid4.

[ChronoReverse]

swiftkey x is WAY faster than any type of real keyboard, the prediction is second to none. i can often type whole texts with no more than the first 2 letters of the word needed and it predicts the correct word 80% of the time, best 3.99 app i have purchased so far, there is a free version as well but the prediction isnt as good and thats the main selling point IMO.

This is not true. Swiftkey works WITH hardware keyboards as well so you can have a physical keyboard AND have prediction.

I know because I have a G2 and I use Swiftkey X

 

[Eli]

The problem with holding out for the Droid4 is that I'll have to pay full price for it. Well, unless I return this phone completely I guess.

As far as the Droid3 being laggy and stuff.. how could it possibly be worse than the original Droid?

I'm not seeing a smilie key in the lower right corner. Maybe because I use Handcent?

 

[trmiv]

Why would you have to pay full price for the Droid 4? Can't you just return the Nexus and use your upgrade on the Droid 4 when it comes out?

 

[Eli]

Why would you have to pay full price for the Droid 4? Can't you just return the Nexus and use your upgrade on the Droid 4 when it comes out?

Yeah, I edited my post. I suppose I could return the phone completely and just upgrade when the Droid4 comes out.

No idea how Verizon works with returns though.

I'm really torn, because I do like the phone.. and 4G, both are very fast. But my annoyance with the virtual keyboard doesn't seem to be getting better.

I think no physical keyboard is a dealbreaker for me. Are there any other phones worth looking at that have a physical keyboard?

 

[trmiv]

You have 14 days to return it. There is a restocking fee though. $30 I think.

 

[Eli]

Yeah, 14 days is my understanding as well.

What exactly is MotoBlur and does the Droid1 have it? If so, I'm probably already used to it.

I'm confused as to how the Droid3 could be worse than the Droid1.

 

[Red Storm]

Blur is Moto's custom "skin" they throw on to their Android phones. It changes aspects of stock Android and often times makes your phone slower, laggier, and generally more crash prone (compared to a phone with similar specs that is). It also is the chief reason why non-Nexus phones can take so long to get new updates. The Droid 1 did not have MotoBlur, it was stock Android much like the Nexus phones.

I see no reason to get a Droid 3 at this point, the Droid 4 is very close to release AFAIK.

 

[Deeko]

While Blur is not ideal, the Droid 3 would definitely not be more laggy than the original Droid. No way. However, you'd still be better off waiting for the Droid 4.

 

[Eli]

Ahh, I see. That doesn't sound like much fun.

Yeah, I'm starting to agree. The guy at the Verizon store said it should be out around Aprilish? So it would fit in with our original plan.

Edit: Some Googling tells me the Droid4 may be out in just a few weeks? Hmm....

 

[podspi]

I can't imagine typing without Swiftkey X, physical or on-screen keyboard.

I do prefer the hardware keyboard for longer messages, but for quick texts it is almost like Swiftkey can read my mind, I just in the general direction of the keys and it almost always get it right.


One thing to note, is that you can't just 'try' Swiftkey, though. It learns from your corrections and speech patterns, so the awesomeness of Swiftkey is not apparent until you've used it for a while. Accuracy goes way up...

 

[trmiv]

One thing to note, is that you can't just 'try' Swiftkey, though. It learns from your corrections and speech patterns, so the awesomeness of Swiftkey is not apparent until you've used it for a while. Accuracy goes way up...

Unfortunately it only learns from SMS, Facebook, Twitter and Gmail. Four things I rarely rarely type into on my phone. Now if it would learn from Google Talk and Google Voice texting, I'd use it more.

 

[dainthomas]

Yeah, I edited my post. I suppose I could return the phone completely and just upgrade when the Droid4 comes out.

No idea how Verizon works with returns though.

I'm really torn, because I do like the phone.. and 4G, both are very fast. But my annoyance with the virtual keyboard doesn't seem to be getting better.

I think no physical keyboard is a dealbreaker for me. Are there any other phones worth looking at that have a physical keyboard?

http://www.greatcall.com/Jitterbug/Phones/R100/

 

[Eli]

http://www.greatcall.com/Jitterbug/Phones/R100/

I suppose I should have seen that coming.

 

[Bateluer]

While Blur is not ideal, the Droid 3 would definitely not be more laggy than the original Droid. No way. However, you'd still be better off waiting for the Droid 4.

Having owned a Droid 1, and gone hands on with the Droid 3, the Droid 3 is far more laggy thanks to Blur. Every menu is delayed, transitions are choppy, most of the built in apps crash randomly etc. Co-worker rants about it daily.

It also has a pentile screen, which most people on these boards despise. DX2 and Droid 3 seem to have gotten the worst of them too. You can see the pixelation, text is blurry, and neither really gets decently bright.

 

[Eli]

Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully the Droid4 is better? I found something that said a possible February 2nd release date, so I'll wait and see if that happens.

 

[Deeko]

Having owned a Droid 1, and gone hands on with the Droid 3, the Droid 3 is far more laggy thanks to Blur. Every menu is delayed, transitions are choppy, most of the built in apps crash randomly etc. Co-worker rants about it daily.

It also has a pentile screen, which most people on these boards despise. DX2 and Droid 3 seem to have gotten the worst of them too. You can see the pixelation, text is blurry, and neither really gets decently bright.

In its day, perhaps - but I have serious doubts that a Doid 3 is going to be more laggy than a Droid 1 running Gingerbread. I also had a Droid 1, and it was not exactly the smoothest experience, even running custom ROMs. Granted I only used it in the store, but when I played with the Droid 3 in the store, it didn't seem worse.

I know people around these parts really hate carrier customizations, but they aren't so severe as to bring a phone two generations ahead below the level of its ancestors.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

The best keyboard ever was back in the day with T9. I never understood why people hated it. I could type without looking.

I went from a blackberry to my first smartphone with the Epic 4G. The screen takes a bit to get used to but is way better than a physical keyboard. I found swiftkey x to be the best.

 

[notposting]

The virtual keyboard on WP7 is pretty damn awesome btw. Smokes any Android keyboard I've used (have not used Swype).

 

[evident]

i miss t9 text messaging

 

[pm]

How about something like this:
https://sites.google.com/site/galaxykeyboard/

(which is a site where a guy hacks a $30 bluetooth keyboard to work on a Samsung Galaxy S)

so get a cheap iPhone keyboard and then modify it to work with a Galaxy Nexus. Clearly the phone will be thicker but it's cheap and the reviews of these iPhone bluetooth keyboards are pretty good on XDA-Developers.

Yeah, the phone is now less sexy and clearly much thicker, but you can get a case to attach the keyboard to and you'll have both. Then if you don't want the keyboard just take it out of the case...

 

[Eli]

How about something like this:
https://sites.google.com/site/galaxykeyboard/

(which is a site where a guy hacks a $30 bluetooth keyboard to work on a Samsung Galaxy S)

so get a cheap iPhone keyboard and then modify it to work with a Galaxy Nexus. Clearly the phone will be thicker but it's cheap and the reviews of these iPhone bluetooth keyboards are pretty good on XDA-Developers.

Yeah, the phone is now less sexy and clearly much thicker, but you can get a case to attach the keyboard to and you'll have both. Then if you don't want the keyboard just take it out of the case...

That's actually pretty awesome.....

 

[obidamnkenobi]

The best keyboard ever was back in the day with T9. I never understood why people hated it. I could type without looking.

I went from a blackberry to my first smartphone with the Epic 4G. The screen takes a bit to get used to but is way better than a physical keyboard. I found swiftkey x to be the best.

I didn't mind T9 on my Sony Ericcsson phones, or my even older Nokias either as far as I can remember. But on my current Motorola dumbphone (rizer or something) it's pretty terrible. Laggy as hell, and half the time keys don't respond. Pretty much only send via google voice on the computer because of this. If I had this in 1999 I would have hated T9 as well..

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I didn't mind T9 on my Sony Ericcsson phones, or my even older Nokias either as far as I can remember. But on my current Motorola dumbphone (rizer or something) it's pretty terrible. Laggy as hell, and half the time keys don't respond. Pretty much only send via google voice on the computer because of this. If I had this in 1999 I would have hated T9 as well..

its a motorola. motorola made the worst dumbphones in the world, and people kept jumping on them because they shoved RaZrs down the throats of US carriers. the razr became something of a joke by 2005 in most of the world as the phone was laggy, unresponsive, and flat out buggy.

Anyway, moving along, you just need a good Android keyboard. Swiftkey is if you want prediction. If you want good tapping, go for SmartKeyboard Pro.

 

[Yongsta]

I missed the keyboard on my Epic 4G for maybe a week, now I type much faster using swype on Galaxy S2.

 

[Dulanic]

I was in the same boat but Swype fixed that for me. No hunting for punctuation as you just drag the key with the punctuation to the spacebar. As another person who didn't think I could do it, Swype was my only savior. People who like touchscreen keyboards hate swype however hehe.