Droid 2.1 Upgrade *Review* #Droid #Upgrade #2.1 #Review

As most of you know, the OS on the Motorola Droid was "upgraded" OTA within the last 2 weeks from 2.01 to 2.1. By now, everyone should have been notified that the over the air update was available. My notice came a week ago. I have not (nor will I) "root" the phone, and I wasn't brave enough to attempt to do this manually, although it had been available a few days before I got the "official" notice. I did the OTA last Sunday morning, and have been running 2.1 since.

That out of the way, I would like to know WHY this is considered an upgrade. It was supposed to increase the screens from 3 to 5, like on the Nexus. It was supposed to have a 3D app drawer. It was supposed to be stable. It was supposed to increase battery life. It was supposed to have "Live Wallpapers", which according to the media, was made to sound like it was the best thing to happen to man since the invention of toilet paper.

Well, 1 for 5 isn't too bad....It does have Live Wallpapers! Ever hear the saying: "If you can't Bedazzle them them with brilliance, Baffle them with bullsh*t"??? Seriously, while the Live Wallpaper are a "nifty little feature", it is simply bells and whistles. Do not get me wrong. This "looks" great. The live wallpapers available on the market are free (most of them), but again, not really needed. If you have not "rooted" the phone, all apps are stored on the main memory, and the wallpapers take up space. The also drain the battery, so in effect, they defeat one of the reasons for the "upgrade" in the first place!

The phone still has only 3 homescreens. I use Panda2 Homescreen replacement, and have 11! I can also use any .png file as an icon, and there are many icon packs available. As for the 3D app drawer, it was available using a launcher application on 2.01. Worked quite well. 2.1 "upgrade" left out this eye candy, and causes an endless loop of FC if you try to use the previously installed launcher app. The good news (if you really want this app drawer) is that an application is already on the market for it. Bad news? It's going to cost you. As great an app as it is, and taking nothing from the developer, I don't find this "necessary", so I will be skipping it.

As for battery life, one of the "dumber" things I have seen is that prior to this "upgrade", you were able to receive flashing LED notifications, whether your screen was on or off. If I had the phone in the Multi-Media Dock, I could leave the screen on "dim" (to see the clock!), and if I received an e-mail/text/mms or phone call, the flashing light would let me know. This was especially convenient in the car dock, where the screen was on, but I had the radio playing and didn't "hear" notifications come in. The flashing light alerted me. Now, in a flash of "brilliance", this feature is gone. The only time the LED will flash is if your screen is OFF. Are we really saving that much battery life by disabling this feature? Really?

As for stability of the phone, I have seen it restart randomly twice. I wanted to make sure it was the "upgrade" and not any new application, so I uninstalled the Panda2 Homescreen replacement app. It was the only one that I had installed since the upgrade, since it is able to work with the Live Wallpapers, while Panda (the original) Homescreen replacement app does not. Phone did the reboot after the app was removed as well, so as far as I am concerned, it isn't exactly "stable"!

Am I the only one who feels that this phone (with all its bells and whistles) should at least do the basic functions that my daughter's LGEnV2 does? My Motorola Q (WinMo 5!) did? The Chocolate? Almost every other smart and "dumb" phone produced in the last 10 years??? How about BLUETOOTH INITIATED DIALING???

Come on, Android...if you want to bedazzle us, give us some brilliance, please. Keep the rest.

I would love to hear other people's opinions on this.

~sherri