Droid Life

Year: 2010

  • quick tip: fix gmail sync issues on your motorola droid

    we’ve had various readers come to us while experiencing sync issues with gmail on their droid phone. they apparently have been forced to manually sync rather than use the phone’s awesome auto-sync feature.  our first look was obviously to make sure they had “background data” and “auto-sync” checked in accounts and sync settings which they had.  and then also made sure that if they clicked on the particular gmail account in question, that the “sync gmail” box was checked which it was.

    and then we discovered this handy little trick…

    Go to menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications.

    Then click menu -> Filter -> All.

    Scroll down until you see the Gmail and Gmail Storage. Click both of these and select clear data.

    The phone will then resync with Gmail and all should be well.

    let me know if you are still having gmail sync issues after this tip, but this should do the trick!

  • the motorola droid 2.1 ota update rumor mill

    it is now 7:08pm on the west coast and we have zero confirmed ota updates of android 2.1 to motorola droid devices.  now remember, that according to motorola’s official facebook page, this latest update was supposed to start rolling out this week.  i think we all understand that today is only wednesday and their are plenty of days left in the week for this to happen, but for whatever reason we had all heard rumors of a february 10th date.  with that said, here is a list of happenings/rumors/updates that we’ve experienced on day 1 of the rollout…

    8:53am:  motorola releases 2.1 update details via faq page.

    10:52am:  we send the following tweet noticing that motorola has removed the details list.

    12:03pm:  official motorola forum manager posts this:

    Update: How embarassing. Apparently we jumped the gun on these details….

    Message was edited by: Matt (Forums Manager)

    1:40pm:  same forum manager attempts to clarifies his post:

    Sorry if I wasn’t clear.

        * The details posted here and on the Support site were prematurely released for public view.
        * They have been removed from both places.

    Hope that clears up the confusion.

    1:40pm:  sometime near the forum managers post, the faq page containing details is updated with the following:

    DROID – Android 2.1
    How can I get the latest Android 2.1 software?

    There is a release coming, check back soon.

    2:53pm:  droidforums.net member quotes his brother who apparently works for verizon…

    My brother works for Verizon, just as a sales rep, and he just told me that he heard the update was bricking phones in their tests and was cancelled until they figure out why. Like i said he is a run of the mill sales guy who i don’t know if he heard from any reputable or not

    4:29pm:  droidforums.net member calls motorola support and receives bad news…

    I just called Motorola’s Android support line at 800-734-5870. The representative said that the update will not be rolling out this week or next week. They are expecting it next month. I think Cereal Killer’s source might have been right about March…

    5:39pm:  same member receives email from motorola support representative…

    Motorola to me
    show details 6:28 PM (1 hour ago)

    Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.

    If this issue is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may reopen it within the next 7 days.

    Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.

    To update this question by email, please reply to this message. Because your reply will be automatically processed, you MUST enter your reply in the space below. Text entered into any other part of this message will be discarded.

    [===> Please enter your reply below this line <===]

    [===> Please enter your reply above this line <===]

    Subject
    Motorola Customer Care

    Discussion Thread
    Customer (Entered by Reygen Navales) 02/10/2010 07:28 PM
    cu is asking if when will be the next up date.
    I told him that we expect it next month. cu ask if this week. I told him no we do not have informations

    Question Reference #100211-011724
    Product Level 1: Cell Phones
    Product Level 2: Android Series
    Product Level 3: DROID
    Category Level 1: How To Use
    Category Level 2: Software/Applications
    Date Created: 02/10/2010 07:28 PM
    Last Updated: 02/10/2010 07:28 PM
    Status: Solved
    Carrier: US – Verizon
    IMEI Number:
    ESN/ MEID #:

    7:00pm:  blogs around the world finally realize that motorola has removed the details sheet that we tweeted about 8 hours ago and spam off posts which have people assuming the update is not happening.

    7:06pm:  still no updates to be reported…

    7:53pm:  reader @techdave1992 speaks with motorola support and gets the most positive news of the day…

    8:07pm:  motorola forum manager really clarifies his statements…

    I did clarify my original comment here — easy to miss. I was only speaking about the notes. And since my information about those was so bad, please excuse me if I make no additional comments. I’m just really sorry that my error resulted in bad feelings for some Droid owners.

    10:05pm:  another reader (@xian1218) confirms with motorola support that the update will start any time now…

    8:00am (2/11):  still no updates confirmed at this time and still no reason to believe that this update will not happen this week.

    i’m still completely confident that the update will happen this week.  just because the detail sheet was pulled and some forum manager chose some interesting words doesn’t mean we aren’t getting it.  boy genius report and a bunch of other sites have everyone believing that motorola has lied to us and pulled the plug on the update. (love all you sites, but you’ve got to realize your power!)  i’m not buying that nor following their logic.

    i’ve got a facebook message confirming the update this week which has not been taken back.  i’ve then got a details sheet released on the day that we all expected the update.  sure it was taken down, but why would it be up if the ota update hadn’t started yet?  just chill everyone and wake up tomorrow to a bunch of droids running android 2.1.

    stay tuned either way as we’ll continue to provide the latest updates as we have them!

  • urbanspoon available for droid and nexus one only

    while we wait for our android 2.1 update to arrive, you might as well pull up the newest restaurant app to hit the market and then grab a pint and a burger to pass the time.  urbanspoon has finally made its debut on the android platform…well almost.  only motorola droid and nexus one users can use the app at this time.

    for those who have not played with urbanspoon on an iphone or ipod touch, you will probably love this little guy.  it’s a fun way to randomly select a new restaurant by category, location and even price.  a simple shake gets you venturing off into foreign foodie lands.

    download…

  • motorola confirms no launcher or live wallpapers?

    with our android 2.1 poised to start rolling out to our droid devices today, the motorola site is also preparing by updating it’s q&a sections.  if you ask the site “how can i get the latest Android 2.1 software?” you will get the following answer and may also come away slightly disappointed…

    From time-to-time, Motorola releases updates to enhance the overall performance of its phones. The Android 2.1 software update for DROID by Motorola provides new multimedia features, exciting new widgets, and a security upgrade.

    We encourage you to immediately install this latest software update once you receive the notification on your device.  This will ensure optimal performance of your DROID by Motorola.

    Who Can Use This Release

    All DROID by Motorola users.

    DROID by Motorola users will receive a notification to install this update (and will continue to receive these notices periodically until installation is complete).  NOTE: Turning your device off and on will automatically launch the upgrade installation.

    After downloading and installing Android 2.1 software release, you will notice:

    Voice Recognition for Virtual Keyboard Voice Recognition: You can now speak in plain English instead of typing, whenever a text-entry box appears on your Android device. Simply swipe your finger across the virtual keyboard and dictate your phrase.
    Virtual Keyboard Enhancements: The fully integrated, enlarged virtual keyboard allows for easier and more accurate manual entries as well.  Also included are auto-complete/correct.
     3D Gallery 3D Gallery offers a whole new way to enjoy your phone’s multimedia features.  With 3D gallery, all of your photos, videos, album art and images from your Picasa Web albums account online are displayed in three-dimensional stacks that gently move as the phone is tilted.  Scrolling through and choosing media has never been easier.  With 3D gallery simply use your finger to scroll through thumbnail versions of all your photos, videos and albums – and when you find one you want – simply tap the image to select it for viewing or playback. You can share pics individually or in bulk (by long-pressing a photo) on Facebook, Email, or MMS.
     Pinch-to-Zoom Enjoy pinch-to-zoom functionality for web browsing, plus the Gallery and Maps applications
     
    News and Weather App and Widget    		 The News and Weather app pulls information from the web and brings it to your fingertips. Weekly and hourly weather forecast for your area based on your location and it pulls news headlines on the topics you care about most.
    Google Maps Updates Sync with desktop: synchronizes starred items between Google Maps on your Android device and maps.google.com.
    Personalized suggestions: Google Maps on your Android device suggests (autocompletes) locations based on your personal search history on maps.google.com.
    Night mode: automatically changes your screen at night for easier viewing and driving
    NOTE: Sync feature requires user to be logged in to myGoogle account while on maps.google.com
    Enhanced Music Application  New tabs at the top of your music player for easier access and navigation to your favorite artist, songs, albums and playlists.
    Google Goggles App Google Goggles App allows you to snap a picture to start a Google search. It can also ”read” photos of business cards and add them to your contacts.  Even cooler is its built-in augmented reality feature that displays information about things, like stores and restaurants, around you.
    Other Enhancements       Security: Prevents unauthorized pattern lock bypass

    Yahoo email:  Yahoo email new accounts setup optimizations

    Battery life: ongoing battery life optimization

    (via motorola)  Thanks Michael and Drew!

  • usb hack for your motorola droid?

    first off, that picture is hilarious.  i would say we are a looooooong way from ever having usb host support on our motorola droid devices, but these news blurbs always seem to fly around nicely with the gadget crowd. 

    here’s the scoop from android central…

    The system takes advantage of the fact that Motorola used USB-OTG capable hardware when they built the DROID, choosing to pair it with a standard USB Micro-B port rather than the Micro-AB port normally found on an OTG device.  To work around that, you need to create a microUSB to USB connector cable – with some judicious rewiring of a couple of regular cords – together with a tiny adapter that, when inserted into the DROID while it reboots, enables the Host mode.

    so what does all that mean?  that we could at some point connect our droid directly to a printer or USB flash drive and have our device acting more and more like a netbook.  unfortunately, there are no drivers to support any of this, so for now we’ll all just have to keep day dreaming.

    more info here.

  • "unroot" your motorola droid before android 2.1 ota update?

    as i am by no means an expert on “rooting” your device, i’ll have to defer to those who run in those circles for confirmation on this, but to my knowledge you can return back to your stock 2.0.1 before this week’s ota update for 2.1 comes across.

    the sholes crew has released their latest SMUpdater which is now on v6, is available in the market for $5 and apparently can do the trick.

    download…

    if you run into issues with the sholes app, you can check out this post at the droid forums which will walk you through unrooting step-by-step.

    for those of you that have completed this task, i’d love to hear details and tips for the rest of our readers.  thanks.

  • video: google maps with google buzz in action!

    we took a quick look at google maps 4.0.0 with google buzz the second it came out and had a blast “buzzing” or whatever the hell it’s called.  obviously after making the video, we had a chance to really dig into it and this is just a first glance, but it’s still very cool.

    here are our intitial findings…


    just after uploading this, we integrated buzz into our gmail account and realized the full magnitude of this beast. we tossed in our twitter account, the blog feed and some other things. before we knew it, people were buzzing us like crazy!  google does it again…

  • google maps 4.0.0 released with google "buzz"

    these updates just keep coming and we’re loving every second of it.  the newest version of google maps (4.0.0) just flooded the airwaves and has everyone wondering how to fit this new fantastic-ness into their lives.

    with 4.0.0 we see a few new features...

    • Buzz
    • Synchronized starring and personalized suggestions
    • Night mode in Navigation

    obviously the big news is “buzz” and how it is taking the world by storm as we speak. check out google.com/buzz to really get going with it.  you can integrate buzz right into your gmail and obviously now with your google maps via android device.  i’d go into some big long spiel about it, but we’ll instead try to keep this as droid specific as possible.

    here is the video intro from google…


    download it here…