Droid Still Going Strong
Long Live the Moto Droid
I retired my original Motorola Droid over a year ago when I graduated to my Droid 2. I preferred the keyboard on my original Droid (or Droid 1), but learned to live without it on the Droid 2. I’ve recently stepped up to a Droid X but continue to use my original “OG” Droid as a micro-tablet and podcast player.
Droid Makes a Great Micro-Tablet
It’s amazing how fast this little thing can be when there’s little on it. I recently installed the Bugless Beast ROM on it and plan to do a review after some time. CyanogenMod was my ROM of choice for over a year. I use as few apps as possible, as that has been the simplest solution to extending battery life on the original Droid.
There’s something to be said for a small phone. I love my Droid X, but this thing fits in my pocket better. The keyboard and directional pad are still handy and I’m surprised more phones don’t have a physical keyboard. It seems that Motorola is the only one that pushes this, which is strange, but what do I know, I’m just one man.
While it’s not nearly as good as on other phones, the GPS still works fairly well when paired with WiFi. Of course, this makes it useless in the car, but it still lets me do things like check nearby posts from Google +.
You can get one of these used on eBay pretty cheap, and I don’t know why more people wouldn’t. There are Android media players, like the Samsung Galaxy, selling for $200. I have no need – I have this. It’s the Android version of my iPod Touch and it has a keyboard. If it had a better camera, it would be perfect for this usage.
I credit some of the life to the Zagg skin and screen protector I have covering this thing. I’ve found their products to be wonderful and well worth the money. I can run for days with it in Airplane mode, and still quite a while with just the WiFi on. If you have one in your closet, I suggest you dig it out, even if it’s just to learn about rooting and installing alternative ROMs.
