Bijan Sabet

My Droid decision

I picked up the Droid the day it first came out and shared my initial thoughts.

I wanted to love it for a number of reasons. Open app model, Verizon network, promise of a great browser and integration with google apps (which I rely on more and more). In full disclosure, I’m personally friends with Andy Rubin & Rich MIner, the founders of Android that sold their company to Google — and I like using my friends products.

But last week, I decided to return the Droid.

With all due respect, I disagree with Stewart Alsop’s opinion that the Android software doesn’t work. In my experience the software is sweet as is and at the same time extremely promising. I was pleased with the apps and the integration with Google is great (one example, gmail on the Droid supports threading and archive. Gmail on the iPhone doesn’t have those things which are a big deal for me). The browser is solid.

But that Motorola hardware just didn’t do it for me. The battery cover kept falling off. I couldn’t get comfortable with the keyboard. The buttons don’t feel right and it was awkward to keep rotating the phone 90 degrees depending on the use case. The camera isn’t great (even well focused photos didn’t look nice). At the end of the day, I decided the Droid is too big and chunky for my taste.

I am bullish on Android and what’s coming next. I’m waiting for great hardware to match up with Android’s software.

I know that day is coming soon.