droidStory

Verizon keeps spending its $100M ad-budget. Pretty funny…

It took more than a little effort, but I finally got the Motorola Droid to work with Lotus Traveler in order to access my corporate Lotus Notes/Domino email.  It required the use of an application named Touchdown and the careful adjustment of settings.

First, some background.  IBM Lotus released Lotus Traveler for mobile email use.  The product now supports Microsoft ActiveSync and, as announced, works with Windows Mobile devices, the Apple iPhone and a Nokia Symbian device.  That leaves many Android users out in the cold — especially those who migrated to the Verizon Wireless Motorola Droid.  (Ed Brill wrote in his blog that Android support for Traveler is coming.)

The Droid has a built-in free email application that works with ActiveSync.  So, with hope, I attempted to set things up.

• I learned the hard way that you must not confuse the Domino Domain with a Windows Domain and set-up your user name in the following manner for Domino to see you:

First_Name  Last_Name/Domino Domain

• Use your Notes password
• Leave the (Windows) domain field blank
• Use your traveler URL for the server URL.

Everything logs in and authenticates just fine.  But, the Droid built-in mail insists that it knows better and adds a backslash character in front of your name to signify no domain.  It shows up as:

\First_Name  Last_Name/Domino Domain

Clearly, this does not work.  I tried to create an alias this way.  But, no luck.

Now, on to 3rd party applications.

My second choice was RoadSync from DataViz, the folks that make DesktopToGo.  I already use DesktopToGo, so I have some trust for them.  The application also looks well integrated with the Droid.  It also states in the documentation that it supports HTML mail, attachments and appointments.  All of these are important.

Unfortunately, I kept getting a 404 error.  The documentation for RoadSync does have some limited suggestions, which did not work.  DataViz phone support is also available only from 9AM to 3PM.  So, I missed the window to call.

Courtesy of AppNoodle

Finally, I moved to Touchdown from NitroDesk.  I must give credit to Goutham Sukumar, the founder of NitroDesk.  He provided significant personal support.  We had several false starts and setting adjustments.  But, he worked with us every day — several times a day — to get things right.  Now, the product appears to be working well.

Touchdown does quickly sync and show the messages, appointments, tasks and contacts.  So, it is useful.   However, it does not work with HTML messages nor with appointments.  These are severe limitations that create concern every time I use the application.  It is much better than nothing.

The interface does not look like the rest of the Droid.  Note the Windows style icons and page formatting.  The new mail icon in the status bar is also very large — which creates problems for other icons looking for a place to live.

Frankly, I will consider a switch when one of the other solutions works properly.  In the meantime, I am jumping up and down with glee over Touchdown support.

I am thrilled to report that the Motorola Droid phone now works with IBM Lotus Domino via ActiveSync and Traveler, with a little help from Touchdown from NitroDesk.

A number of people report issues with the external speaker of the Droid cutting out randomly. This could be a problem if you use the Droid as an alarm clock or expect to hear the ring tone…  It’s not clear if this a software or hardware issue although a device reboot seems to fix it, pointing towards a software bug as the likely culprit. Here’s the Android support ticket that has been opened.

Curious what’s inside your droid? No need to gut your phone, the guys at phonewreck have done it already for you. What has been careful crafted by the Motorola engineers, all taken apart for your viewing pleasure.

Apparently, the disassembly was harder than expected showing off just how intricate and solid this droid really is.

One of the big topics in various news stories is that the Motorola Droid now had turn-by-turn directions from Google for free.  (It is called Google Navigation Beta.)  I admit that this feature shows that Garmin and Tom-Tom will have a challenge in the long run.  But, it is not time to get rid of your Garmin or Tom-Tom.  Not yet.  And, with recent price drops, it may be time to buy one.

I first received my Droid on Friday morning at the Verizon Wireless store in Leominster, MA.  I was excited to try my new windshield mount, which immediately placed the Droid into navigation mode.  My plan was to give it simple directions to check out the system.  I had it take me to Interstate 495, which is 15 minutes away via route 2.   It was a pretty simple shot.  However, this is the route that Google Navigation selected:

Why did Google Navigation take me around Fort Devens?

Google maps came up, took me to route 2, told me to get off of route 2, go around a non-existent Fort, and then get back onto the same highway?  Huh?  I stayed on Route 2 anyway.  There was no traffic, no construction, no delay and no reason to get off of the highway.

This was not the only time that Google Navigation picked a strange route.  I am guessing that there is some kind of bug in the software.

Of course, in defense, I would have reached my destination this way.  So, Google Navigation is clearly better than no navigation device at all.  But, the “Beta” in the description is well deserved.

There are a few other topics that are worth noting:

• Google Navigation traffic is the best traffic that I have seen so far.  It is up-to-date, covers small roads, and has fine levels of detail.  I would get this device just for the traffic reports.  Unfortunately, when you view the traffic reports, the screen is static.  So, you cannot view traffic and see visual directions at the same time.  By the way, I am happy with the traffic reports because they are much more current than the ones on Tom-Tom or Garmin.  I often joke that Tom-Tom and Garmin tell you the traffic from one hour ago.
• Google Navigation does not have 3-D view, which makes it much easier to see where to turn and when to turn.  This is not a fatal flaw.
• Google Navigation has an annoying voice for the TTS.
• Google Street View is sexy.  It shows a picture of the intersection as you approach it and the destination as you approach it.  This is much better than saying “your destination is on the right.”  You see your destination.
• Location search is very smart.  I was able to speak the instruction “Thai restaurant in Wakefield, Massachusetts” and it provided a list from which I could pick the right one.  I did not need to know the spelling or hope it was in my list of POI — as I would with a Tom-Tom or Garmin.  Really sexy.

Now — my biggest complaint and the reason why I will keep my Tom-Tom — when a phone call comes in, the call takes over the device and I no longer see where to turn.  I have received calls in tricky traffic situations before.  When a call comes into the Tom-Tom or the Garmin via Bluetooth, I receive a quick visual notification and the screen goes back to directions.

In conclusion, Google Navigation has some growing up to do.  It will get there.  And, some of the features like Street View and the flexible voice search are amazing.  When the other features of Google Navigation are updated, it will be hard for the Tom-Tom and Garmin devices to keep up.  But, keep your Tom-Tom and Garmin for now.

UPDATE: I was driving last night when a phone call came in. This gave me another chance to look at the Google Nav app with a phone call. As soon as the call came in, I received a message “Data Connection Lost.” This happened at the first ring … so even if I had not answered the phone, the data connection was lost. From that moment on, the maps stopped updating. However, the top bar still displayed directions based on the GPS. I assume that the directions are downloaded all at once, but only the current map is sent.

It was quite disconcerting to have directions on the top that did not match the map. Also, the directions are not enough as a very broad “turn right” could have meant a turn onto a different street than the one I chose. It would seem to me that Google could have downloaded more map information and kept the navigation going — at least for as long as I stayed on the original route.

Verizon announced that many of it’s corporate Verizon Wireless stores will open one or two hours early this Friday for the Droid launch. The exact opening times seem to be decided by the store manager, so better check in advance with your local store. Mall stores are opening at their regular hours.