droidStory

What started out as a pleasant surprise this morning, quickly turned into utter disappointment. My DroidX is now completely unusable after I installed the OTA Update for Android 2.2 that Verizon began pushing to phones today (see previous post).

The DX wont go past the Motorola boot screen, and will not go into recovery mode either.  Well actually the phone does finish the boot sequence and you can hear email notifications and incoming calls, but the screen keeps displaying the Motorola logo. I can also see the redesigned 2.2. screen lock screen when taking screen shots via USB debug and the SDK (see right).

I called Verizon support, and they let me do the usual reboot routines to no eval. The rep told me that they’ve experienced the same problems with the Froyo update of the original Droid and that about 3% of phones were affected by this. She told me to go to the Verizon store so that they can reapply the update, which should fix it.

Update: I went to the Verizon store during lunch. They tried different things in the back room for about an hour – what a great way to spend a lunch hour   No fix. They are now shipping a new DX to me overnight.  I had to push a little for them to waive the Fedex priority fee.

While waiting I met two other Droid customers who had issues with their phones. One had a Droid Incredible that would not browse the Internet any longer after the latest software update. The tech was going to do a hard reset. The other had a Droid2 stuck in a reboot loop. He received a replacement phone.

Update1: Other people experiencing the same problem. Do you have any problems with the update?

Motorola published their Android upgrade schedule on their support forum.

Nothing new here. Obviously, Motorola acknowledged that the Devour was a total flop, so they don’t even bother with any future upgrades.

Verizon and Motorola still going strong with their Droid marketing campaign. Earlier this week I received this little “care package” from Verizon with a bunch of DroidX swag – a t-shirt, an accessory coupon book and a bumper sticker.

Did you get your DroidX flaunting package?

Motorola and Verizon now officially announced the Droid 2, available for pre-order tomorrow and in stores this Thursday.

DROID 2 is a feature-packed device that helps manage work and social life with an enhanced QWERTY keyboard, ultra high-speed Web browsing, 3G Mobile HotSpot capabilities, full push corporate e-mail, intuitive social messaging and Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1 for access to the full web – all built on Android 2.2.

In addition, they will offer a Limited Edition R2-D2 Droid 2, in September.

R2-D2 DROID 2
In honor of the iconic Astromech Droid from the Star Wars™ Saga, Verizon Wireless will offer a limited-edition R2-D2 version of the DROID 2, available only online in September. The special version of the phone will feature exclusive Star Wars content and external hardware designed to look like the trusty Droid from the film saga. Visitors to the upcoming Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando, Fla., can see a preview of the limited edition phone and sign up to receive alerts when the phone is ready for sale.

The successor of the wildly popular Droid, aptly named Droid 2 is coming to Verizon. Many signs are hinting that the latest Droid will hit stores this week.

The Droid 2 seems almost identical to the original Droid, and this ad spotted in a Florida news paper is touting a NEW advanced keyboard as the main improvement. Overall the Droid 2 feels more evolutionary than revolutionary, without any killer features that will set it apart from Droid Incredible or Droid X, unless you want a physical keyboard of course.

Promotional materials leaked from Best Buy list the phone at $199 with a 2 year contract, and $599 without contract.

via Engadget, droiddog

The NPD Group published its latest research report yesterday, showing that Android took the lead spot in handsets sold to US consumers in Q2, counting for 33 percent of all smartphones purchased. This puts Android ahead of RIM (28 percent) and Apple (22 percent).

“For the second consecutive quarter, Android handsets have shown strong but slowing sell-through market share gains among U.S. consumers,” said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for NPD. “While the Google-developed OS took market share from RIM, Apple’s iOS saw a small gain this quarter on the strength of the iPhone 4 launch.”

Based on U.S. consumer purchases of mobile phones in Q2, the top 5 Android smartphones were as follows:

1. Motorola Droid
2. HTC Droid Incredible
3. HTC EVO 4G
4. HTC Hero
5. HTC Droid Eris