Motorola Droid Pro users are giving the new smart phone high marks in the ratings, with an overall 3.5 out of 5 stars. The Droid Pro is designed much like a Blackberry and is designed for business use, complete with security features, special business email calendars, QuickOffice Mobile Suite software and a full QWERTY keyboard.
The smartphone’s users liked the full QWERTY keyboard, improved security measures, and its cellular phone WiFi abilities. However, they couldn’t agree on how they felt about the value of the HVGA (320 x480) touch screen. The touch pad is smaller than other Android phones in order to make room for the QUERTY keyboard. Users reported that the screen worked ok for sending messages, but required some heavy squinting in order to use it for surfing the Internet.
Most users thought the keyboard was simple to use and that the majority of the business options performed well. But, it was noted that some were having problems configuring the phone for some of their business Microsoft Exchange services, with one user reporting he couldn’t get it configured properly so it would operate with his business account.
Users, however, weren’t happy in the media player feature, reporting that it wasn’t up-to-date and they couldn’t view their album art on it.
Motorola’s Droid Pro’s features include:
- 1GHz processor
- 4GB of memory (2GB each inside and removable)
- 5 Megapixel Camera with LED Flash
- Wi-Fi
- 3.1 inch touch screen
- DLNA connectivity
- Mobile HotSpot capable
- World Roaming services
- Ability to upgrade onboard memory to 32GB
Therefore, users must decide, is the Motorola Droid Pro the smart phone they want? All, in all, the keyboard , which can be operated one-handed, is worth a look. It was reportedly much easier to use than the Droid 2 keyboard, which is harder to type on and the Droid 2 doesn’t have world roaming features.
If you are looking for better security features, phones such as the BlackBerry Bold 9650 are better with its data compression and encryption features. But the Droid Pro users admitted in their reviews that it is cheaper, and has a larger screen and keyboard than the BlackBerry phone. Plus, with is world roaming, it packs a lot of power into it.
The cost of the Droid Pro is $179 with a two-year contract after users send in a $100 mail in rebate. Plus, if you order online you get a special rebate only given to online buyers.
Retailers online are already giving discounts for the Droid Pro. For instance, in their Pre-Black Friday Sale, Amazon sold the phone for one cent for new customers who bought it with a new contract. Wirefly is also selling it for abit more than at Amazon, but is also giving new customers free activation until Nov 29.
Here are a few customer reviews:
CNET’s Bonnie Cha gave the Droid Pro 3.5 out of a possible 5. She reported that she likes the compactibility, touch screen, new QWERTY keyboard, Android 2.2 software, hotspot abilities, and the improved security features. However, she didn’t like the HVGA (320×480) screen or the size of its internal memory. She said the phone was the “most business friendly” Android smartphone that has the world roaming feature, but admitted she likes BlackBerry better for its message service, life of the battery, and IT support.
She also thought the screen was rather tiny. She liked the BlackBerry-like keyboard’s raised buttons, calling them “pleasant to use.” Enhanced security with a remote wipe, preloaded VPN client services and encryption is being added in 2011. She also thought the Microsoft Exchange Calendar operated good and noted the phone comes with 2GB of internal memory and a 2GB microSD removeable memory that can be upgraded to 32GB with a new card. She said the phone’s camera took adequate photos and that the quality of the phone calls she made on it were mixed, although the speaker worked ok.
A review by Sascha Segan of PCMag also rated the Droid Pro 3.5 out of 5. He especially liked the design, keyboard and security features, but didn’t like the fact that the Microsoft Exchange didn’t always work with all servers. He also noted some bugs in the software and the fact that the media player is not up to date. He said that it was well-designed with decent voice quality, but that it was sometimes distorted or scratchy and that the phone didn’t always work well and he had to restart the phone several times to get it to work. The unified contact manager is similar to MotoBLUR get its information from several places. The music application on the phone played the files, but didn’t show the art from the album and video support is also limited, with pictures being somewhat blurry. Segan felt the Droid was better for those that loved Android , while the BlackBerry Bold 9650 was better for enterprise users.
Stewart Wolpin gave Droid Pro Pro 3 out of 5 for its QWERTY keyboard, the QuickOffice Mobile Suite, the mobile hotspot, support for the Microsoft Exchange services, and the remote wipe. However, he didn’t like the little touch screen and the low battery life. He stated that the screen was only half as big as other Android phones so the keyboard could be added and that liked it better than the keyboard on a BlackBerry Torch. He thought the print on the small screen though, was hard to read. He liked that the mobile hotspot application was easy to use with the Wi-Fi pad, but said it made the battery go down very quickly. He also noted the phone’s speed wasn’t as quick as the Droid 2 in loading Internet sites and that the photos were “smudgy.” He rated call quality as so-so, but again agreed that it was a good phone choice for android lovers who wanted
