How do you deal with less "Real" buttons on Droid?

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I still have my LG Dare, since I could not get a new phone until March 2010.

I recently checked out the Droid in my local Verizon store, and noticed that it has very few "Real" buttons on it. No Send and End buttons, no speakerphone button, no voice activation button as on the Dare. The Dare unlocks with a push of a side button. In other words, the Dare has a bunch of REAL buttons that are quite useful.

When I want to turn on my Dare in its holster, I can push on the outside of the case for a second and turn on the phone. Without unlocking it, I can answer a call by pushing the Send button. In the middle of a call, I can switch to and from speakerphone. I can initiate voice commands by pushing the button between send and end.

So.. How do you do those things on the Droid? Does a quick tap of the power button do special things? I only saw the ability to change the ringer to Silence from a power button tap. Can you perform many of the things I mentioned without unlocking the Droid and looking at and using the touch screen or pulling out the keyboard?

I certainly was impressed with the Droid's screen quality, as well as its excellent touch sensitivity and responsiveness. I loved the really comprehensive settings menus. I just wonder if I'll need to spend more time unlocking it to do things because of a lack of hardware buttons.

Of course I have a similar lack of buttons on my iPod Touch, but then I don't need to use it as a phone.

Thanks for your comments on the Droid so far. I really WOULD like to get it, but am a careful shopper.

Gino

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@ginofs,

Hey Gino! Sorry you're suck until March, VZW let me use my one upgrade for the Droid. Maybe by then an even better phone will be out for you.

Most of the controls are virtual on the touchscreen and it all depends on what app or function you're in. The Menu hardkey on the bottom is very handy for most situations.

At least the Droid has a "slide to unlock"... something we Dare owners have been screaming about for over a year!

Answering a call is a two-step process: the phone powers on when a call comes in. You can either slide left on the touchscreen to reject the call, or slide right and then answer it. Speakerphone, dialpad and end call are all touchscreen.

The power button really isn't all that, except for putting the phone to sleep when you're done with it. I NEVER turn it completely off.

Hope this helps. I miss my Dare for one thing: music in CD order. Droid hasn't gotten that fixed yet but I'm hopeful about a future update.

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@ginofs,

Not a huge issue, but I miss having dedicated "send" and "end call" buttons. I used the "send" key to access the call log as most calls I made were to the most recent calls. Now you have to access that through your contacts. An app for the call log might not be a bad idea.

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@ginofs,

After having used the droid now for a bit I find the button I miss the most is a button dedicated for accessing my contacts... but not that much... I freaking love this phone

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@ginofs,

it takes some getting used to. I have found myself reaching for an end button only to find myself tapping search. the thing to remember is that i got this phone BECAUSE it was unlike everything else. the novelty of the phone is worth not having a send or end button. getting used to its particular functionalities should be expected, otherwise get a different phone!

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@ginofs,

I have come from an iphone so im used to it. What i dont miss and i dont knwo if this is a problem with the dare but i dont miss pocket dialing someone. I was a big pocket dialer when ihad my Sony Erickson switch blade phone. Not having a dedicated dial button is great.

Phone functions just a well as a buttonphone to me as far as moving from speaker to handsent calls and even to bluetooth, they are all a push of a button a way. You can easily bring in another call its that simple. I like that non button screen better than the buttons. You will to. Did you try making any calls on the droid in the VZ store?

Also dont get down about having to wait. Sony will be releasin the Xperia X3. Androoid device with 8MP camera and Snapdragon 1ghz processor. Rachael interface as well. Do a search should be a remarkable device. Comes out in Feb i think.

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@droid him,

him;981 wrote:

I have come from an iphone so im used to it. What i dont miss and i dont knwo if this is a problem with the dare but i dont miss pocket dialing someone. I was a big pocket dialer when ihad my Sony Erickson switch blade phone. Not having a dedicated dial button is great.

Phone functions just a well as a buttonphone to me as far as moving from speaker to handsent calls and even to bluetooth, they are all a push of a button a way. You can easily bring in another call its that simple. I like that non button screen better than the buttons. You will to. Did you try making any calls on the droid in the VZ store?

Also dont get down about having to wait. Sony will be releasin the Xperia X3. Androoid device with 8MP camera and Snapdragon 1ghz processor. Rachael interface as well. Do a search should be a remarkable device. Comes out in Feb i think.

Will this phone be for verizon or another carrier?:confused:

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@darebrokenheart,

I was driving today and I was wishing I didn't have that extra step to get to my call log again, when it occurred to me that this thing is voice operated almost completely. Don't forget to use that whenever possible.

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@YankeeDudeL,

YankeeDudeL;1023 wrote:

I was driving today and I was wishing I didn't have that extra step to get to my call log again, when it occurred to me that this thing is voice operated almost completely. Don't forget to use that whenever possible.

lol...ive had voice activated phones...kinda...but never got into that feature much. im thinking its something ill have to explore it more now.

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@darebrokenheart,

darebrokenheart;997 wrote:

Will this phone be for verizon or another carrier?:confused:

Highly doubt it. Sprint or T-Mobile, I'd bet. I loved every Sony Ericsson I've ever had, and now that they're on the Android wagon, I'm sure it'll be a wet dream come true.

Ironically enough, the company I've least favored in my cellular life has been Motorola. Glad to see they've progressed enough to make the baddest phone available.

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@YankeeDudeL,

I was pretty annoyed at first at the lack of a Send or End button. Especially since it made dialing a three step process, press power to unlock, press the phone icon, dial your number.

Even more frustrating was the apparent lack of one touch dial numbers. (On my Dare I press and hold 2 to dial my wife, 3 to dial...) The '1' works like a one touch to dial voicemail, but I could find no way to make the others work.

Then I stumbled on the solution, press and hold the search button in the lower right corner of the screen and voice search comes up. Just say who you want to call (i.e. "Call Amy mobile") and it dials for you. It hasn't been wrong yet. I'd still like the one touch numbers, but voice operation works well. You can also use it to search google with fairly impressive results.

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@gwhenning,

That does bring up a point. Of the few hard buttons they have, I don't favor the location off the power/screen awake button. On the Dare, the unlock button was on the side where your hand would get to it naturally. Would've preferred to awake the screen from a natural grip position like that (still needing to swipe to unlock, of course).

Not a big deal, really, but it goes w/ the thread. Hey, maybe they could make an app that awakes the screen by touching the volume keys. That'd be cool.

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How do you deal with less "Real" buttons on Droid?

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