On Super Bowl Sunday while waiting for the big game to start I was bored out of my mind. Who gives a crap about all the pregame crap? I decided to take the plunge and root my phone. After a month of reading posts on forums like Alldroid, and Howards Forum I decided to go with SholesMod (now DroidMod). Thinking back, Rooting my Droid after drinking a few beers wasn’t the brightest idea but what the fuck. I followed all the instructions and watched as my phone scrolled through all the command prompts. I have to say, the process was painless and pretty fool proof. Now I’m not saying go ahead root your phone, nothing wrong can happen but it worked flawlessly. In a matter of minutes I was rooted and overclocked. Since that time I have unrooted and rerooted my device. Added Theme Rom overlays from Krazykrivda at Alldroid and used Metamorph as well. I have found the DroidMod theme to be stable but I am now getting ready to try out Cyanogen Sholes Mod. I’ll let you know how that goes in a few weeks. Until then, I highly recommend checking out DroidMod, at your own risk. 
Rooting and Modding my Droid
I purchased my Motorola Droid on December 18th after months of debating whether to leave Verizon Wireless, my former employer, for the iPhone. Before the Droid was released I was given the opportunity to play around with it as well as the Droid Eris. At the time I was really disappointed. The keyboard, which I rarely use now, is awful. Actually it’s a complete waste. In fact, I wish someone would come out with a case that would lock the keyboard completely. Another issue I had at the time was the speed of the internet. It was slow…Slower than any of the other Rev. A products I have used. My mind was set, I was making the move to AT&T and the iPhone. Then something happened that changed my mind.
I received in the mail $75 off the Motorola Droid if I purchased the device through Telesales. Hmmm…as a former employee I wasn’t eligible for a New Every Two because I was on a 1 year contract. Now with the flyer the Droid was looking a lot sweeter. The Droid was $299.99 on a two year contract and you received a $100 rebate. Now after the additional $75 off the Droid was only $124.99. Plus I was able to get my wife the Droid Eris for FREEEEEEEE! (Just watched that Adam Sandler movie with my kids the other day.) So lets see, I can pay $124.99 for two phones or buy the iPhone for $299 a piece. Not to sound cheap but come on. Are you kidding me? Add the AT&T activation fees into the equation and staying with Verizon Wireless sounds even sweeter.
Another issue that made my decision a no brainer. Service, Service, Service! I didn’t know how good I had it with VZW until I started carrying a competitors device. It was a Sprint Curve 8350i. Wholly cow! I can’t believe they charge for their service. They should pay me to carry that phone. I thought if the Sprint phone is this bad I better check around to see what my friends around town thought about their AT&T service. Call one, went something like this…
Me – “Eug, how is the service on your iPhone?”
Eug – “Dude, stay with Verizon. I’m trying to get out of my contract. This service sucks”
After a few more of those calls my mind was made up. I would sacrifice the “cool” factor for money and service.
So, It’s been a month and I f-ing love it. I can do everything I want on the Droid and more. I have played with the iPhone on multiple occasions and I honestly don’t yearn for it like I once did. The Screen on the Droid is unbelievable. Before the Droid I had the Blackberry Storm. The screen on the Storm was beautiful. This one blows it away.
The touch screen keyboard works flawlessly. In addition, I was able to install the Swype Beta which I gotta say works like a charm as well. I will talk about apps at another time. Both the portrait and landscape touch screen keyboards are accurate and the word prediction works flawlessly when you do mistype a word. As far as the slide out keyboard goes, I never use it as I stated earlier. What I like most about the Droid and all Android devices for that matter is the ability to customize.
Practically right out of the box you can make changes to the devices appearance and functionality. You make the device work for you rather than you figuring out how to change your habits for the device. I was primarily a Blackberry user before I got the Droid. I had an 8830, 8330, Storm and a 8350i. I was a true Crackberry addict. I am now a Droiddict. I am able to get all the information I want as I want it by using pre-installed and downloaded widgets. With apps like Beautiful Home, Better Cuts, Open Home, Better Keyboard, Home ++, Sweeter Homes, dxTop, GDE and aHome you can customize the phone in ways that make iPhone users envious. In order to do some of these things on an iPhone you need to root the device. Not on an Android device, the option to root the device is there but it isn’t necessary. As far as apps go, iPhone has the volume and the quality but the Android market will catch up in quality.
In the past month I have downloaded my fair share of apps. Some I kept some I deleted right away. Are they all pretty…hell no! Are they improving with every update…hell yes! There may not be the volume of apps but the apps you want are available and if they’re not, they soon will be. You have to remember, the app store wasn’t packed with apps the first day it opened up. How long did it take to get to the point it is today? I am a gadget geek. I have a Slingbox and a Squeezebox at home. I am itching to get the Slingplayer on my Droid. I have updated my Beta page on Sling Media’s site so I can test it out when released. I am also waiting for an iPeng like controller for my Droid. There are a few adequate apps out there for the Squeezebox but none of them have iPeng’s functionality yet. I know they will come, just like they did for the iPhone.
That’s about all the writing time I have…Wife is out and the kids and the puppy are starting to drive me crazy. I think I’m developing a twitch?!?
J…E…T…S….SUCK! SUCK! SUCK!
A true New York Giants fan living in the NYC area is miserable the past few weeks not because the Giants didn’t make the playoffs but because the Jets, Eagles and Cowboys did. What makes it worse, is the Jets making it to the AFC title game. It makes me sick listening to “Giants fans”, yes I air quoted it, on sports radio talking about how they are rooting for the Jets. F that! Are you kidding me. There is one rule you must follow when you live in or near NYC. YOU CAN ONLY ROOT FOR ONE LOCAL TEAM IN A SPORT. If you are a Giants fan you hate the Jets and vica versa. Same rule applies for the Yankees & the Mets, the Knicks & the Nets and the Devils, Rangers and Islanders. Don La Greca, of the Michael Kay show on 1050 ESPN radio in New York, puts it perfectly when he calls people like this “FRAUDS”. Only problem I have with La Greca is that he’s a Giants fan who does the Jets pre and post game shows. Don a true Giant fan would have turned that gig down. Hmmmm…Is it against my rule to be a Colts fan this weekend?
