While we were busy looking into external speaker problems on the Droid, it would seem Moto was itself hard at work remedying a separate issue with the device. A number of users on support forums have complained of the Droid’s camera failing to focus and giving them “red corners” when attempting to take pictures, but now — suddenly and without warning — their ailment has gone away as if touched by the hand of an omnipotent being (or, alternatively, a silent firmware update). This particular autofocus problem was mentioned in Verizon’s 5-page treatise on known issues with the Droid, though the planned resolution was an official update by December 11. The fix seems to have been delivered early, as green corners are sprouting up all around, but this silent update conduit sounds a bit nefarious, no?

Update: Sure enough, we can confirm from testing one of our own Droids that the issue has been resolved. The endless quest for the green focus box is over, and you can now finally begin scanning all your discount cards into Key Ring.

Update 2: And things have turned surreal. Dan Morrill, from Google’s Android team, has confirmed that there’s a date-related bug in the Droid’s camera software that leads to it having cycles of good and bad focus that depend on the date. Our own testing confirmed this, as backdating to the 11th of November returned those red bars of failure. Apparently, the cycles last 24.5 days, meaning that you’ll have good focus all the way to December 11, when the real fix is expected to drop. So breathe easy, Gotham, there are no phantom updates, just an oddly date-sentient camera.

[Thanks, AlexL and Kaiser]

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Motorola Droid camera autofocus fixed in secrecy? (Update: it’s a date-related self-correction) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon Wireless’ vaunted network may not be paying off for some users of the Droid, who are complaining about problems with call quality on their smartphones.

“There’s a problem with echo on the phone, so when someone calls you, to them it sounds like they are having a conversation with themselves,” says Heath Brashier, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, software developer who bought his Droid, which is manufactured by Motorola, just about a week ago. “It’s happened to me twice so far.”

Similar complaints have been posted on Motorola’s support forum, where people have posted dozens of comments saying that their voice sounds ‘tinny’ and ‘clipped.’ Some subscribers have found a quick DIY fix to the problem: Quickly turning the speaker phone on the device on and off makes the echo go away, they say. Others suggest rebooting the phone.

The problem is not widespread enough for Verizon to have launched an investigation yet, says a Verizon spokesperson. “We stand behind our products,” says the spokesperson. “Customers have a 30-day return-and-exchange policy if they are not happy with their phone.”

Motorola and Verizon launched the $200 Droid (with a two-year contract) Nov. 6 to excellent reviews. Droid has a crisp screen, zippy Android 2.0 operating system, 5-megapixel camera and maps with free turn-by-turn navigation.

The phone has proved a good seller for Verizon, so far. Flurry, a mobile-analytics company, estimates Verizon sold 250,000 Droid phones in the first week since the product’s launch. That compares to about 60,000 T-Mobile HTC MyTouch phones sold during that device’s first week, but falls far short of the estimated 1.6 million Apple 3G S iPhones that customers bought during a similar period.

The gripes about Droid’s call quality, however, have dampened the enthusiasm of some users. “It is irritating,” says Brashier.

Verizon may not be ready to officially acknowledge the problem, but it is likely aware of it. A leaked technical bulletin from the company suggests it is planning an over-the-air software update Dec. 11 to fix it. It will also include a patch for problems such as lack of availability of 3-way calling in some areas and inability of some users to transfer contacts by Bluetooth.

Seperately, a Wired.com reader said in an e-mail note that Droid’s Wi-Fi connectivity can be unreliable. While the phone connects to a Wi-Fi network, it doesn’t always connect to the internet from there. It’s not clear if that’s a problem with just a few phones or a more widespread issue among Droid devices.

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See Also:

• Why I’m Not Getting a Droid Today
• Review: Motorola Droid
• Droid Weekend Sales Top 100000, Says Analyst
• Verizon to Offer Tethering For Motorola Droid
• Verizon Won’t Offer Free Tethering, but Droid Hackers Might

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Updated 8 p.m. EDT: Google has released the source code for Android 2.0, according to Android developer Cyanogen.

In TV ads, Verizon is trying to sell its new Google-powered phone by highlighting everything the “Droid Does” that the iPhone doesn’t. But the Droid will be able to do much more than Verizon is telling you. For example: free tethering, iPhone-like multitouch and CPU overclocking.

Similar to the jailbreak community hacking the iPhone, there’s a group of Android developers determined to grant any Google-powered phone free access to every feature imaginable. And they’re able to accomplish this task more legitimately than underground iPhone hackers, since Android’s source code is completely open to developers.

That gives developers an end-run around carriers, like Verizon, that might have their own ideas — like charging a $15 to $30 monthly fee for tethering.

The source code for Android 2.0, aka Eclair, hasn’t been released by Google yet, so a custom build for the Droid isn’t yet available. But customized versions of the OS already exist for previous Android phones, and given the open source nature of Google Android, it’s inevitable a modified firmware bundle will arrive in the near future.

Ever since the birth of the Android platform, developers have been working on a process called “rooting,” which gains administrative rights to a device. That allows developers (and users) to have complete control and to utilize all the features found in the Android platform. Now independent developers bundle features such as tethering, overclocking and multitouch into custom OS builds that are available free for download. Firmware mods makes it easy for a regular Android user to have it all.

What exactly does that mean for Droid customers, or owners of any Android phone for that matter? You’ll be able to install modified firmware onto your smartphone and gain access to everything Android is capable of — without paying extra fees on top of your cellphone bill — so long as the hardware can technically support it. For example, you won’t have to pay $30 for Verizon’s official tethering plan so long as you install a free mod that includes the feature.

Earlier Android phones — the T-Mobile G1 and MyTouch 3G — have already been hacked to support Google Maps Navigation, which is supposed to be a Droid-exclusive feature. Thanks to the folks at the XDA Developer forums, all that G1 or MyTouch owners have to do is reinstall an updated version of Google Maps and change configuration settings.

Some manufacturers and carriers are already embracing the direction of open customization with all the available and upcoming Android devices that are hitting the market. For example, T-Mobile’s official development forum allows developers and consumers to discuss step-by-step directions on rooting an Android device. T-Mobile customers who have gone this route enjoy the perks of data tethering, for example, without an additional cost.

You can assume that Verizon, a company which just doubled its early termination fee, won’t look as kindly on the idea of customers rooting their devices and tethering for free.

Of course, changing the way a device operates from a manufacturer’s specifications always comes with a risk, and an Android phone is no exception. There are warnings about “bricking” your phone, which renders a device unbootable, and this commonly happens after installing a custom build of Android. Although it is considered a rare occurrence, a quick Google search brings up many results of Android users asking for help or wondering if their phone is, in fact, bricked.

And don’t think a carrier or manufacturer will offer any assistance with issues caused after modding their device, a clear violation of most Terms of Use. When someone discovers a way to root the Droid, Verizon doesn’t have to take the T-Mobile route of turning a blind eye to these changes. It could retaliate by terminating contracts and voiding warranties.

With all that said, just when can we expect a mod for the Droid, for those willing to take on the risks? Google has not announced when it would release Android 2.0’s source code, but Android engineer Jean-Baptiste Queru has said it’ll happen eventually.

“There are a number of things that need to happen before any Open-Source release can happen, and those haven’t all happened for Eclair yet,” Queru wrote on the official Google Groups page. “For all I know all of those things will eventually happen. The overall process for any such release routinely takes a few weeks depending of course on the size of the release, and Eclair is a big release.”

See Also:

• Why I’m Not Getting a Droid Today
• Verizon to Offer Tethering for Motorola Droid
• Google Muscles Android Developer, Offers Olive Branch

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Motorola’s Droid is not an iPhone-killer, but it will advance the use and adoption of web content on connected devices, according to Wednesday data from Nielsen.

With only 10,000 applications in the Android Market compared to about 100,000 on iTunes, “the Droid – or any Android phone – won’t be killing the iPhone anytime soon,” Nielsen wrote in a blog post.

However, Android’s integration with popular and widespread Google apps like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Voice will help with its popularity, as will Android’s ability to run multiple applications, Nielsen said.

“Most users do this on their computers so being able to listen to music while browsing the web and sending email makes a multi-tasking smartphone an appealing option,” the analyst firm concluded.

Nielsen believes that by mid-2011, about 50 percent of all phones sold will be smartphones, or roughly 150 million users.

“This shift could happen much faster with the right conditions such as continued competitive price points on devices, lower ‘all you can eat’ data packages and the increasing consumers need to be connected anytime, anywhere,” they said.

If you purchase an Android phone, Nielsen finds that “you’ll likely use more of the data features more often than if using any other smartphone.”

I’ve reviewed the Droid Eris twice before, when it was called the Hero. The difference is that Verizon’s selling it for half the price, making it the cheapest Android phone you can buy—and the best, for the money.

Eris is Verizon’s other Droid phone. It really is a remodeled Hero, running Android 1.5 and HTC’s vaunted Sense candy coating—documented CSI style here—a $200 phone stuffed inside a thinner $100 body, like a Corvette engine shoved inside a Saturn. It’s admittedly less exciting than the titular Droid, an industrial beast running Android 2.0. But I have the feeling Verizon is gonna sell a lot more of these things, because, again, it’s $100.

Designing for the Middle of the Road

The Eris is rubbery blob, a narrow oval that’s as subdued as a phone could possibly be, but there is admittedly something comforting about the Eris’s utter lack of personality—it’s completely non-threatening, like a middle manager. It’s so generic it’s almost artful, actually, a design that is nearly perfect for a cheap phone.

The four main Android buttons are touch sensitive, bleeding into the black bezel, hovering over the dead-center trackball and hard chrome buttons for phone and end. I’d like a dedicated camera button, but a volume rocker is all we get. The camera lens stares out the back, disturbingly more reminiscent of an eye than most cameras sticking out the backs of phones, probably because of how stark the rest of the phone is.

Hardware and Camera

The actual guts and screen are the same as past Hero phones—which is to say, nearly the same as all of HTC’s other Android phones so far. The 480×320 screen’s still nice, even if it feels dated now that the Droid’s massive screen, beckoning the next generation, looms large over it. Oh yeah, HTC? Can you get rid of your stupid, pointlessly different version of the mini USB port? Let’s go to micro USB now, yeah?

The still camera’s better than the Droid though, and about the same as the Sprint version of the Hero, performing pretty decently in low-light situations. Video, not so much:

Software and the Endgame

I’ve already covered HTC’s Sense UI in depth, and it is the exact same on the Eris. It runs just as fast as the Sprint Hero, if not a teeny bit quicker. I will say that after using Android 2.0, it does feel like a step backward in some ways, mostly because of the single Google account limitation. But HTC’s confirmed Android 2.0 is coming, so it won’t be an issue for every long.

And really, the fact that Android 2.0—half the reason the Droid is excellent—is coming to the Droid Eris is why, in the end, it’s such a steal. It’s running on Verizon, it’s going to have Android 2.0, and it’s $100. It’s a great phone now, and will be better still soon, making it kind of a perfect storm for people on Verizon looking to ditch their dumbphones—but not Verizon—for something more capable, but who are put off by the Droid, whether it’s the steroids or the higher sticker price.

It’s last month’s darling. But it’ll run this month’s software. For cheap. And that’s pretty spiffy, actually.

You’re getting last month’s killer Android phone for half price


We’ll say it again: This is the best Android deal around


Android 1.5 feels a little dated


Video recording’s not exactly amazing