How to : Manually install the Droid OTA update

Very recently, Verizon rolled out an OTA (over the air) update for Motorola Droid to fix certain number of problems that the Motorola phone  was suffering from such as autofocus problem and more. Currently Droidusers are dependent on Verizon to get the much awaited OTA update. A hack has been made available that gives you the option to manually update to Android 2.0.1 and eliminates the need to rely on Verizon to roll out the update (Steps  listed below)

How to Root Motorola Droid

Following are the steps that you need to get the update to run on your mobile phone

• Download this file.
• Rename the file to update.zip and place it in the root directory of your microSD card.
• Power off the phone .
• Power on the phone while holding the ‘X’ key on the physical keyboard to enter recovery mode.
• When you see the triangle with the exclamation point, press the volume up key and camera button key (only press the camera key down half way).
• Navigate to apply update.zip and press the gold center button on the keyboard to select it. It will start the update process.
• Reboot the phone after it’s finished.

The root hack makes it possible to access the file system of Droid and works on both Android 2.0 and Android 2.0.1.

Do this at your own risk. Before carrying out these steps you are advised to take backup of all the important that resides on your very own Droid.

Droid ranked top gadget of the year, iPhone left eating dust

Time Magazine has named Motorola Droid as the top gadget of the year much to the surprise of Apple andiPhone fans. Verizon and Motorola will be over the moon upon this achievement and why shouldn’t they be. Time Magazine has declared Droid as the first handset to challenge Apple’s outstanding smartphone.

Here is how the magazine praised Droid

The Droid is a hefty beast, a metal behemoth without the gloss and finish of the iPhone, but you don’t miss it. The Droid’s touchscreen is phenomenally sharp and vivid, it has an actual physical (not great, but good enough) keyboard, and best of all, the Droid is on Verizon’s best-of-breed 3G network. It’s Android’s first credible challenge to the iPhone.

iPhone still managed to gain place in the top 10 gadget of the year list. The sensational device managed to secure 4th spot.

This news is a bit difficult to absorb since Droid managed to sell just 100,000 units in its first week of launch whereas more than one million mighty iPhone 3GS sets were sold within its  first 3 days of  release.

Speaking of Droid, recently Verizon rolled out an OTA update for the high profile Android powered phone.

Verizon starts rolling out OTA updates for Droid

Verizon as promised, has started rolling out Over the Air (OTA) update for the much advertised Motorola Droidphone. The OTA update for Droid brings bug fixes, improvements  and more. (Full list of changes and improvements provided below)

The update also called ESD56 brings the following changes:

• Improved OS stability.
• Improved battery life.
• Camera’s autofocus is improved, time between shots is reduced.
• Three-way calling enhancements.
• Incoming call quality is improved.
• Speakerphone remains on when call waiting kicks in.
• Better Bluetooth, background echo eliminated, improved phone book transfer of contacts to in-vehicle systems.
• GPS icon will disappear after a GPS app is closed.
• SMS and MMS messages can be received after an EMS message is received.
• SMS and MMS can now go to seven-digit addresses.
• Google contact merging supports seven-digit numbers.
• Visual Voice Mail notices arrive instantly.
• Corporate calendar widget is updated.

How to get the update

If you can’t wait for the automatic update, then follow the steps listed below to manually update your phone

1. Go to Settings.
2. Move to the About Phone option.
3. Check for System Updates.

The update will take between 6 to 10 minutes. During the update process, you won’t be able to use yourMotorola based phone. So that would be a good time to get coffee for yourself.

Forum users are reporting that the camera has become faster, however the indoor shots are still not that good. Interestingly, the update has arrived a little bit earlier than we were expecting, since 11th December was  the rumored update date as we told you. Do share with us your feedback regarding the just released OTA update.

Source: Geekword