The announcement during MWC a couple of weeks ago that Verizon would be exclusively partnering up with Skype was quite the story.  In fact, if users actually adopt the usage of Skype, this could give VZW a pretty significant advantage and a nice little selling point to its smartphone users.  Well, as long as they have one included on this list.

Check out Verizon's fun little illustrated intro to Skype...

the video of ours that seemed to take the motorola droid and mobile gadget world by storm last week was the one which showed off the android 2.1 update 1 build that was apparently leaked during its final testing stage.  (and people thought droid users didn't care anymore.)  since then, another build has surfaced and we figured we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't flash this to our phone and show it off.  you'll definitely enjoy the live wallpapers on this one...


the process i used to flash this to my phone is not recommended.  if you'd like to check out this new build on your phone, there have already been custom roms created which install the same way we showed you through our "how to install a custom rom" tutorial.

*warning* - this process could actually brick your phone and by going through with this, you are choosing to do so at your own risk.  i will not be held liable should something happen to your droid, i am only providing information which should prompt you to do further thorough research on your own before proceeding.

*note* - if you have questions about this process, i'm here to answer some, but please help me out and do the majority of the research on your own.  it is definitely all out there.

the first 2 questions will likely be:

• if i do this, will i still receive the OTA?  answer:  i doubt it.
• if i do this, how easy is it to get back to 2.0.1?  answer: not easy.  the 2.0.1 sbf is needed.

(huge props to alldroid for the release!)

while we all sit and wait for the android 2.1 update with 5+ screens to arrive, we wanted to point out a home replacement app which is on the market right now for free that allows you to have up to 7 screens without completely changing the look of your device.  you get to keep your standard launcher, look, color scheme and all, but you get to have a ton of screens.  that app is called launcher+ and is made by the same crew that supports home++.

also, while we're whipping through this quick app, we wanted to point out an app called home switcher for those of you with multiple home replacement apps that need an easy way to jump back and forth between them.

video action to follow...


update 3/5 1:25pm:  there have been a couple of additional tips for the launcher+ pointed out in the comments and i wanted to make sure you all saw them:

• long press on the menu button and you get a helicopter or mini-card view of your screens.
• if you hold an app shortcut over the trash bin for 2 seconds, you can uninstall it.
• thanks pierre!

downloads...

back in january we reviewed an app called buzz deck which proved to be a great resource for the latest news of any kind.  and today, one of our readers sent us a tip to the brother or sister app to buzz deck which comes in widget form and is tastefully titled "tech buzz widget."  while i called it "new" in the video, that should be corrected to say "i'm just slow at checking things out sometimes!"

check out the tech buzz widget in action...


download...

the main request i've received over the last week has been "can you show us how to install a custom rom?!?" and today i finally had a chance to put a video together.  in this video we chose to use Blackdroid's new Ultimate Droid 5.0 over Bugless Beast, but as i've noted in the video, the installation instructions are the same for both so please after this video, do not ask me to do another video for Bugless.

*warning time* - as always, you are performing these tasks at your own risk.  we are not recommending that you do ANY of these, but simply providing information to you.  there is a chance you could brick your phone or do other permanent damage so please do as much research as you can beforehand.

before we get started - you need to make sure you've rooted your phone.  the best way to do that is by using droidmod1.0 or through this video.  you should also install the droidmod1.0 rom which this video will show you how to do.  after you've completed those 2 steps, you need to download the file below and then it's on to the video or step-by-step instructions...

download: ultimate droid 5.0 (alt link)  (alt link2)

video instructions...


step-by-step instructions...

Nandroid Backup Installation Instructions:
-Update & backup any files you wish to restore, this will wipe /data
-Extract the files from the archive using WinRAR or a similar program
-Place the extracted folder (the ROM) into the "nandroid" folder on your sdcard
-Reboot into recovery mode (hold the power and "x" button at the same time)
-Wipe data/factory reset
-Wipe cache partition
-Backup/Restore
-Advanced Nandroid Restore
-Choose backup (select the ROM) "ultimatedroid5"
-Perform Restore
-Enjoy!

*note 1* update 3/4 -  to get back to stock - in theory you should be able to get back to droidmod1.0 by booting into recovery and choosing one of the nandroid backups that droidmod created during its install.  once you get back to that recovery image, you should then be able to install droidmod1.0 again and revert back to stock.  (any rom pros want to weigh in on that logic?)

*note 2* - for all the support in the world on this rom, visit Blackdroid's running thread here.

*note 3* - metamorph tutorial in the works still.

*note 4* - "will i receive the 2.1 ota official update if i do this?"  answer is "no."

the fine folks at google have pumped out another application which as usual, has something to do with search functionality.  the newest is a gesture search application which looks neat, but we'll see how practical it really is especially since most mobile devices are optimized already for easy navigation.  this is essentially an application that allows you to spell out words in order to find contacts, apps, etc. on your phone.  yay?

the google explanation on gesture search...

Gesture Search lets you quickly find a contact, a bookmark, an application, or a music track from hundreds or thousands of items by drawing alphabet gestures on the touchscreen. Gesture Search continuously updates search results as you add each letter and improves search quality by learning from your search history.

video action...


download...

for those of you unable to access this in the market, here is the apk download.  (alt link)

cheers gerben for the apk!

(video via phandroid)

the last thing i want to do is start a war between nexus one and motorola droid owners as we are all in the android family, but this video testing the multi-touch capabilities of each device's touch screen show some pretty interesting results.  anyone else completely surprised by this?


(via android central and android and me)

now i know that the search functionality on the motorola droid is already top notch, but what if you could make it even better?  a fairly new application called "Searchify" has hit the market which adds some pretty cool search options to your phone including a calendar search.  searchify is available in the market for free so make sure to check this one out...


download...
if you run into any issues with it, check out the searchify website.

this morning we told you about hootsuite, which is the newest twitter app to hit the android market and wanted to follow up with a video review for the many of you expressing confusion over this little guy.  this is undoubtedly our favorite twitter app to date simply because it's the mini-version of the PC version that we use on a daily basis.  not only did it import all of our settings from our PC, but it also managed to include all of the amazing features we were already enjoying.  (well, the paid version did anyway.)

check out the review...


download...

last night, i was having a little too much fun with my favorite toy (my droid people, head out of the gutter) and took a wrong turn which essentially means i had to go forward with a major factory reset.  while the file is out there which could have returned me back to the stock 2.0.1 that most droids are running, i had also learned this weekend of the 2.1 file that was just released leaving me incredibly tempted.  now i'm not talking about some custom 2.1 rom, i'm talking about the 2.1 update 1 that many expected to be our official ota update.

so what did i do?  took one for the team of course!  check out the video below...


as i said in the video, i'm not going to post download links for you, but i will provide the link to where i got the files.  (2.1 sbf file here and all other files and installation instructions here.)  and now time for another warning...

*warning* - this process could actually brick your phone and by going through with this, you are choosing to do so at your own risk.  i will not be held liable should something happen to your droid, i am only providing information which should prompt you to do further thorough research on your own before proceeding.

*note* - if you have questions about this process, i'm here to answer some, but please help me out and do the majority of the research on your own.  it is definitely all out there.

the first 2 questions will likely be:

• if i do this, will i still receive the OTA?  answer:  i doubt it.
• if i do this, how easy is it to get back to 2.0.1?  answer: not easy.  the 2.0.1 sbf is needed.

(huge props to alldroid users CellZealot, wnrussell, brandon, and trevorj.)

i know that many of you including myself, have been wishing for someone to finally bring us some version of htc's sense ui on the motorola droid and that time is almost here.  the many developing geniuses that run the alldroid.org forums have come through once again like no one else can.  this time, developer thegeektern released screen caps and videos with a motorola droid running both sense ui and flash.

neither are available to download or use at this time, but it may be just a few days away. 

screenies...


shakiest most jittery video ever...


update 5:09pm:  a much nicer video...


to see a ton of other screen shots and another shaky video head over to alldroid.

welcome to part 3 of our 3 part series on how to root/unroot your motorola droid using droidmod 1.0! in this third part you'll see fully functioning live wallpapers in action plus the steps it takes to return your phone back to its "stock" or default state.


thanks for following along on our first series ever! if you have questions or comments on any of the videos or the process in general, feel free to leave comments throughout each post. we'll do our best to help you through this process should you choose to go take it on.

and if you missed any of the other videos:  part 1 and part 2.

at this time, i'd also like to ask the help of our readers who have used droidmod 1.0 and feel comfortable enough to answer a few questions that newcomers might have.  thanks everyone!

welcome to part 2 of our 3 part series on rooting/unrooting your motorola droid with droidmod 1.0! in this second part, we'll walk you through the process of flashing your phone to install a custom version of android 2.0.1 which includes many of the android 2.1 apps we all love, like live wallpapers.


check out the rest of the series:  part 1 and part 3.

welcome to part 1 of our 3 part series on rooting/unrooting your motorola droid!  in this first part we'll walk you through the few simple steps that it takes to root your phone using the droidmod 1.0 updater. but before you get into the first video and if you are thinking about going through this process, you need to make sure you have the DMUpdater installed which you can download it here.


check out the rest of the series:  part 2 and part 3.

we've had a ton of requests to do a simple motorola droid "tips and tricks" styled video and we finally found a few minutes to step aside and whip one out.  the challenge with this was to put 25 of them into one video under 10 minutes which somehow, we managed to do.  overall, this video is for the newbies, but many of you droid masters could probably learn a couple of things too.

i'm not sure i'll ever be able to talk this fast again...


and feel free to leave your own tips and tricks in the comments!

while we've talked some of the past few weeks about rooting your phone or using droidmod 1.0 to get live wallpapers, we're still trying to keep the majority of our coverage to the average droid users.  with that said, after seeing this video of someone removing their motorola boot image and replacing it with a superman logo, i couldn't help but share and chuckle a little...

any quake fans out there?  if you said yes to that then you are in luck.  a milestone user has been working diligently over the past few weeks to port over quake 3 into a reliable state and has apparently accomplished just that.  the guys over at android and me went through the task of installing and eventually playing it.  check it out...


download qrcode is below, but understand it's not as simple as just downloading and installing an apk. from what i've gathered, you need to actually have a pc version of quake 3 and copy over files from that to your phone in order to get it running.

here are the instructions and notes from the developer.

download...

just wanted to take a quick minute and show motorola droid users how to get access to their stock apps without actually rooting your phone.  what does that mean?  it really just means that you are making your stock apps viewable in your application manager to clear defaults associated with an app or even go as far as force closing one.

those of you who have dealt with the 2.1 launcher not showing up will want to watch this...

Hey there guys! Just wanted to drop in with a quick look at BETTER KEYBOARD 5.0 for Android. With all this talk lately of rooting this and modding that I figured I would give you guys something to play with that DIDN'T involve voiding your warranty! It's Better Keyboard 5.0 - available for the low low price of $2.99 in the Android Market.

Take a look...

while we continue to wait for android 2.1 to be sent from verizon over to our droid devices, we have another launcher for you to play with and kill some time.  this new launcher is essentially the nexus one 2.1 launcher we posted before but has the look of htc's sense ui.  the creators (xeodoxus) have also fixed a couple of the bugs, made it run a little smoother and overall made it feel just a little more stable.

check it...


update:  after doing the video, i realized that you can long press and get your 5 mini-cards for shortcuts to screens.  if you long press on the browser or phone buttons, you will get these.

update 2:  after more testing we're running into some of the same force closes as the previous launcher.  we also have a report of a phone unable to restart after installing this launcher.  please install at your own risk.

instructions for installation...

1.  go into settings -> applications and check the "unknown sources" box.
2.  visit this post from your phone's browser.
3.  tap and download this file onto your phone:  Launcher2-app.apk   (alt link)
4.  tap on the downloaded application once it has finished.
5.  install it and tap your "home" button when installation has completed.
6.  you can check "default" and then select "launcher" to set it.

(cheers once again alldroid.org)

the rest of the android 2.1 apps you need:

1.  nexus one / sense ui launcher
2.  new eclair gallery with multi-touch
3.  genie news and weather 2.1
4.  launcher 2.1
5.  music app 2.1
6.  clock app 2.1
7.  flan gallery 2.1