droidin

ebsprintin

Veteran Expediter
I knew there was another question I wanted to ask. I'm very close to making a Droid X purchase. Anyone know how well the excel apps work on it? I made a simple little rate planner spread sheet that lets me calculate information related to a load when dispatch calls with an offer. It's one of the main reasons for me moving to a smart phone if I can make the app work. I've seen a couple excel apps advertised, but not sure whether they are up to speed in the real world. Just wondering if anyone has any experience or advise in this department.

eb
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Yeah, they work. I've tried a couple of them. I also have Google Spreadsheet that I can access with the Droid. I mostly use Documents2Go from Dataviz. The free version lets you view Word and Excel files, but the paid version lets you create and edit them, as well as Powerpoint and PDF files.

Most of the time I have the laptop and running when I get a load offer, so that's what I use. Otherwise, the Droid works great.
 

charlee

Seasoned Expediter
LOVE the Droid. Curious tho if people that have the droid will switch to iphone when Verizon gets? Also HTC or DROIDX or DRIOD2? HTC 8mp camera nice and light droid x big screen both virtual keyboards droid2?

ps Are there any smartphones that you can thether with and use phone and internet at same time?
 
Last edited:

xiggi

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I have a droid eris by htc, Love the phone I do tether it for internet use but when a call comes in I am bumped off the net for the most part. I had a droid g1 prior to this and am a big fan of the droid phones overall.
 

ebsprintin

Veteran Expediter
Yeah, the Droid X as my laptop's internet connection is another thing I'm wondering about. Is the connection like my aircard connection, or does the pc get restricted to mobile content?

As for switching to iphone, not interested.

eb
 

xiggi

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Just download pdanet and connect through the phone. The free version works great but it is 18.95 if you want to connect to secure sites. It works great and no restrictions. No different than any other internet connection.
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
I use PDANet. Paid for it because I access a lot of secure sites, like banking.

With any CDMA network, like Verizon and Sprint, you will not be able to talk on the phone and surf the Web at the same time, tethered or not. That's just a limitation of CDMA. When they fully implement 4G you'll be able to do that. Otherwise, you need a GSM network, like AT&T. However, if you're connected via WiFi with the phone and a call comes in, you can talk and still surf the Web with the CDMA phones.

As for which Droid, I'd go with the Droid X. The same camera as the HTC, but it has HDMI recording and output, and the screen is bigger. I have the original Motorola Droid, and it's now running Froyo 2.2, so I'm happy with it. But if I were to get another one today, it would be the Droid X. But the HTC is nice, too.

EB: Is the connection like my aircard connection, or does the pc get restricted to mobile content?

Yes, when tethered it's like the Aircard. Even on the phone you're not really restricted to mobile content. But when tethered it works exactly the same as the Aircard.
 

Swanny

Seasoned Expediter
Hi folks...My first post on the forum...been researching this site for a few months. I'm jumping in on this thread because I'm about to get rolling and have just picked up the htc evo. My question is with copilot live 8 for navigation would you use your phone instead of a stand alone gps unit?
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Good question. The answer is no.

In order to use phone navigation you must have a data connection, because the maps are downloaded on the fly as you need them. The maps on a standalone GPS unit are always there when you need them.

If you live and work in a city and only navigate around that city, then phone navigation is fine. But if you deliver to an area that has no 3G/4G service, like a gold mine in Nevada or some place in middle of nowhere Wyoming, you're screwed. There are more places than you might think where you cannot get a data connection. Places in Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, lots of them. You'll get a GPS signal on the phone, but it won't do you any good because you can't get the map data downloaded to the phone. Whereas the standalone unit will get you there and back again without any problems.
 

ebsprintin

Veteran Expediter
I haven't gotten my smart phone yet, but it will only be a back up to the stand alone gps. My gps is almost always on doing its gps thing. My phone and computer are busy enough doing other things. I wouldn't mind a smart gps that can handle things like spread sheets.

eb

P.S. And welcome to the forum Swanny.
 

Swanny

Seasoned Expediter
Thanks for your responses. Turtle, my understanding was that copilot maps were stored on the sd card and would not need to have a 3, or 4g connection to work. Regardless, as ebsprintin says multitasking the phone that way may be too much. Preciate the welcome ebsprintin.
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
I didn't mention it because I hate to beat a dead horse, but of all the navigation programs available, Co-Pilot is probably the worst. When you compare it, its accuracy, routing and address database, to Streets & Trips, Rand McNally, Tom Tom, Garmin, any of them, Co-Pilot comes up way short. You should compare Co-Pilot and PC Miler side-by-side, you'll be shocked, especially since both products are from the same company.

Since most GPS units and mapping programs use essentially the same mapping data, there will be locations that none of them can find. Can't find it on the Garmin, so Streets & Trips or MapPoint or MapQuest won't find it, either. But, Google can often find it. And with the Droid come Google Navigator, where you can tell it to "Navigate to: business name, city, state" and more often than not it'll find it. You can scroll through the navigation and even see the Google Street View picture of the destination.

But even if you don't want to use the phone as the navigation device, it will tell you where the location is, so that if nothing else you can find that same location on the map on the Garmin and tell it to go there, then let the Garmin take over. I've done that several times, it's really come in handy.

Add to that the Google Earth app you can download (free) and you have a powerful tool to supplement your standalone GPS unit.
 

Swanny

Seasoned Expediter
Thks for the input...I was a couple of clicks away from buying the app...glad I asked. Regardless, I really like this android phone, now where's that beer app.;)
 

lugnut1

Seasoned Expediter
Co-Pilot is probably the worst. When you compare it, its accuracy, routing and address database, to Streets & Trips, Rand McNally, Tom Tom, Garmin, any of them, Co-Pilot comes up way short.

CoPilot is not for cargo vans or cars and especially not for turtles.
Your comment “Co-Pilot is probably the worst” highlights how ignorantly poor your navigation skills are and understanding of the CoPilot software.
Now repeat after me, "CoPilot is for professional drivers. TomTom, Intelrouter, Garmin and other like GPS units are for, four wheeler soccer moms; motor cycles, vans and Turtles."
 
Last edited:

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Not that it matters, but I was a paid alpha and beta tester for TravRoute, which is what Co-Pilot used to be called, going back to version 1 back in the early 90's, and continued in that capacity up through Co-Pilot version 9. So I think I have a pretty good understanding of the software, how it works and how to use it. I have Co-Pilot 11 installed on my laptop currently.
 

cheri1122

Veteran Expediter
Driver
CoPilot is not for cargo vans or cars and especially not for turtles.
Your comment “Co-Pilot is probably the worst” highlights how ignorantly poor your navigation skills are and understanding of the CoPilot software.
Now repeat after me, "CoPilot is for professional drivers. TomTom, Intelrouter, Garmin and other like GPS units are for, four wheeler soccer moms; motor cycles, vans and Turtles."

As Turtle was able to back up his words, [and do it without the personal insults that truly ignorant folks can't seem to refrain from hurling], how about you trying to do the same?
 

lugnut1

Seasoned Expediter
Not that it matters, but I was a paid alpha and beta tester for TravRoute, which is what Co-Pilot used to be called, going back to version 1 back in the early 90's, and continued in that capacity up through Co-Pilot version 9. So I think I have a pretty good understanding of the software, how it works and how to use it. I have Co-Pilot 11 installed on my laptop currently.

Having it (CoPilot) does not mean you know how to use it, nor does testing an old alpha or beta version lend you all knowing expertise about the software. You may just be incapable of grasping CoPilots full functionality.
But you are right about one thing, it does not matter.
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Having it (CoPilot) does not mean you know how to use it...
That's very true.

...nor does testing an old alpha or beta version lend you all knowing expertise about the software.
Actually, it does. The basic core functionality and kernel hasn't changed at all since version 4.

You may just be incapable of grasping CoPilots full functionality.
Yeah, you're probably right.

But you are right about one thing, it does not matter.
Nope. Not one bit.
 

movingon

Seasoned Expediter
I knew there was another question I wanted to ask. I'm very close to making a Droid X purchase. Anyone know how well the excel apps work on it? I made a simple little rate planner spread sheet that lets me calculate information related to a load when dispatch calls with an offer. It's one of the main reasons for me moving to a smart phone if I can make the app work. I've seen a couple excel apps advertised, but not sure whether they are up to speed in the real world. Just wondering if anyone has any experience or advise in this department.

eb
You can view Excell and word Docs on the free "Documents to Go" download but you'll have to get the pay version, "Documents to Go, Full Version Key" ($14.99)to edit them.
 

golfournut

Veteran Expediter
I knew there was another question I wanted to ask. I'm very close to making a Droid X purchase. Anyone know how well the excel apps work on it? I made a simple little rate planner spread sheet that lets me calculate information related to a load when dispatch calls with an offer. It's one of the main reasons for me moving to a smart phone if I can make the app work. I've seen a couple excel apps advertised, but not sure whether they are up to speed in the real world. Just wondering if anyone has any experience or advise in this department.

eb

I have the EVO 4g. Works great, I love the phone. I have rooted the phone and downloaded WiFi hot spots so I can now also print to a WiFi printer emails, photos, spreadsheets from docs to go. Almost anything. The reason for rooting is now I can create a WiFi hot spot with out having to pay Sprint $30 a month for that privilege, plus the phone is much faster in the 3g networks as 4g isn't that widely available.
 
Top