Android Phone with good Keyboard - Ebay germany.


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Hi, I recently found a seller of several Motorola Droid 4 phones in germany. These were never officially sold here.  For someone in germany looking for a phone with good hardware keyboard, this is a great deal.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Motorola-DROID-4-XT894-Milestone-Android-4-4-2-kein-Sim-Lock-20-/181464677260?pt=DE_Handy_s&hash=item2a40233b8c

I purchased one and it was in "as new" condition with cyanogenmod pre installed. I am very happy with it mainly as a navigator. Still using my N900s as phones.

But on the Droid, I installed Mapfactor Navigator and downloaded the OpenStreetMap set for germany. It looks to be detailed and accurate, and even includes hiking trails. Includes turn by turn navigation. And I never need to go online to update the map!
 
Hi,

that sounds very good, considering how hard it is to find a smartphone with a keyboard. How well does Cyanogenmod perform on the device? I installed it on one of my previous smartphones and it was kind of buggy, drained the battery really quick, and didn't support the FM radio chip of the device.
Does he only sell them as used, because he took them out of the packet to install Cyanogenmod, or are they really "second-hand"?
 
Oh, neat. I'm using the Xperia Pro and thought it was the last phone with a proper keyboard out there, but the Droid has a dualcore (the Pro doesn't).

With DualSIM, it would've been perfect... but I'm asking too much ;)
 
Hi, that sounds very good, considering how hard it is to find a smartphone with a keyboard. How well does Cyanogenmod perform on the device? I installed it on one of my previous smartphones and it was kind of buggy, drained the battery really quick, and didn't support the FM radio chip of the device. Does he only sell them as used, because he took them out of the packet to install Cyanogenmod, or are they really "second-hand"?
With cyanogenmod booted, no sim card installed, no apps started, and display mostly off, "battery snap" app shows 14 days runtime at current power consumption.

I also bought a new replacement battery and a torx screwdriver kit and swapped the battery on it. Not sure if that was really necessary. Needs to be done carefully since original battery is glued in, but mine came out pretty easily. The phone case doesnt need to be unscrewed to swap battery, just the back cover slid off, then a plastic label removed, then two torx screws unscrewed.

Not sure what the history behind these units is. Mine did not ship in an original box.

The keyboard is really nice. Too bad nobody has ported maemo/mer/whatever to it. It really would have been a good successor to the N900.
 
hey cool! i actually have two of these. i have been using them for over a year. imported and immediately flashed custom roms to get proper gsm.


you have to be aware of two things though: xt894 has a headphone port that tends to attract pocket lint like a magnet. i am constantly cleaning these stupid ports because my headphones won't connect.


issue number two is the very flimsy flex cable that connects the screen with the mobo. on both units i own, these cables have broken and the screen is unlit when the keyboard is out. you cannot replace the flexcable, it's glued to the screen in a way that is not manually repairable! there are screen assemblies with cable already installed though, of which i ordered two. i will report back when these are installed.


i am heavily relying on these qwertz phones! it's too bad german phone companies would rather sell touchscreen toys than business phones. i cannot do my work with a touchscreen only phone, i need to be able to type blindly and very fast. i have to organize my team very rapidly and sometimes it's a matter of seconds and informing the correct people at the right time.


edit: have the hdmi dock on my desk aswell. so i can see new messages and my mobile todo list on the big screen (have a triple head setup...).
 
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just finished replacing the screens/flexcables on my two droid 4s. happy that the keyboard is working again, though the proximity sensor on one phone doesn't work anymore for some reason. maybe it was already faulty on the new screen assembly, might have broken it during the exchange or it has to be calibrated... no idea.


anyway, this phone is worse than it seems, everything is glued together and very finicky. only easily replacable part is the battery. to get to the screen you will have to destroy stickers and use your blowdryer a lot.


btw: there is a new battery from japan that has much more capacity. check it out on xda, don't hava a link right now...
 
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