GregHowley.com

When I bought my Droid X phone, it came stock with the Eclair version of Google's Android operating system. Within a couple months, I'd updated to Froyo. Shortly thereafter I installed the ADW.Launcher software and enjoyed the customization it provided. But I've always had issues with battery life, and certain tasks ran very slowly.

A few days ago, I uninstalled ADW.Launcher and ran the software update that would bring my phone current to the newest version of the Android operating system, Gingerbread. That worked just fine, and then I installed Launcher Pro, which I've heard runs more quickly and efficiently than ADW Launcher. It may be quicker, but I'm a bit annoyed that some basic functions like resizing widgets are missing until I cough up three dollars. I feel like I've got the kid from Better Off Dead nagging me. I'll probably buy the stupid thing eventually just so that my Google Calendar widget can take up the entire width of a homescreen.

Launcher Plus does some cool things, many of them the same cool things that ADW.Launcher did. I can change the number of icons per row or column, but I had some graphical glitch issues with my contact widget when I did that in ADW.Launcher, so I may wait until a bit on that. Launcher Pro has a scrollable dock which I tried out before deciding that I liked a single static dock, and it allows up to seven home screens. I'm happy with five. It also allows for custom dock icons, of which I'm making use, and gives you the ability to swipe a dock icon for secondary behavior. When I swipe the phone dock icon, it automatically calls my wife. Given that probably upwards of 50% of my calls are made to her, that's pretty damn convenient.

Since the Gingerbread install, I've also noticed a new option inside my phone's wireless and network settings: Tethering & mobile hotspot. Wikipedia says that this option has been present since Froyo, but I've never noticed it. I'm sure that Verizon wants to conceal the fact that this option exists, since they charge extra for tethering. In any event, I'll be trying it out soon.

The one other big thing I've noticed is that since the Gingerbread update, my battery life has been phenomenal. As I write this, my phone has been off the charger for about eight hours, and it's still at 80% charge. It's going to be really nice to not have to worry about charging my phone every time I can.