The Motorola Droid and the HTC Droid Eris, both available via Verizon
Wireless in the United States, proved to be surprisingly good phones in my
initial tests. I was surprised that the consumer-oriented Droid Eris is a better
smartphone in many key respects than the Motorola Droid, thanks to better UI
choices.
But the two new Google Android phones lack basic security capabilities that make
them unusable in many business environments, and their utter lack of management
features mean that even where businesses can acept their security limitations,
they won't be able to deploy them in large numbers. Worse, it appears that the
Droids don't support Exchange ActiveSync policies, so many Exchange servers
won't grant them access. When it comes to Exchange, Droid doesn't.
[ Learn which smartphones support your business's Exchange security and access
policies. | Find out Android 2.0's real odds of unseating the iPhone in "Android
2.0: The iPhone killer at last?" | InfoWorld's Bill Snyder explains why business
loses no matter who wins: iPhone or Android. ]
The Droids' Exchange support isn't reliable
I set up an Android 2.0-based Motorola Droid using a corporate data access plan,
which costs $45 per month on top of voice and SMS charges, and an Android
1.5-based HTC Droid Eris using a regular data access plan, which costs $30 per
month on top of voice and SMS charges. Both Verizon's corporate spokeswoman and
the local Verizon Store's sales staff had told me I needed a $45-per-month
corporate plan (even as an individual user) to access corporate e-mail Exchange
servers, although some Web sites claim that is not true.
Here's what happened to me in real life, acting as a regular consumer: I was not
able to set up access to my Exchange account on the consumer $30-per-month plan.
And when I went into the Verizon Store and mentioned that I was going to access
corporate e-mail on the Motorola Droid, the staff told me I had to buy the
$45-per-month plan even though the phone was not on a business account. I said I
would not use Exchange on the HTC Droid Eris -- which I activated on the same
"family" account as the Motorola Droid -- and was charged just $30 per month for
that device's plan.
But it didn't really matter whether I paid $30 or $45 for my plan: I could not
get the built-in Android Email application to access my e-mail. And a check of
the Droid user forum showed that I am by no means alone -- the problem is
afflicting many others, including Exchange administrators for whom (like me)
Exchange access works just fine on other devices. Some users reported that they
finally got e-mail in their inboxes after 24 hours, but no such luck for me yet.
(Verizon's tech support agent was unable to help, because the support documents
had no recommendations. Motorola's agent was one of the mosty clueless support
agents I've ever encountered, and unable to help.)
The Motorola Droid did let me set up my Exchange account, but it could not
retrieve e-mail using the built-in Email app -- it simply continued to show a
blank inbox for that account even after 24 hours. At first, it also did not send
e-mails from the Exchange account, leaving the messages in the Drafts folder
instead. But after I powered the Droid down to reset it, finally it did send
e-mails via Exchange -- even though it was still not receiving them.
The Motorola Droid did immediately sync to my Exchange calendar, but not my
Exchange contacts. (And note that the Droid's calendar does not let you accept
invitations you receive, although you can send invitations.)
The HTC Droid Eris let me set up my Exchange account on the device, but it
displayed a "cannot set up account at<