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Droid: Verizon Gets Next Best Thing To An iPhone
Nov 06, 2009 (The Hartford Courant - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Verizon Wireless is still kicking itself in the headset for declining Apple's offer two years ago to become the exclusive United States distributor of the iPhone.
The iPhone, of course, aligned with AT&T and remains the hottest-selling smartphone on Earth. Now, Verizon looks to the moon, the stars and Google for an answer: The $199 Droid, which debuts today as the first phone to run Google's Android 2.0 operating system.
The Motorola-built Droid, subject of the persistent "iDon't" ad campaign poking fun at the iPhone in the weeks leading to today's launch, is a serious challenger. It has a lustrous 3.7-inch screen (854x480 pixels), a lightning-fast browser with voice search, a voice-guided Google Maps Navigation application and excellent call quality. And, naturally, Google Sky Map, a slick mobile planetarium that identifies the stars above. (Oooooh, it's Ophiuchus!)
It's all driven by a potent 550-megahertz processor that, given the Droid's speed and oversize screen, makes it all the more surprising that battery life easily surpassed the 6.4-hour rating in my tests. That battery, unlike the iPhone's, is user-replaceable.
Not surprisingly for a device called Droid, though, it's also a bit clunky -- half an inch thick and almost 6 ounces (alert the shirt pockets). The Droid's controls deviate from previous Android phones, using four touch-sensitive buttons positioned awkwardly at the base of the touchscreen. (An on-screen control summons the apps.) The slide-out keyboard, which adds to the bulk, was a challenge, too. The flattened keys seemed small for my thumbs, perhaps because I'm a virtual-keyboard convert.
The 5-megapixel camera (with flash!) was another disappointment. Images were soft and the flash didn't always provide adequate illumination, though there's plenty of memory -- the Droid comes with a 16-gigabytes card and can accommodate up to 32 gigabytes. As a music player, the Droid's no iPhone, either.
Google Maps Navigation, which is making GPS makers TomTom and Garmin squirm, now includes add-on layers so the user can add anything from nearby gas stations and restaurants to longitude and latitude. An optional $30 car dock transforms the Droid stand-alone GPS, with voice search. When I called out for "NuNu's Bistro, Colchester," the Droid delivered.
Business types will love that Droid easily syncs to Microsoft Exchange for quick access to work e-mail, contacts and calendar. But any iPhone comparison always comes down to apps: Apple is at 100,000-plus, Android at 12,000.
Sometimes, though, people actually use a phone to make a call. For Verizon subscribers who refuse to give up their primo service -- it has fewer dead spots than both AT&T (iPhone) and Sprint (Palm) -- the Droid is the next best thing to the iPhone.
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