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For Verizon users, Droid fills a void
Nov 06, 2009 (The Kansas City Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Droid, the so-called iPhone killer that uses the Android 2.0 operating system from Google, goes on sale this morning at Verizon Wireless stores.
Among iPhone nation, the reaction to Verizon's in-your-face marketing campaign for the Droid -- those "iDon't" commercials that mock the supposed shortcomings of America's favorite smartphone -- has ranged from bemusement to irritation to litigation.
AT&T, the exclusive wireless source for the iPhone in the U.S., filed suit this week against Verizon for ads that suggest you can't use your iPhone in much of the country.
Before the iPhone-iDon't hostilities escalate any further, may I say, on behalf of my fellow Verizon users, that iDon't believe the Droid is an iPhone killer. And iDon't need it to be an iPhone killer, because iDon't plan on changing wireless providers.
The iPhone was released less than 2 1/2 years ago, but for many of us who subscribe to the nation's No. 1 cell phone service, it has seemed much longer.
As a Mac user, I'll confess that whenever I find myself in the Apple Store, I test-drive the iPhone. From time to time I run the numbers in my head, trying to justify switching to the iPhone when my Verizon plan expires.
But I always stay put. For me, the primary reason to have a wireless device is to conduct phone calls reliably. And since 2004, when I couldn't place a Sprint call in western Kansas, that job has gone to Verizon in our home. Sprint's rural coverage has improved greatly since then, but it's too late. I'm locked into my plan, and frankly I have no reason to switch.
As for AT&T service -- well, I don't want to go to court, so let's just say for me and other Verizon users I know, it's a deal-breaker.
If we could have an iPhone on Verizon's network, that would be the bee's knees. But we're reasonable people. We don't need an iPhone if what we can get is something that has most of the features of an iPhone and none of the drawbacks.
I've been test-driving a Droid this week, and I'm happy to report that, finally, we have that phone.
It's neither as powerful nor as stylish as the iPhone. But it is something you can pull out to take a picture, or shoot off an e-mail, or load piles of music onto, or clip onto your dashboard without having to issue a disclaimer, "This isn't an iPhone, but ..."
What the Droid has is an ultrasharp 3.7-inch touchscreen, slide-out chiclet keyboard, 5-megapixel camera with flash, full-screen camcorder, replaceable battery and Android 2.0, the new release of Google's open-source operating system that includes support for voice-activated navigation.
By far the most attractive feature of the Droid is its near-instant ingestion of all the data I've aggregated over the years as a Google user. My mailbox and contacts are on Gmail. My datebook is on Google Calendar. And of course, the Android browser opens in Google. After a brief initial setup, all I do in any of these apps is start typing -- and instantly Droid starts offering autofill suggestions, saving me gobs of time.
Verizon said earlier this week that more than 10,000 apps were available for Droid, and the total is growing exponentially each month as developers churn out products for Android 2.0. The majority of those are free, though it seemed a lot were trial or "lite" versions of premium apps. I downloaded the free music player from Pandora, the streaming music service, as well as a third-party weather widget and CardioTrainer, which uses the phone's GPS to compute the impact of your morning jog.
I was dazzled by Pandora, which basically turned my Droid into a CD-quality radio station based on my music preferences.
Droid's touchscreen is a notch above the LG Dare (my current smartphone) for scrolling, tactile response and clarity. But it's quite sensitive, as are the iPhone-like hardware buttons, which I'm constantly triggering by accident. Its external speaker is outstanding, and any headphone jack will work with it. At 6 ounces, it's twice as heavy as my Dare.
The camera does, as advertised, take pictures in no light, thanks to double LED illuminators, and the software instantly color-corrects to render decent pictures.
Using the USB adapter/charger, I was able to sync easily to my Mac and transfer files using drag-and-drop. It's not as sexy as iPhone-to-Mac, but it's the simplest data transfer I've had with a phone.
If I decide to keep my Droid ($199 after rebate plus a two-year agreement), my data bill will double from the $15 a month I pay for basic unlimited service to $29 a month for a smartphone data plan. That's on top of $70 for the minimum family plan. (Support for Exchange e-mail costs another $15 a month.)
I'm iffy on the Droid for just this reason. There's still some cheapskate in my blood, even if I am on the nation's most expensive (but reliable!) wireless network. Eventually, though, I'll probably come around. Now that Verizon is giving us what we've been pleading for years to have, it would seem that resistance is futile.
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@ For more details from this review and video and sample pictures from Aaron Barnhart's Droid, go to KansasCity.com/ entertainment.
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